Cranked Up: Race Car Battery Basics With Performance Distributors

Brian Wagner
May 1, 2020

The last thing you want to deal with as a racer is a car that won’t start — it’s one of the worst feelings ever when you’re at the track. One of the best ways to avoid this issue is to have a battery that’s up to the task of cranking over a high-performance engine. We talked with Brian Caruth from Performance Distributors to get some quick tips about what you need to look for in a race car battery.

The standard car battery isn’t designed to be used in a racing application. When you’re looking for a racecar battery you want to make sure it’s an SLA (sealed lead acid)/AGM-style battery. These are different than the standard automotive battery because they use a dry cell technology, where a passenger car battery uses wet cell technology. A dry cell battery is designed to have a lower internal resistance — this means the cold-cranking amps are not a huge factor like they are for a wet cell battery.

Caruth adds some additional information about why you want a dry cell battery and how the Performance Distributors Dyna-Batt incorporates these features.

“Dry cell batteries will charge quicker than wet cell batteries. The Dyna-Batt’s dry cell technology also leads to lighter weight and smaller size, making it easier to mount in tighter spaces and reducing racecar weight. Although the Dyna-Batt is the ideal racing battery, they also work great in street rods, muscle cars, and off-road vehicles. Sealed lead-acid batteries are not considered as a hazardous material, so racers can have the Dyna-Batt shipped regular parcel shipping without additional handling fees.”

Using a battery designed for racing has several different advantages that you need to consider.

A dry cell racing battery won’t give off noxious fumes like a wet cell battery and it won’t leak acid if it becomes damaged. The dry cell battery is also much lighter, for example, the Dyna-Batt only weighs 13.5-pounds.

Besides being lighter, the Dyna-Batt offers several other advantages racers will want to consider when they purchase a battery.

“The dry cell technology that Dyna-Batt uses is also better for mounting, as it allows the battery to be mounted on its side or upside down if necessary. Being a sealed lead acid battery, there is no danger of an acid leak in the event of an accident and the battery case is damaged. The Dyna-Batt is competitively priced versus other types of racing batteries and is backed by a one-year warranty,” Caruth explains.

Check out the Performance Distributors website right here to learn more about its battery offerings.