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

My thoughts of this year's Nationals----my 22nd in a row!  (I'm counting 2020 because I can)

1.  Track prep--Great!!  I thought the 2 qualifying nights were 2 of the best combined qualifying nights I've seen!  Lots of movement in the heats and features, the entire track worked and cars could come out at any time during either qualifying session and lay down a competitive lap!  Friday's racing was not a spectacular as the Hard Knox nights in the past, but it wasn't due to the track. Saturday night was fantastic.  Sure the winner of the main event came from the pole, but the track was wide, bottom was working well, and drivers could pass if they were faster.  Great job on the prep.  Larson was just better.  

2.  Points/qualifying system---once again, LOVE IT!  You have to be fast at least 2 of the 3 times you're on the track on your qualifying night.  If you can be fast 2 of 3, you have a great chance of locking into the Saturday main event, or the Saturday B-main.   If you can be fast all 3, you earn a spot towards the front.  Makes the most sense of any format in the world.  I know Larson won the pole and there was a lot of grumblling about that.  He's been coming since 2011 or 2012 and it was his first pole.  If you would rather they have an invert, he would have already ended up on the pole in past years, and you would have already been pissed back then.  Don't know what to do to help you.

3.  Race show quality---great.  Both qualifying nights moved along nicely.  Friday night's show was done around midnight, even with the 78 cars to qualify, 1 extra heat, and 1 extra main.  Saturday's show was right in line with shows of the past.  A couple of nasty red flags early on made for a late night.  However, it was consistent with the pace of years past and it wasn't terribly late when it all ended, considering what they fought through earlier in the night.  

4.  Was the racing good on Championship night?  Hell yes!  As I said earlier, Larson led flag to flag, but so many variables come into play that can drastically change the outcome and perception of a race, and they are a game of inches.  If Gravel restarts 2nd on the final restart, we would have witnessed an exchange of slide jobs the last 2 laps that would have sent the place into a frenzy.  But alas, he didn't quite get to 2nd, so it wasn't meant to be.  If you see 10 Nationals, 2 or 3 will be forgetable, 5 or 6 will be good, and 1 or 2 will be unforgettable.  This one was in the category of good.  A few things happen here or there, it could have been one of the 1 or 2!!   It's just how it plays out.

5.  What's up with all of the misinformation/disinformation?  I overheard or read a number of stupid stories and comments this year.  First one, I hear a guy say Schatz is the only man to win from the B, and he is quickly corrected by another who says---"nah ah, Wolfe came from the E and won in 90---I was here."  Here's your sign.  2nd one, and this is a good one that I read on Facebook.  A genius claimed the Outlaws stopped the feature in Knoxville 10-15 years ago to allow Donny Schatz to change his engine.  They refused to restart the feature until the engine change was complete, and he went way over the time limit.  He too was at this race, and is sick of the favoritism.  I think there are a couple of guys who had a little too much to drink at these shows.  I also saw someone point out that they were sick of the 6 hour long shows every single night.  I went to every show.  I didn't sit in the stands for anywhere near 6 hours.  I thought they moved things along nicely.  

Great Nats!!  Can't wait for 2024!!

Bobby Allen won the Nationals in 1990. I think Wolfgang won in 1989. I'm not sure which year he ran the alphabet but the way I remember it he came up short but did really well in the feature.

Correct.  And he didn't come from the E, he came from the D.  The guy had the entire story screwed up and was very confident.  Not saying everyone has to be a historian, but he should have had his story straight before he began arguing with another fan. 

I don't believe he won though! He advanced far into the A but fell short of a win.

Spectacular performance though... I am a Wolfie fan all the way

Wolfie came from 6th in the D to 5th in the A, passing 57 cars in the Williams Payless Harware & Rockery #8. 

credit: Knoxville raceway twitter

Agree on all points. May have been won from the pole and Larson may have lead all 50 laps but he earned that spot by his performance on Thursday. Track was racy all week long and if the drivers and crews could get the car right they were able to move up. A number of guys who qualified well did not transfer from the heats, guys who did not qualify well did well in their heats and it came down to feature time. As we talked on Friday you do well in 2/3 you put yourself in a solid spot to get into the feature, you do well in 3/3 you probably start upfront. 

It was great sharing a laugh or two about some of the social media posts and things we heard around the track. All could be disproven by simple math or by simply watching the race. Show quality was great and the only delays were out of the track crew's control. A number of wrecks in hot laps on friday and at the start Saturday delayed things but again out of their control. The only delay that the track did was the prep prior to the features but I would say that it paid dividends each time they did it. 

I know there were a few people upset with the outcome or viewed it it bad because of who won and how he won. I think it was just the circumstances that could not be controlled. Larson earned his spot, Gravel spun in his heat and cost him a good starting spot, Peck and Sweet probably would have been closer to the front but they had issues in the feature, Rico looked fast but had a tire go down. A lot of factors could have made it "more competitive" but at the same time, they all raced on the same track with the same format. For me it was worth the price of the ticket and the hotel stay. 

Correct.  That was the point.  He had all of the wrong info and was arguing like a madman.

Yes, it's fun to hear casual fans who think they are knowledgeable espouse their "facts".. bless their hearts. 

Those guy when wrong always seem to double down

The racing was great, the people were great, the atmosphere was electric as it usually is. 

If I had to complain it would be about having to wait through 2 of the 5 features to get a sandwich on the backstretch.

The backstretch definately needs to add to their concessions.

Seems like they have the drinks down fine.  The food lines are always an eternity.  I rarely go to the track hungry---it's just too long of a wait.    You are correct on this.  

why let the facts ruin a good story

I would do away with the hard Knox night. Make Friday nights show all about the preliminaries. No 80 cars qualifying, just run all of your races lined up by points from the two qualifying nights. Still lock in the first 16 the same as usual, but have the final eight cars come from Friday. Either split the field by even and odd points and take four from two b-mains, or run them straight up and take eight to the feature from the single B. As for Saturday, bring every one back that didn't make the big show and run three non qualifier features before the big show @20 laps for $8000-$10000 to win. Everyone gets a chance to run a feature on Saturday, and you do t have to wait around for the transfers to get ready for the next race. It's just my opinion, but I'd like to have the starting field completed by Friday night and it would take away some of the fake drama from the hard Knox format, which I think has gotten stale. Just an idea, I'm open to suggestions.  Still a great time this year as always. 

No, I like the hard knox night!  Some great racing on Friday night!

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

I agree.  Hard Knox night is WAY better since they did away with the old format, and it has produced some incredible racing over the past decade.  Not every Hard Knox night is the best show ever, as this years show was just good.  However, you gotta sit through some good shows to see the incredible shows.   And, there was a late pass for the final transfer spot, so that was cool as well.  

No disappointment from me.  I would keep every single thing at the Nats as is................................if my vote counts

I love the hard Knox night, plus I think the drivers appreciate that there's another chance to get in the A. 

Overall, the nationals were good. It seemed like more food vendors around, with the popularity of food trucks around here. 

- I miss Winged Nation and Steve , and Ashley or Erin. Yes I like Tony. 

Do not change the format, on Wedneday or Thursday. Friday could maybe be tweaked. 

I like all the fanfare on Saturday, sky divers, singers, drivers intros, I wish they could include the cars along with the drivers but would need to change the victory lane, or relocate how they do this. 

I like the fan access to the post race interviews. I wasn't able to make it, but cool idea and plan on attending next year. 

The timing of the fireworks seemed off when they were coming down the front stretch, but this is extrememly minor complain. 

Sprint car racing has some young talent coming up through the ranks and hopefully some of them stick to Sprints. 

Keep It Real

Wed and Thurs formats are perfect in that everyone has the same consequences for succeeding or failing. There is no Kings Royal farce of being awful in TTs and being rewarded with a front row spot in the A main. You stink in TTs at Knoxville, you'll be rewarded with a good heat race spot and perhaps a prelim A main spot, but you're running Friday. Conversely if you do great in time trials but can't pass cars, you're likely running Friday. 

Speaking of Friday, I love the idea of the top 4 being locked in and the 2nd chance. But if you're the 27th guy in points Wed/Thurs and wreck in your heat and can't get it fixed, you're in the E main on Saturday. Also, if you time poorly on Friday you're pretty much done, as all the non-transfer cars are lined up by time. So if you go out late, time poorly, start 10th in your heat and move up to 4th one spot out of the transfer, you're still screwed starting in the back of the B main. I think they need to tweak that a bit. 

Two of the best sandwiches I ever had were outside the track on the front stretch side. 

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

To anyone who needs to re-live the Doug Wolgang alphabet soup run. Buy yourself a ticket to the HOF. Better yet, go to the 360 Nats and spend the weekend in Knoxville. It isnt near as busy and I bet you can be the only one in the theatre on the 2nd floor. You can watch so many good videos -- including the run Doug had from the D main to the A.  Had there been another 20 laps or so he prob does win the A main that year.  The show is a little long, but it was made for good tv back then.  Sit and enjoy. 

Agree about Kings Royal format.  I can't wrap my head around it, but whatever.  I enjoy watching it, but I've seen too many cars "average" their way to a pole in that race, while cars that unload fast completely miss the show.  Silly.

As far as your assessment of missing the show on Friday night goes, you've pretty much summed up what would be a terrible week for any team, and they wouldn't really deserve much more of a chance anyways.  So in your scenarios, they end up running exactly where they qualified to run anyways.  If you go out late, and you're deserving of a chance to make the Championship night feature, you should be able to time in the top 24.  The top 24 in qualifying on Friday night run the top 2 rows of the 6 heats in an invert.  25th fastest would start 5th in the 1st heat, and would only have to move up 2 spots, and so on.  (Friday night is only a 4 car invert on TT's)

 Just my thoughts.