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

Seems to me he's sitting out by his own choice. 

One of the best points on here Stan. As has been discussed a number of times every year on here, there is a difference between competing on the WoO tour and contending for a championship. I like the teams like Shark Racing, Brent Marks, Jason Sides, Jason Johnson, Ian Madsen etc that probably do not have a snowballs chance in h.e double hockey sticks at winning a title but they are trying to compete each night. To contend for a WoO championship you have to go through the 15 team.

Only 2 people in the last 12 seasons have been able to do it on 3 occasions (Jason Meyers & Daryn Pittman). Meyers not only beat Schatz 2years in a row but took him all the way to Charlotte twice as well. I do not ever see Meyers coming out of his semi-retired schedule any time soon but I wish he would as he was one of my favorite drivers and was able to give the 15 a fight for the title.

I would bet money that Schatz doesn't have as many championships if Meyers didn't quit.  That was almost as surprising as Carl Edwards walking away. 

That is correct but the question didn't make that distinction.  

Stan Meissner

In regards to the Phillips boys, who's tore up more equipment than anyone I can think of, they have both improved. Tasker got noticably better 2 years ago, and at the same time I thought Sawyer as well had the most potential. However from what I've seen from both of them at Knoxville and outside of Knoxville I do not think they could complete on the same level as the current group that's with the WOO, and when I say compete I mean potentially contend for wins, in addition to finish in the top ten. 

Looking at who's in the top ten right now, and even the top 15, can  said driver, consistently finish ahead of any of these guys? Those who are sitting 9th - 15th could move around from year to year. Then 7,8 and maybe 9th, who'd I group together. 6th to 2nd are in a level on their own and then theres Donny. Like I said previously the list is extremely small , who can crack the top 10. Yes, many of the drivers previously mentioned probably can finish 7 - 10 in the standings. Meyers, Larson and Bell, IMO are the only ones who could break into that 2-6th group. 

Keep It Real

Really? You probably believe the reason he quit is that he "retired". That's about the only way you get to that delusion. Carl Edwards didn't quit because his money source was headed to the slammer when his Ponzi scheme revealed itself. Nothing surprising in either case except one was honest about the actual reason and the other was not. Carl was honest. Jason Meyers was not.

The statute of limitations probably hasn't expired yet...

So you think a 2time WoO champion who was able to get sponsorship and backing prior to when Chris Luck came on board would have had an issue finding other sponsorship? Meyers and another owner had ownership of the team before Chris Luck came on board and had sponsors before Chris Luck.

Not to mention, I am sure he probably would not have had an issue with finding another ride if he did not want to be a driver owner anymore because of the fallout. As I recall, I believe after the 2012 season KKR was trying to sign Meyers before they ended up Signing Pittman in the 9.

Some of Meyers success in those years wasn’t so much that he was dominant like Schatz is (although he got on a streak there in 2011 to suggest he could be) but that Schatz couldn’t figure out the Goodyear’s. He had some lean years back then and I think the only reason we don’t really remember is because he still won Knoxville. 

We all know the rumors at the time.  No one was surprised that deal went away.  What was surprising to me was that he didn't find other help or a ride and hasn't since.  He was at the top of the game.  I would have thought he could have came up with something if he really wanted to continue.  He just walked away in his prime.

And you can take that tone and shove it.  

That's the part that you and others like you either don't know or don't want to believe. Jason Meyers didn't announce his "retirement" until no other options became available. Even after he announced his "retirement" he was looking for opportunitys to get back on the road. I was actually hoping one would develop so that the whole "retirement" story would be revealed for the bullshit that it was.

I rather like my tone and would be comfortable with anywhere that it might be "shoved" :-)

you're right jason myers walked away on his terms. lots of up & coming cali hotshoes could come in to this conv. in a few years-gio scelzi, michael kofoid, hell i bet ryan bernal could put a wing on full time and run with the best of them. jmho. contending though, is a different subject

I'm sorry but that makes 0 sense. Retirement after he did not have any other options? He did have options as they had other sponsorship from All-star Performance, tarlton and sons, and Georgia Boot. He could have moved forward but Chris Luck was not the end all be all of that team. It existed before Chris Luck. Now I will say that when the situation happened it may have caused Meyers to sit back and reflect like anyone else in that situation, but I wouldn't call the retirement story bullshit.

I would have been more inclined to call it bullshit if he were to have take the KKR offer at the end of the year or returned full time within a few years. However, he has not done that. He never said he was retiring completely from the sport and since then he has raced mainly around the west coast. Aside from doing a couple Nationals a couple times, Kings Royal once, and Charlotte once he has basically stuck by his statement. His schedule has been very limited the past 6years

Suit yourself but one piece of the puzzle you underestimate is how much of the financial puzzle Chris Luck's Ponzi funds added up to. Georgia Boot never even got off the ground so I'm not sure why you bring that up. The ability of that team to perform at the level they did their two championship seasons evaporated as soon as the Luck money was gone. I'm not privy to the KKR offer or its timing but I doubt it was Jason who turned it down. It's far more likely that the team chose Pittman over him. Jason Meyers was also not universally loved by the people who competed with him.  I am far from the only one who didn't like the arrogant prick.

I'd have to go back and listen, but I thought Meyers had said they had to back off the Georgia Boot deal going into his final year when he was on Open Red. Who knows if that's the full truth or not. 

I would be surprised if he legitimately wanted to put a deal together and was unable to. Just doesn't seem very plausible to me.

Ahh so because you didn't like him because you felt he was an "arrogant prick" is the reason you feel his retirement was bullshit. I see chief.

Not underestimating how much of Luck's money helped, but I am not going to automatically assume a team that existed before he got involved, couldn't after he is no longer associated. Hence bringing up Georgia Boot because Jason & Guy were able to find sponsorship and still had sponsorship lined up.

I like Pittman but if I had to choose between him and meyers at that time I'm choosing Meyers. Plus, a big reason for Meyers success was that they tried to keep everything in house by building their own chassis, asscociting with Garrett engines, and probably figured out the good year tires better than schatz at that time.

I didn't care for him before all this shit came down. All this just made me feel even more like the sober man in the room :-). I base my opinion on his "retirement" on the facts as they were revealed. Not the spin that was put out by Jason and others to make it look like it was something other than what it was. 

OK - I'll bite, what facts are you basing your opinion on?

He didn't "retire" because he wanted to see the kiddos grow up, that's one. If you are going to "retire" for that reason be a little older at least and don't have a big source of your funding go poof at the same time. Because if you do some people are going to be smart enough to call bullshit on your bullshit. For anyone who thinks all of the things that gave them a competitive advantage those two  years (in house this, in house that) could have been funded  by every source they had left after the Luck money disappeared plus maybe one new partner I have more sad news for you: Santa Claus doesn't exist either.