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

does anyone else think sprint cars are starting to look like modifieds. when you look at a modified all you can see of the driver is his head and sprint cars are becoming the same with the enclosed left side . sprint teams are also putting the snub nosed fuel tanks sammy uses on his midgets. what happened to being able to see the driver working the wheeel in the cockpit.

Natural progression being that sprintcars were borne from super modifieds. some of the old timers in the Indiana area still call winged cars "winged modifieds" and in fact, there is a winged modified series that runs in the Texas/Louisiana area.

305's are the herpes of sprint cars

Them left side panels need to go. The way its headed in another 10 years they might put tractor cabs on them.

Joey Saldana is the first one I can recall using the left side panel. If I'm correct, he started using it after a tire came in the cockpit and nearly ended his career.

when u look  at sprint car organitions rules about appearance they say that cars are to have a sprint car appearance, not modified appearance. when i talk about modified appearance i mean in modifieds you can only see the driver's head and sprint cars are starting to look the same. the right side of a sprint car cockpit is already enclosed and they are becoming enclosed on the left too. i enjoy watching the drivers work the steering wheel.  am i the only one? concerning safey, i do  see where a fiberglass side panel could prevent rock and small debris from hitting the driver but not protecting driver from sprintcar's front wheel or any other heavy debris. as far keeping sprintcar's front wheels out of the cockpit and away from driver thats what the safety cage on left side was created for. at least fans could still see the drivers working the steering wheel. i do understand the safety cage on left side hinders drivers visoin though.  i do understand how the side panel could help  areodynamically. i see this being an advantage to the smaller, thinner drivers who can crawl through the smaller hole. can you see some of  the bigger drivers climbing through those small holes. i guess bigger drivers could make the hole bigger but would that take away the areodynamic advantage. i mean how small does the hole have to be to gain an areodynamic advantage?  if the opening has to be small  then what? i understand the panel could be taken off but that would be a pain. what's next, driver puts a hinge on the body work up by the roll cage so he can jump in and out of the car without taking side panel off. how far will sprint organiations let this go. when the sprint car cockpits are as enclosed as some of the midgets were at chilli bowl this year.

My memory is that modifieds started to look more like sprintcars, then they started to use sprint car frames.  Tracks like Knoxville then changed to sprint cars.  I could be wrong.  I see nothing so wrong right now with sprintcar looks.  I have seen very few sprintcars with bobb tail tanks.  There is a rule as to how big the opening must be,  but you will never see drivers arms sticking out the sides of the roll cage steering the car again.

You should of put starting to look like a stockcar class. Much like the big block and sportsman modifieds. You only see the drivers head and hands move.

With the sprint cars when the driver is 5'5" and only a buck and quarter aka 125 pounds. You can have tall left side body panels. But get a man in the car 6' 200 pounds like S. Kinser, Schatz, Dale Blaney you need to safty bars for your arms to have someplace to go when you turn the steering wheel. And no they are not as fast in qualifying as a smaller driver because of the air drag on the left side of the car.

Talking of being able to see the driver It's hard to see the driver from turn 2 down the back chute to turn 3 anyway. Where you can see them turn 4 down the front chute to turn 1. There is a sideboard and wing center in the way for that to happen.

Remove wing, I can see driver all the way around the track from top of the bleachers.

I sit in the stands and therefore usually just see the right side of the car anyway.  I'm not really sure why this is a big deal to you?    If watching the driver work is that big a deal to you then find a topless late model race to watch. 

Hell, if I didn't know any better, I'd say Altman has a new alter ego. Is that you Bob???

not all drivers have the left side panel but I think it's preference.

i know some of the drivers were complaining  about getting fumes in the cars.

others were complaining it's hard to see 

and then the most beneficial aspect is safety  look at Jason leffler crash would it of turned out  differently

not all drivers have the left side panel but I think it's preference.

i know some of the drivers were complaining  about getting fumes in the cars.

others were complaining it's hard to see 

and then the most beneficial aspect is safety  look at Jason leffler crash would it of turned out  differently

not all drivers have the left side panel but I think it's preference.

i know some of the drivers were complaining  about getting fumes in the cars.

others were complaining it's hard to see 

and then the most beneficial aspect is safety  look at Jason leffler crash would it of turned out  differently

Could you please repeat that?

Sammy was one of the first ones to use a left hand drivers panel. His TMC sprinters had them. Made the car look bada$$ for sure.

Agreed. Some people are just always looking for something to bitch about

When I was a kid they mostly ran what they called supermodifieds around here. They had bolt on cages. To be able to run with IMCA they would take the cages off and change the tails from the squarer supermodified tails to the teardrop style sprint car tails. IMCA, after Kenny Gritz's death, started running cages and the square tails started disappearing. Our supermodifieds eventually transformed into modern day sprint cars. Knoxville changed from the "Supermodified Capitol of the World" to the "Sprint Car Capitol of the World." Personally, I liked the supermodifieds better. They didn't all look the same. Not all tails were the same. They had personality and an identity of their own. Two of my favorites, I wish I had pictures of them, were Bill Utz's blue 98 and Roy Cary's red 44. I assume they were built by the same person, because they were very similar in appearance. Very unique and stylish tails. When Sammy showed up at the Chili Bowl with the square tail, I thought it was great. Reminded me of the supermodifieds of my youth.