Circle track racing EATS starters like cookies in preschool. One day I added up all the receipts I had spent for stock type starters and those $100 gear reduction starters in just one season, and I freaked out! I tore down every bad starter under the bench and found one $100 starter had PLASTIC gears in it! Another had pot-metal gears! All of them had cheap brush housings and small gauge wiring. Even the heavy duty GM454 truck starters could not hold up.
I saw the other guys having NO problems with theirs, so I asked them about theirs, and found out they had spent $250 to $300 on really good racing starters like PowerMaster, CSR and CVR. I also learned that ALL of them had been using the same starter for four or more years without a rpblem!
I broke down and bought a PowerMaster for about $250, and have had NO problems at all for the past two seasons, no matter how hot or how long I crank on it after a spinout stall. It will be going right back in my modified again this season. I will NEVER EVER buy another cheapo stock type starter for any race car engine... it's just not worth it, and the security of knowing I have a reliable starter is priceless when you are sitting at lineup and it is your time to shine...!
Jim