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

Vande.... great points. I hadn't even thought of Lasoski being 50. For him to get snubbed is a big deal as well. 4 time Knoxville champ, Chico Gold Cup, Lernerville Silver Cup, Western World, Eagle Nationals, WoO champ, NST champ, plus all the records he holds at Knoxville. Geesh.

I don't mind the rule of 50 years old or retired for 5 years. Bobby Davis Jr. has been retired for five years I know for sure. But I do agree it would be better to only see 5 people get in every year rather than the dozen or so that do now. It would make it more prestigious for sure. How prestigious is it when you let that many people in?

Eric Arnold
Social Media Manager & Track Historian
Knoxville Raceway

Two things...

The "snubbed" comments are laughable at best, and the names of the 72 member induction committee are public, and published in the yearly induction program.

Davis is mid 40s. I think he was 18 in 82 when he won his first woo race. I can be a negative SOB but we have to make sure we aren't getting up tight about someone that might not be eligible.

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

for the record, I don't think anyone was "snubbed".

IMO, due to the vast # of voters, it actually makes it that much harder to get inducted.

If I was a betting man, the WoO and the Fairboard probably thought that Danny was a "shoe-in" this year when they scheduled the 3 day Outlaw event on HoF induction weekend.

My bet is that 2011 will see Lasoski and Wright both get in (IMO the problem is, GW doesn't race coast to coast to be seen in front of many of the voters on each of the coasts, and Danny has tarnished his image by being a "jerk to the fans" a majority of the time over the last 10 years or so).

What the scary part for all of shoud be is that the following are all over 50--Kinser, Swindell, Wolfie (even though he's not racing, he was still one of the "Big 3", Haud, Lasoski, Rahmer, Wright, Hewitt, etc.. Plus the following are all either out of racing or approaching 50: Jeff Swindell (can't be that much younger than Sammy), Mark Kinser (out of racing for 5 years and 46 in 2010), Terry McCarl (46 in 2010), Bobby Davis, Jr. (out of racing for 5 years), Johnny Herrerra (44 in 2010), Lance DeWease (45 in 2010).

I'm more concerned with the fact that the racers that we all love watching will all be retiring in the next 10 years or so (who - besides Schatz and Meyers - will take all of these guys' place??).

Gary padded his stats in 360s???

What HoF are we talking about here? Is it the SPRINT CAR HoF or the 410 HoF? Winged 410 HoF?

Last time I checked... an ASCS 360 was a sprint car.

He won a lot of NCRA 410 championships & races, has won AllStar and WoO races... more sanctioning bodies and races than a lot of the inductees of the HoF.

He belongs... plain & simple.

I agree

Much like our national government, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction process is broken. And it has been broken for a long time. I am one of the voters who is annually disgusted. I have tried to shine a light on the process, to create reform, and basically get dismissed with a laugh. The idea of a 72-person board is absurd, as is the rigid idea of 16 inductees. Do you know some of those in the hall gathered as many as five votes? But they were among the Top 16, so in they go. That just makes it easy for people from URC to lobby a handful of weak minds to elect someone as nationally insignificant as Glenn Fitzcharles. Tom Schmeh was too nice a moderator to revoke ballots, and Bob Baker seems to sense a problem but does not grasp the depth of it. I'm frankly sick and tired of poring over cold hard facts to make my selections, simply to be canceled out by two guys who think "Danny Lasoski was mean to me." Gary Wright lives in Texas. There has been no 410 option in Texas for decades. Is he geographically disqualified for becoming a 360 champion?

However, all of this outrage can be beneficial. Keep screaming people. Scream long and loud. I am just one squeaky wheel. But maybe an entire highway of 18-wheel outrage can bring some of these misguided voters to the surface like road kill. "Smoke 'em out," as a recently failed president once promised.

Vande.... Danny has tarnished his image by being a "jerk to the fans" a majority of the time over the last 10 years or so.

You have no idea how accurate that statement is, except make that 20 years. Kills me to see kids line up for his autograph at his trailer after a race and he isn't there. Then you step into Subway right after the races and he's in there with a hot blonde. Or when he has a bad night he packs up his trailer and they are the first one out the pit gate. Shows you what kind of a person he really is.

But the guy is a helluva sprint car driver and I still think he deserves to be in the HoF. He has more credentials than Haud and Rahmer, so to think why he wasn't inducted this year you can certainly speculate that his lack of people skills has rubbed the voters the wrong way.

Eric Arnold
Social Media Manager & Track Historian
Knoxville Raceway

Holy Crap.... so the plan is to induct 16 people max. each year and those people don't even have to be held to a majority vote of the 72 voters? Man, I've read the rules on the HoF website a couple of times and it didn't quite sink in that's how it's set-up. Only the Pioneer era (1900-1944) is held to a majority vote by the Pioneer era sub-committee. I know all things come down to money, but it seems as if the Hall of Fame is out to induct lots of people to bring them to Knoxville and the Hall of Fame weekend to bring more people through the gates of the HoF and the track. How could we have been so naive not to notice this in the past?

Eric Arnold
Social Media Manager & Track Historian
Knoxville Raceway

OWT: if I can totally agree with and be mortified by a post on a message board... yours did the trick.

EA: think about other HoF's... Ty Cobb probably wouldn't have won any popularity contests with either players or fans. Stats are why he is in the HoF... much like why I'd personally vote Catfish Winker in the HoF and wouldn't hesitate 1 second. The DUDE has the credentials.

When the HoF sends you a "thank you" basically asking for more money... send it back with no money & say "until the voting process gets real... your envelope will continue to be empty."

I hate jilting a concept that I believe in for a sport that I love... but you vote with your wallet.

I don't agree that boycotting the Hall of Fame and its fund drive is productive. We aren't talking about boycotting a sponsor that supports Tiger Woods here, or even a track that can't get its program run before 3 a.m.

I know for a fact that the Hall of Fame has researched the process, and there have been some changes. The board has to approve any such change (such as the different era thing), not just one guy. On some things, the board has been very slow in acting.

Maybe the fact that Lasoski and Wright stick out like a sore thumb this year, will set some wheels in real motion.

We all need the Hall of Fame in our sport, and it needs us.

If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me! 
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com

Following the money trail is a good way to go in solving some problems but I honestly don't think it applys to the HoF induction issues. For one thing, the HoF staff members are not on the voting committee and most may or may not be privy to information on a cndidate's giving to the Hall. Secondly, few if any of the voting committee would have access to this information and none would benefit financially one way or the other. It should be noted that a continuation of support for the sport after retiring is one of the selection considerations.

I have heartburn with some of the candidates being chosen and others not -over the years, but also see a superb group of individuals that have been inducted. I guess my suggestion would be that if you have a better way, pass along your ideas to Bob. I know he wants to get it right.

 

 

I respect your viewpoint, Bill, but when you have no funding you typically become attentive to why you have no funding. For some reason... when we stop paying... the management starts paying attention. The HoF is an attraction for fans... if the fans don't feel their best interests are represented...that's how we voice our opinion.

When you have no actual vote, you vote with your dollar... as ugly as that sounds.