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

has anyone else noticed, so far in the early season, that drivers who qualify around 3-9 in time trials rarely ever make the dash and drivers who get top 2 in qualifying are usually not allowed to start anywhere except 9th and 10th in the dash because they did not get 1st or 2nd in their heat race?

that drivers who qualify around 3-9 in time trials rarely ever make the dash

3 Of the 7 A Feature winners so far this year have qualified in the 3 through 9 positions:

Pittman wins after he was 9th fastest at Volusia (11 Feb)

Saldana wins after he was 8th fastest at Tulare (23 Feb)

Kaeding wins after he timed in as 3rd fastest at Tulare (24 Feb)

Trying to help you out here as 42% (which is 3-out-of-7) is hardly rare.

Kinda like this Dash format, reminds me of an 'Old School Trophy Dash'. Drivers should get an incentive to do well in a Heat-So make them run 1-2 and send them to the Dash as a bonus.

Each Series format has it's pro's / con's.

Actually, the sweet spot for qualifying is 9th through 16th. Qualifying there gives you the front row in the heat. With the top two from each heat being locked into the dash, you can bet your a$$ there is a little sandbagging going on in qualifying.

Member of this message board since 1997

sandbagging? hhahahahaha...YEP!

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Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
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Pat, how can you sandbag .1 of a second on any track? Besides that, you would give up the bonus points for being in the top five of qualifying...I don't see it with the number of good cars out there...

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Yeah they're definitely not sandbagging. It'd be way too risky. Also Saldana, Schatz, McCarl and Dollansky seem to be at the top in time trials quite often, which seems about right. Then you got Sides and Shaffer running 9th to 16th quite often and that seems right too.

Bill, shhhhh, don't tell the NST's two biggest supporters what is really happening. Pretty soon they'll actually get it and might even figure out the NST is no longer. The excuse train is down to a boxcar at best but maybe sandbagging that one tenth or two will give them life, yeah right, lol. Take It Easy....

By "breathing" the car at the flagstand just a bit. Ask any driver out there which they would rather have, the bonus points for QT? Or a spot in the dash. You may be supprised in the answer you get. After all, winning the "A" gives better points than being burried in the "A".

Roast me if you guys want...maybe the info I got from one of the teams on the tour was wrong...

Any way you hash it, this new format is bogus.

Member of this message board since 1997

lol@Pat

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with less than half a second separating the top 24 qualifiers at the cactus classic, it leaves little room for sandbagging. plus the top 5 in qualifing get points, and you can bet those points are wanted.also ALL cars except 2 that night were within a second of each other.

top 2 cars in heats get dash spots. dash line up is from pill draw. top 2 qualifiers that did not make dash through heats start at back of dash. whats the problem. all you people bitch about no compitition. well there is more compitition now. so in light of that dirt revamped the format to give more cars more of a chance to be more competitive in the main. now you can have a not so good time in, but race your butt off in the heat and have a chance to start in the top 10 in the main. this gives a shot to a greater number of cars to have a chance to start up front. as i said before, with so many cars running the tour this year dirt is trying to give them ALL a chance at good finishes this year. before you had only the fast qualifiers able to make the dash, and you had basically the same guys starting up front every week. now you see more diversity in the dash AND A main line ups. what is wrong with that.

What is wrong with it is that some people will just never be happy. I love the new format and love to see some different guys start up front. Some of these same complaining people are the ones who don't like winged racing anyway. I don't know why they are worried about it.

Even if Donny starts in the second row and doesn't make the dash, I still enjoy watching him start around 12th or so in the feature and drive forward into the Top 5!

i bet there are people in here that talk about the lack of spectators at races and why can't there be more fans at some races that would turn around and complain if they had a hard time finding a seat or had to stand in a long line to get tickets because of a large fan turn out. you are right. some people will never be happy. in the off season there is talk that woo needs to make changes to make for more compitition, and then when they do make changes you have people complaining. these same people would complain that the same cars were in the dash every week if woo had not changed the format. and that the same cars were starting up front in the main. we have had 6 different winners so far this year. some top names have had to usr provisionals or have missed mains. the racing is as competitive as it has ever been, partially due to this dash format. i said partially due to this format ok. it jumbles up the line up enough each week to let more cars rotate in and out of the show.

The best format in the land is with ASCoT. It does away with the luck of the draw and rewards drivers for passing. Those who doubt this format should take notice of their growth as a sanction.

Member of this message board since 1997

damn, Hawker and I agree that time trials are a total waste of time and effort and prove absolutely nothing.

Time trials were good in the "olden" days when there were six or seven cars show up to the county fair, and the promoter had the need to stretch out a program a little.

Racing is PASSING not following

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That is the bad thing Duane, I absolutely love qualifying, I like seeing them race the clock. However, on the other hand, I would much rather seen PASSING, and the ASCoT shows have plenty of that to go around.

Member of this message board since 1997

i am not familiar with the all stars format. please tell me how they set the heats ect. what other open wheel clubs do not set fields by qualiting?

wright-one, they're not speaking of the All Stars (ASCoC), but rather the ASCS National Tour (ASCoT). I have never seen one of their races in person but I think this is how it goes. Heats are lined up based on pill draw, with place and passing points awarded. After the heats are done, they run qualifying races (I believe the lineups are based on heat points) with more place and passing points awarded. From the heat and qualifying race point totals, B-Main (I think they run 2 B-Mains, I'm not sure) and A-Main lineups are worked out from there. I don't know if they have any invert for the A or not.

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all i'm saying is a driver who gets 3rd or 4th quick in qualifying and 3rd in his heat race should be in the dash! it is pretty hard with the level of competition out there for guys starting in the 2nd and 3rd row of a heat race to move up in only 10 laps. i don't know maybe all the fans think it ok, but i know for a fact that a number of the drivers think it's b.s.- i am also pretty sure that qualifying awards points to the top 24 fastest cars starting at 40 points for fast time and drop 1 point for each time below.

OH,THANKS american sprint cars on tour? arizona sprint cars on tour? whatever lol.

you say they line up heats by pill draw. this is a line from hawkers post about ASCoT

The best format in the land is with ASCoT. It does away with the luck of the draw and rewards drivers for passing.

so if your info is correct the luck of the draw does come into play at some point. and the luck of the draw has something to do with lining up heats.

also you say they run heats,then qualifing races ,then maybe 2 b mains sounds like a lot of qualifing to me.

this is from one of nodusts posts on the same subject.

Hawker and I agree that time trials are a total waste of time and effort and prove absolutely nothing.

but maybe nodust just meant that he would like to see more racing to qualify rather than timing in to qualify.

thanks for the help. maybe hawker and nodust can clarify their opinions of which i am not slamming , just trying to understand.