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

You might try some punctuation. You might have some valid points here but I'll be darned if I can figure out what you are trying to say.

Most of us are well aware of what those abbreviations mean. However they make it nearly impossible to read. If you want to be taken seriously, type things out properly. Save txt abbr 4 txt.

So in simple words its the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat or in some cases even death. i believe that is what attracts all of us to any sport or extreme sport . Its just sad that death has to be part of it all. and a sad day when it does occur. rest in peace dan and god bless your family.

We need more sprint car racing at our home track.

I somewhat agree with what you are saying but I feel I have to say is that those cars do not need to be doing 200 mph plus to put on great racing. It would take another decade probably to come up with something that would better protect a driver from fatal injuries in a wreck like that at those speeds.

After being around Indy from 1959 to 2006 my only problems with the LV event was that they threw common sense out the window. 1. At least 8 drivers had minimum meaningful experience - meaning start and finish some IRLraces on different tracks. There were drivers in the race and wreck that had yet to take the checkered flag in 2011. 3. The LV track has a major difference from the Texas Motor Speedway. At Texas there is backstretch that can easily handle 3 abreast --- with no extra flat surface that is maybe 40 ft+ wide. You have a "normal transition" from the banked track to out of the grove. At LV there is a 4 wide banked track + another 4 wide flat track. An inexperienced driver may look at the banked and flat track as all "racetrack". 4. The Iowa Speedway has a great banked backstretch for 3 cars + a "get out of the way" lane. 5. They don't usually start 33 or 34 cars at Iowa or Texas Motor Speedway. 6. Indy Car races last for hours with 24 or more cars going inches apart at around 200+mph. 7. I wonder why if this was such a good idea that Bruton Smith, the owner of LVM and TMS, CMS, etc. didn't promote the event instead of leasing it to INDYCAR? I hope that Indy Car racing goes back into the hands of people who understand all of it - from the cars, the drivers, the with utmost respect for all of it .... especially the drivers.Oh, by the way, Bull Riding lasts about 6 or 8 seconds ... one at a time. Yeah, you can get stomped. Theres not much comman ground here.

Okay, I'll respond here.

I agree 100%.

Gary Bettenhausen once looked up into the grandstands and told Willie Davis that the day the fans could come on down and do just as well as any professional race car driver, without the risk, - would be the day to hang up the helmet (in so many words).

The driver makes the deal in his head before he even sits down in the seat. WE come to see how good he makes out on the deal.

The new head of Indy Car came from Professional Bull Riding about 2 years ago.

Putting aside that the new owner was a Bull riding event promoter... I've know of a lot of drivers from the "golden era", and later, of the open wheeled racing community that not only admired Bull riders, but understood that their mind set was very similar to their's...A big part of it is that it will happen, but except for the occasional bad ride, it the other guy who's going for the big one, not them. In other words, just a little bit crazy.LOL Plus, back in the day both sports were much more dangerous than today... The open wheeled community has always had a bond with the flat trackers as well, but in this "modern era" the bonds between the three has faded, but it's still there.

From the home of the worlds oldest Rodeo, Prescott AZ

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

The problem with the sport is not the speed. All motor sports are dangerous no matter if it's a street stock at your local bullring or one of these cars doing 200+ mph on a bigger/paved oval. The problem with the sport is the promotion of drivers that are marketable first and talented second.

The legends of the indy cars (Foyt, Andretti, Unser ect. ect...) were seasoned professionals that came up through the ranks and developed their craft on dirt fairground tracks throughout the country. Many of them came up at a time when putting a roll cage on a car was considered "pussification". Sure, the cars wern't moving as fast as they do today but, the speeds that they were traveling at back then would have been just as fatal. Those gentlemen earned their way to the top instead of just having a pretty face that looks good on a maxim cover or in a tv commercial.

That's not to say that many of the drivers on the track yesterday (including Mr. Weldon) wern't very talented individuals. My point is that no matter how much talent you have on a race track all it takes is one individual with much lesser talent to spoil it for the rest. We've all seen this first hand. A hard lesson learned but, I hope that it has been learned by those with the power to do something about it.

...

They said in an article I read Sunday that the drivers were concerned about the 225 mph plus that they were running. After thought but they should of slowed them down then!

One of the reason I love sprint cars is cause they still are extremely dangerous. Like a few people on here have said before, anyone nowadays can be a race car driver, but it takes a different type of race car driver to sit down in a sprint car.

I believe thats why there's millions and millions of late models, and modifieds in this country, but not nearly as many sprint cars.

I agree with Bettenhausen quote. Anyone can be a race car driver nowadays. Its still dangerous, but so is driving a regular car on a back country road.

When fans watch professional racers today, they aren't watching the bravest of the brave. They are watching the prettiest of the pretty, richest of the rich, and luckiest of the lucky. And that bores the hell out of me!

Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's

At what point do we become like the Romans,who would horribly torture & execute people for entertainment?

For me the appeal is the engineering & mechanical talent of the builders and the competitive skill of the driver; NOT THE BRUSH WITH DEATH

After Scott Kalitta was killed in a funny car, the 4th nitro driver killed in a ten year period, Don Garlits said on WindTunnel that in order to avoid that from happening again, they'd have to slow the cars down to 250, but he said that won't happen cuz the fans won't put up with anything under 300mph again. They need to see that 300 light up at the end of the track.

About 3 weeks ago he was back on Wind Tunnel and apparently had changed his mind a bit and said they absolutely need to slow them down to about 280mph.

The 1,000 feet deal helped for a while, but they have now already went 327 mph to a thousand feet.

Speed kills, especially in open wheel cars. But, man when I look at those sprint car photos in Flat Out and Sprint Car and Midget magazines from the 40s and 50s, with no roll bar, no fire suit, a leather helmet and I'm not even sure if they had a seat belt, no wonder so many were killed. Dan Wheldon was one wonderful interview to listen too and a great color commentator during races, as well as a great driver.

 Lawlessness and liberalism equals Hell.  NY City, 
Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Minnepolis, etc. We saw it. 
Burning hundreds of buildings, a thousand assaults and 
dozens of murders. Getting worser and worser.

I agree, and thought the same thing when i had read his first post....which I see has been since removed. This tells me this guy only goes to see wrecks and is one sick puppy. I only ever saw one driver killed( R.I.P. Billy Kimmel #47 )at Williams Grove Speedway, and hope to never see it again.