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

1. Gravel: expected

2. Schatz -48; I would have guessed top (5) behind Macedo, Gio, Gravel, and possibly Logan

3. Gio -72 finished 4th last year, so no suprise; but behind sweet, gravel, and macedo

4. Logan -88 LY ran 5th so this seems appropriate. Was hoping for top (3)

5. Macedo -100 biggest surpise IMO. I was expecting Macedo to run 2nd; however I think this shows how strong the top 5 are

6. Buddy -146 Would expect to be in the 6 - 8 range; zero wins but 5th most top tens

7. Sheldon -188 inconsistent; but 2 wins; 7 top 10s

8. Balog - 244 pleasantly surpised; happy to see him running. 7 top tens 

9. Zearfoss - 288 expected

10. Crawley - 370 expected
These are the guys who's started all 13 races

Keep It Real

I think Macedo, Buddy and Sheldon have all been faster than Logan, but WoO point format rewards consistency. I don't see anyone catching Gravel, especially with Macedo in a 100 pt hole already. 

Is it correct that you do not get points for TT or heat races, only for feature and B main results?

I am pleasantly surprised by Balog's success. I hope he can stick it out the full year.  Buddy is very good and has Toyota providing engines.  He will be rookie of the year as long as he runs most of the series.

Correct, for a few years they awarded points for time trials, but when they went to a straight up format, they abandoned that and now only award points for the mains. 

I believe Pittman may have beaten Schatz in the championship due to the number of quick times in time trials.  Anyone remember this?

That was the talk yes.  And in fact he did get more time trial points and Schatz got more race points.  The one thing people didn't want to talk about was the invert.  I can't remember the exact rules back then but I do remember doing some checking and found that due to qualifying time inverts Pittman started behind Schatz more than not in features.  It was a big reason they went to the current format where you get what you earn.  

dont remember that one but I do remember pittman winning the gold cup for 50K at chico in the early 2000's.  I remember one of those races schatz hurled  his car into turn two wall, backwards!  the result?  saw the huge methanol fire!   that burned his face and hands pretty bad...

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

I believe back in 2013 the top 5 qualifiers were the only ones that got points. I think 1st got 5pts, 2nd got 4pts so on and so forth. Invert was top 16 qualifiers and still the top 2 into the dash. Schatz did start in front of Pittman in more races, but I think there was a stat that showed how often Schatz was on the front row of the heat race due to the invert. I remember a ton of people having the conspiracy theory that he was sandbagging and timing it so he could get a front row starting spot in the heat due to the invert. Some comical discussions back then. Pts were awarded the same in the feature with 2pts per position with I believe 4pts seperating 1st & 2nd. Another factor back then was car count because at several big races in Ohio, PA, Cal, and Knoxville you would have 5-6heat races. I forget how the invert worked in those instances. Not sure if the top 4 of the heat race were still inverted or not. I think the last race in the heat of the moment Schatz said something to the effect of they lost because of qualifying and not racing or something to that effect. 

I think they switched to the current format in 2016. It makes every race and every position count. Your bad finishes effect you as much as your wins and top 3s. 

Didn't Joey Saldana win over 20 races one year but Schatz still won the championship on time trial points?   Don't remember the exact year but I believe it was the 9 car and maybe a year or two before Pittman took over driving it.

Joey did win 20 in 2009, but fiished 3rd to Schatz and Meyers.  Schatz got quick time 8 more times than Saldana that year which gave him fewer bonus points than the 70 points that Joey finished behind Donny.  The points difference came down more to the Top 10s and lack of DNFs Donny had over Jason and Joey. The difference between 1st and 2nd is/was 4 points.  The difference between 10th and 20th is/was 20 points.  Joey did win the most money that year (not counting the points fund). 

Yea, & I didn't like it....