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

Who is tired of sprint cars not being able to finish a race with out a fuel stop? At the Trophy Cup there will be a red flag fuel stop if they run 35 green flag laps. What a joke!!!!!!!!!!!! They can't run 14 miles without a stop. Take of the damn midget tank and put on a sprint tank and fill it up. This is ridiculous never used to be this way.

I agree. Should be a minimum size fuel tank and it should be enough to cover 50 laps of Green flag. But this has been something that always gets brought up and nothing done.

The crybaby owners and drivers get their way, the paying customers get a show that sucks, and the promoters get smaller crowds.

What a way to lose a sport that is already falling on hard times.

Save your butt, get a colon screening TODAY

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Duane Davis

Laser Engraving 
641-751-7777
101 N Center
Marshalltown, Iowa 

From this post I'd say the fans are the CRY BABBIE'S! I don't know why all you know it alls don't start buying sprint cars and race tracks and start racing and promoting so you won't have anything to bitch about.

Sprint Cars Do It On Dirt!

So you wouldn't be pissed if 35 laps into a A-main they throw a red so everyone can get fuel so they can make it 15 more freaking laps?

BTW the fans have every right to bitch about events and the way they are ran, they are the ones in the damn seats!!

I just don't understand the thinking of changing what is one of the best formats out there to this. Plenty of time to rethink this move.

http://www.raceimages.net

they are SPRINT cars. they are not intended for long runs. 35 green laps will end up with how many total laps at that point. most other forms of motorsports COUNT yellow laps. you want no fuel stops? run 50 laps with yellows counting and then come back and we'll talk. i do understand that tanks are smaller now. ever seen or been involved in a big methanol fire? lets strap another 15 gallons or so of methanol on your favorite drivers back and send him out. most fire crews at most tracks that sprints run at couldn't put out a cake full of birthday candles let alone a big methanol fire. most tracks think they have good fire crews and systems untill they really need them. then they find out just how little they have. not trying to bag on fire and saftey crews in particular, they are well intentioned and well meaning folks, but a lot of times when disaster happens it is the other drivers and crews that react and help the driver in danger. the fire crews are too busy trying to put out the fire than to just get to the driver and get him out. i have seen fire crews trying to put out fuel that is running down the track while the driver is trying to get out. i have seen fire crews try to fight their way through a fire to get to a driver instead of just going around the car and getting to the driver. so lets hang more highly flammable stuff on our friends and let them race around the track. i understand your opinions to a point and am not saying what is right or wrong. i just know from a saftey point of view more fuel is not good in my opinion.

Amen wright-one. Your post is the exact reason fuel cells have to be limited in size.

1964 Indy claimed Eddie Sachs and Dave McDonald because of an inferno caused by one car having enough fuel (100 gallons) on board to run the whole race without pitting.

That being said, I believe most 410 series are going to mandate 30 gallon fuel cells beginning in 2009 in an effort to prevent fuel stops.

In the 1964 Indy 500, Dave McDonald and Eddie Sachs died due to gasoline, not methanol. Gasoline in much more volatile than methanol. And 30 years ago, the Williams Grove National Open was a 150 lap race split into 75 lap segments. So the cars ran at leat 37.5 miles before a fuel stop!

Chuck.....

better give up on the old silver crown cars, they are much too dangerous with their full size fuel tanks.

Save your butt, get a colon screening TODAY

For complete line of Sponsor Awards check out 
MarshallTownLaser.com

Duane Davis

Laser Engraving 
641-751-7777
101 N Center
Marshalltown, Iowa 

last time I checked gasoline and methanol were both capable of making fire. and 30 years ago no-one cared about safety. Other than that I agree 100% with your response.

"At the Trophy Cup there will be a red flag fuel stop if they run 35 green flag laps."

Ok, someone's going to have to explain this to me. If the race is scheduled for 50 laps, how can they NOT run 35 green flag laps? Don't they know from the start how many laps will be green flag laps?

hmmmmmmmmm 50 right .

I have been at a few sprint races with fuel stops but only when there has been many yellows pushing the lap count way up. I cant remember a race where a car couldn't could finish without running out of fuel if it went green start to finish. If your saying they cant make it to the end yellows or not somthing needs to change, tank size or lower lap count. most races in my neck of the woods are only 30 or 40 laps with no problems.

For a regular weekly race, or preliminary night of a 2 or 3 day show, run 20 - 30 laps. For a mildly special race, whatever that would be, run 40 laps. But I still think that 2 or 3 times a year, there should be a SPECIAL race that is 50 laps. Actually, I would like to see at least one 100 lap race a year again. Shoot, if memory serves, CRA used to run a couple 100 lappers a year at Ascot. But however many laps a main event is, the fuel cells should be big enough to run the whole race, NO FUEL STOPS!

Top tier sprint car racing races for 50 laps several times every year with many additional 40 laps or less races. If they can't strap on a fuel cell that will cover the distance shame on 'em. If you run out you loose. There are, due to special unexpected circumstances, situations where a fuel stop has to be made but that should indeed be rare. On the local level where 25 laps is the norm and maybe once or twice a year a special extra lap feature occurs then a preplanned fuel stop could be acceptable to save the racer from buying a large cell that he will hardly use. I personally think a racer should use a larger cell anyway. Initial cost is nearly the same as a peanut cell and the weight is negligible unless you choose to fill it. Sprint car races should be quick and fast with minimal delays. Caution laps and pit stops are for Nascar 3 hr. endurance races.

5. FUEL. Pure Methanol fuel only. No fuel additives (including, but not limited to, nitro, nitro methane or nitrous oxide injection) except All Star approved top oil which must pass All Star fuel test. No turbo chargers or blowers. Fuel bladders are mandatory. All Star officials may check fuel at any time on selected cars during any event. If fuel is found to be illegal, driver and car will be disqualified and all points and money will be forfeited for that event and driver and car will be suspended for the next three All Star events. If purse money has already been paid, neither driver nor owner will race in any future All Star events until money has been returned to All Stars. Owner may be required to pay lab cost for fuel test. Cars are to race the entire program using the same fuel tank that was utilized in qualifying. Exceptions will be made if a tank is damaged due to contamination, a crash or otherwise physically damaged. The replacement tank must have the same or larger fuel capacity. A fuel cell with bladder must be used. These cannot be altered or modified and must be one piece construction of crosslink polyethylene plastic. NOTE: BEGINNING IN 2009, ALL CARS MUST BE EQUIPPED WITH A FUEL SAFE 30 GALLON FUEL CELL.

http://www.allstarsprint.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=51

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com

Not to mention there was a lot magnesium to help prolong the fire. Magnesium makes it's own oxygen

thus no fire crew could put it out at their own leisure.

Eddie died before the fire got him. His lemon string that he hung around his neck was found in the

bellypan of a roadster the next day.

This is not to undermine the issue of fire safety, only to keep things in perspective.

No one cared about safety 30 years ago? What kind of statement is that? LOL It's not like cars were running without roll cages 30 years ago. It took guys getting killed with great regularity before cages became mandatory. Most safety innovations, sadly, have come about because of drivers losing their lives.

Joe Weatherly hit his head on the wall at Riverside in 1964. Window nets became mandatory shortly thereafter. The entire consstruction of the asphalt Modifieds in the Northeast was changed in the late 1980s after a series of deaths in the division were linked to the chassis being too rigid and transferring force to the driver when a crash occurred. You think the a head and neck restraint system would be mandatory in NASCAR if it wasn't for Adam Petty, Tony Roper, Kevin Irwin and Dale Earnhardt all losing their lives to basal skull fractures?

yeah, thats the ticket!

get rid of "STOPS AT THE WORK AREA" and you might have a sprint car race.

sprint car racing USED to be a spectator sport...now it is all about BUYING the most expensive parts and lobbying for tire deals and group rate hotel arrangements.

did you see that new TSR hauler?

wow...that thing is impressive...

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May