Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

All i know is without LANCE would have been another race won from the pole. Lance is the last of great era in Pa,, Hod, Kauffman, Shaffer, Rahmer. We will never see the likes of them again. Now days drivers upset if they can't start in the front everynight. DD had  two second place finishes with all stars and never passed a car in the feature. Modern day racing!!

Last year Lance won $162,252 according to http://www.sprintcarratings.com - if they operate only off of race winnings they would not be considered low budget here in PA. Assuming Lance takes 40% (I would be surprised if he takes that much) that leaves $97k before sponsor money is even counted. At $97k that is a budget of roughly $2,500 per race for a 40 race season (which is about what LD seems to run). I have nothing but respect for LD but this low budget nonsense has to stop. Based strictly on race winnings with no outside sources (car is covered in sponsors) $2,500 per race is definitely not low budget in PA. 

How can you complain about someone starting front row if they earned that spot? It's one thing when you redraw to the front row. DD qualified good, ran good in his heat, and won his dash from 2nd (ahead of a bunch of good cars including Reutzel and Shaffer). I don't think DD whines about having to start in the back, he complained about Lincoln because he was handicapped to the back on a track you couldn't pass on which is why he went to Port for the past few weeks. That same night Freddie wasn't doing much passing either and Monteith by way of his early season DQ got to start toward the front in his heat. LD and co. tend to run primarily time trial shows so I would say they care just as much as anyone else about where they start. 

A budget and earnings are 2 completely different things. When I talk about budget, I'm talking about what they spend on the operation and what they're willing to spend. If you don't believe me or you think it's nonsense, go talk to Donald or anyone from the team and ask them yourself. 

Sad but true my friend. Those days are gone forever.

...and also smoooth! I think that's the key to why Port seems to be pretty racey whether it's dry and slick like Saturday or wet, heavy and fast like last years WOO race. A smooth track allows drivers to be comfortable pushing the limits and not have to worry about hooking a rut and getting thrown off course. The track crew at Port has it figured out. The last couple years at Port is easily the best racing I've ever seen at the place. 

A

I don't fully understand that explanation. So you don't figure winnings into the budget? I bet they do.

I think he's talking about what they put out of their own pockets, or sponsors

No guaranteed wins to start the season...

Yes, the outlaw race last year was one of the best features at Port in many of Years!

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

Correct. They also fund Kassidy's 305 deal as well. They aren't begging for money on the streets by any means but they operate on a strict budget and they stick to it.

Not really complaining, just saying how time trial shows are mostly won from the front. If that what you like, more power to you. Glad i grew up and seen racing from midpack, now most pack is just lapped traffic.

Well considering in today's formats, drivers who win their heats, win their dash and who qualified well are the ones who in turn end up starting up front, why is it a suprise that many races are won form the front row? Those drivers starting on the front row had the best cars all night and proved it multiple times, so the fact they started first and finished first, why are we diminishing that?

In the past we had handicapping and we had different formats where the fastest cars often started midpack. So then yes, they raced their ways to the front. Now the formats reward winning and qualifying. It;s silly to try and compare era's of drivers when everything if different besides what the car is called.

With that being said, there will still be nights and there are nights where guys who didn;t get it dialed in in the heats or didn;t throw down a good lap made adjustments or maybe the track just comes to their liking and there is a lot of passing. It;s just dumb to contonue to fault guys for winning form the front if it doesn't happen form farther back. Maybe he just had the best damn car on the track that night?

That is $97k assuming LD takes 40% of the winnings, and that is not counting any sponsor income. If they are not putting that money or close to it back into the car then I'm glad they are making money. But to call them low budget is insulting to all of the actual low budget teams running in PA. If they are not putting that $97k into the operation then they are making a substantial profit off racing, lumping them in with the low budget guys scraping to get by isn't very fair to those guys. 

What would you expect Donnie to say when asked if they have a large or small budget.

Any smart racer is going to say small because he doesn't know if you are a potential sponsor or not. So if he says "Yes we have a pretty sizeable budget compared to other teams", if you were a sponsor you might say we'll I want to help a small team become better.  Plus the 69k always saying we are a budget racing team just adds to the folklore and gets people to buy shirts to help fund the team.

Plus you do all realize Donnie owns a speed shop and gets parts cheaper from that end plus all the other product deals he and Lance have connections to get.  You would probably be shocked what a new 410 engine actually cost them .

Plus to say they fund Kassidy's 305 as part of the racing budget and that is another financial strain. Then why did they have a brand new engine built when the one they had was good to go.   The engine builder to me that himself.

Back in 1998 I was talking to a Kreitz crewmember who said there budget was $100000. And he was crying poverty because Al Hamilton's was $500000.  I said you need to come race on my side of the street and then you will know poverty.  I would kill for $100k budget.  Heck give me 40 to 50k and I would think I hit the lottery.

High budget, low budget ...... all relative. I think it's fair to say the 69K lives within it's means.

A lot more than some, a lot less than others.

And, I'd bet that if there was a sprint car return on investment ranking, this team would be on the top of the list.

Maybe it's cuz I'm old and have been watching them for 35+ years, but it wouldn't bother me if these old guys won every race they entered. Nothing real fancy here. They just get it done.

And, if they stay home on August 7-10, and run fifth at Port on Saturday night, they're still one of the best damn sprint car teams ever - anywhere!

I agree, there is nothing wrong with the way they run their operation and they are one of the best teams no doubt. But I've heard several different 69k fans refer to them as a low budget team either in person at Port or on here like its some type of badge of honor (like how this low budget team from Sinking Springs goes out and beats all the big budget teams, etc). The 69k is a top shelf operation, and they have a HOF crew but to act like they are out dominating Central PA on the same budget as Jay Galloway or another driver in his situation is insulting to those guys IMO. I'm sure half of the teams in Central PA would trade per race budgets with the 69k without a second thought. 

Exactly.. In fact DD has 3 wins and has not even had to pass a car. Started on the pole for all 3. And they were "draw shows", they were not earned.   

That new engine wasn't out of their budget . Paid for by somebody else.

In two of those three wins DD didn't lead the most laps (Zearfoss at BAPS, Macri at Lincoln) and had to make a late race pass for the lead. Additionally I was unaware that the redraw was totally random and drawn from throughout the entire field. I always thought you had to earn a redraw spot by finishing good in your heat. I guess you learn something new every day.

Bingo....

Compared to NASCAR driver owned teams, they're low budget

Compared to weekend racer with a regular job, they're pros