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

Ron Rodda has the 2008 Trophy Cup format posted in the hoseheads columns section titled "From the Grandstands" by Ron Rodda. 3 day race on October 23rd thru October 25th with it being a tribute to Howard Kaeding. Huge purse as well $112,500! Truly one of the biggest and best sprint car events in the country by far. Definitely marked down on my calendar for this year again. And even better that it is now a 3 day race for only $65 for the 3 day's of action. Heck a WoO show at the same track for a 1 day show is $45:( This is definitely a great bargain in my book(trophy cup), plus they throw in a free BBQ on Friday and Spaghetti feed on Saturday if you buy tickets for all 3 day's. Plus the event is so great for what it does for the "Make A Wish" foundation.

Trophy Cup......Best race of the year hands down!

not to sound like a spoil sport as the t-cup is a great event, but when you look at it from a car owners perspective things may not seem so rosey. when you add the additional costs of pit fees @ about 40 bucks per person (crew of 5 incl. driver?), rooms @ say 75 bucks ea. per night (lets say 2 rooms average per night), tires ( add maybe another 800 bucks) , race fuel @ about 6 bucks a gallon ( call it another 30 gallons), diesel to run the generator an extra night @ about 4.25 a gal. (throw in another 30 bucks) food?( an extra 100 bucks by the time you try to feed your guys) (the free feeds are nice so that helps a bit). that comes to around 1,460 bucks EXTRA to run the thing at just a guess. as i said the t-cup is a great racing event and a tribute to HK is well deserved. just giving my feed back as a guy on a team that has limited funds and who will no doubt be there paying my own way if my team is racing or not. just thinking about the team owners who try to pay their guys way and about the guys on teams who will have to pay their own way. also extra money for fans to have to spend as well even though the ticket prices are good. still about an extra 20 bucks per person for tickets. with all that in mind i find myself asking why a 3 day event?

You may not want to apply economic analysis to sprint car rtacing or you will never leave the front porch. According to that genius Alfred E. Bush economics are like driving on ice no need to do anything ,the most dangerous thing is to over correct, you could end up in the ditch. If I am not mistaken we are headin 0ff a big ass cliff with a severe case of Cranial Rectumitis (plexiglass belly button syndrome). Spend the dough its good for the oil boys uh I mean the economy............

You may not want to apply economic analysis to sprint car rtacing or you will never leave the front porch. According to that genius Alfred E. Bush economics are like driving on ice no need to do anything ,the most dangerous thing is to over correct, you could end up in the ditch. If I am not mistaken we are headin 0ff a big ass cliff with a severe case of Cranial Rectumitis (plexiglass belly button syndrome). Spend the dough its good for the oil boys uh I mean the economy............

your political opinions aside, why add to an already expensive endeaver by extending it. just wondering. by the way why is deisel costing more than gas? wtf is up with methanol prices? methanol is commonly made from natural gas, a waste product of petrolium refining. i like going racing and being at the track as much as the next person, if not more, just wondering why they would choose to drag this event out to 3 days. not trying to complain, not trying to be negitive. just thinking about the costs. in this time of folks saying we need to try to find ways to lower the cost of racing, why add to it by adding a day to an event that is already a multi-day event?

I would think it has to do with the increase in the number of cars each year and the curfew Steve. Also, you run on thurs or friday right? Not both. So you probably are not going to have an extra 30gal of methanol or extra tires. I like the fact that they are going to three days to accomodate more cars.

That being said, I do not understand some of the other format changes. An open red for fule after 35 laps if there have been no other open reds. Or first caution after 11 laps an open red for fuel only. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why not just have a full on mandatory pit stop sometime during the main, under green?

i believe you run thurs and fri john, as far as i see it. i may be wrong. can you just see trying to get a sprint car off the track and back on the track for a green flag stop. lol. where would you pit the thing to fuel it? outside the track or in the infield? like to see someone trying to get out the exit under green!! lol. crews in the infield? it would make for some good pics!!

I think it should make for a great show, but I'd rather have the main event on Saturday night be the regular 40 laps. There are no advantages in having it 50 laps.

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

I’m reading it the same, everybody runs all 3 nights. Don’t get me wrong now, I’m not necessarily advocating them, but as far as pits stops go, they have been doing it for years at Anderson for the Little 500. The part that has me intrigued is the part where the heat winners get to decide who starts in front and who starts in back of them for the Main Event on Thursday.

Sorry Steve, I was being sarcastic with that part. But it would be interesting. It would have to be done on the back stretch with re-entry on the front stretch. To many other variables to reasonably control it.

If you do run all three nights then I am not sure what the reason for making it three days would be. I thought the reason to extend it was to better meet the curfew.

i was just messing right back at you john. lol. i agree it would be a sight to see.

i know what you mean about anderson. it is funny to think that tracks out here in cali that do not allow folks in the infield would let crews in while cars are comming in and out. oh yeah, and crews with fuel jugs in their hands. lol.

hey steve that gets me to. as a fan i like to see all three days but to have every one run is abit strange. still thinks it will be a great show with big point guys in back. the winner of thurs day picking the front three rows will be interesting. cause if tk or j.meyers finishes second and lets say a rookie finishes third they will put the rookie in front instead of the tough guys. still be fun to watch.

"If your not Racing your not Living"

Everyone does run all 3 days.

Adding a day does increase team expenses, but don't overlook that the purse went up $22,500 over the two day purse.

Even the Saturday E main is paid.

I realize there are some unusual aspects of the format, but until it has actually been used it is impossible to say how things will work out.

Ron Rodda

I have an idea...right before the cars go out on the track, let's flip a coin to see if they will run clockwise or counter clockwise. Then we could have them run 10 laps, and the drivers could switch cars with one another. And then...if your birthday was within the last two months, you get five bonus points.

Drivers picking the lineups? Scheduled fuel stops? There is a reason that the Trophy Cup is currently such a big and well-respected race. Please leave the format alone.

Fuel stops are just crazy period. Everybody hates them it confuses new fans and god knows we need them. They make all sizes of tail tanks bolt one on. Not to mention lots of cars start with partial fuel loads. Might be not a bad rule to mandate full tanks to start. As for the price of deisel it's infringing on my beer consumption due to budgetary constraints, and thats not good for the economy because I make most of my stupid purchases on MGD.

It's real simple if your a car owner. Don't race if you can't afford it. Or charge it and participate in the best run sprint car format out there.

I like the TC event format, the purse is excellent and I enjoy coming to the Tulare track. I've been there on several occasions - even back in the 'old' days when there was that scary pole sitting on the inside edge of corner 2.

But I don't like that now teams and fans that attended both the 2007 STN & 2007 Trophy Cup have to choose between one or the other because the Trophy Cup date moved on top of the '08 STN date.

Considering there are only two $15000+ to win ASCS-type rules sprint car events a year - and they're now both on the same weekend.

I wonder what Jason Meyers thinks about this change? He won both events last year, lives less than 1 hour from Tulare - but is guaranteed a last year's champion provisional in this year's STN, worth $2,100.

And before Gary replies, I don't buy into the idea that these two events are 'regional' in nature, especially when you look at the driver roster from the '07 events. Maybe in 2009 the two events can once again coincide and continue to grow in success into the future.

lol, I'm long past that discussion. hehe :)

It will interesting now though with the Outlaws being dark that weekend, for now at least. I notice Manzy isn't on the schedule anymore for the STN/Trophy Cup weekend.

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Yeah, with the Outlaws dark and having just raced at Tulare 5 day's earlier i wonder how many teams will stay in Cali. and race the Trophy Cup. IMO i believe that there will be some teams that stay and run. With the purse being much bigger and the fact that they don't have to leave the area to go to another race IMO plays big into some teams decision to stay and run the event. Yeah it does leave teams with decision's to make, but that's just the way it goes. Some will go to the STN and others will stay at Tulare. Can't make everyone happy all the time. Maybe the STN can change it's dates next year to accommodate those that have to choose between the 2 races. Seems to me that there's a WoO race(Tulare) the week before so that's not good and then the following week there's the Oval Nationals in Perris and also the World Finals in Charlotte as well. The week after those events to me is to late in the season to risk having the chance of a rain-out and the fact that it's real cold at that time of the year in the valley. Now this is just my opinion and i'm not trying to bash anyone here either. Anyway's it's still 2 top notch events IMO.

Trophy Cup......Best race of the year hands down!