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

I brought this up on another thread but why is there so much negativity on this board?  The biggest reason i love going to Knoxville is that everyone there loves what i love; SPRINT CAR RACING.   In my 20 yrs at the nationals i honestly dont think ive met an asshole there . ( As far as race fans. that guy at the golf course doesnt count CHIEF ! ) Everyone there loves to watch and talk about anything to do with sprintcars. Why isnt this place the same?   Why is someone getting blasted for asking a question about sprintcars ?  If u think the question is below u just dont answer!  Im outta races to watch after jacksonville this weekend and its gonna b a long winter so lets all try to get along .

Oh wait !!! I forgot about the guy who popped the beachball with his knife and threw it over the back of the  grandstand !  He was definitely an a**hole !!!!!!!! Captain a**hole i believe I called him in fact.

I completley agree with your first post but since you opened the topic up if you want to play with beach balls go to the beach not the races. Lol

I'm not a huge fan of hte beachballs, but what do they hurt, people don't do anything with them while the races are going on.

Unfortunately dirt in ur beer, 99% of our society can't have a civil conversation (and probably 50% don't even know what a conversation actually is, they only text or facebook (and that's to someone sitting beside them at the races).

A good, spirited discussion on this message board is not a bad thing, however those are few and far between as well.  Everyone immediately reads everything as a put down and no one actually READS the posts and tries to look at the other point of view, they only care about their own.....

It wasnt my beachball he popped ....   The kids standing there waiting for the chance to throw or catch the beachball were the ones i was most concerned with.  Kids under the age of 10 arent really too wrapped up in the races and  an occasional opportunity to hit a beach ball is the high light of their evening .  In my opinion he was nothing more than a bully.

Hey dirt he was just mad cause are sprint cars shirts were cooler than anything he owns!

People in general are MUCH nicer in person than on the Net (not just this board), for so many reasons: A) In person, you can get punched (B) Facial expressions & tone of voice. Sarcasm just doesn't work on the Net (C) On the Net, we are just disembodied opinions. In person, fellow human beings (D) etc. etc.......

Well origanally i thought he had his panties in a wad because I called  him Thurston but maybe it was the Tshirt thing chief!  ( as long as ur referring to the golf course guy) 

sarcasm works fine but it usually requires a disclaimer. ( the previous statement was heavily laiden with sarcasm) See how well that works ? I like your reason A you can get punched . Funny. 

I think the best explanation I've heard about the internet is that during the initial invention of it the founders thought it would be the greatest thing ever because it would give everyone in the world a voice. Now that we see what the majority of peoples opinions on the net is we realize it was better before when most of those people weren't able to give an opinion we all have to see.

I agree revjimk that tone of voice and facial expression are lost in these boards and therefore people often take things as confrontaitonal when that wasn't the intention. Also I think that being nameless and faceless also gives some a confidence to get in an argument with others that in real life they would never do. And then theres always those few people that just think its fun to rial people up to see what the reaction will be, that would be the definition of a troll I guess.

http://gph.is/XMLGff

Ok you brought up the beachballs, I have seen more adults get upset over a ball going over the back grandstand fence than any 10 year old child...not there to play ball, there to watch sprint cars... SPRINT CARS

Thank you for weighing in on the issue. I can honestly say that beach balls have NEVER hindered my ability to watch a sprint car race.

I would have said the samething until this year when watcing the race in turn one and got blindsided in the ear with a beachball my two boys thought it was funny and after the inital shock I guess it was, funny as hell

Ive had a beer knocked outta my hand by an errant beach ball before!  I should have been hanging on tighter ! Besides , they sell more beer !  I thought it was funny !  Nobody hit me on purpose !  But i get what ur saying. Look at it this way ; ur boys will forever say " remember that time dad got  drilled in the ear with the beachball "?   Lifetime memory with the boys right there buddy!

This was my first Nationals after going to the 360 Nationals last year.    After the "drunks in the stands" thread I really didn't know what to expect.   We sat on the back straight in one of the sections towards turn 3.   The crowd was certainly lively and borderline rowdy, but I didn't think anything got out of line.   I also don't care for the beach balls and the people yelling at everyone trying to do the frickin' "wave", but people are having a good time and as far as I know noone (including me!) got puked on.    When you compress 20,000 rednecks into an area that size you expect some problems.  Overall though, I thought the crowd was pretty well behaved.

As for the OP and what they said, I completely agree.   I also am involved with R/C Airplanes and guns and go to numerous forums for those things.   People disagree on those forums too, but I rarely see the threads disintegrate quickly into name calling and insults like you would on these racing forums.     I gotta think there are as many rednecks on gun forums as there are on racing forums, so I'm not really sure what the difference really is.     I live in the Dallas area where we have seven tracks in the area.   At least two of those tracks don't allow any of their people on racing forums to post results, make announcements, or anything else.    Personally, I don't blame them.    You certainly have to debate whether or not the internet forums are actually good for racing.  

Thank you willie , this is exactly my point!   Let me delve deeper into the subject. A few days ago i talked to a promoter about some advertising oppotunities at his track for next year.  The track we r talking about is " late model " track.  This promoter would like to get more sprint cars involved at this track. ( next yr will b his 1st here)  He said and i quote " sprint car fans r the BEST fans to have at  a dirt track"!!!!   He said they are for the most case 1. well behaved ( dont tear up stuff and dont fight) 2. better educated 3. more disposable income 4. more loyal to the shows (u can count on them to b there)  I was pretty damned impressed by this !  WE ARE THE BEST FANS !!!!!!!!  Why cant we act like it on here ?????   

Well said !  I agree with everything you just said .  I too am associatted with both. I work on a late model cause there arent any sprints in my area. I have sponsored sprints off and on for over 20 yrs from weekly racers to a world of  outlaws team.  

We just need to set down and have a cold beer and talk sprint cars all day... with no fear of beachballs... lmao

Knoxville is a 14 hr drive for me,actually, I have made that drive for a weekly show,and ill gladly do it again, why? because its Knoxville!  at first, I was just a sprintcar fan at the age of 10, ( i didnt even know where Knoxville was) I attended my first WoO show when my Dad and Godfather took me to RRVS, my memories are Lee Brewer setting track record,Swindel in the Old mill, car, Joe Gearte with the House of windsor car,WOLFGANG, MY fav! in the 49!, Kinser in Vavoline colors, those times have changed, BUT, I have not, the excitement with Knoxville makes me feel like a kid again, NOW, fast forward 20 plus years from my first WoO show, im a competitor, I still Idolize those that turned laptimes well before my first tap of the pushtruck, racing with them is something not many people get to experiance as a competitor, that is, competing with thier heros, conversing about food,cards,birthdays,pets,weather.. with childhood HERO'S!  that is something the sprint car world has givin me. that is something not many competitors of any other sport can say they have. Knoxville holds True to me, because that passion is still there, with new generations or old, you turn one lap there  or one hundred  your making history , Indapolis is the only place that holds relevent in my mind to that type of significance,(stockcar racing, you can have it) Indy is pavement , this is dirt, my love is for the DIRT! alltho I have yet to be fast there I still love Knoxville!