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

I've often told myself I wish I could've seen AJ and Mario in their prime in a sprint car. I think we are seeing the same sort of once in a generation driving talent in Kyle. We need to take it in each time we get a chance to see him behind the wheel.

Make that a minute or two as long as there is a trace of a top groove.  A week or two everywhere else. 

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

The only problem with this is he is showing how much better the the WoO guys were in the 80's and 90's than we have today.  Part time greats like Vogler, Hewitt, Gordon etc were lapped by the 1, 10 and 11 in the glory days. 

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

I don't think the 15 car is any better than the rest. Most all of them have the best equipment money can buy. It's certainly not any better than the top WOO cars. Donnie is just consistently a little better than the rest. Yes he and Ricky work well together but that doesn't mean Ricky and another driver would click the same. And I'm pretty sure Kyle doesn't require some magic setup. He wouldn't be as consistently fast in random cars if he did. Just give him a basic setup, put tires on it and fuel in it and he takes care of the rest. I have no doubt he could make my setup look good.  

I won't be surprised when Kyle wins the Nationals. You know it's on his list.

And Steve Kinser has to be on that list. Not even counting the12 Nationals he's 3rd on the all-time win list and he only ran there a few times a year. It'd be interesting to see number of starts added to those stats.  

vande77 and MoOpenwheel - you guys make some good points.

I don't think he laps the field in the 15.  Give him neutral car and let him decide how/where he wants to run.  He gets up on the wheel and makes it work low or high.

The Nationals will be tough for him to win.  Not due to talent, but the fact that he drives so hard and is so agressive.  He will have to temper that and turn it on when he needs to but be smooth and be patient and save his tires at other times.  He's got more than enough talent to win it, no doubt about it.

His NASCAR involvment just shows even further how good he is.  Dealing with NASCAR lunacy usually tarnishes real talent.

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

The NASCAR experience will help him with patience. He's learned how to do that this year and he's second in points and would have several wins if not for bad luck. That will only help him at the Nationals. He did come from the B to 5th in the A last year and may have been the fastest car the last 10 laps. With the 25 lap segments Jason Johnson proved last year that you don't really have to save much. He sure didn't. Win or not it'll be fun to watch Kyle when he does show up. 

I resurrected the "What's worng with Joey Saldana" thread yesterday morning cause I "had a feeling" (as I said in that thread) that we'll be talking about Joey a lot the next couple days / weeks.  Then Kyle announced he was running the car yesterday midday.

This wasn't a "hey I want to run a midweek WoO show for the heck of it" type thing for Kyle.  Ricky hired him to run the car last night and it's not a coincidence he was in the J&J.  Not saying what will or won't happen, but this was all very much on purpose (hiring Kyle, putting him specifically in the J&J, etc.)...and Kyle went out and won...   

Good stuff rolldog. 

Had a very similar conversation the other day with someone when I heard Kyle was running for Ricky...The biggest challenge for Kyle would be consistency.  He drives so hard that to do that for 90+ races would be a grind to not only himself and the crew but equipment.  Kyle sometimes isn't the best qualifier and we joked "he'll qualify terrible, start 20th in the A and pound it to a podium finish..."  Doing that (wreckers of checkers) 90+ times a year would take a toll and be hard to do.  Talent wise, he's probably unmatched.  But with the WoO consistency is key as well.  Kyle could wheel a non downtube, wooden framed car to a podium finish on pure talent and will alone, but doing so for 9-10 months across the country every single week would be his biggest challenge.  Once he figured consistency out (and learning that some nights on some tracks you gotta let the track and race come to you) yeah he'd be tops for sure. 

Engine.    Could someone please tell me: did the sprint car (  #17 ) Larson drove for Stenhouse last night ( and won the WoO race with  have a Ford or Chevy based engine ???     Thanks.      No ax to grind, just curious.  

Not sure if you're serious or just trying to stir up minthess but it was a Chevy.  No 410 Ford yet...

All that said, you know these are purpose built engines, so calling them a Chevy or Ford is fine, but again these are purpose built engines with purpose built components. 

We would all like that, but who's gonna pay him the NASCAR $$$?

Nickules,  Thanks for your reply and yes I'm serious and not just "trying to stir up minthess"--That's why I said "no ax to grind" and "Ford or Chevy "BASED" possibly "designed" would've been a better word to use.  I've been around racing long enough ( since 1954 ) to know about racing engines, up to the current sprint car engines that are PURPOSE BUILT but  can be and have been Chevy, Ford or Mopar "BASED" (designed) but built using all after market racing parts/components from the block to the spark plugs.  I'm old but I thought at the beginning of this WoO season there were questions concerning Ford based engines BECAUSE  both Schatz's ( # 15 ) and Saldana's ( 17W ) had large FORD decals on their respective WoO cars.  At least one article I read indicated Schatz's car was not using Ford based engines BUT the Saldana driven car was using Ford based engines.  Seeing the car Kyle Larson won with is from the number 17 team's stable of cars I'm asking about the engine in that car.  Thanks to all who might really know so they might be able to answer my question.

badger boy

P.S.  I've also been around long enough to realize a decal on the car does not always mean the product on the decal is on the car.  

Larson has driven better equipment relative to the field than Vogler, Hewitt or the Shoff 23s were back in the day. 

Also before we crown him, he's run 35 WoO shows since 2012,  and won 4. Extraordinary talent, would likely win the WoO title in a year or 2, and what he did last night was amazing, but let's not overreact. 

Badger Boy, meant no offense at all and did not mean to suggest you didn't know about engines, etc.

Elk Grove Ford (a dealership) is a major sponsor of the 17, so yes Ford decal, but for a Ford dealership.  Schatz's Ford decal IS for the Ford brand (not a specific dealership per se). 

Ford is working with TSR / Schatz / Ron Shaver to develop a 410 engine, but it is not finished yet.  They're building it from the ground up and at each phase components, etc. have to be tested and approved by WoO.  It's not done yet nor to my knowledge is it far along enough yet for "testing." 

The engines in the 17 (or 17s) are Chevy based.  There's no approved 410 Ford on the WoO circuit right now. 

Do you know for a fact that Shaver has their hands on it

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

Gotta agree with you! And, as talented as he is, going on tour would still present some extreme challlenges. Being on the road and staying as busy in the manner the WoO drivers are, is a lot different than showing up fresh, full of piss and vinegar and excited to be taking a "break" from his day job and having fun.  When he does run, and when he wins, it seems like the bandwagon fills up overnight and those jumping on it look at it as immeddiate success, when as you pointed out, there were a lot of missed attempts leading up to the wins. I'm not saying he isn't busy as a NASCAR driver, he is, but I gotta believe it's a less grinding busy than running the Outlaws. Sure he'd be a force to be reckoned with, but it would take some time to get to the top. Or, maybe a key driver's retirement.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

Question for you........ I realize that SLS promoted the race last night (at least I think) and the Outlaws are expensive, but what was the rationale for the $37 price point for a reduced purse?

Yep and a wide high banked bullring instead of a strung-out, semi-banked half-mile.

A