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

Thank you so much for your response!! It hearkens back to a long time ago when there were lots and LOTS of drivers on here, and times were great, Sadly, anonymous message board posters ran them all off, and we have what you see now.

Please, don't hesitate to post again as most of us appreciate hearing from the source.

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

Good point, and tracks themselves have largely withdrawn from these internet forums.   We have one local forum here for the N Texas area, and noone even posts race results on it any more.     I wonder if this isn't one of the few internet forums that any significant number of people use.  

I've said before on this board and I'll say again that I admire your "full of piss and vinegar" energetic style!  Energy unfortunately left my body about 50 years ago, so that leaves you "young guns" to carry the torch and pass the flame.  When/if the time comes when the bones get a little too creaky to straddle a 410 between your legs, I think you might have a bright future as a flamboyant promoter!  Stay safe young man and keep it inside the cushion!

Attempting to be a voice of reason in a world full of
irrationality. 

Danny for your trip west the weekend of June 9 head to Minnesota and the Jackson Nationals!!

The worst president of my lifetime:
Ronald Reagan

Danny, if you want to see sprint car racing stay in PA, guys like you, Marks, Gravel,Wolfe,Rahmer need to help the sport, promote the sport, not trash it on the Internet. Does anybody think everytime Steve Kinser, Wolfgang, Steve Smith, AJ, Mario, they were only racing on the "perfect surface? Go back and look at history, show up to every race, and make it happen. Thanks for responding anyway.

History of the Grove = Crowds / Track Conditions / Car Counts / Overall Experience on steady decline after the passing of Jack Gun

you too can be qualified to tell DOUBLE D when and where to race...cut a sponsor check contingent on participation at your favorite track. 

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

I rest my case. Show up, shut up, and run the shit out of it.

You’re trying to tell me AJ didn’t give people hell deserved or not? LOL I always find it funny that the “diehard traditionalist” believe that “sit down, strap in and shut up” is the only acceptable attitude for racers. Yet some of the biggest icons of the sport like Dale, AJ, Sammy, etc were far from it.

Also, when has DD attacked the sport? Only one I can think of was the sarcastic comment about tech and amount of races last year. Majoriity of them have been pointed towards bad tracks and bad fan conditions. Fans have been pointing to the Grove for declining car and fan count and no one seems to listen to the fans when other tracks are. Maybe if other racers were more vocal we wouldn’t have dealt with the awful track conditions for the past couple years.

Also don’t gloss over the show that DD just promoted at Port Royal. That is what happens when a track and promoter are busting their asses. 

Williams Grove winner last night and from the 4th row, none other than Double D himself, yahoooooooooo......

It seems as if the Grove management listened to DD's comments as the track last night was very racy. Unfortunely the car count declines when they have handicap line ups for heat racing. You do get rewarded with heads up starting position for the feature. Thanks to the racing God's as it was pouring 1/2 mile away when I drove out..

The Grove had a cushion last night.....that is what every track needs.  When the drivers have a cushion to lean on the drivers are more willing to take chances!  To have said cushion you need to have it a little more wet at the beginning of the night and let it get into a racey condition throughout the night.  Your track should be at it's best during the feature.  

I have been watching the outlaws and the tracks they have been running at in the midwest all have one thing in common....very fast at the beginning.....developing a cushion and the track is at it's best during the feature.

I hope the local tracks in PA realize what they need to do to produce great racing!  I am not only talking about the Grove with this comment another track comes to mind for me....the one closest to me!    

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

LOL...super Mario ring a bell ?   great post

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

DD - gonna get you a new compass. Pretty sure when you park it on the front stretch at the Grove, you're heading East/Southeast.

strawser you just don't get it.  It has nothing to do with a cushion.  It has nothing to do with lap times in warm ups or heats.  The only factor in a good race is at least two different lines (grooves) that are close in lap times (what ever they may be).  Port usually has two, sometimes 3 or 4.  Williamsgrove rarely has 2 anymore.  That is the only problem.  Everything you say is garbage and is actually worse than your opinion of port royal.   

Strawser and I don't agree on much, but he's right about a cushion. To be at it's best a track needs a cushion up yonder on the track. Also some grip down low and a middle to slide trough. With enough moisture early on, often times the middle will come in late also, as the slide jobs will churn up the surface. A two groove track without a top cushion is too narrow in most cases to offer good racing. Espcially when the lapped cars come in to play. Two cars dicing for position and splitting lapped cars won't happen on a two lane track. The lapped cars are usually camping in one of those two lines.

Agreed. Last week, Williams Grove was the best it has been all year and they didn't touch the cushion all night. In Central PA, Port Royal and Williams Grove especially, they have an obsession with beating the cushion to oblivion with push trucks. BAPS is the one track that seems to understand that a nice cushion makes for exciting sprint car racing. Saturday at Port Royal, there was literally nothing left up top and they still went out before the sprint car feature and ran it in. In turns 3&4, the "cushion" (which at Port Royal is usually just a little bit of loose dirt that got kicked up from the last time they ran the cushion in. They usually do it at least 3 times throughout the course of any event) was only about 3 feet from the guardrail and they still beat it down. Absolutely mind boggling.

Yeah sometimes tracks feel the need to waste time and pack it down when it's already up near the guardrail where it should be. A cushion up near the guardrail is definitely needed for good racing but on the flip side - a wet track with a cushion half-way up provides a high speed slot track. with no passing unless lapped cars come into play. "Slick to a curb" provides the best racing. Easier said than done though, it's not an exact science and ma nature doesn't always feel like cooperating.

A

I'm totally ok with running it in to widen the groove when it's really wet and it does as you said and builds a curb around the middle of the track. As you know, most weeks that isn't an issue at our tracks yet they still do all they can to kill the track anyway. I'll never understand it. It's totally pointless and accomplishes nothing more than causing boring racing more times than not.

I do get it.  If you want to have two grooves that are fast and racey you need a cushion...not pounding it down every chance you get.  Port starts out slow in warmups and gets very slow for the feature.  When drivers can't get a hold of the track during the heats early in the night and the track gets hard, black and dry that is not racing.  That is a slip and slide only good for napcar.  

If the speeds at Port are not in the high 15 to very low 16 second bracket in warmups at Port....the track will be used up by the time the heats are halfway over.  Stimely and Swartz better wake because I heard some asphalt racers are wanting to come race on the asphalt at the half mile of Port.  You want your track to be at it's best for the feature....not the heats....Port has it backwards.

Wiliamsgrove had a cushion on Friday and the racing was much better.....enough said.  They put more water on it and it developed a cushion for the drivers to lean on.......just saying.  

Then Saturday at Port....I mean the slip and slide after the heats were halfway over.......

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!