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Topic: Jan Opperman and Kyle Larson
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Page 1 of 1 of 5 replies
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July 24, 2020 at
04:27:08 PM
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I don't remember much about Jan Opperman, but my wife, who intrduced me to sprint cars, does. I've been going to Sprint car races over 45 years, but only saw Jan live a few times. My wife compares Larson to Opperman. I was wondering if any oldtimers see any similarities?
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July 24, 2020 at
06:15:05 PM
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11/30/2004
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Hard to compare as they raced in totally different times. Like comparing Brett Favre to Sammy Baugh! Personally i believe Opp was better. He ran a lot of non wing & back before bead locks, high tech bleaders & a lot of other modern stuff. Dont think power steering was in sprints yet either. But there is no true way to compare so it will always just be a matter of opinion.
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July 24, 2020 at
08:04:30 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: oswald on July 24 2020 at 06:15:05 PM
Hard to compare as they raced in totally different times. Like comparing Brett Favre to Sammy Baugh! Personally i believe Opp was better. He ran a lot of non wing & back before bead locks, high tech bleaders & a lot of other modern stuff. Dont think power steering was in sprints yet either. But there is no true way to compare so it will always just be a matter of opinion.
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Your analogy is perfect. Hard to compare eras. To many, Dick Butkus is the greatest football player of all time. However, (and I am a die-hard Bear fan) I believe the linebackers who end up playing special teams today, and can't even make the starting defense, would mop the floor with him in his prime.
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July 24, 2020 at
09:44:02 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: oswald on July 24 2020 at 06:15:05 PM
Hard to compare as they raced in totally different times. Like comparing Brett Favre to Sammy Baugh! Personally i believe Opp was better. He ran a lot of non wing & back before bead locks, high tech bleaders & a lot of other modern stuff. Dont think power steering was in sprints yet either. But there is no true way to compare so it will always just be a matter of opinion.
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I guess we can't compare exactly. My wife said that Larson is like Opperman in the way he seems to find a faster line, while most of the others are struggling. And a driver friend of mine said to notice when others are sawing away at the wheel, Larson has very little movement, which scrubbs off less speed.
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July 25, 2020 at
09:08:16 AM
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This message was edited on
July 25, 2020 at
09:10:36 AM by StanM
Reply to:
Posted By: oswald on July 24 2020 at 06:15:05 PM
Hard to compare as they raced in totally different times. Like comparing Brett Favre to Sammy Baugh! Personally i believe Opp was better. He ran a lot of non wing & back before bead locks, high tech bleaders & a lot of other modern stuff. Dont think power steering was in sprints yet either. But there is no true way to compare so it will always just be a matter of opinion.
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I often wonder how the legends would do in one of today's cars. Sprint Cars are still upright front engine but that is where the similarities stop. I have observed drivers in today's cars that struggled when the speed was turned up from 360 to 410 power as everything happens so much faster. Anyone who saw Sprint Cars in the early 60's compared to the rockets I watched at Williams Grove last night on Dirtvision knows what I'm talking about. Drivers today are smaller and lighter than the linebacker sized drivers of yesterday and our current ones have lightning reflexes in keeping with today's speeds. I often wonder which of the legends would adapt to todays speeds when they turned laps in the low 20's on half miles and today the same tracks have records in the 15 second range. I watched and was a fan of drivers who are in the SCHOF now but they never went as fast as a Knoxville 305 in their entire career.
Stan Meissner
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July 25, 2020 at
11:00:55 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: StanM on July 25 2020 at 09:08:16 AM
I often wonder how the legends would do in one of today's cars. Sprint Cars are still upright front engine but that is where the similarities stop. I have observed drivers in today's cars that struggled when the speed was turned up from 360 to 410 power as everything happens so much faster. Anyone who saw Sprint Cars in the early 60's compared to the rockets I watched at Williams Grove last night on Dirtvision knows what I'm talking about. Drivers today are smaller and lighter than the linebacker sized drivers of yesterday and our current ones have lightning reflexes in keeping with today's speeds. I often wonder which of the legends would adapt to todays speeds when they turned laps in the low 20's on half miles and today the same tracks have records in the 15 second range. I watched and was a fan of drivers who are in the SCHOF now but they never went as fast as a Knoxville 305 in their entire career.
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I distinctly remember when the 20 second barrier was broken at Knoxville:
Drivers were much larger, cars were heavier, most were running a cast iron 327-350 based powerplant, power steering wasn't around yet, tires were not engineered for sprint cars, mostly steel wheels although better teams had alloys, chassis were one offs for the most part. Safety hadn't been addressed yet which meant bad crashes maimed or killed drivers.
Opp was badass, I thought he was the best at the time, but the competition was not anywhere near the same as the teams Larson is driving around for wins and podiums.
We're all a little spoiled having so many teams that can win on a given night almost anywhere.
DirtVision has saved my sanity this year.
joesgarage
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