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Topic: Rico, King of the hill over Gravel.
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Page 1 of 2 of 21 replies
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December 28, 2025 at
10:59:53 PM
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https://speedsport.com/sprints-midgets/other-sprint-cars/abreu-tops-gravel-as-410-driver-of-the-year/
Ascot was the greatest of all time..
West Capital wasn't half bad either..
Life is good...
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December 29, 2025 at
09:06:21 AM
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Reply to:
Once I saw 1 of the 19 panel "experts" voted Trey Starks as Driver of the Year, I stopped reading.
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December 29, 2025 at
09:33:20 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: egras on December 29 2025 at 09:06:21 AM
Once I saw 1 of the 19 panel "experts" voted Trey Starks as Driver of the Year, I stopped reading.
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True that but some guys will post anything if they think it makes High Limit look good...
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December 29, 2025 at
09:37:48 AM
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I'm a Rico fan but if you're purely looking at racing stastics then IDK how you put Rico ahead of Gravel. Would like to know what the categories they go off of, but maybe it's simply a popularity contest for a full time 410 driver? If that's the case then Rico wins.
Keep It Real
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December 29, 2025 at
12:36:08 PM
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Posted By: YungWun24 on December 29 2025 at 09:37:48 AM
I'm a Rico fan but if you're purely looking at racing stastics then IDK how you put Rico ahead of Gravel. Would like to know what the categories they go off of, but maybe it's simply a popularity contest for a full time 410 driver? If that's the case then Rico wins.
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To be fair, Rico did edge Gravel out statistically for 2025. Also, when they met head to head, Rico also slightly edged Gravel. It was probably a coin toss. But as I said, 1 first place vote for Trey Starks, and 2 first place votes for Buddy kinda makes me stop reading immediately. Buddy had a great year, and made some serious money, but he wasn't at the level of Rico and Gravel in 2025. Trey Starks? I'm not even going to try to figure out WTF that's about other than this is a complete and total popularity contest.
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December 29, 2025 at
06:28:15 PM
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This message was edited on
December 29, 2025 at
06:30:20 PM by Limowreck
Reply to:
Posted By: egras on December 29 2025 at 12:36:08 PM
To be fair, Rico did edge Gravel out statistically for 2025. Also, when they met head to head, Rico also slightly edged Gravel. It was probably a coin toss. But as I said, 1 first place vote for Trey Starks, and 2 first place votes for Buddy kinda makes me stop reading immediately. Buddy had a great year, and made some serious money, but he wasn't at the level of Rico and Gravel in 2025. Trey Starks? I'm not even going to try to figure out WTF that's about other than this is a complete and total popularity contest.
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I agree that Starks shouldn't really be in the conversation as he's very much a regional racer, but he did earn more average purse money per start than Macri did last season.
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December 29, 2025 at
08:10:06 PM
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They probably wanted to show they weren't too biased towards the WoO. I think you can make a case for either Rico or Gravel, Trey Starks inclusion makes the whole thing look dumb.
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December 29, 2025 at
11:44:12 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: dsc1600 on December 29 2025 at 08:10:06 PM
They probably wanted to show they weren't too biased towards the WoO. I think you can make a case for either Rico or Gravel, Trey Starks inclusion makes the whole thing look dumb.
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When it comes to promoting sprint car racing Rico easily wins. When it comes down to fans and merchandise Rico wins easy. When it comes to racing pretty close. They both have everything they need. The two part timers would be tough if they followed a series but they are the spoilers or keep the rest honest when they show up and not points racing
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December 30, 2025 at
08:14:27 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: egras on December 29 2025 at 12:36:08 PM
To be fair, Rico did edge Gravel out statistically for 2025. Also, when they met head to head, Rico also slightly edged Gravel. It was probably a coin toss. But as I said, 1 first place vote for Trey Starks, and 2 first place votes for Buddy kinda makes me stop reading immediately. Buddy had a great year, and made some serious money, but he wasn't at the level of Rico and Gravel in 2025. Trey Starks? I'm not even going to try to figure out WTF that's about other than this is a complete and total popularity contest.
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Yes Rico had one more win than David, two of which came in an ASCS races.
I think there may be one or two hosehead members who vote on this panel. Hoping they speak up
Keep It Real
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December 30, 2025 at
08:50:42 AM
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This message was edited on
December 30, 2025 at
08:51:34 AM by egras
Reply to:
Posted By: YungWun24 on December 30 2025 at 08:14:27 AM
Yes Rico had one more win than David, two of which came in an ASCS races.
I think there may be one or two hosehead members who vote on this panel. Hoping they speak up
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I was looking at when Rico and David met head-to-head in 2025. They met (according to my count) 17 times? (give or take) I have Rico finishing ahead of David 9 times to 8. So, very close. Their win percentage was damned near identical. Both champions of their series. I can see how difficult this vote was between the two of them. To try to add anyone else into the conversation is ridiculous.
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December 30, 2025 at
05:47:54 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: egras on December 30 2025 at 08:50:42 AM
I was looking at when Rico and David met head-to-head in 2025. They met (according to my count) 17 times? (give or take) I have Rico finishing ahead of David 9 times to 8. So, very close. Their win percentage was damned near identical. Both champions of their series. I can see how difficult this vote was between the two of them. To try to add anyone else into the conversation is ridiculous.
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I agree
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December 30, 2025 at
06:00:20 PM
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Posted By: Shortie1 on December 29 2025 at 11:44:12 PM
When it comes to promoting sprint car racing Rico easily wins. When it comes down to fans and merchandise Rico wins easy. When it comes to racing pretty close. They both have everything they need. The two part timers would be tough if they followed a series but they are the spoilers or keep the rest honest when they show up and not points racing
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Why would promoting and t shirt sales factor in to who the best sprint car driver is?
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December 31, 2025 at
07:47:16 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: dsc1600 on December 30 2025 at 06:00:20 PM
Why would promoting and t shirt sales factor in to who the best sprint car driver is?
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Exactly. If anyone voted for Rico, it should be because they think he was the best full-time sprint car driver on earth in 2025. Not because they like one and not the other.
Then again, we still have a large percentage of sprint car fans that cannot admit Larson is the biggest talent they've seen in a sprint car in the past 20 years---all because they don't like him.
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December 31, 2025 at
08:02:08 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: egras on December 31 2025 at 07:47:16 AM
Exactly. If anyone voted for Rico, it should be because they think he was the best full-time sprint car driver on earth in 2025. Not because they like one and not the other.
Then again, we still have a large percentage of sprint car fans that cannot admit Larson is the biggest talent they've seen in a sprint car in the past 20 years---all because they don't like him.
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I think we all understand voting in this day and age, votes are based mostly by popularity not so much on qualifications.
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December 31, 2025 at
08:28:21 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: beezr2002 on December 31 2025 at 08:02:08 AM
I think we all understand voting in this day and age, votes are based mostly by popularity not so much on qualifications.
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That may be the case for some, but speaking for myself, I've been on the NSCHoF voting panel for about a couple decades and I always look at stats from the season and vote expressly from that.
It's actually a fair amount of work to keep up with. Hundreds of drivers.
Luckily there's a few people out there that spend a lot of time compiling that type of info and I base voting on that.
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December 31, 2025 at
11:44:39 AM
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I believe and appreciate your honesty and the efforts you go through to cast your votes. I just don't think many voters take the time to study and be informed in general, it's not just in the racing world. Marketing can be mighty.
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December 31, 2025 at
03:05:34 PM
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Mmm...I don't know about that, because I don't know of one 'fan,' per se, that is on the voting panel. It's all industry professionals, track promoters/owners; and such.
And if someone on the panel, for example, voted for their own kid, and the kid only raced twice in a year, they wouldn't be on the panel next year. They take everyone's voting rights pretty seriously.
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December 31, 2025 at
04:34:27 PM
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This message was edited on
January 01, 2026 at
10:29:17 AM by BillV99
Reply to:
Posted By: egras on December 30 2025 at 08:50:42 AM
I was looking at when Rico and David met head-to-head in 2025. They met (according to my count) 17 times? (give or take) I have Rico finishing ahead of David 9 times to 8. So, very close. Their win percentage was damned near identical. Both champions of their series. I can see how difficult this vote was between the two of them. To try to add anyone else into the conversation is ridiculous.
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You can use SprintCarRatings 'Driver Compare' to get the numbers...
2025 David Gravel-Rico Abreu
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December 31, 2025 at
07:32:19 PM
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The fan boys did not disappoint with their chafed asses in this thread. Keep it up, boys. The crying and whining is hilarious.
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January 01, 2026 at
08:59:12 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: BillV99 on December 31 2025 at 04:34:27 PM
You can use SprintCarRatings 'Driver Compare' to get the numbers...
2025 David Gravel-Rico Abreu
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That stat web page just continues to amaze me with more and more options. Wow.
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