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

I disagree with your disagreement. Starters and batteries would add some more parts to break. Imagine the outcry when an open red is thrown on the3rd lap of a feature because one of the favorites needs to change out a starter .

If you have a good crew of pushtrucks, things go well. I figure I've probably been to a race that had sprint cars as one of the classes somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 times in my life. Want to know how many are memorable for how long it took to push start the cars? Zero.

-Husets has a good crew of pushtrucks.
-The amount of time it took to line up cars- any cars- before raceceivers was a lot longer than it ever took to push a sprint car field off. 

 

I guess we can agree to disagree then......................see you at the races! 

It's not noticeable on a National level because most of the places the Outlaws and others go have a good amount of push trucks. It's very noticeable when the sprints are not the headline division and are a support class where a track doesn't have as many trucks available. I think it also hurts on a local level because tracks may not be as likely to have a 305 sprint division because of the pain in the ass it is to have to start them every time. 

I did like the old PA handicapping shows. But EVERYTHING about racing is different now. The difference between the haves and the havenots is very much smaller, so the penalty now is very much bigger than in past. Maybe go back a year to the old handicapping system and see what you get . Would it create more excitement? Doubtful?

I threw out starters being a smartass. I am used to tracks like knoxville and 34 raceway, which are very good at efficient push offs. Now some of the tracks they go to are awful at it. 

It seems like right behind starters would be rear view mirrors, 2-way radios, doors,fenders, and rear-engined cars.

To be honest, I've seen both a rear-engined sprint and a 4 wheel drive sprint, back in the early 70's. They didn't do well . 

I dunno, would it be more of a pain in the butt than B-mod features with 20 spins before they time out at 20 minutes?

You must be one of those wild eyed radicals!

The whole sprint car world is hung up on tradition & thats the way we like it!

Brad-

How 'bout you get creative with tow money and make it more of a carrot than a stick? Here's an idea. Make tow money amounts progressive. (Note: these are not real numbers. I use them as an illustration of how things could work.) The first show a driver races, no tow money. The second race,$100; the third race, $200; the fourth race, $300, etc. A racer who follows the whole series could reap some rewards that add up. A racer who only races H-L half a dozen times gets a reward not offered by others series.

You should listen to what the NASCAR owners have to say.  These new cars (COT, Gen 6 and whatever this crap is today) have not made things cheaper for the owners, that's always the idea when a new car comes out but it doesn't ever work out that way.  There is no way any team is spending less than they did in the early 2000s.  I don't see their books but every owner talks about how expensive it is, not how it's cheaper.  Maybe I should've clarified how money ruined NASCAR.  in the 2000s NASCAR teams were getting more money than it cost to run a race team, so they started spending stupid amounts of money for miniscule advantages.  Now those huge sponsors can't afford to sponsor a race team (or they don't see the value in it) but it costs more than it ever has.  Teams have to cut corners and it's turned into a pay to race kind of a thing, which I don't think anyone likes.  Do we see the best drivers in NASCAR anymore?  Or the richest ones?  The same thing is happening in sprint car racing too.

You're right bringing motor costs down will NOT save sprint car racing but it will help a whole bunch.  I don't have the numbers but I don't see any way that there are more "outlaw" or 410 teams than there was in 1990.  If you continue to ignore the problem there won't be sprint car racing in 30 years.

To make the cars able to start themselves you would also need a clutch.  That would change a whole bunch of things.

There's some really interesting ideas in this thread.  This is sure to piss someone off because it always does.  But I think a new format or format tweaks would be ok with a lot of people.  Here's some ideas I like that I've read on here or thought of after reading other peoples ideas.

Get rid of time trials.  Personally I hate time trials and always have.

I think a lot of people are tired of the heats being a freight train race.

I like the draw for your start and passing points format.

Another idea could be double heats (draw for you start and then start inverted of how you started in the 1st heat for your 2nd heat)

If you were to get rid of qualifying how about having longer heats?  12-15 laps but the kicker would be that there would be a caution every 4 or 5 laps and then line them up double file for a restart.

I liked the idea of two dashes, one for the inside row and one for the outside row, passing one guy means a whole lot more than.

I also liked the idea about two B features where both advance to the A.

I know it's more than one suggestion but I guess my suggestion is to tweak the format and these are a few ideas, I know not everyone will like them.

I was going to suggest that H-L limit their racers to only being able to race 75 non- H-L races per year, in order to protect the brand value, etc. But I see Brad isn't down with that idea.

I never liked passing point races because you never know what is going as far as where anyone will lineup for the feature until all the heats are over. I don't like needing a scoreboard to keep track of what is going on. It makes it hard to place your bets. LOL

I'm confused. No matter whether using passing points or time trials, don't you still not know where anyone will line up until after the heat races are over?

Brad-

Please limit H-L to having only one support class. ONE. This will make some people testy, but I feel that support class should be some kind of fendered car. It should be highest fender class raced locally. Those guys can help you get the track in good racing condition, and won't be the spin every other lap show. 

I have crewed for late models, and sprint cars. Not just a grandstander. & would Chris Madden be crying if he was going to start 6th on a one lane track and drew the #1 at the pill draw? Would he refuse it as unfair and demand to start 6th? Would really love to hear the answers to those two questions from Madden himself.

I can understand that.  However for the first 5 years I went to the races, I had no idea how they lined up the features.  But I loved it, listening to the lineup was huge every night I went.  That's nearly 35 years ago now and I understand a lot of fans today don't like the not knowing.  But I guess I never found the passing point format real difficult to follow.  Not saying I could predict the perfect lineup but if a guy comes from the third row to win his heat, there's a good chance he's got the pole.  However in today's world, I can't understand why series or tracks don't make an app for your phone that everyone could easily see people's point totals in less than a minute after their heat.  If people don't like that, the track or series could put a "tweet" or "X" out (whatever the hell they're called these days) with a running total IF people care.  Personally, I'm just fine with hearing the lineup as the cars are being pushed off.  But as Murphy said is it really anymore difficult to follow with what's going on in other lineups?

I like the passing points format for competition, but you're right, its confusing for fans

Exactly! Thats what I love about the Nationals, you get what you earn! I don't think the fast cars should be penalized for earning the pole in their heat or feature race!