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

Uh, Dave had to run the entire race to even have a chance of making the 500; but, IMO, his deal with Prism Motorsports is to make shows whenever he can by qualifying.

If he qualifies, then he can start and park, and pick up 42nd place money for the team. They are a low budget team taking advantage of the rules to allow them to do what they do. Dave has obviously agreed to the program from Prism; so it's his deal, and whether or not we like it, or agree with it, it really doesn't matter.....His percentage of the +$3M that the team made in purse money last year will pay a lot of bills; and after all, isn't it about the Benjamins?

It's his deal - he's not the first to start and park, and won't be the last; it's a long time NASCAR practice.

Chuck.....

Dave is a racer and it has to be killing him to start and park...but he is also a family man and he has to do what he has to do. I am sure there will be more of these guys until NASCAR does something about it. But personally as a fan I hate it!

Good racer with no personality .... Hard to get sponsors with that working against you ... Good luck to him and his family .

There should be a rule against start and park. Have to run a minimum of 75% of the laps to get paid unless you blow an engine or crash out

i agree

I wouldn't say 75% but I think they should run 50% plus one lap...otherwise their portion of the purse is "reduced" in some manner.

Too many of the start and park and I think you will see more this year.

TSA...It's not a GROPE...it's a Freedom Pat!

If NASCAR wants to do something about start and park, then they should bring down the cost so more teams can be competitive.

Dave Blaney is a very accomplished driver, from his early days of racing.

There are multiple good points noted above, but we all doubt Nascar will act on them. Just as likely they won't prohibit half the Busch (Nationwide) race being filled with cup guys. But hey thats what sells, it's all about business. Just like the post earlier about Eldora scheduling Monster Truck, Tractor Pulls, Etc. This is obviously pulling in more a crowd than an All Star race these days.

I'd love to see Dale, Joe N. Wood Brothers, Kenny Scrader, etc. race some more, heck even Hot Stricklin would provide some diversity other than having to listen to the announcers gush on about Jimmy, Jeff, Dale Jr, Mark etc. I don't fancy sitting in front of a boring follow the leader race to see the same guys dominate as of late. Or in the Indy world rooting for someone who I can't even pronounce their names. If they would promote their drivers, weather they came from a local track or Bangladash, promote them and their personalities to generate some fan interest.

Wow did I go all over the place here......

Let the responses roll...

I've been a fan of Dave Blaney the racer ever since the first time I saw him and have been hanging around on his board over at Quickest Lap for several years now. Dave is a great family man and he's obviously doing what he has to to take care of his own.

With that having been said it's painful to watch him finish out his Cup career this way. As a racing fan I'm a fan of race car drivers but these past two seasons Dave's career has been more like a valet parking attendant than a race car driver. I wish him the best and hope this year goes better for him. In the meantime I'll keep stopping by his board to keep up on the latest developments.

Stan Meissner

Nice post Stan. What you said + 10 !!!! Very sad to watch.

TSA...It's not a GROPE...it's a Freedom Pat!

My gut reaction to "start & park" is that with 5 more quality teams... it would be a thing of the past.

You likely couldn't have Nascar involved... conspiracy to kill the little teams... but if funding for 5 more teams showed up... no more S&P.

S&P is a tough one to police. It's unsportsmanlike conduct in every sense of the word to me. It screams that the purses are too high in Nascar. How would you do if you finished last every night in an ASCS or WoO race? You'd be broke.

Guy in Texas....like a sprint driver pulling up between one and two because he "got a bad start!:

TSA...It's not a GROPE...it's a Freedom Pat!

Start and park was going on in the early 70s too. The only time it DOESN'T happen is when they aren't enough teams with enough money to seriously race.

The S & P teams would be idiots to race all day. If you don't have a sponsor you will lose some serious money. You spend an extra $10,000 on tires and still finish 35th in a uncompetitve car and you don't make enough money over finishing 40th to come out ahead.

Most of these people would RACE if they have the funding. Last year the #71 team raced when they had a sponsor and S&Ped when they didn't. Sponsorship was week to week for them.

So you're saying it's ok? It is what it is? Deal with it? It's bad? I understand what it is and why it happens... that doesn't mean it's ok in my book. No, I'm not the one writing checks for tires.

If you're going to do 20 laps and retire due to "handling" or something similar... why start the race? Shouldn't you have to fill out a form and turn it in to Nascar to get your paycheck... since that's what it's all about after all? 43 cars "qualify" for the race (which is a joke in itself)... 4 cars send in their "S&P" short form... they are paid based on qualifying order from 39th to 43rd place. Save $$$ on those tires and expensive gas. Be honest about your intentions.

Qualifying for a paycheck with no intention of running... it isn't new and it still isn't right.

Would you rather start a race with no intention of "racing" to collect a paycheck or not race at all & keep your integrity? That is a debate in itself.

Points position... I know. Blah blah blah... it's not right however you slice it.

The "Peter Principal" does not apply in this case.

However, as someone who admired Dave in his sprint car days, I sure hate to see him end his career doing the S/P thingy. He's much too good for that. I guess $$$$ does speak very loud at times!

TSA...It's not a GROPE...it's a Freedom Pat!

I hate to point this out because I really like this guy. But I saw the exact same thing happen at the Knoxville Nationals 2 years ago. A certain well liked sprint car driver from Texas qualified for the A main on Saturday night at the Knoxville Nationals. It was a neat story. Everyone was happy about it. He started on the back and made only 1 or 2 laps before retiring to the pits. There was no problem with car or driver. He simply decided it wasn't worth it to ran all 30 laps. He started the race with no intentions of finishing. He was happy to take last place money and not use up any more equipment. I'm sure there were other cars that didn't make the show that would have stayed out there all 30 laps had they been in. I didn't see anyone on here calling that "unsportsmanlike conduct". How was that any different than what some Nascar teams do?

And by the way, I really like Gary and I really like Dave. I also understand why they do what they do and I don't have a problem with it. We've loaded our car up before when we could have stayed and raced. When funding is limited you have to make decisions. Why is it such a big deal that a couple of cars out of 43 do that on Sundays?

I know what you're talking about, MO. Classy way of describing it like it was.

Trust me... if my favorite driver (who you're describing, in the car in my avatar pic) did it at every race... the world would have a problem with it. For good reason.

I wish I was there in the pits that night at Knoxville.. .I would have bought the tires as would a lot of people given the opportunity. "ifs and buts" time.

Being as though this is a sprint car forum... I agree to disagree on this topic and hope to not post on it again. Hope is the word du jour because you never know when you'll get sucked back in LOL.