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

Pittman

Saldana

Schatz

Gravel

Let the track conditions complaints commence!

And the Posse are dead silent after the WoO ass whooping, lol...................

awfully quiet around here. 

That's what u would call a old fashion ass whooping.

Looks like the Also Rans showed the Porch Monkeys how to get around their neighborhood a little quicker.

hugging the bottom from lap 3...rubber down a few laps kater

Pittman crediting the crew in VL for winning the race in TT and the pill draw.

wait to you see the exciting video of the race...incredible racing...he couldn't even pass the last place car.

i am not saying Pittman sucks...but he managed to block  Saldana and Schatz from getting under him in a single file slow parade around the bottom.

CBS shot the event...condition were so pathetic, I wonder if they even air it?

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

My daughter actually fell asleep halfway through the A main, zzzzz....

I should have went to Trail Way...  

Opinions may vary...

Interesting pics of Saldana / Schatz rear tires on FB...not sure they would have lasted 30.

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

Not sure many would have lasted 30 laps.

This isn't a rant. Just telling it like it is.

One of my pet peeves is that a lot of race fans (and a fair amount of drivers) somehow forget that when it rains previous to the races, it can have a significant impact on track prep procedures - and resulting track conditions.

Is WG normally huggy pole and rubbered up? No.

DId it rain previous to this race? Yes. NOAA shows it rained over 2" in the area primarily overnight on Thursday night.

Was it warm on Friday to speed up drying of the precip? Not really. Got to 71 degrees.

Most big track prep crews know after a big rain, if they continue prepping the track as they normally would, the moisture will start coming up, get rough, and in the case of WG, crash a lot of cars. Especially on big tracks where the speed is so much higher.

Most likely their goal was to get the track as hard as possible on top, in the limited drying time they had available, and just deal with the possible rubber up situation...then they'll have it mostly back to normal the next night, as they'll have adequate time to work it. And by looking at last night's video, it didn't really set in until the last half of the feature...but it was smooth.

The same thing happened at the Spring Nationals this year at DB. Friday rained out, Saturday the track had too much moisture underneath, so it was sealed off and it was pretty much one lane - but not rough.

The 'flip' side is two previous examples at LoneStar. Last year at the Lucas Oil LM race it had rained over 3.5" previous to the race day. Of course race day was warm and clear - so the vast majority of people didn't see what happened the days before. The track was prepped as best as possible, and it was blistering fast (LM's took 8/10'ths off the track record), but had moisture bubbling up in the form of extra sticky spots and it led to things like this:

But on this particular race day it was sunny and 80 degrees. If the track would have cancelled 'due to rain' there would have been 5,000 fans on here going on and on about 'why' the race was rained out when it was sunny and 80. So the track prep crews reworked the track twice throughout the night - but the next day all we heard about was how rough the race track was...of course the local drivers knew that it's rarely like it...and hasn't been like that since.

Then another example was at the LoneStar Sprint Nationals 3 years ago. I called Sam at 6AM on Wednesday morning, as I knew he'd be on the track watering it...to tell him to stop as a bow echo was blowing his direction, unforecast, and it ended up raining nearly 2"...and he had the track already opened up and loaded with water...so there was nothing that could be done.

End result, they couldn't get on the track to start working it until 6AM on race day, and they did all day long til race time. The first 11 sprint heats and 3 B's went off with 1-2 flips total, then it got to the A-features and there was a clear ridge on the bottom of corner 3 - and 11 cars hit it in the next two races resulting in flips.

The next day, all we heard from fans was how rough the track was.

But the interesting thing was, 1/2 the drivers I spoke with the next day said: "I knew that ridge was there, but if you caught it with your RR tire it would suck you right around that corner and you would blow away the guy on the high side...I just happened to hit the ridge just wrong."

Then you take Johnny Herrera that commented: "This is my type of racing, it was awesome, I just rolled around the high side hammer down."

Then on night 2 of that event, they had kept working the surface all day long and all effects from the previously mentioned rain were gone...and the same with the finale night.

Bottom line, give your track a break when it comes to weather. Whether it's WG last night, Huset's after two days of rain - and it's only 60 degrees on race day, or wherever; the track crews are just trying to do the best they can with what they have been dealt to work with.

I bet tonight they have the track back to normal WG standards.

The race was won in qualifying and dash draw, but you cant take away the fact that the Outlaws put themselves in the positions to win, I would have liked to see what Monteith could have done had he completed the pass on Gravel and got into the dash, he looked fast all night, hopefully they are able to get a better surface tonight and make a better race for the feature.

The feature sucked, no doubt, but there was a lot of passing throughout the night, including a few guys charging from 8th or 9th in the heats to transfer. Pittman also drove from 4 th to 1st in the dash which set him up well for rubber down conditions. When people don't like the result, they usually complain about the track, at least they got it in. Kudos to the Grove and WoO for their efforts.

No doubt about it, the Outlaws were by far the supieror group taking the top 4 easily. Track conditions were rough by feature time, but hell I'm just glad we raced. The Posse had positions 5-10 but none were a threat to win. So many driver/team changes over the off-season has left the Pennsylvania faithful without a single combination that they can rely on each and every night the travelers are in town. The 27 was horrible all night, he was the last car to time but that's no excuse for how slow he was in the heat and features. When was the last time Greg Hodnett had to use a provisional at an Outlaw show?

GREAT runs for Alan Krimes (career high 6th place against the WoO) and Justin Barger (Williams Grove regular) and nice to see Brent Marks get going in the right direction again. 

At what point in the season did Swindell switch to a maxim, and The Zemco car had schnee sticker on it, is that the chassis they are running? I know nothing about chassis other than the manufactures name, seems like the gf1 maxin and triple x seem to be the most lethal lately, what does everyone else think, and why are some better than others?

Uh OK, I was just wondering what chassis they were running but thanks for the passing stat.

I believe Swindell changed back to Maxim's part way threw the year last year when the Eagle was doing nothing for him, not saying I think the chassis was all to blame as he hasn't done alot since in the Maxim either but the results have been abit better. Dare I say that the guy that complained the loudest about the awfulness of the Good Year tires a couple of years ago didn't realize how good he had it, I'm not sure but it seems like since the Good Years went away he hasn't been consistent and the year before on the GY's he always seemed to be a threat. Maybe that isn't what it is at all but just an observation.

As far as the Zemco car I have no idea but I would guess if there was a Schnee sticker on it thats probably what it was. Also to throw another brand in your list, J&J does pretty well too, at least Schatz seems to know how to make em go around.

http://gph.is/XMLGff

And if you listened to the  VL interviews, the drivers didnt like the conditions either and are very aware that a suck ass racs is bad for the  promootion of the tour.

but hey, I will take your advice...THE PIZZA LINE HAD NOBODY IN IT ALL NIGHT...AND THE PARKING LOT WAS WET AND TACKY...AND I COULD RUN HIGH, LOW OR FIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE BECAUSE THE CAR COUNT OF PARKED CARS WAS LIKE TRAIL WAYS!

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

My bad, Your right J&J was well represented, shatz, holtgraver, esh and Im sure some others, Ive noticed the the outlaws dont really have any driver running a xXx that im aware of and i hear it all the time, its a budget chassis, not made in the usa, but you cant argue with hte results at least not in Pennsylvania, monteith, rahmer last year, and stevie smith this year, and quite a few others seem to have great suscess with that chassis. cant disregard the KPC ( I think thats right) that madsen runs, and out in California the ART chassis seems to be very competative. I would love to see someone take Mark Smiths Mach 1 chassis on the road and see what they could do.

What i heard in victory lane was that, williamsgrove sealed the track over thursday because of the rain coming and did the very best they could with the cards they were dealt, as far as it being bad for the promotion of the tour, would a rain out have been better?