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

His is obviously the first full page editorial in Sprint Car and Midget, following by 3 or 4 other motorsports writer's editorials.  After discussing the terrible loss of Gregg Hodnett, he used the bulk of that page to let us know what he feels is necessary in sprint car racing:  the speeds have to come down.   360 sprint cars today have much more power/HP than the 410s of the Kinser/Swindell/Wolfgang era, yet that was fantastic racing.  A few years prior to that era the racing was also fantastic, this when the engines of sprint cars were damned near stock in many respects or to use Auld's words, "old engine technology" or in Bob Trostle's book, when your engine was gettting long in the tooth, you just went over to the local dealer and picked up a new short block for $400.  

HP increases each and every year, especially in the top sprint car series, so they will continue getting faster and more dangerous in flips, so what do we do to make them safer, bundle up the cage with 15" of some type of sponge to limit the battering these cars take in a massive series of flips.  Can't do that. But he's correct IMO that speeds need to come down.  

PS  Auld is as most know the editor of Sprint Car and Midget and I believe he may own this internet site or started it.  And Auld had a very nice lengthly article early in the magazine about Gregg's great career with some nice pictures as well as the cover picture.

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

So are we saying that noone got killed back when the speeds were slower?    You can slow the cars down to 80 mph and guys will still get killed.   You take a wheel or some other part from a car in your roll cage it won't matter what speed the car is going.   We would be better off safety wise fixing some of the glaring safety problems at some of these tracks, which is why we lost Greg and Jason.   

When it comes to Doug's opinion on the speeds, there's definitely something to that but I agree with you 100%. Hit an unprotected guardrail end like Hodnett did going a little slower and the result is the same. Slam cage first into a concrete barrier that doubles as a shear and the result is the same. There's a reason why we have all these tracks putting up water barrels at the openings and Port Royal installing a section of soft wall coming out of the pits (although the entire inside of the track is still surrounded by cement jersey barrier) and the reason is, they know it's a hazard and Greg's accident forced them to finally do something. In the case of Port Royal, that opening was already configured very well. They put a lot of thought into it when they did it but better safe than sorry. They should be commended for that. I hope we keep seeing these tracks fixing some of these issues that are staring them right in the face. Heard rumors that Williams Grove is possibly going to be removing the bridge. Don't know how true it is but I hope they do before it's to late.

Remove the bridge, bad idea, what about the boiler plate outside 3 and 4, bad idea. Why can't anyone understand. Everyone of us knows about the bridge, everyone of us see's the boiler plate. We strap in for the adrenaline rush, the feeling of driving a car that can have fatal contact with numerous items around a racing surface. I enjoyed as many of us did watching both drivers pass. I knew Kevin Gobrect, every one of them had a love for the rush of winning. Remember them, don't mourn them, because they loved what they did. I loved it, and some have said about the speeds. We didn't have the seats of today, we didn't have the helmets of today. The other thing we also didn't have was the room in the cage as today's cars do. If opperman had a helmet and a seat and a large cage. Yea if only. 

I've never understood the argument, "Bad things are going to happen regardless, so we shouldn't try to fix things."

Amen.

Same here... 

If you slow the cars down, with the improvements in safety, there would be fewer injuries let alone God forbid the fatalities

I appreciate your perspective but let's be honest, let's say Williams Grove removes the bridge, how many drivers are gonna say "Damn. It just isn't as much of a rush without taking the risk of getting scalped by that bridge." Ain't gonna happen. They love the rush but they also love their families and everyone out there wants to live to feel that rush another day. There will ALWAYS be a huge risk factor with these cars. But when a hazard is staring you right in the face, there's no reason let it remain the way it is.

Fixxxerr. Only point I am trying to have anyone understand. The green flag falls  and the biggest obstacle every driver has is the other 23 cars out there with them. You start looking around any track I don't care were you can have the same conclusion. 

I think the huge advances in safety in the past several years are being overcome by the speeds these cars are now making. Back in the Kinser-Swindell-Wolfgang hay day, there was no where near the safety that there is today. Who can recall what the seats consisted of back in the day of the Big 3? I sure as hell can. And the seats are just one prime example of the safety improvements. So slow them som bitches down and get the full benefit of the safety that's been made available. In the end there will also be better racing.

Doug doesn't own this or start it.

 "We have met the enemy and he is us." 

The engines aren't the problem. They used to run big blocks.

The wings aren't the problem. They make them safer.

Nothing wrong with sprint car racing that a modified tire on the RR,

a late model tire on the LR, a wing angle rule wouldn't fix.

Port Royal had 15 cars this summer and the economy is booming.

Economy slows down again and watch out.

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com

You've got a whole new generation coming on here that doesn't know the background of your page and message board.  Seems like a good opening for an article about your website and how it started in one of the magazines.  Us old folks who have been here since day one know the "rest of the story". 

Stan Meissner

I read someplace that in the history of the track only 1 car has hit bridge and it was not fatal.  I really do not think drivers get some big rush going under bridge and I doubt that they would miss it.  Any one should no that the faster you go the more danger.  Simple physics.  Some things that need to be fixed stand right out and others it is almost impossible to see a possible danger.  If it is possible to happen sooner or later it will happen.  

It's been hit at least twice since I can remember. Hodnett hit it in 2001 (and I believe he had an injury as a result. Don't remember for sure) and Doug Esh hit it back in 2011. I remember back in the early 90's when Port Royal had the cement bleachers that sat way too close to the track with a small fence that an average height adult could reach the top of while standing on the walkway. Somehow, that set up went for decades without there ever being an issue. I remember it was something that people often talked about being an accident waiting to happen and they were right because Dick Travers hit the inside fence and tossed an axel with the wheel attached over the fence and it hit a fan and almost killed him. It wasn't pretty at all as I'm sure you can imagine. We all left the bleachers while they hosed that spot off and then racing resumed. The very next week they had a new, much higher catch fence there that's still in place today. A couple of weeks later, Bobby Strawser driving the Penn Motorsports #5 went for a ride down the frontstretch and got up into the fence. If the old fence had been left in place, he likely would have landed right in the crowd. It may not happen often, but all it takes is once. If there's something that can obviously be made safer, I say do it. Why wait until the wrong number comes up?

The Apple 12 flipped up and hit the leading edge of the bridge so hard that the bottom rails of the 12 bent the steel flange...and resulted in a foot injury if memory serves.

Several other bad wrecks narrowly avoided contact with the steel eyesore...notably Kauffman in the Middlesworth 7 which landed just a few feet short of ramming it in mid air. 

The history buffs might have a comment or two on bridge wrecks from the early days. 

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

Is it logical to raise the bridge up about 5 feet?

Making the point that the cars should be slowed down to make them safer is one thing, but as far as the Kinser/Swindell/Wolfgang era being "fantastic," the number of guys that can realistically hope to win on any given night in this era blows away how competitive the upper levels of Sprint Car racing were 30-35 years ago.

Is the Bobby Strawser of the #5 Penn Motorsport the same bstrawser of Hoseheads?

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

I remember Kauffman's flip well. If I'm not mistaken, he was close enough to hitting the bridge that his front wing actually touched it. That one could have been BAD.