Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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Upstate New York 360 sprint driver Jason Barney made his way to the lead in DIRT's Rite Aid 200 Big-Block Modified Race at Syracuse in his first time in a modified in two years. While leading at about lap 120 while getting ready to pit, as he came out of turn four DIRT officials had the pit road closed flag displayed. As soon as Barney (the leader) passed the pit road entry they displayed the open flag and everyone behind Jason went into pit road. Jason was forced to pit the next time around and restart in the back of the field. After this Jason Barney still managed to make his way back up to ninth even when he broke a right-rear shock with about 30 to go. What it boils down to is DIRT screwed Jason Barney because they didn't want a sprint car driver to beat their big-name Super Dirt Series Modified Drivers.

Yeah but if he ran that good, I'm sure there were many who saw it. I'm certain his property values are up after that.

Your post is so innacurate, it is not even funny. I was also at Syracuse on Sunday. You didn't mention that Jason Barney only inherited the lead because everyone running in front of him pitted so they could go the rest of the distance without having to make another stop.

By comparison, Vic Coffey won the race and made his last stop on lap 84. Most of the field made their last stop on lap 92. Here is the rest of the top five and when they made their last pit stop: 2. Tim Fuller (lap 92), 3. Richie Tobias (lap 92), 4. Ronnie Johnson (lap 84), 5. David Hebert (lap 84).

Jason Barney wasn't going to win the race by pitting on lap 120 when everyone else had already made their final stop. Track position means everything at Syracuse.

Apparently you weren't listening to Jason's car. When he was in the lead and checking out he only had the throttle a quarter of the way pushed down. He said he's never felt a car so good at Syracuse. You didn't watch him pass Brett Hearn on the OUTSIDE earlier in the race? He almost passed Jimmy Phelps with a broken right rear shock. Had he been able to restart in the middle of the pack as he should have he would have been a factor in the end. he passed about 15-20 cars just to get up to 12th before Sheppard and some of the others ran out of fuel. Had they not screwed him he would have restarted about 12th to 15th in line. If he hadn't broken the right rear shock he still would have ended up in the top 5. Had he started in the middle of the field he wouldn't have had to drive it so hard and I doubt he would have broken the shock. If he didn't win he would have been in the top 3. Jason's car was so good he was flying by people. He passed Godown, Laubach, and Tremont with a broken right rear shock. Had the shock not broke he would have been by Marshall, Phelps, Hearn, and Hebert at least. And that's after restarting in the back. By the way, before Jason inherited the lead he wasn't even pushing the car.

Rogue, Jason drove a very nice race. He was fast, but he wasn't going to win the race pitting that late. Over the past 10 years, the race has become a total fuel mileage race. You have to pit with the leaders to have any chance at winning. The fastest car on the track over the final 70-80 laps was Richie Tobias, who pitted with the majority of the field, and even he said after the race that he got beat by fuel mileage.

One of the reasons Jason was able to pull away while leading was because all of the eventual top five finishers running behind him were trying to save fuel as much as possible because they had already made their last stop.

Is this the prestigous Syracuse division with the likes of past stars like Barefoot Bob McCreadie, Jumpin Jack Johnson and what Dave Blaney would compete in when he ran at Syracuse? Hope I am making sense.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

Tis the same race Grasshopper. The biggest Modified race of the year.

Wow, leading and checking out while only running 1/4 throttle!!!!! How the heck did he not just blow by everyone after his pit stop running WFO?????

This must be a great event IF a guy running 1/4 throttle is leading. What kind of laps speeds were the rest of the cars turning while conserving fuel? 35mph.

NOT bashing. I know this is a great race, I've seen several on tv. But this thread, mostly rogue-9's posts(leading & checking out with only 1/4 throttle), make it sound like a pretty boring fuel milage test.

I have seen every DIRT Week Mod race at Syracuse since 1985, and this was actually one of the better races I have seen at Syracuse in the past 10 years. There was some passing there this year. Some years, there is absolutely no passing at Syracuse. Vic Coffey won the race and actually made a legit pass for the win under racing conditions.

Tobias came back through the field to third by passing nearly everybody on the outside, which is nearly impossible at Syracuse. On about four different occasions, Tobias got out of shape on the extreme outside of the track and nearly wrecked. He eventually did bounce off the turn four inside wall while reeling in the leaders with 20 to go.

There is never much passing at Syracuse, but it is an amazing event to see. Syracuse is right there with any big event in the country as far as the atmosphere of being at a big race is concerned. The lure of the race is its history and the fact that its the only time all year the Northeast Modifieds run on a one-mile oval.

But the race wasn't always such a fuel-mileage battle like it has become in the past 10 years. There were guys on Sunday that pitted on lap 76 and tried to make it the last 124 miles on a tank of fuel. which is pretty much impossible.

I just had to reply to this thread because the original post wasn't quite the way things really were on Sunday. LOL

Seen it often on tv and it is an event I always wished I could attend some day. I knew the original post had to be way off base.

I seldom missed a "This week on DIRT" or "Rush hour" show when they were on tv.

come on rouge- we talked about this....

russell king, jerry higbie, shawn reimart and one other i cant remember were the only ones to also pit on lap 125/126- so he only lost 4 spots

he passed those guys within 5 laps- so at best it ended up costing him two spots.

don't get me wrong- i thought jason drove a great race at syracuse, then that night did a whale of a job at rolling wheels.  he is a fantastic driver and had a great super DIRT week. but this did not cost him more than a few spots

he ran good though- had he pitted 20 laps earlier he would have been in the top-5. but they didnt want to gamble, and eveyrone needs a different strategy so what can you do.

as for pit road- i was in barney's pit box when they came down, so i didnt see it