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

Great Question.

In no particular order:

1998 Knoxville Nationals when Danny was in the Beefpackers car trying to win his very first Nationals.  Lasoski and Sammy Swindell battled the entire race and with 5 to go Lasoski got trapped behind Gary Wright, Sammy passes him for the lead and then Sammy goes to the bottom forcing Lasoski to the top shelf.  Sammy had the lead at the white flag and Sammy went to the bottom in turn 1 but missed the bottom, Lasoski went low and passed him in turns 1-2 and then won the race.

2003 Williams Grove National Open Prelim-Mark Smith went wheel to wheel with Donny Schatz all over the track and the 2 banged wheels 2 times down the backstretch before Smith was able to secure the lead all on the final laps to win.  Was on Beer Hill and the crowd was literally losing its mind.

2004 Princeton Speedway Craig Dollansky sweeping the features at his hometown track of Princeton Speedway in Minnesota.  He absolutely ran over everyone to win that race and Kraig Kinser and Steve Kinser were pissed about his driving.

2020 Park Jefferson Speedway, the final night of the All Star Sprints at Park Jefferson Speedway when Austin McCarl had the lead, Aaron Reutzel used a slingshot move out of turn 2 to pick up 6 car lengths and take the lead down the backstretch.  Reutzel went low in turn 1, but McCarl went even lower and "nudged" Reutzel up the track to steal the win out of turn 4.

Quite possibly the best race I have seen was at Gas City. USAC Sprint Weeks race one of 2016. 1 or 2 laps in, Tyler Courtney spun and restarted in the rear.  He was catfishing the rest of the way and Brian Clausen was ripping rubber off his right rear on the cushion all the way around.  Eventually, Sunshine passed 23 cars in 22 laps to take the lead with 8 to go and went on to win.  It was my first time at Indiana Sprint Weeks and I was hooked.  It was Sunshines first ever USAC victory

Darn, I feel old. Best races ever in person, 1981 4 Crown at Eldora. Kinser winning from the rear in the Johnny Vance Aristocrat cars , in Silver Crown and Sprint car divisions.  To be fair I was 12, don't remember all the passes, but to win from the rear was unheard of especially with no practice , no qualifying, no nothing. Looking back what makes it even cooler...no Facebook, Twitter, or cell phones If  it wann't in NSSN or Checkered Flag racing news, you had no idea. Kinser showing up was a total suprise, at least ot me anyway. Just kind of  a neat day in retrospect as well, not yet King Kinser running down USAC studs like Rice, Gary B, and Bigelow to boot. Somewhere I have a program from that day with a Bigelow autograph, at 12 yrs old his signature was pretty cool.

Honorable mention because I like under dog wins, but was not present.

Peperak winning at Eldora on ABC in 1981

Terry Pletch from the B Main at Terre Haute on Thursday Night Thuner in 1999

Being a Wisconsin guy, and a midget guy. Danny Boorse at the Chili Bowl in 2003 putting it on the Mopar guys.

Hard to pick just one, so I'm doing categories:

First BIG race: Sammy wins Williams Grove National Open, 2010, closely chased by Lance Dewease. Not long after Sammy's flat tire cost him the Knoxville big $$$ that somebody else mentioned. Crowd goes wild, chanting "Sammy' Sammy, Sammy" even tho he beat The Posse...

Most sheer fun: Chris Bell & Kyle Larson battling it out at Indiana Midget Week several years ago, at lil Montpelier Speedway, full moon, dodging baseball sized dirt clods, laughing the whole damn time... :)

Historic amazing feat: Schatz wnning Knoxville Nats from what, 21st?

It's hard to remember every race back to 1960.  Some of the more memorable ones involved campground antics in my younger days and I don't even remember what happened on the track.  One that stands out was the night that a couple guys from the UP stopped by.  One had a rubber parrot on his shoulder and was playing guitar and singing.  One of the Aussies among us took exception to the entertainment and the next thing I saw was an acoustic guitar roasting in the fire.  There was a USA Nationals multi day camping experience where a member of our party was found passed out in a ditch half way between the track and a bar.  New Richmond's finest deposited him at the campsite.  He was one of our group of rowdy photographers "letting off some steam" after the races.  I have seen so many races in 62 years that the crazy antics tend to stand out more than the on track action.

Stan Meissner

when the Posse wins the Eldora million

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com

for me it was a race at bedford when Kenny Weld was beating everyone and this guy named Jan Opperman showed up and showed Kenny his tail tank and whipped em good that night...don't remember the year...too old now...lol

Hard to pick 1, I feel like I have seen a couple handfuls that if anyone had the chance to see once in their life time then they would be thankful. One of the ones that sticks out for me is just because of the whole night of racing in general was 2013 Sprintacular at Eldora. It was perfect weather in mid October, over 120cars in the pits with the All Stars, 360s, non wings and you had Jac battling Hannigan and Shane Stewart in the closing laps of the All Star feature. There was also a close points race happening just behind that battle between Dale Blaney and Tim Shaffer. Jac ended up winning he feature by maybe a few feet over Hannigan at the line and Blaney held on after blowing an engine in the dash to win the All Star title. 

Then my favorite race of all time that I will always cherish is the race I went to and barely watched which was the first race I took my son too at Attica. It was his first experience seeing any form of racing and he enjoyed it instantly as soon as he saw the cars start doing hot laps. I sat there the whole night watching him watch the races waving his flag and his hands and pointing. I think I have lost count of how many races we have been to since that time. 

Stan that is hilarious you mention the guitar night at Cedar Lake, because the two guys from the UP were my cousin and I! Tatnell won that night and we stumbled into the pits and sang "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" as he signed autographs. He laughed but a crew guy wasn't impressed, leading to the scuffle and burning guitar later on! Seems like a long time ago because......it was! Always great racing and great fun at CLS. 

The Selinsgrove National Open. When the last 10 laps or so had Mark Smith on the bottom, Blane Heimbach around the rim and Pat cannon through the middle.  Great 3 car battle for the lead in that race.  I believe that was 2012.  I think the winning margin was something like .38 seconds.  Pat Cannon won, Heimbach got second, Smith was third.

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

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

Not sure of the year but it was a thunder on hill show,at Grandview,Pauch was driving the Zemco car and Lance was driving the brickmobile. There was a caution on the initial start, they restarted and ran 50 laps straight through,Pauch dogged The 461 the entire distance in heavy lapped traffic. Even nosing ahead a couple times.with Dewease ultimately prevailing.The race was over in like nine minutes and it was the best nine minutes of racing I have ever seen!And I have been watching racing over 50 years. Just another example of how great Billy Pauch truly was!

That was a crazy night.  The crew guy was Brooke's friend who spent some time up here that year.  I believe that was the night Brooke introduced me to vegemite.  The racing was always good but I had a hard time following very closely from the infield.  Down there we had to keep our heads on a swivel and couldn't see the whole track.  I get much more out of watching streaming races and sitting in the stands than I did in the infield.  Nice to hear from you.

Stan Meissner

U.S. Dirt Nationals at I-55...1997 I believe. The World of Outlaws dash and watching Tony Elliott start scratch in the USAC "A" Main to win it.

Member of this message board since 1997

I think it was in 99 manufacturers race at Lincoln. Rahmer took the challenge to start last and earn 15k instead of 5k. Passed them all and all the best in central Pa were there in the Hamilton 77.