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

October issue of Sprint Car and Midget, Dave Argabright's monthly column about where Kyle stands in the history of dirt track racing. "Kyle is having one of the greatest and most dynamic seasons I've ever witnessed, certainly one of the most diverse".  "But to be analytical, you have to set aside the emotion of the moment and look honestly at the big picture".  

"Is Kyle's season more impressive than Steve Kinser's 51 WoO wins in 1987?"  "I'm not so sure."  "Is Kyle's season more impressive than Doug Wolfgang's 43 sprint car wins in 1989?"  "I'm not so sure".  

My point:  important today is the quality of drivers and more importantly is today's quality of equipment where everyone has the same equipment.  As Wolfie said in his book, back when I was driving and winning, there were really only three cars/drivers that won  most of the races.  Kinser, Swindell and myself.  Today in most any race series there are anywhere from 6 or 7 capable of winning in a couple series and possiblly 6 to 10 or more drivers capable of pulling off the win in an All Star event or WoO event. .  

 Lawlessness and liberalism equals Hell.  NY City, 
Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Minnepolis, etc. We saw it. 
Burning hundreds of buildings, a thousand assaults and 
dozens of murders. Getting worser and worser.

I don't think Larsons "place in history" can be determined till he is closer to retirment. JMO it is just to early to say.

True, but he's on pace to be one of the All time Greats

Hard to compare different eras...

Give him time, give him time. We all understand the accomplishments of what Kinser and Wolfgang did. Nobody can deny it was 2 unbelievable seasons. Kinser was not going to be denied and Wolfgang had a car that was designed by him on a pc of cardboard. O how times have changed. Larson is in the prime of his career, he's going back to cup, he has to. He has a something to prove there also. Unfortunately because of the dollars involved he is going to ride that horse as long as he possibly can. Will he ever walk away from it ? I doubt it. Sprint car racing today is in my opinion a much more dangerous career choice over cup racing. Thanks Kyle, it was fun watching you tear up tracks and stealing a lot of the dollars. Sure he may make a occasional appearance but will he ever top what Kinser and Wolfgang did ? I doubt it.

As an overall season racing on dirt, it's been one of the best ever. Winning the Chili Bowl, dominating midget week, winning Hoosier 100, winning in his first weekend in a late model, not to mention dominating winged sprint racing this summer makes his season incredible. 

On a stand-alone basis though, just looking at 410 winged sprints, the fact that he's "slowed down" and didn't win the last 3 big races he was at (Tusky 50, Eldora and the Natty Open) throws a little cold water on this being the best 410 winged sprint season ever.  

Let's give it another 20 years, history isn't written in one season when contrasting to guys who ran for 30 or 40 years.

Member of this message board since 1997

You do realize he has been racing on dirt since he was 13 and he pretty much has been a ass-kicker since that time!

Where's my beer or scotch on the rocks? God-damn it! 40 
plus years of dirt track racing in these old veins might 
get me condemned by the EPA.

Call it right or wrong but most of this season's bandwagon jumpers don't remember or know about anything he did in sprint cars before this summer. He will be back to NASCAR and they will be gone from dirt track racing. They will find either him in NASCAR or someone totally different will have great season and they will jump to that and forget all about this season. I have been going to races for 65 years and have seen many of that type be here for a season or two, act like they know more racing history than the old timers an be gone as soon as something else catches their attention.

Wow...I had no idea...

Member of this message board since 1997

Actually Kyle started racing 410s and 360s at 14 years old in California in the 83 Ventrullo car. I was at his first ever race at Placerville and he started winning races soon after. That 99 car was owned by Brent Kaeding and Kyle started beating his boss not long after getting this ride. We would come up to Kyle in the pits afte the race and say how good he was and he was very humble and just said "thanks." It was fun to watch Kyle race locally at tracks here in California and even if he started in the back he always had a chance to win. As his fans we knew how great he was and now he is showing the world how great he is! 

Looking forward to the new Golden State King of the 
West series schedule! 

Winged sprintcars = the fastest and most exciting 
racecars on dirt! 

No matter the track condition or where he starts in the field he moves forward during the feature.  He is not only talented...he a very smart racer.  Since I started going to the races in 1982 there were only a few drivers as talented as Kyle.  Best driver on dirt this year and second isn't even close.  As far as best ever.....give it a few more years.  Wherever he lands in napcar I hope they let him drive a sprinter once in a while.

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

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

& i thought I was an old grouch....

 My first home track was old Carrell Speedway, I was so young I only remember snippets of my time there.
 So when I see their lists of the best, or some such, I have to split them up 3 ways. Before cages, ran both, or only caged.

 My first "Young Money" was Troy Ruttman. He loved the highbanks at Winchester and Salem and kicked ass there. He won the 500 at 22.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

Agree on all

I don't put too much stock into "big races."  If the top competition shows up, "BIg Races" are usually the same difficulty to win as "small races."  The paychecks are usually bigger, but that is about it.   Drivers and crews can miss a little bit whether the race is a big race or a small race.  To me, take away the paycheck and there's no difference between winning the Joker's Wild, the Knight Before or the King's Royal.  Same cars.  With the exception of some tiny little incentives, they are all basically stand-alone, one night races. 

The best example of a truly big race format that deserves the statues was this year's One and Only.  The Nationals requires you to run either Wed or Thurs really well, and then hit it dead on for 50 laps on Saturday night.  This year's One and Only format required you to run well for TWO prelim nights and then a feature on Saturday night.  To me, he won the "biggest" race of the year by winning that event----regardless of the "prestige" or paychecks involved.