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

Wins by 6 seconds and it only took him 23 laps to lap all the way up to 8th place. More impressive than Sheldon in 55 laps. 

Impressive but races that are dominated are not very fan friendly.Schatz is one of the best ever just had an average[ for them ]Nationals.Once high school and college sports start the racing season is basically over.Some of the best tracks are when the weather cools down and its much more fan friendly than when the temperature is in the 70s.They could race all year in California and Florida but dont due to not being able to compete with other venues.People like close races not dominance.Some Nascar races were won by many laps until they made rules so they all basically have the same cars.

And he has taken the points lead. Not bad for a guy that is having an off year.

I dont understand how school shuts down racing. They have events scheduled until Nov and 3 teams in the hunt for the lead. Maybe attendance will drop and a few less local teams travel great distances but what was your point??? Respectfully asking.

I think the original poster is asking where the fan fare is... if so

1, we expect that from Schatz especially in his home state.

2, he has dominated before but Sheldon s performance was a new thing for him.

3, there was a flipping sprint car hanging on a fence for half the feature with 2 long delays for catch fence issues,  did anybody even watch Schstz win? 

Probably all talked about other things on the way home.

In short it's the 3rd headline of the night. Now that's an action packed night when the top stories don't involve injury.

I was gonna go but....

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

Sheldon lapped up to 5th in 40 laps and had a 10.3 second lead. Way more impressive then Donny, also a tougher field of cars at the iron man

Long time lurker, first time poster. I was at the race last nite and anybody that was there and says it was not a great race needs their head examined. Yes Donny was dominate and lapped up to 7th place, but to watch him, Gravel, and Logan work the traffic was amazing. I do not know how many times I thought all of them were going to crash a lap car, but missed them by what seemed like inches. That race is what makes me keep going back to other races and sitting thru a follow the leader, rubber down race. If you don't enjoy that, you can not call yourself a race fan.

Not 40. 55 laps. Both were whoopins but nothing I would call super spectacular

Sheldon took the lead on lap 11 so he had 45 laps. Sheldon lapped 20 cars and won by 10 seconds at Pevely which is as “badass” a track as there is. Donny lapped up to 8th but there were only around 20 cars left in the race by the time he took the lead and the field was nowhere near as stout. 

RodinCanada,

Football consumes the average American from Labor Day on.  Friday night lights, Saturday afternoon high school and college, and Sunday NFL.  Doesn't mean no one goes to the races.  But, that becomes the focus of a large percentage of American males----who also, coincidentally, make up the large population of sprint car fans.  

Not saying that's why I don't go to races after the Nationals, but high school football on Fridays, and sometimes Saturdays, has a lot to do with it.  So, the start of school signals the end of my sprint car season---at least my live attendance----and I'm sure many others will agree with me.  

Agreed. Labor Day weekend is usually the end of my racing season save for maybe a September show if I’m really interested in it/a weak football slate. Big specials will do ok in sept/oct, but football is by far the most popular sport in America

It depends on what part of the country you’re from. Certainly for the South and Midwest this is the case. But for certain areas like Upstate NY and Central Pa, the biggest races of the year by far are in the fall.  

There are several fall specials like Knoxville has the Late Models and Boone the IMCA Nationals and Webster City did always have a fall futurity but many tracks such as Knoxville dont have a weekly show due to the competition of other venues.

Well we're I'm from as soon as hi school football starts you see a decline in attendance, and that's all area tracks. You add college ball into the picture and yes it does make a difference in western pa.

Correct. 

To all of the other responses, I wasn't saying there aren't big races.  I was stating that in my past experiences, as soon as football season started, our local track saw attendance cut by 50%.  Every year.  Towards the end of the track's existence, the track would close before labor day.  I would still go, but now that my son plays football, that's 6-7 years that I would not have been attending after mid-August------if it were still open and not a cornfield that is. 

Well said, I missed last night for the first time in years but watched it on DirtVision, if you think his performance was the 3rd highlight of the night, you weren't paying attention, even his performance in the late model was awesome to watch. River Cities Speedway is an awesome race track esp. come feature time when like you said the drivers hit lap traffic.

Is this the start of Donnie's usual late season run for the points?

No.........his usual start for the run for season points starts somewhere between February and early July.  He's late to the party this year which means the rest of the world is on his heals. 

Unfortunately its not really the school as much as it is the football teams of those schools. Where I live in Ohio, people go to high schoold football on Friday, and then make an entire day out of an Ohio State Football game. I used to look forward to football every year growing up and played it all the way up through high school. Now I get depressed when the season starts cause I know racing season is almost over. Typically Attica has the All Stars for their final race of the season when its Ohio State's season opener against some terrible team. Each year my wife and I's friends invite us for their big season opener party and each year I turn them down. They are always in shock why I would drive 2 hours to a dirt track for sprint car racing over watching OSU football. I always tell them I'm amazed how they can let a bunch of college aged kids set their personality mood for the entire week. At work that Monday I will hear about what the team did right and what they did wrong and what they need to do by every single armchair coach & quarterback who never played a down of football in their life but because they watched Rudy they are suddenly an expert.

As for the fan fare, it will depend on the region. I know that they are about to go to some areas where 410 sprint car racing is not usually the main attraction. The hardcore fans like a majority of us will continue to follow till the end of the season. 

I'm confused by your post.  What are you trying to say?  Does it matter?  Does it pay more points or money IF you win by a certain margin or how many laps it is?  Sorry I'm not sure what you're getting at.