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

I know this year isn't close to being over but after Lil Hauds win Saturday I sat there thinking how will this crazy year be remembered 20 years from now. When I am an old gray haired man walking thru the Hall Of Fame and see a back to 2020 exhibit, would I think man that year sucked, or be hey that virus sucked but the racing kicked ass.

Races with no fans in the stands was so odd to watch on tv. Knowing that even if I drove up they wouldn't let me in was a strange feeling. Almost like there was this kick ass party but we weren't invited.

I Racing on tv. Man that sucked. Enough said on that.

From a racing stand point it has been awesome. Rico's Knoxville win, Hauds US36 win come to mind right away. The WoO points race has been very interesting and will probably go down to the wire.  My question is has the racing been better this year or is it just because I have been watching it more due to Dirvision and Covid.

Larson - Seasons like this don't happen very often and its been awesome to watch. Without a doubt his 2020 season will be one for the books. Too bad it will start with "After losing his NASCAR ride due to a racial slur in an I Racing event..........". As a Larson fan its been good seeing him back on dirt full time but I know its going to be short lived.

Schatz - The man can still wheel it and is no doubt a threat to win but are we seeing the end of the Schatz Domination era. Seems on some nights he doesn't get mentioned much.

Jacob Allen - First WoO win. (Not yet but I hope he gets one this year.)

I have said for a number of  years the Outlaws & even the All Stars racing have been getting better & better. Seems since about 2016 to 2017 a number of races that I have watched or been too have had a lot of action throughout the field. Guys coming from the back to the front, cars engaged in some sort of battle for position, and although the lead may not change a lot there is at least a legitimate challenge for it.

A couple things that I think are different this year is that there have been more closer finishes than before or last lap passes. From what I remember some classic battles this year were I.Madsen vs Gravel at Knoxville, Sweet vs Larson at I 55, Schatz vs Larson at Ozarks?, Sheldon vs Sweet at Beaver Dam, Macedo vs Sweet at Haubstat In, Schatz vs Sweet at Lernerville, Gravel vs Larson Knoxville nite 2, Larson vs Schuchart River Cities, Sheldon vs Sweet US36. There have been several other good ones along the way as well.

Another thing is because of Dirtvision and Flo, I think people are actually watching more versus just either watching the youtube highlight clips or looking at the results page. Its easy to look at starting position and finishing position and then infer that the race was boring because the leader came from the front row or there was only 1 lead change. That is something that a lot of people did a number of years ago prior to dirtvision and would talk about how the racing was not good anymore when if they actually had access would have actually seen how hard the racing was. Look at I-80, you had a front row winner & 2nd came from 4th with only 1 lead change. However if you did not have access to the race or have a highlight video you would not have seen the sliders and cut backs between Allen & Sweet that do not count as a lead change, nor would you have seen Schuchart or Haud come through the field and battle each other. River Cities again, winner from the front row & 2nd came from 4th with only 2 lead changes. However unless you were there you would have had no way of knowing except through reading about it. I think some may now realize that the racing is and has been good for awhile now because they have access to it and its affordable.

Also a bunch of great All Star races. Reutzel/AMac at Park Jefferson, a few absolute gems on Thunder Through the Plains. Probably forgetting some as well.

Still plenty of racing left as well. Here's to more great finishes and good health for all.

All Stars have been great as well although I have not been able to follow them too much outside of speedweek this year. Typically I end up going to quite a few All Star races since they are in Ohio a lot. This year with all of the schedule changes I have not been able to keep up with them outside of the highlights which normally shows Laron or Reutzel winning. I did to to 3 speedweek shows and the racing throughout the field was great. Planning on going to one of the shows later this week at Attica though.

Should be a great couple more months. Weird thing is to this point I have been able to attend 12races  in the past 2months which is the amount I typically get to between April & now any other year. Still hoping to get about another 5-7races in the next couple of months.

2020 will always be remembered for COVID and it's impact on the Nationals and Kings Royal as well as the dominance of Larson.

There's been so many great races this season that I doubt any will stand out (this is a good thing) 10 years from now. Almost every week we have a "race of the year" so much so that the early season classics like Park Jeff are already at the back of peoples minds.

i think one of the best things to come out of this was WOO telling their contracted teams to go race where ever they could.  it only helped in the overall picture of things.  I hope going forward that both groups will continue to work together to help bring better and better shows to the public.

Nailed it on the last paragraph.  Reading a box score is no indication of how much action is on the track.  I've seen snoozers where the winner came from 14th and ran away with no real duels.   And I've seen absolute crazy races where the podium all started 1-2-3.  I think the racing over the last few years has been tremendous.  Sure, there are snoozers, but the overall product has been great.