Legendary racing cars may look silly, but they’re seriously fun

From the October 2022 issue Car and driver.

Ignore the dull body. The Legend car looks the way it does—like Schreiner’s nitromethane dream—because it’s the basic form of a human sitting upright behind a motorcycle engine. So the body takes on the shape of a 1930s Ford or Chevy coupe, in 5/8 scale, reminiscent of the pre-war bootleggers that spawned NASCAR. What else could it actually look like? No one wants to compete in the Converse All-Star Race.

But this composite body, fun and cartoony, is draped over a real racing car. The Yamaha FZ09’s 3-cylinder, 847cc, fuel-injected, water-cooled 12,000rpm engine drives the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential transmission mated to a locked rear end. The Yamaha puts out 125 horsepower in a car that weighs about 1,100 pounds (rules dictate that cars weigh at least 1,230 pounds with the driver after the race). That’s a lot of power-to-weight ratio to cram it into a 74-inch wheelbase. Models produced before 2018 used larger air-cooled, carbureted four-cylinder engines of 1200 or 1250 cc. The bigger engines put down significantly more torque, 100 lb-ft at the wheel versus the FZ09’s 75 lb-ft, but that’s not an advantage if you’re running 13-inch tires. Traction, not power, is always the limiting factor.

If all of this sounds like a recipe for a good time, I agree. So I ventured out to Charlotte Motor Speedway to try out a Legend car on the 13-turn indoor go-kart track that was designed to FIA World Championship specifications and not to be confused with the Jimbo’s Go-Karts and Putt-Putt setup The Emporium is located at the run-down end of the local beach. In Charlotte I met Graham Smith, Managing Director of US Legend Cars International; GE Chapman, CEO of the company; and Darren Amidon of Darren Amidon Racing. All three have a deep knowledge and enthusiasm for these little racing cars.

“Legends race in 39 states and 28 countries,” Smith tells me as we approach the test car, which wears a plain, unadorned, unsponsored Ricky Bobby white body. “They’re big in Finland. And there are series for dirt, asphalt ovals and roads. You can set them up for anything.” I suggest ice racing, and it turns out it’s been done – just try to keep the Swedes from throwing studded tires at a rear-wheel drive car.

Amidon and Anderson help buckle me into the car, which takes some adjusting since the previous driver was a child. This is one of the few racing simulators that can have a 12-year-old (Young Lions division, ages 12-15) and then an adult racing on the same night. The Masters division, where I would like to go, is for people over 40 and often has the toughest competition. A tachometer is the only instrument, and a quick-release steering wheel is flanked by a thin gear lever on the right. The clutch pedal is far to the left, and its pad, which appears to be the size of a quarter, doesn’t get in the way because it’s only needed for movement. The brake pedal is shaped like a wide U with the steering column protruding through the middle so you can brake with either your left or right foot. And that’s about it. Smith warns that the slanted layer Hoosiers will need a few laps to warm up, and I’m sent off to figure out the rest myself.

After about 10 minutes I basically knew I needed a Legend car in my life. My oldest son is 12 and Driver Ed just isn’t going to teach him what he needs to know about shifting gears at 10,000 rpm after turn 7. get a continuing education loan, right? Or maybe you don’t really need any justification other than looking for a race car experience that doesn’t require an F1 budget or an engine engineering degree from Fenway Rush University.

And the Legend car certainly provides total sensory immersion, the engine screams through the chunky exhaust as you fight it through corners, the horrendous slides cost time but pay off in silliness. On the brakes, you hear an angry pop from the exhaust, followed by gentle deceleration – the front rotors are 10-inch Wilwoods, but the rear uses Toyota drums. Braking on the road seems to be the movement that causes the locked rear end to give up a bit of grip on the pavement and engage the turn. When the Legend takes a set, it feels like it has plenty of grip, but any movement to disturb it, be it through throttle, brake or steering lock breath, can cause a slide. Smoothness is rewarded, clumsiness is punished. In fact, this is true for any car, but the reviews here are news that you can use in real time, instantly and intuitively. In a slow corner, press the throttle and you won’t just feel the understeer—you can see it, the front tires right behind your ankles, sending the message that sometimes you have to go slow to go fast.

It’s all wonderful. But the real appeal here is that the Legend formula removes bottomless money and mechanical ability as necessary precursors to participation. New cars are $17,500 and you can’t spend your way to being competitive. The engines are tight, the specs are tight, and the parts are cheap. The biggest difference between any two cars is who is in the driver’s seat. You can find race-ready used cars with older air-cooled engines for around $5,000.

Amidon points to one of the Bilstein front shocks and says, “These shocks were $100 when these cars first came out in 1992. They’re still $100.” And it’s not just one unusually cheap part — the wing, for example, costs $85. “Let’s say you put it in a wall and the front corner comes off,” says Chapman. “It’s going to cost, oh, several hundred dollars to fix.” Engines can last several seasons and if they need rebuilding it costs $2,400. Compare that to karts, where in some classes competitive engine life is measured in races, not seasons, and a new engine alone can cost $10,000. Even tires last forever when it comes to racing cars. “The tires on this car probably have 600 laps to go, and they’re now race-legal,” says Smith. “A new set of tires can give you a one-run advantage, but after that it all evens out.”

Legendary alumni include many notable NASCAR names such as Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano. The series could be a stepping stone to bigger racing ambitions. Or you can just have fun racing on the weekends to show off and get an adrenaline rush without going anywhere fast.