Sealed Engine Alliance Leaders implodes following Heart of Dixie 200 disqualification

There was a mass exodus from the Sealed Engine Alliance Leaders committee that oversees pavement straight rail Late Model rules on Tuesday in the aftermath of a disqualification in the Heart of Dixie 200 at Mobile International Speedway.

As a refresher, Luke Baldwin of Bryson-Lopez Racing had won the independently sanctioned Pro Late Model race at the Irvington, Alabama half-mile but was disqualified by contracted chief inspector Ricky Brooks over something regarding rod bearings and rocker arms.

Short Track Scene asked Brooks for more details and he pointed to the below section of the MIS Pro Late Model rule book:

“GM Upgrade GM 88958604 / 88869604 with the following updates only, GM Cam #24502586, 1.6 rocker arms (1.65 max), Comp Cam valve springs #941-16 (inner spring removed), Champ oil pan # CP106LTRB and Balancer. SCAT Pro Stock connecting rods # 2-ICR5700P (Minimum weight of 580 grams) and Mahle ‘drop in’ pistons #930127800 (Maximum oversized of .020”) are approved replacement parts. This package with seals from an approved S.E.A.L. rebuilder will receive a 50 lb. weight break. Maximum 6500 rpm”

Clark’s Automotive Machine Shop in Reidsville, North Carolina built the engine and took exception to both a lack of reference to rod bearings or the mechanism in which Brooks used to measure.

In the days since, BLR has indicated that it could pursue legal action over the $50,000-to-win outcome but also on defamation claims. Initially, the SEAL collective issued a press release reflecting awareness and interest in the process.

SEAL oversees compliance with the rules and regulations governing engine builders in its program. The committee has requested the components identified during the track’s inspection for further evaluation and will review all available information before determining whether action is warranted under the program. SEAL has currently reached no conclusions about the components or the engine builder’s compliance.

A process was put in place for SEAL to be able to inspect the engine and for a more comprehensive procedural analysis, but it was during the back-and-forth on Tuesday that SEAL administrator Nicholas Rogers received the following resignation letter.

The letter is italicized below.

—

Formal Notice of Withdrawal from the SEAL Program

Dear Mr. Rogers: Please accept this letter as formal written notice that the following series are withdrawing from the SEAL program, effective immediately upon receipt of this notice:

• CARS STARS Super Tour  
• CARS Midwest Super Tour  
• CARS West Super Tour  
• CARS Midwest Pro Tour  
• CARS Southeast Pro Tour  
• CARS Northwest Pro Tour  
• CARS Southwest Pro Tour  
• CARS Mid-Atlantic Pro Tour

In conjunction with this withdrawal, the following individuals are resigning from their respective SEAL Committee positions and will cease participation in committee activities, effective immediately upon receipt of this notice:

Marty Melo  
Tim Huddleston  
Scott Menlen  
Kip Childress  
Todd Thelen  
Derek Rehm  
David Lewis  
Paul French  
Robert Turner

This withdrawal applies solely to participation in the SEAL program and service on the SEAL Committee. Beginning on the effective date, the listed series will independently administer their engine rules, inspection procedures and eligibility requirements. Further information regarding engine rules will be communicated by the series in the near future.

Please update the program’s membership records, committee rosters, distribution lists, and published materials to reflect these withdrawals. These series and individuals should no longer be identified as current participants in, representatives of or decision-makers for the SEAL program.

No subsequent SEAL action or statement should be represented as having their approval or endorsement without express written authorization.

—

Effectively, this means everyone associated with CARS Tour and the newly merged CARS Tour West and MDM Promotions Sanctioning Body are no longer members of the rules oversight committee. 

This leaves Rogers, who is also the race director for the Southern Super Series, Five Flags Speedway and Snowball Derby, and Tim Bryant, general manager of the aforementioned entities left on the SEAL Committee alongside Track Enterprises president Bob Sargent.

In other words, this is a split from the MDM Promotions members from the Southern Super Series. This is pertinent because when Kevin Harvick and Tim Huddleston merged with Marty Melo to form a new national sanctioning body overseeing the eight aforementioned divisions, they also made an overture to purchase Southern Super Series from Bryant.

Bryant opted to maintain his independence, while also hoping to continue working alongside MDM Promotions, in a similar fashion as he did when Southern Super Series was ‘strategically aligned’ with ASA under the ownership of Sargent.

No one agreed to be quoted on the record for this story, due to the fresh sensitivities and potential legal action from BLR, but Short Track Scene understands broadly the various differences that have developed in the two camps in the months that preceded this split.

For one, there is a conviction from the Southern Super Series camp that they feel this is a point of personal animosity for not selling to MDM Promotions — that this split was inevitable because the larger entity intends to control all things straight rail racing from coast-to-coast.

From an MDM Promotions standpoint, they simply felt the SEAL program had been ineffective for far too long and that a new government and oversight philosophy was needed for competition and financial reasons following a series of instances where engines had been opened up over the past year.

Technically, SEAL is not even a formal entity.

There is a conviction out there that Melo could have restructured SEAL itself into whatever shape wanted as the non-voting chairman of the committee. The southern group’s conviction is that he and the CARS members all chose to leave SEAL now as opposed to later to avoid getting wrapped up in whatever legal maneuvers BLR ultimately chooses to pursue over Mobile.

MDM, CARS Tour, CARS STARS and CARS Tour West seems to feel as though with a vast coast-to-coast sanctioning body, that it is just more practical to oversee rules and regulations for national Super and Pro Late Model racing instead.

But there were other points of disagreement too.

For example, Montgomery Motor Speedway promoter Stan Narrison was nominated to committee but was rejected. The sentiment out there is that the MDM leadership group simply rejected having another southern member with a voice.

Beyond the process and procedure, the southern group has advocated for more concessions for the Ford based engines that are used down south whereas the rest of the country emphasizes Chevrolet-based engines.

They simply couldn’t agree on compromises or concessions.  

Freddie Query is also a source of conflict. The longtime racer turned technical inspector had served as competition director for ASA STARS until resigning from his post earlier this season.

Query has been hired to oversee technical inspection for the Snowball Derby this year with Bryant and the MDM Promotions camp disagreeing on that decision as well. Full-time MDM employees will not be working at the Snowball Derby this year with disagreement over who made that call.

The MDM side has characterized that as a decision made internally where the Five Flags side says many of those MDM employees were set to be on staff next month in Pensacola until they explained they were not allowed to.

Ultimately, both sides are still hopeful there can be a resolution to get straight rail racers aligned on universal rule books, once this immediately issue passes. It’s part of the reason why no one wanted to talk on the record either.

Brooks himself is also an interesting player in this. Brooks went from being persona non grata with ASA due to personal differences with Sargent, to then co-promoting the Battle at Berlin in 2027 with the newly rechristened STARS CARS.

Brooks was also set to co-promote Southern Super Series races alongside Bryant in 2027. Brooks was chief inspector for the Heart of Dixie, an event that also had Bryant and Rogers providing infrastructure and support.

All told, there appeared to be a lot of synergy and unity forming across the board until this past weekend at Mobile added extra tensions.

While there are frustrations, everyone who spoke on background all said they wanted the same things, while also hoping that there is a chance to pick up conversations at a later date.

Lastly, this does continue a trend of aggression from the MDM/CARS side, which recently moved Wisconsin’s Midwest Tour off a two barrel carburetor rules package onto the four barrel package used by the other divisions.

It’s also clear that Harvick, Huddleston and Melo have a clear cut vision for what they want straight rail Late Model racing to be.

The south is just another focal point.