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

Over the last few years there has been a big debate over wings or wingless.   I like both because I like to see the speed of the wing cars and yet love watching the wild and dicey non-wing races as well.    Knoxville is my favorite track and I want none of these post to reflect on the officials or the racers cause they all are doing there job,  I just speak as a fan and someone that wants to see Knoxville rev into the future.  Its much like our life and times in the US lately, it now seems when you question something that our government or president is doing you are  somehow called un-american, in reality we just care about the life and times we are living in and I care about the racetrack that I have always enjoyed being a part of.  Knoxville has been trying some different formats with the late models and things on friday nights and in the fall, The midget races on saturday where pretty damn good I must say  those little cars where haulin it in for sure and the track looked excellent.   I know mother nature helped out  with the rain on friday  but I also think the track crew did a superb job on Saturday night, it seemed like the old multi-grooved track from back in the day.    My question being the Nationals are obviously a huge success both the 360 and 410's      I was wondering and I know im not the only one but would it or could it be possible to host a non-wing nationals at knoxville???  a sort of glory days or classic nationals event??  I just wondered if people could post there replies, just an informal poll to see if it would go over at all and how many are interested.    Its kind of the same feeling I get when i flip through the satellite and see MTV and what it is now and think of the way it used to be :)   I mentioned it the other day how they need to get the classic MTV back  well it would be interesting to see a classic nationals  and as far as that goes back to the classic rules of " come run whatcha brung"

P.S.  and maybe that weekend they can put the fun-haters (police) on a chain or back em off a bit to let people enjoy the nationals the way they used to be :)  I mean think of all the legendary stories that have been handed down a few generations of the partying that used to commence on the marion county fairgrounds.   Well in all fairness times are different and people are a tad more dangerous than they used to be so there has to be some control, but wow can anybody remember the wet T-shirt contest at the front row challenge at osky a few years back?  I cant remember the race but i sure remember that event lol.     

As much as I like 'em without wings Knoxville is too fast for a heavy track so they'll set it up slick to slow them down like Eldora and it will be a pale showing to the wingless sprints shows of yore. Even with today's safety features today's sprintcars are too fast on a good 1/2 mile.

I'd have to disagree on the 360 Nationals being a huge success. It is some of the best racing of the year but 360's just don't draw the crowds. It was a smart move moving the 360's to the week when everyone's here anyway, throw a handfull of 410 guys in them, aka Busch whackers, and you'll get more buts in the stands.

As far as Late Models go, all due respect, they have their areas where 410 sprint car racing is not popular. Vice versa here. I for one don't think Knoxville should be trying to kill 410 sprint car racing but supporting and promoting it. We don't need to be spending the same money on Late Models and not getting any help from them the next night.

As with nonwings, they have Indiana, SCRA out west and others. The 'One Night Stand for 30 Grand' at osky is a good show, but if it wasn't for your Haud's and a few other winged drivers in it, you'd lose some fans. To each his own but I believe Knoxville should remain the 'winged' Sprint Car Capitol of the World!

Savage

The most aggressive police in the country, the Sheriff dept, the Police and the Highway Patrol are a black eye on the race track and whole trade area.

Fail at everything else? Join the Knoxville Police Dept.

I am a strong supporter of Police, but these clowns are more like a Gestopo.

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All I gotta do is close my eyes..... I can see it like it was yesterday.....

Was there ever any T shirts involved?

I dont remember..

That is a huge Money generater for the city, They have to rely on that as there is nothing in town, no business etc.. It seems that the powers that be at city hall have nothing better to do..Lets face it if the track wasn't there WHO would ever want to go to Knoxville...I get the biggest kick out of the way some in the city dig at Pella yet they are growing by leaps and bounds while here in Knox. they just seem to enjoy helping business etc locate in Pella and not Knoxville.. It's like lets make it so hard to do anything here that nothing progressive happens, that way we don't have to work so hard..

Now back to non wing racing........ I love it but I don't think the insurance co's will underwrite the track if they have non wing sprint events.. I think in the past when we did have some SCRA shows the track used the associations insurance and not the tracks..

Yeah, Knoxville didn't go to wings in '82 for no reason.  While nonwing racing is awesome on a fast, heavy track there (late 80's, early 90's CRA shows were prime examples), Offie & Dave nailed it.  If Knoxville's insurance company won't underwrite their nonwing events, does the Nostalgia event fall into a gray area somewhere that is beyond the naked eye??? 

Good point, Chilly. The Nostalgia deal should be a 'park and view'. If we don't learn from history, we're doomed to repeat it.

Savage

Yeah, I guess I don't understand why someone would want to drop $20-30k (at least) and countless hours into restoring an old car if you're going to take it out on the track and risk tearing it up. And more importantly risk serious injury or worse to you, other drivers, and spectators. If you want to "re-live glory days" pick up a book from the Hall of Fame to read & reminisce - or buy a 305 to play around with (something built at least in the 90's that wasn't pieced together by a wing & a prayer and has modern safety equipment). I guess it would suck to be too logical...

If I understand the insurance for the Nostalgia deal I think it's not provided by the track but the people that lease it for the event.. I think that is the way it works...

Wing, non-wing, Late Models, Modifieds, it's all good.

Stan Meissner

Non wing would be no different than midgets. Tracks buy insurance by number of events scheduled.

Chilly and Savage, by that theory, we should park and view all events if were afraid of repeating history... JMO.

I love midgets any time, any place - almost more than sprint cars - and I still think it's debatable (just like nonwing sprints) whether or not they should run them on a fast (good, as Offie stated) half-mile. 

If you're a modern driver (who races regularly, or even semi-regularly) in a modern car with modern safety equipment, you can still get hurt in a sprint car.  Who would deny that? 

I just think it's silly to let old guys race old cars on a track that is big and can be mean.  If cages weren't the next step in safety, we'd still be racing cageless.  If wings weren't the next step in safety, everybody who raced a sprint car would be racing wingless.  Wolfgang was quoted that if they knew that wings were the next step in safety, his friend Darryl Dawley would still be alive.  If I'm going to believe anybody about anything sprint car related, I'm going to believe the Wolf... JMO

I agree chilly nobody screws with the Wolf in my book either.....  I beleive in wings as a safety device, much like the evolution of the downtubes on racecars, who knows had Wolfie had those on his car we might of seen him get back where he used to be and that was on top of the sprint car world and a true roving Outlaw. And trust me the day Wolfie retired after his last accident it took alot of the thrill out of racing not being able to see Wolfie, Swindell and Kinser battling it out in classic fasion.  I myself remember seeing as a kid in a 4 year span   Dawley, Larson, Stoneking and Scott losing there life at knoxville and understand that knoxville is a fast race track and actually when you read into it alot of guys we read in the history books actually werent to fond of running knoxville because of the speed and danger.  Problem being as late the wings are not solely used as a safety device now its a tuning device for the race car these days. Big wings take the big motors.   Beleive me im pretty good friends with a wing maker and know how there are special tweaks here and there to gain an advantage to stick the car to the track even harder, the only problem i can see with the wings and the speed is a simple question of how fast is fast? I have talked to some and even thought to myself damn they gotta be cheating when you watch the outlaws compared to the locals, but it all makes sense some of the Oulaw motors are plain and simple bad fast! and it used to be with a big motor you couldnt get the power to the track, now the cars are stuck so hard the haves are gonna shoot around like a rocket and the have nots are gonna put on a hell of a show but you gotta wonder if they dont have the big motors are the wings dragging the motors down?  Like in Top Fuel drag racing the speeds which they race at are almost to the point of blacking out, the human body can only take so much force or g-rate, you get to a certain amount of speed and no safety equipment can equalize the force of impact. But lets remember sprint cars have came a long way in construction, parts, and safety but  much to our dismay  we witnessed that at the Nationals last year with Steve King we where seated in the backstretch and the car couldnt of hit in a worse place at the wrong time but the speeds in that race where in the 15 second range which alot of drivers where talking about it was just to fast  racing at qualifying speed.  Point im tryin to make is sooner or later the danger of going to fast with a wing has got to be pretty close to the dangers of non-wing racing  somewhere in there it has to equal out.   But lets admit it even a bad night of racing beats anyday at work :)    

all those people? racing? beer? As far as those pigs salaries and quotas are concerned........the Nationals are a gold mine for tickets or arrests. Thats why I NEVER attend get-to-gathers in small towns......you're just askin to be harassed by a bunch of prickless insecure bastards.....or I'm sorry......the police.

O boy. Don't think I've ever gone off about that one. that felt kinda good. lol. geez that almost makes me feel like playing Grand Theft Auto 3.

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wouldchuck could chuck would