PROJECT GARAGE – Pony Stock Racing

Have you ever been to the local short track races on Saturday nights and seen the Pony Stock class? These guys are the hardest racing guys and are a lot of fun to watch!

Out in So. California there is a historic racetrack that has been around since 1947 – the Orange Show Speedway. This track is celebrating their 75th year of hosting races and has seen drivers like A.J. Foyt and Kevin Harvick competed at the 1/4 mi asphalt bullring oval in San Bernardino.

This Project Garage is a very simple build to replicate the Pony Stock class. When I saw Pro-Line’s Drag Racing Pinto body, I thought of this build immediately and it fits on any short wheelbase (11.25″) 1:10 Buggy chassis. I chose the Associated’s SR10 kit that is already a short track oval kit out of the box.

First off, let’s start with the Wheels & Tires.

These cars run on slicks so I chose the Pro-Line Bald Eagle 2.2″ 4WD Buggy Front Slick Tires and paired with the Pro-Line Slot Mag Drag Spec 2.2″ Stone Gray Front Wheels as they have the vintage look. You can keep the standard 1:10 Buggy rear tire for better handling, but for this build I wanted to go for scale looks with the same tire all around. Yes, the front 4WD tire in the rear! You’ll need to get a wide offset hex (10mm) for the rear to closely match the front track width. Any more than 10mm and you would not have enough threads on the rear axle. NOTE: Before you glue up your tires, paint your wheels to match your paint scheme or use a chrome pen to give them a satin chrome look.

Next step we need to modify the front foam bumper on the SR10 by trimming the foam flush along the plastic mount. This will allow the front of the Pinto body to sit nicely against it.

Then mark and trim the body. NOTE: The Pinto body is made for the Drag SC tires, so the rear wheel well is larger. I cut out the front wheel well and used that piece as a template to mark and trim the same for the rear wheel well area since I’m using smaller tires in the rear than the Short Course Drag Tires. Also, the rear body posts will be in the top of the window and later we will trim out all the windows. For now, just get the body mounted. Drill out the body mount holes and set the height on the body posts.

The next part, and the coolest, is the custom designed 3D printed Pinto roll cage by Robksii Fab. This adds so much to the look of these cars with the windows cut out showing the roll cage and a place to add in the window net. This 5-piece cage design mounts to and screws into the 2 empty holes on the plastic chassis in front of the rear tires and taped to the servo itself for the front. You’ll want to 3D print this cage design or paint it in a color you like and assemble with some M3 button head screws.

Finishing touches.

Find some narrow flat shoelaces and start weaving it into a window net. Measure the height of the window frame and leave a little extra to glue a loop on the shoelace. Run a piece of thick chicken wire through for the top and bottom as the bar to hold the net. Zip tie the finished net to the bottom of the roll bar. Glue a piece of old antenna tube to the rear bar as a place to insert the window net wire so you are still able to lower it as a scale touch.

Paint the Pinto body for your race scheme. Find some 2”-2.5” tall race number stickers or paint them in. Then once dry, trim out both side windows. Mark a mounting tab at the top of the rear window section to support and mount the body posts to as shown below, then trim out the rest.