INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A dozen series and sanctioning bodies Thursday afternoon at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show came to a cooperative agreement on Super Late Model body rules and enforcement that will make race cars legal at virtually any touring event in the country. | Complete PRI coverage

In an impromptu meeting that developed out of cooperation between Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series officials throughout the season, officials hammered out rules — including the adoption of the droop rule that limits rear deck heights — that will govern not only the rival national tours but many regional series in 2022.

“Everybody gave a little bit to make the common good of our sport,” said Steve Francis, the Lucas Oil tech director. “And that was our ultimate goal, is one Dirt Late Model (driver) can go from Wheatland, Mo., to the World 100 to Batesville, Ark., to Comp Cams (and) not have to work on his race car.”

Along with the droop rule, other cooperatives included the sizes of rear tires, weight of race cars (2,350 pounds), body measurements regarding width of cars among other rules that had been “really, really fragmented in the Dirt Late Model world,” Francis said. Exact details, measurements and changes will be announced and enforced beginning with Jan. 20's WoO opener at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

The cooperative also tentatively agreed with Hoosier Racing Tire product manager Shanon Rush for a universal Dirt Late Model tire rule — likely restricting teams to a handful of compounds — beginning in 2023.

“We’ve been talking about for almost a year, just trying to get on the same page, because there are some minor differences among all of us, the way we tech cars or the rules we have, so it’s really good to get on the same page,” WoO director Casey Shuman said. “Getting everyone together and having one set of common rules to where it’s the same across the board all across the country is huge, not just for (each) series, but for the racers, too. You don’t have (to change) stuff and build different cars now. You can take it anywhere and race.”

Along with WoO and Lucas Oil, agreeing to the rules were DIRTcar (Eldora Speedway events and series events including DIRTcar Summer Nationals, MARS and Sunoco American Late Model Series), the Southern All Stars, the Valvoline Iron-Man Racing Series, Ray Cook’s Schaeffer’s Spring and Southern Nationals, Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association, Comp Cams Super Dirt Series, Ultimate Southeast and Castrol FloRacing Night in America. Each organization had a representative in the meeting (Iron-Man’s Chris Tilley participated remotely). The meeting developed mid-morning and was held from 1-3 p.m. at the WoO’s trade show booth. The officials plan to have a joint tech session of a Dirt Late Model on the show floor Friday to make sure all the tours will be handling rule issues identically.

“I think it’s a big, big step in our sport,” Ultimate Series director Kelley Carlton said, “probably the biggest thing in the last 10 or 12 years as far as I’m concerned.”