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

Thank you, I appreciate that and there is no doubt I will get tore up lol but that's fine.  They are entitled to their opinion just like I am, just wanted people to see it from the other side of the fence, right or wrong.

If you made told you were going to make x amount of dollars a year at a new job but then we're told that if you miss just one day of work you salary would be reduced by up to 40% with no way of earning it back, what would you think. On the surface it seems like a heck of an incentive to go to work everyday, but stuff happens that's out of your control sometimes and you miss a day. It's been said in this thread enough that a lot of the teams are not blessed with enough budget to make a commitment like this. I think you will see a few more teams out there trying to stick with it as long as the equipment holds out, but once you've missed one event the incentive is gone.  I think they should of added to the tow money and made the participation percentage to get the tow money 85-90% so you would have had a cushion in case something happened and you had to miss a race. This also would have not made the local guys feel like they a second class citizens running for a lesser purse. Raise the tow money to $600-$700 bucks and add $100-$150 start money and then everybody would have been happy. 

The vast majority of sprint car racing is made up of drivers/owners like Dustin Selvage and without his type their is no sport.  I admire him a lot more than your hired shoe who simply shows up and need not worry about the rest.  Chances are this paid shoe was a Dustin Selvage at one time and through talent or a break here and there became what he is todlay.  In my years in the sport I knew lots of both types and trust me the shoe can relate because he was there at some point in his career.  This sport needs a whole lot more Dustin Selvage's than it does Harry Hot Shoe.  Big props to you Dustin and good luck going forward, you never know when some sponsor decides to help, ask Randy Martin, it can happen.

As to the battle of the two Super Powers, I wish Tod all the best, what he's done and is doing for the sport is GREAT and that is an understatement at best.  Go get 'em tiger....

When the NSL was started we log in and read questions about the use of the word "National"...and an even bigger question "where are these cars going to come from?"

And now we see the answer to both...cars have to either sprout up like corn from the ground will 100% allegiance...or come from Huset's and agree to race a schedule that was required to placate Kville.

How can it be that the midwest falls into a situation where there are three separate piles of money slated for 2016 but somehow three power brokers (Kville, NSL and Husets) cannot come up with enough 410 teams that can afford to field cars to run the schedules?

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

Thank You Dustin Selvage for stating your opinions.   As said before this sport was BUILT and continues only because of the little guys that put their heart and soul into it each and every week spending countless hours during the week.   I hope you don't take any of these posts as insulting or negative.    This post like many on Hoseheads turn into something like the Repulican Debates with a couple of bullies shouting insults and trying to put other people down.    

Its seems to me with this new deal, is that if you don't have the same size wallet as   Tod's you should stay home and take up knitting.    

I don't think any Huset's regulars (outside of McCarl, Zomer and Dobmeier) ran the NSL last year.  I don't see that being much different this year personally.

Seems like a giant pissing match to me.

But, I would put my $$ on Tod to win it (if it comes to "deep pockets", I'd venture to say his are much deeper than Mr. Brennan's), and his track record in sprint car racing goes back much further (as a sponsor to TMAC, then a car owner to TMAC, then Sammy and Dollansky, and now an owner to Lasoski and a sponsor to Dale Blaney and Sammy).  As well as supporting other racers as well by forming the NSL.

The bottom line is that Huset's should be successful if they can entice some teams from Grand Forks to make the tow on Saturdays.  The NSL should be successful if they can get even one or two more cars to follow them full-time.  Knoxville we be successful if they continue to treat their competitors fairly, offer a good weekly purse and don't overprice the fans for weekly shows.

This is going to be an interesting off-season to say the least.  We are over 6 MONTHS from Huset's or Knoxville opening the gates in 2016 (and I'd guess around 6 months before the NSL opener as well).  If there is this much activity now, what will it be like in January and February....

Lets say a Knoxville Driver goes to Husets for their opening race and he's racing for $5400 to win.

If Dave Lunstra goes to Husets for their opening race he's racing for $5007.50 to win since his shop is only 5 miles from the track.

So Husets is offereing 2 different purses.

Where are the complainers now?

Lets say driver Joe runs 7 races at Knoxville and doesn't qualify for the point fund but driver Stan runs all 14 races and gets a point fund check for $5000.

So driver Joe was racing for less money because he ran less races.

Where are the complainers now?

Lets say my family can not attend enough races in 2016 to make it feasable to purchase a season pass. I now have to play a higher ticket price per race than the other family can. So now I'm paying more to watch the same race.

Where are the complainers now?

I go to the store to buy a coke and take advantage of the buy 2 get 1 free. The guy behind me can only afford to buy one so he doesn't get the freebie.

Where are the complainers now?

In any kind of business where you sell some kind of product and need to replace your inventory the more you purchase from your supplier the bigger the discount is. So the smaller business owner who has to purchase in smaller quantities pays more per product.

Where are the complainers now?

That's life. You spend more money or put out more effort you get rewarded. The bottom line is theres more money offered to the 410 teams than ever before. It will go to the guys who earn it. No hand outs. The way it should be.

I know there are a lot of drivers to the north on I-29 that are really excited about this option to race on Saturday nights in Sioux Falls.  They will be able to get home and recover before work on Monday.  They get to race for a great purse and now Badlands will even pay up to $400 for towing expense.  That's a win/win.  If anyone wants to run a track anywhere they want they should be able to do what they want.  They don't have to "respect" any other track if they chose not to.  Especially one over 300 miles away...

This could also pull some Knoxville regulars up for a chance at $6400.00 versus $3000.00 if they are not 100% following the NSL.

Dave Boy

What a foolish slanted point of view! OMG! What if when you took the new job you were informed that if you don't miss a day, you will recieve a 40% bonus? That's what an incentive is! But if you do miss a day there will be no penalty to your original pay plan. That's what the NSL is saying. Get it right!

The issue with tow money is that anybody and everybody can collect it. So now where's the balance? So a guy who shows up with his -12 heads, old tires, steels parts, rolls around the bottom and finishes last everytime he hits the track, should collect his $600 or $700 tow money, and his $100 start money, and should then show up and do the same thing at the next race? Basically making $800 for doing nothing. Let's say 5 guys fit that scenario, each race of a 30 race schedule, that's $120,000 that Tod has just paid out for absolutley nothing. That's not sustainable. Tod isn't trying to offer up a show with a bunch of field fillers. He's trying to offer up the best product he can by putting the best racers on display for the fans, and make it available to more fans by traveling around the region.

I'm not sure he thought that one through completely.

Everthing that is happening in the Midwest sprint car scene is absolutely 99% Perfect!! 

The outside the box thinking on everyones parts is AWESOME!! 

All of the ideas are spot on! 

WIth 1 Exception...

Husets on Saturday nights,  Run the family DIscount night on saturday nights and All sprint show on Sunday nights!! I would Pay $25 EVERY SUNDAY night! and I would buy my season passes (4)  today! Maybe even one of these new VIP boxes!!! 

My point is that any team that is thinking about running the full schedule is budgeting on the higher payout, but if something happens and they miss a race it throws the economics off might no longer be sustainable. Obviously it wasn't sustainable with the original payout to most teams this year with as few 100% as there were. And to the point about field fillers, if you are not able to find a way to make a few bucks racing, how can you ever be expected to improve your team without a some earnings here or there to improve your equipment. 

I understand your point, I really do. My point is simply that in my opinion, the NSL bonus system is better then tow money, and promotes actual racing on the track. Just seems to me that's what Tod Q. is trying to do, provide a good product. He isn't wasting any resources trying to polish a turd.

DING!!! Pretty much every person I have talked to about this thinks this same thing!  As fans, Huset's is on Sunday!  Don't reinvent the wheel, keep the wheel rolling and we could have some great racing on 3(THREE) nights on the weekend.

GENTLEMEN...start your brains!!!!!!!!! it is time for this insanity to stop. I don't know Mr.Brennan and I don't know Mr Quiring but the two of you men need to have a meeting of the minds and end this useless and damaging process that was fostered by your differences. I don't know who started this mess but the important thing is to end it. Lock yourselves into a room with no other people allowed and don't discuss split purses, travel vouchers, 100% participation or payoff with silver bars. Instead both of you need to check your big egos and bigger bankrolls at the door and arrive at a sensible, working conclusion that will benefit not only the both of you but the future of sprint car racing in the midwest.

If you go back and find the press releases and statements made by Brennan from the very beginnig you will discover that he had and has no intention of working things out with anybody. He went so far as to say if he hears the word Knoxville one more time he will puke. Tod Quiring from the very beginning when he proposed the NSL, made it clear that he wanted to work in accord with Knoxville and Huset's. That his intention was NOT to compete, but to enhance the racing programs that already existed. He's still doing so, but he can't be expected to just roll over and let the NSL fail. It's never been Tod Quiring's ego that has caused problems. We do have Brennan's ego to thank for the failure of three sensational tracks to coexist and make sprint car racing stronger in the midwest than anywhere else in the country.

I don't really have a dog in this fight aside from seeing the NSL at my home track Cedar Lake Speedway back in September.  That race was in it's 15th season and pretty much most of the NSL drivers have competed in it and some have won multiple times.  This year the NSL being involved with the IRA ensured the presence of some heavy hitters and it was a fun night of racing.  As far as the incentive for 100% participation, that's easy enough to understand what the motivation for that is.  I think these negative comments really when you cut through it all boil down to the fact that purses have been stagnant for so long and there's a lot of underlying resentment being misdirected at the NSL for offering this incentive.  I can understand how everyone involved might have strong opinions about the deal but I think overall this can only be a good thing.

Aside from that I haven't been to Knoxville (six hours) or Jackson (close to four hours) or that track in Brandon (five hours) since I settled into attending all of my races at two tracks a little over 30 miles from home I'm probably not going to get to any of those places much anymore.  When I crossed the 60 year threshold in 2011 those "redeye" four to six hour all night drives became a bit too much for me.  Motels put the idea of going to any of those places over the top for me and PPV is pretty rare except for a couple of bigger events.  I attend races with a camera and notepad and still do some reporting and traveling sucks up the budget too fast. 

I'm probably the only one with this concern but seeing as I stay close to home nowadays I'm more concerned about their new 360 deal than the 410.  Not that there's anything wrong with the 360 deal but I was very involved with the early years of the Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series, a 360 club up around the Twin Cities area and points north.  They had a few good years where we saw 30 car fields at some of their events like Elko, Cedar Lake and Saint Croix's Open Wheel Nationals.  I loved it because I've got that short leash these days and we didn't have any weekly Sprint Car racing up this way.  Unfortunately for whatever reason the UMSS winged fields have dropped off to the point where this year I saw 14-16 car shows a few times.  There are several talented drivers with the UMSS that could very likely opt for the Jackson deal and possibly both Jackson and Knoxville. 

Fifteen years ago we had a handful of specials and that was about it.  If I wanted to see more Sprint Car racing I had to make a trip to Jackson, Knoville or that track in Brandon.  Now with the NSL delving into the 360's next season I'm afraid we could go full circle to where we were fifteen years ago.  The UMSS made it possible to watch Sprints whenever I could muster up the time and money to chase them close to home.  In fact I spent their first couple of years as series photographer and did a podcast for them one season.  Even though I'm not actively involved with UMSS anymore I feel a connection and know the people involved with the deal very well.  Consequently, my concern is what effect the NSL 360 series will have on a club that is going through some tough times a few hours up the road if a couple UMSS drivers jump ship to chase the NSL. 

If anyone would have told me five years ago that there would be what amounts to a bidding war for car counts in the upper Midwest I'd have thought they were crazy.  Basically even though that probably wasn't the intent that seems to be what it's shaping up to be.  Looks like I might have to make a commitment to Late Models and the UMSS non-wing cars next summer as I certainly can't travel and I fear that there will be some friendly fire casualties from the Car Wars going on a few hours to our south. 

Stan Meissner

Just had another thought.  Maybe I could get in on that track in Brandon's travel assist program.  I could sure use the motel and gas money if I'm going to have to start chasing races again.  Just kidding... 

Stan Meissner