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

I was listening on dirtvsion audio and checking in on MRP, one minute he was there in the top 10. next minute he's 23rd or something and finished for the night.

Pulled off and found a broken u joint. Thats what KNIA said. I didn't know sprints had u joints.

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

Yes, they have a yoke with U joint  that bolts to the back of the crankshaft and the driveline inserts into the slip yoke inside the torque tube that attaches to the snout of the rear end housing. 

The older I get the faster I was

Yes, sprint cars have a U joint in the driveshaft just like a Chevy/Ford/Ram pickup does.

Without a U joint either they wouldn't be able to have a suspension on the rear axle or the engine would have to be mounted directly to the rear axle.

The other option would be EV sprint cars with individual wheel motors.   That would be awesome, or something.

The 24 team seems to struggle at the big events.   They win on lots of prelim nights but then the car breaks during the crown jewel events.     Last season they had a lot of flat tires.

Last night wasn’t a good look for the team.      Rico doesn’t make a habit of making contact but his “super slider” took out Bloomfield.     I’m not sure how Larson kept his spot during that wreck.      The Flo broadcast has the Green/Yellow/Red flag status in Laps to Go area in the upper left hand corner of the screen and by the time it turned Yellow Larson’s car was facing backwards at the bottom of the track.     The 57 eventually came to a stop on the insided berm.      You can see all of that on the highlights.      Perhaps there is a delay with the flag status on the broadcast and the 57 spun after the yellow officially came out.

I thought for sure that this would be Rico's year.   I guess not.

Rico is who Rico is.  A very good sprint car driver.  His stats pretty much align year to year since he jumped into a winged 410 and started to travel nationwide.  Regardless of some on here pounding their chest that Ricky Warner is a "King Maker", Rico is not Donny Schatz in his prime----then again, very few ever are or were.  He's Rico.  He's a threat to win at any track he shows up at, and occassionally he'll win, or go on a hot streak and win a few.  I don't think you're ever going to see him have the big 25-30 win season because very few do.  If he does, that's fantastic.  However, everyone keeps asking "what's wrong with Rico?"---nothing, he's exactly who he's always been and his threat to win remains exactly where it's always been.  

Both Rico and Marks are seeing what it's like to follow a tour as opposed to only racing when you want to or when you're ready and at tracks you like or run well at. 

Rico is having a good year again, but he hasn't found the consistency he had last year. 

This is a great analysis. 

This is my opinion exactly. He is " good" , but not great/ elite. He is not Donny Shatz in his prime nor kyle larson. Hes had both Silva and Warner as crew chiefs 2 of the best if not the best  so hes been given every oppurtunity to be elite. He a good driver though a threat to win on alot of nights.

I was suprised Rico didn't move up more than 8 spots at Placerville, he has a ton of laps at that track. I will say I wished it was a 40 lap race instead of 35 laps. Those first 31 laps went by real quick and the racing was great anywhere you looked.

Rod