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

So last night at Knoxville, Justin Henderson was on the receiving end of a "Tasker Special" and totaled their car during the heat. They were in the process of getting out the spare to finish the night, however were told that they cannot finish the night with a back-up car? Does this rule only apply at Knoxville? If not, what's the point of carrying a spare with you?

Most places/ series have the rule that you must race the car you quaified with. If you run time trials with a car, that is your car for the night. If they do not time trials, most of them say you "qualify" in your heat race. Exceptions are usually 2 days shows where they are one program. 

Another exception, some series actually have rules that state that the car you take the track the first time with is your car. So if you hot lap, practice, whatever, that is your car. 

Outlaws say you can use a back up car at any time up to the start of the A-main. But if you use one, you must start at the tail. 

That's pretty much a universal rule. There's still plenty of reasons to carry a backup: Wrecking in hot laps is a big one, as is if you're on the road for multiple races/days. 

Usually if you need a backup car after the heats you can start it on the tail of the B. If it's not a full field, most allow you to start the A from the rear.

Makes no sense you would do that to a team, fans or driver. If you go to a back up, and theres a B, you start at the tail. If only an A main, you start last. Why the hell would a track that is down on cars, eliminate a team like that? Unless its a last man standing tournament, I cant see the sense in not letting someone go to a backup and start in the rear. No one wins in that situation, except the guy who did something to wad up another competitor for the night.

Maybe they want to keep it fair so teams that do not have backup cars dont get screwed out of A Main points if they wrecked early in the night. Just a guess?

I agree, let them at least tag the tail of the next feature whether it's the A or B. 

The rule is in place to help keep cost down. Many tracks and series have that rule so that a team is not required to have 2 or 3 cars ready at all times to keep up with the high dollar teams. 

 If they used a fresh car every time they pushed off they wouldn't need to clean the car between the races. Why not risk 3 or 4 cars a night and 60k engines to win the 4k feature 

This is a joke, right?

Real race cars don't have fenders...

If they want people to drve 6 hours to race then they should let then take out a  back up car. 

The Mopar Million had a no backup car rule.  It blows my mind how everyone wants to change every damn rule to save money, then want to change a rule that prevents a whole damn spare car from being an advantage.  The advantage?  If you want to race for the chanmpionship, you need a spare car, which entails a trailer that can haul the spare car.  So no spare cars make perfect sense to me.  

I've never understood why you can change everything on the car except the frame.  Some teams don't have spare motors either.  Why allow that, or a rearend, or steering, tank, wings, etc?  What's the logic in that but not allowing a different frame?

Perhaps the rule should be lifted for drivers who have been “Taskered”. 

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