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

Theres been alot of discussion lately about wings, engines, drivers, tracks, track prep and last but not least tires. In my opinion the money is killing all forms of racing ecpecially sprint car racing it just seems to be taking all the fun out of what used to be a fun sport to either be involved in or watching. Now it seems over the last 10 years its turned to all business. There is so much money on the line these days I beleive that is why you see alot of frustration with teams anymore on and off the track. It used to be a guy towed into tracks such as Knoxville with an open trailer A tire rack and an engine that had more than 10 shows on it. He got in the car pushed off like the rest of the guys and ususally did something amazing on the track that left us glued to our seats as if we where in the car with them. And with those open trailers damn you could stand in turn one and see all the way around the track from the pits Now it seems although its been good racing somethin just seems to be missing. I hear alot of guys saying theres damn good drivers all over the country just some never get that shot in the good equipment, much like Billy Martin and Yogi Berra said when they where coaching the Yankees theres a ton of young men across the country that are alot better than the players in the major leagues they just they never got there shot and didnt get noticed. I always envisioned a series that could be like the championship series much like IROC only make it among sprint car drivers where you took 20 cars and made them identical, same engines, tires, wings, chasis, etc. take your top 10 outlaw drivers and take your top 10 local drivers as the series traveled all over the country and lets see if its the drivers or the equipment or it could be an add on or a feature added onto the Outlaw program? Now i realize thats its a pipedream but damn would it be cool it would truly answer alot of us so called Keyboard cowboys questions we keep asking ourselves as we read these articles from these journalist that are trying every way possible to make the days of old seem like they sucked compared to today, back then all I can say is you didnt have to say how great the racing was you experianced it ??? I just think its part of the ol' corporate world these days sad aint it?

Oh, SO true... the so called racing we have to watch nowadays will never equal the racing we had , even 10 years ago........let alone 20 years ago. But what else do we have? I'll still go to the dirt track freight train before the asphalt one anyday!!!!!

Fenders are like vacuums... they both suck.

This is exactly what I have been preaching for years now. By seeing what alot of the people have to say about how great todays racing is, just makes me wonder how many of them saw sprinters run 25 years ago when the racing really WAS great.

Member of this message board since 1997

I've thought about this too. I have a different choice of car though. Take the wings off and put them in Silver Crown cars. The safety factor will be about the same and they will really have to work at it.

I dont know about the Silver Crowns they are impressive, I witnessed seeing em at about 150 at the Indy fairgrounds at the hoosier 100 last year but nothing beats seeing a sprinter on three wheels. Safety has always been an issue with every form of motorsports and I think its safe to say that the sprint car of today is about 97 percent safer than the cars of yesterday just look at the seat technology alone. Speaking of Silver Crowns being safer, in reality the Champ Car is so much heavier than a sprinter it does take alot to get one over but the energy absorbed by the driver is pretty much what they faced with yesterdays sprint cars. Thats how someone could have a terrible crash pre- 1980, injure himself in the car and be able to fill the seat with another driver with minimal repair for the B feature. Those cars just didnt break but the drivers unfortunately did. The cars of today pretty much shred energy like the indy cars giving the force to the car instead of the driver. Knoxville used to be a heck of alot more banked and personally If I where a driver doesnt matter if your driving the water truck, push truck or ATV and race cars I think if I had to pick a place to crash it would be Knoxville not just because of the walls, and catch fences being top notch but the best damn safety crew in the country. I dont think a sprint car fully hauling ass with a wing on it these days is much safer than a sprint car without a wing, theres gonna be some argument with physics there somehere but there is a balance of danger for sure. Its just that without a wing you have you actually drive a car, use the throttle and break and most of all patience. Im not saying anyone could drive with a wing cause they are pretty wild to drive as well but its pretty much how much motor, how much money and hold it to the floor till somethin breaks.

is this pizzadude for real...he spends half his life posting on this board and all i have read so far is a load of b.s. winged sprintcars are just that WINGED SPRINTCAR...IF U DONT LIKE EM STAY HOME...the old days are long gone ...the new guard are here NOW and doing a real good job.

whoa, go easy on Pizza. He is just stating his concern for the sport he loves just as much as any of the rest of us. He made some really good points. And Yes, Hawker has been saying the same things for years now too.

We are entering a new age of sprints. No longer 'Run whacha brung' and will never go back. It is about money now and not so much talent. Engines and money make low talent shine more. Though back in the day alot of talent would shine through even without the money. Just won't happen now though.

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A healthy diet of dirt in my nachos and beer.

Sprintfn1 I tell ya anytime you want to debate the old times from the new times let me know I witnessed my first nationals in 1978 and have lived no further than 35miles away from Knoxville since 1974. My father and uncle which owned C&C Automotive which where involved in one form or another with sprint car racing out of there shop in Des Moines and we have been a faithful patrons to Knoxville since. They did business with the likes as such builders as Leonard McCarl, Fred Kain and Bob Trostle which bascially where the big 3 innovators of the chassis you witness racing today. I usually could give a damn when someone slams me on here cause it really doesnt matter, hell we are just guys on a keyboard killing time and offereing up some ideas that could make sprint car racing as popular as it used to be, I still love the sport its not like I hate it and wanna go home, but these last few years the parties at Dingus and the campground where more interesting than the nights races and actually your my first critic but for the record I dont live on here I just have time to kill at work to put some of my thoughts on here like the rest when im doing books, if you cant handle my contribution and constructive criticism then dont read my post as for the others, I enjoy there company and reading what they have to say about the races and I still like the races dont get me wrong. I just miss the days of old and I dont think im to far out by saying that at all I just think a few changes need to be made to make sprint car racing as exciting as it used to be when people coudlnt wait to get to the races on Saturday. Wolfgang said it best a few years back Sprint car racing will never be like NASCAR and he didnt think that was necessarily a bad thing, Sprint car is what it is and it shouldn't be changed. I think its always thumbed its nose at alot of other motorsports and thats why I like it. Nowdays you have alot of NASCAR fans because its fashionable and popular but bring em to one sprint car race and they get hooked cause the race last about 8 minutes and its over and anything can happen and its usually on the edge of your seat kinda racing or it used to be.

QUOTE BY JACKHOLE: "It is about money now and not so much talent. Engines and money make low talent shine more"

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP>>>> If anything, nothing could be further from the truth... the cars are more equal then ever... so if you've got a pinch of talent you will find your way to the front. LEPPO proved that >>>

OR better still if you persist and work hard you too can become a top driver ... look no further than Brooke Tatnell or Donny Schatz... Money can't buy talent... money can buy seat time and that's about all ...

Racecrash....So you are saying that Leppo has talent and Schatz and Tatnell do not? LOL!

One thing you will never hear me do is criticize a driver. Notice I am always bustin balls about equipment engines and track surface not any one person that drives deserves any criticism, they are simply doing there job trying to win and thats for anyone that sits in these four wheeled animals and puts the helmet on. Hell on one of my post I said they should do something with the engine rules and Kelly Wesmar agreed with me, I mean theres a business that builds some of the baddest ass engines agreeing that somethin sould be done about he rules. I have been trying to make a very simple point about driving and equipment. Knoxville is obviously the home track I go to. This year Billy Alley which I think is a great driver and a nice guy to boot not to mention the point champion last year in Gifford's 17g has had all sorts of bad luck with the 55 car he climbed into this year. They have nice equipment, nice hauler, extra parts and one of the better looking color schemes in the pits introduced by Madsen when he drove for em, gone was the famous orange and yellow numbered 55 car. He has had engine problems and a few times this year has been in the wrong place at the wrong time on the track and has had a few crashes. I feel if they could get things straightened out he might have a shot at winning some races yet this year as I feel he has all the makings of becoming one of the great drivers in years to come. Would anyone that says equipment has nothing to do with who wins or not be willing to make a substantial bet if you switched rides with say equipment such as Schatz for a night? Now bear in mind this is for example only its not a dis on Donny, Billy or any car owners or crew. It would be interesting to see what would happen. Now im talking the # 15 and the # 55 on there best nights barring any mechanical failure. Its not taking anything away from the drivers hell I know anyone that races wants to win thats the goal, for some fun, money and glory of being the best. So lets gamble

Sorry Coach... I can see how you might have read it that way,

What I'm saying is that if you persist and keep improving you too can be a great driver like Schatz and Tatnell...

They have both proved that hard work and dedication have made them both great... they both didn't start out with natural talent... but they are examples of dedication to the sport... I like it ...

not to slam anyone or anything here but when you you put cookie cutter motors in cookie cutter cars and put them on a cookie cutter half mile you get a follow the leader show. you guys talk about k-ville like it is the only freakin place on earth that matters. i'ts a flat half mile. it ain't got much bank, but it is fast. you get a bunch of pretty equal cars out there with the only major difference being who is turning the wrenches and cars get strung out and that is it. what do you expect? we all like to see close wheel to wheel competitve races with lots of passing. but it ain't gonna happen on the bigger tracks like it used to. back in the day there were not the cookie cutter cars they have now. there was a larger gap between the abilities of teams. and before the days of short inverts the field got mixed up more making the racing to the front more exciting. i live in cali. back east you have more bigger half miles. out here we race on 3/8 and 1/4 miles. the only big track we have is calistoga. and it in my opinion is the most boring of the tracks i go to. yeah the speeds are faster. but so what, if i want to see speed i'll go to the drag races.but for wheel to wheel racing i'll take chico,tulare,placerville,petaluma,antioch and ocean any day. back east you have a lot of really fast tracks and i hear about it all the time. but then i hear how boring the races are. i was at an outlaw race in k-ville this year. boring. i will be going to the nats. i was at the nats last year. i thought the racing was ok. i thought k-ville was a great race track. skagit is a fast place but it can get follow the leader. still a great place. you guys slam nascar for being boring. but at martinsville or bristol or one of the other smaller tracks it is pretty good. my point on the sprints is sometimes you have to look at WHERE they are racing more than WHAT they are racing.