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

Well, if you are a good bottom feeder, and the bottom is good, it doesn't feel really fast.  If you are a good bottom feeder and the track is up top and you have to hammer the cushion, rhat cushion comes up fast.

Thanks for putting a pencil to it.  Interesting, its fast for indoors.

Stan Meissner

      1320 feet in a 1/4 and 880 in a 1/6th. You're telling me there is 440 feet difference between the top and bottom on this track? HHmmm??? I'd have to see the measurement wheel but I don't see anyway 1/4 is even close. 

   It's a great race and awesome track but put it outdoors and it's small. 

That is distance around the track, not from the bottom to the top in a straight line.

That said, I kind of feel the numbers (1/4 - 1/5 -1/6) are off.  Since it is inside, I can't put a measurment to it like you can if it was outside, so we can't verify the exact size.

I'm sure someone knows the exact size.  I have heard Dirt Vision announcers say a track is X on the outside and Y on the inside but the track is measued in the middle.  Example would be Attica Raceway park in which they said was something like .259 mile oval. The .259 might be a little off as I don't remember what exactly they said.  That's a little more accurate in my opinion.

I would think such a difference (440) ft at the Chili Bowl would make gear selection very difficult.  Can you gear for the bottom and not hose youself if you have to go high?

Tech question. 

Do the teams accommodate for stale air and low oxygen levels when tuning the engines?

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

Go to a high school that has a track around the football field.  You will see that the chili bowl track is alot smaller.  The high school track is 1/4 mile.  I would guess Chili Bowel is 1/5 to 1/6 mile.  Many tears ago I watched stock cars and midgets on a 1/5 mile track and it seemed larger.

Yep. I get that it is the distance to complete a lap. 440 feet is a looong way.  What I'm getting at is the Tulsa track would fit easily inside a known 1/6th mile track I'm familiar with. The announcers just repeat what they're told so no blame to anyone about what is the real measurement. I'd be shocked if they bump up much more that 60 mph for very long. It's great racing but as far as top speed it wouldn't impress anyone much.  

  Still one of the greatest american races there is! 

So I did a walk of the front strech and tuns 3 and 4 and counted 56 k rails from the opening in turn one to the opening in turn three, So i figure adding 4 to fill the opening and since that is basically half the track doubling it brings you to 120 k rails x 8ft = 960ft. So thats your max.   .18 miles

now thats the bottom rails (easier to count since the top ones where all covered in banners) I think it would be safe to say when they are running high up by the wall that would be in the 880ft range or a 1/6 mile.

now your inside around the berm I bet is closer to an 1/8 mile or 660ft.

I'll let someone else put the speeds to that.

960 on the outside would be 60 mph

660 on the inside would be 41 mph

That would make the middle at 810 ft and a speed of 50.2

I found a little more.  From this link; John Klein: 'The Dirt Guy' talks about Chili Bowl's track

From the article:

The track is so short it’s almost a circle: 1,285-feet long at the top, with straightaways that are just 129 feet long.

The track is about 38 feet wide going into corners and about 40 feet wide coming out of corners. The rest of the track is about 45 feet wide.

 

The track is so short it’s almost a circle: 1,285-feet long at the top, with straightaways that are just 129 feet long.

 

Based on that data, I created the oval with 129 foot straights and tangent corners that when added together equal 1285.  Then offset the 1285 oval 40 ft (close enough) to find the inside distance.

Given those numbers the outside is 1285 and the inside would be 1032.

1285 = 79.6 mph

1032 = 63.9 mph

That would be the extreme speeds but doesn't count the width of the car so the top speed would be less and the slowest would be slightly more.  1158 would be the distance at the center which equates to a speed of 71.7

I know for sure that it's smaller than 1/4 mile.  As a former photographer I tend to judge tracks by how big the infield is while taking width into consideration to come up with a ballpark estimate.  The smallest infield I have shot from is the 1/4 mile Princeton, Minnesota, track.  The Chili bowl infield is narrower width and shorter from end to end.  I have heard that the Cedar Lake arena indoor track they used one time for Badger Midgets is the same size as the Chili Bowl track and I shot that race weekend.  The best thing about the indoor tracks is the consistent lighting and not having to take night shots.

Stan Meissner

If the 1285 is correct (outside) it equates to .219 miles.  The 1032 inside distance would equate to .195 miles.

That's a great analysis...Those measurements would make a "mean" distance of 1,158.50 as you noted... That "mean" distance is about the line I saw Tony Stewart run in the Wilke-Pak car in 2001 during hotlaps and turned a 9.97 lap...Equating to 79mph...20 years ago (damn I'm getting old)....

Those who were there during that hotlap session are sure to remember the great announcing of Jack Miller as he introduced to crowd to "Smoke Johnson" from Wichita Falls, TX...LOL

Member of this message board since 1997

Speed is relative so whether they are going 60 or 80 mph its very fast considering the space they are racing in.   Driving 75 down the highway in a straight endless line is much different than traveling the same or similiar speed around a 1/5 mile (or less) dirt oval surrounded by other vehicles.  Watching 410's at Grandview Speedway in PA is another good example.  Not comparing to Chili Bowl track size but regardless of the 410's actual speed they are moving ridiculiously fast in a fairly small space.  The Chili Bowl and tracks like Grandview you can appreciate how the cars are set up / designed to maximize speed on smaller venues.  Its quite impressive to me.     

It would be interesting to know what the top and bottom end speed is.  There is a spread no doubt, and would vary from lap to lap, but data just the same. They might be hitting 90 at the end of the chute.

Those in car camera videos are really cool.  Looks like a video game.

These guy are good.

One of the staff said during an interview that they had messed the track up and had to get with iRacing to get the measurements and fix it.  I've never been on iRacing, but would that have track info?

.  

Yes, 440 ft does not sound right.  That would be 1 and 1/2 football fields .