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

10 days ago, everyone was speaking of sprint car (or, more to the point WOO) armageddon.  Donny was winning at a pace never before seen in the history of the world.  (Even though it had been seen at an even higher level for 20+ years before)

I've been in awe of what Donny has been able to accomplish the last 10 years.  However, in the here and now----there is a new sheriff in town.  

Congrats Mr. Gravel!!!!!

wait til they get on the dry/slick bigger tracks, it will all go back to normal.

the tighter bullrings that hold good moisture keep the younger guys fighting with him 

do it in the dirt

Plus you can be a second slower on a short track and race all night with that faster car I'm no schatz fan but it will go back to him winning all the time again

Sarge, here is the annual Blackhawk's in the playoffs comment........Boring ass game last night.  4 losses in a row going back into the regular season.  They had better start getting something back.........That is all.......................

Gravel will be the next great one but we'll see if it happens this year or later. I'd imagine later I think Donny and team have been toying around a bit with setups maybe. Also, keep in mind how much of a lead brad sweet had in points at this time last year. Guess who won the championship.

Gravel had 9 wins last year.  1 of them came before May 14th.  (for those keeping score, that's a month from now)

He is way ahead of where he was last season.  I expect him to challenge the 15 all year.  

TSR 410 Ford parts probably exist by now.  Just the evil spirit of such uniqueness is already killing him.

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?

Another poor showing from the 15 last night. I hope the Ford Performance factory is working 24/7 to get TSR what they need or they may not recover in 17'.

LMAO...good one!

How short the memory gets. Was thinking must be a long time since the15 went 8 features without a win. So looked back and realised it was only last year when it was 11 events. From afar, its certainly a good and varied period of the calendar to follow the WoO.

Hi bye the way, first post and all that.

I was told just last night by a friend of Donny's that they still have the Shaver Chevy in the #15 car.  I'm positive he wasn't wrong.  And 8 races, that's not much to figure a season on.  Once the Ford is ready, guarantee you crew chiefs that take a look at her will say the same thing Napscar crewchiefs said about the tooyota--a Chevy knockoff with a different name on the valve covers. 

 Lawlessness and liberalism equals Hell.  NY City, 
Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Minnepolis, etc. We saw it. 
Burning hundreds of buildings, a thousand assaults and 
dozens of murders. Getting worser and worser.

Donny is far from done and will likely win titles to come for years.  However, the point to the original post?  2 weeks ago the talk on the forum is that he would not be challenged and he was doing something never seen before which would be bad for sprint car racing.  I thought it was too small of a sample size of races to make that statement and this type of dominance HAD been seen before and in a much greater scope. 

If I was held at gunpoint and forced to gamble my life-savings on a driver to win, I would have to bet on Donny.  However, I didn't think 2 weeks ago he would run away with the title unchallenged and that is exactly what we are seeing.  Could it change?  Sure.  But, right now, Donny is not keeping up with the 5 car just like nobody was keeping up with the 15 for the first month of the season. 

As far as Donny's dominance on the big, slick tracks?  Sounds right.  Thing is, they don't run from here on out on big, slick racetracks.  Small, tacky bullrings are still on the schedule so he will still be challenged.

All of that being said, anyone surprised Shane Stewart is so far off the grid right now? 

People who like to bash the WoO like to point to Schatz's dominance and call it a one man show. It's far from that, however I'm sure the Schatz team will be more motivated than ever. Lot of bullrings coming up, but once Mid May hits, I'm sure he'll be dominant again.

Maybe----but at least someone has him thinking right now.  And, let's not forget--8 of the #5 car's 9 wins came after mid-May last year.  

Why are people thinking the Ford is new to sprint car racing ?  Dave Blaney had 1 in the 10 car for years. I'm pretty sure he won a WoO title with the Ford between the rails. I understand it was years ago, but, in theory sprint car motors have not changed as SLM motors have. Remember they're pulling 1400 # compared to 2400. Again if memory serves me correctly Shaver built those fords. 

Yea, Gravel is actually within striking distance of Schatz in terms of points. Very impressive

However, in the mere 7 years I've been following sprints, Donnie has a tendency to "run the table" after Knoxville Nats, dosn't he?

At least Gravel is putting up a challenge....

Trust me, we here at Hoseheads are all aware of Fords in 410s and every other goddamn thing associated with them. Have you ever seen a minthess post?? 

His average post on this website makes me want to stab myself in the eyes and ears with a rusted awl.

Schatz will get hot as the weather does... For the next week he may struggle.    Next Friday they are at West Memphis.   The last time they were there Tim Kaeding won and was just about to lap Donny when the feature ended.   

Regarding the Shane Stewart bit. He's had a really rough year so far. Shane had a few races last year where he slipped up and spun/wrecked/got caught up in a wreck but this year the frequency of that seems to be much higher. He's still certauinly fast and one of the better drivers on the tour, just can't let the mishaps get in his head.

On a different note, Jason Sides is having a pretty good year for himself. He isn't all that high in points (11th) but he's seemed to be more towards the front this year than I remember.

Sides does seem to be running up front over the last handful of races, that is for sure!