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

Last night there were two top level 410 sprint car races held about 33 hours and 2200 miles apart.

On the bigger of the two tracks, the winner lead every lap from the front row. The racer that finished in 4th started on the pole.

On the smaller of the two track, the winner started 6th. He was the 4th leader of the race. The racer that finished in 4th started 18th. The guy that finished ahead of him in 3rd had started 9th.

 

Seems like enough data for me - let's get 410s off half miles! We don't need the Nationals, King's Royal, Tusky/Weikert, National Open. Let's run three different iterations of the High Bank Nationals instead! 

That's not what I wrote, but if that's what you read, that's on you.

You're right, that's not what you wrote.  But your post is saying that racing on half miles is worse than on shorter tracks, right?  If not, what was your point?

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The title of the post is "A tale of track sizes" where you compare racing on two different sized tracks. What else are we to deduce? 

That was a wonderful story. It lead me on a whimsical journey of mystery and suspense. Will read again.

My choice is the short tracks. Now I love all racing so let's not get all weird, we can have opinions, its going to be ok. 

i love a good race at Husets where you can be in traffic in 5 laps. It's what I grew up on. You have what seems to be more passing and cars coming deeper in the field. Now I don't need examples of cars comming from the back on big tracks, we know it happens

Murph was giving his statment of the races, I think we can be better than going all Strawser on him

Definitely not "going Strawser" here.  I'm legitimately asking questions.  That's one of the troubles with social media...intent and context are lost because we're reading words and can interpret them our own way.

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I have seen some epic races on a few 1/2 mile tracks with the top 4 cars trading slide jobs and racers coming from deep in the field to the top ten even the top five but they are few and far between it seems. I see lots of very good and exciting races on short tracks on a weekly basis where there is passing all over the track and lots of excitment and slide jobs all over the place. I have also seen lots of follow the leader one groove races on both half mile, 3/8 and 1/4 mile tracks. It's a mixed bag and a matter of personal preferance. Myself, I prefer to watch action packed racing on well prepared bull rings but I also appriciate seeing a good race like for example the HL race at Learnerville on a 1/2 mile track or Knoxville or Eldora when someone comes from a few rows back and gets the win. Racing is passing and as long as I see a good race with lots of passing be it short track or 1/2 mile I'm a happy camper.... 

The older I get the faster I was

An honest question deserves an honest answer. I know this lights some people's fire whenever anybody has an opinion that doesn't align 100% with their own. Why is the answer to anybody's opinion to reply with "them's fightin' words,"?Have we all become Yosemite Sam and can't discuss anything?

It seems like the more entertaining sprint car races these dats are on smaller track- no, not all the time. Maybe it's time to consider whether higher dollar engines, cars stuck to the track on wide tires, dirty air, formats that benefit high dollars teams, etc. is good for the long range future of winged sprint cars?

Note: I didn't say anyone's mother wears army boots, and if she does, I don't much care.

I think the original post is a very fair observation of two extremely different situations by similar cars on two different nights. I appreciate the contrast being explained. Don't see the need to attack a person for sharing a few comments. For those that need to respond first when they don't understand the topic, maybe you should wait a while and see where the conversation goes before you make an ass of yourself

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

Is there any tracks left that have a track inside a track?? It used to be to pretty normal to have a 1/4 mile inside a half way back in the day. Didn't Ascot have this? Would be a cool show to have one night on each.

Personally I like the Big tracks, 1/2 milers.... 3/8 are just okay and anything smaller does not interest me. But that's just my preference.

I think simply looking at numbers does not tell the full story. Especially if people are not actually watching the race and to some extent, are not watching the race in person. I have seen races on 1/2miles where a person won from the pole but yet was being contested the entire race for position. I have also seen some races where there was an actual pass for the lead but because of the leader crossing over and retaking the lead before getting back to the line, it technically was not a lead change. There are somethings that numbers just cannot capture. They can tell a story but not 100% of the story.

I was at Eldora and personally thought that the HL race was good on Friday. Yes Peck won from the front row but he had to manuever traffic perfectly, there were times that Rico and Sweet appeared to be faster than him in traffic and we were thinking maybe they would get by him. But then they would get held up a little bit and couldnt get to him. Saturday a few of us put our head down when the caution came out with about 13 to go because you could tell that it was about to get interesting with lap traffic. That caution I think took away any shot of there being a great battle for the win. I think where the short tracks have the advantage over 1/2 miles is the fact the leaders get to lap traffic quicker and as has been stated by many, 2nd place has the advantage of seeing where the leader goes and if they make a mistake, 2nd can pounce.

Absolutely 100% correct!  Some of the best races I've ever seen have been contested by guys in the front 2 rows.  Could be technically 2 lead changes, but as you state, how many times was the lead swapped in turn 1 and turn 3 without being counted as a lead change?   

Take this year's Ironman for example.   Kyle comes from deep(er) in the field to win.  Race was great---until 1/2 way.  (not talking about Friday night, but Saturday night)  However, there have been even more electrictrifying races from I-55 where the winner did not come from outside the top 3 or 4.   Some of the best Knoxville Nationals were dog fights between guys starting in the top 4. The year Schatz won from the B, was a snoozer past the break.   Box scores are fine for stats, but dumb for determining quality of race.  

Generally speaking, I think small tracks are more entertaining

But every race is different, obviously

Lineup, track prep, weather, etc.... plenty of variables

Many times the shorter track has a lot of cuations and reds which leads to a lot of double file restarts, which leads to a lot of position changes. To me that is not great racing. I like bullring racing and half-miles. The best of both worlds is a 3/8-4/10 that's wide, well banked and slick to a curb.

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