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

to me i guess you have to take each case on its own. some people have more natural physical ability. some people can couple that natural physical ability with the mental ability it takes to become good rather than just stabbing and steering. then again some people just never quite get it.

to indy and beyond!!

We are still counting on some drivers.They may never get it.I personnally think a good driver with a terrible setup can look pretty bad.So take a new driver with a bad setup and he doesn't have a chance.And what's bad is ,whoever is setting the car up has to figure it out because the driver usually is so inconsistent in his driving.And the driver has trouble communicating what the car is feeling like.They get the tacky track figured out and then here comes that doggone dry slick!!!!!

I bet if you ask Sammy, Kinser, Lasoski, Rahmer, ect. they would say you never stop learning. Once you think you'd know it all, you get older and learn how to handle your own reflexes. Bet if you ask Mark Martin he'd say he is still learning every weekend too.

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A healthy diet of dirt in my nachos and beer.

Some guys can race 200 times a year and would still suck. Some have more natural ability then others, while some have none at all, just a bunch of money that makes everyone else "think" they have talent. But, I think if you look close, it only takes a few races to tell who has what.

Interesting topic. In my opinion I can generally evaluate how good a driver is (or should I say how much $$$ is behind them) after about 2 races. But with that being said, there are some very streaky drivers. Justin Henderson, Mark Smith and Brian Leppo come to mind. And obviously, as a fan you don't know if the team is using their top motor, their weakest,hit the set up perfectly or completly botched the setup until race time. And sometimes even then it's hard to tell. Some drivers are great at working with a ill-handling car and there are some that can't drive it if it isn't set up good.

Like someone said, you're always learning so the more you race certaintly helps.

I would agree that they are all learning, but if you look at Kinser and Sammy, they were fast early and had all the natuaral talent. I don't know as much about Lasoski. Rahmer is different because of the mod experience.

I was thinking that after 75 races, a good racer has separated himself from the rest. Obviously there is no magical number, but there aren't too many guys who have been racing 50 times for 10 years and then in year 11 go from barely making he A to top 5 finishes in the WoO.

I think Foyt said a driver is what he is going to be immediately. My dad says he drove one of his best races in his first sprint car race after only a year of late model experience. I remember Bobby Davis Jr as a teen ager dominating.

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

Hey slide, which PA driver is 'dominant' elsewhere, lol. Your premise is slightly askew methinks. Having said that you have some of the best local drivers anywhere in the country and always have and always will, there's that much racing there which brings in outsiders who wanna race. Ask Bobby Allen, Steve Smith or the May brothers why they moved to Central PA and they are just the tip of the iceberg.....

If you want to read the greatest book ever written it is called "The Racing Driver" by Denis Jenkinson. It's a classic. http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Driver-Driving-Denis-Jenkinson/dp/0837602017

It was originally published in 1959. But every bit of it is accurate to this day.

Having worked with several talented drivers over the last twenty years I can tell you a couple of things that tell you who has it and who doesn't. If your driver clicks off a 15.382 and 15.385 and a 15.381 three laps in a row, you've got yourself a good one.

If he or she goes 15.489, 15.714, and 15.577 you're in for a long night!

Drivers who can find the line and be consistent are the ones who have it. The others have some work to do as the stop watch never lies.

An interesting point about working with extremely talented drivers is that it is really difficult to find the deficiencies in your racing car. If your car is tight on entry you may never know it from watching. It is normal for the driver to automatically adjust his/her driving style to make up for it. Wolfgang was really good at this. Having a great driver makes you look like a genius as a mechanic or crew chief. (Hint: always hire the best driver available!)

The thing about racing on dirt is that the surface is constantly changing and is going to continue to change. That is what makes it so extremely difficult. What worked one night rarely works the next. Racing is like solving a Rubic's cube and every night it is a different puzzle.

The trouble with all of this is that driver is generally quick to blame the car and the mechanic is generally quick to blame the driver! As the car owner, if the driver clicks off three laps within a half tenth of each other and says the car/motor sucks I will believe him. If the driver can't put three laps together to save his a$$ no setup or camshaft in the world is going to save him!

I think the reason I love sprint car racing on dirt so much is because of the constant challenge. You have to draw on past experiences but at the same time be able to refine things for current and changing conditions. The driver, the machine and the team all have to be on the same page and share the same game plan and goals from preparation to execution. Exhilarating!

Rome wasn't built in a day......but they sure didn't
waste any time burning it down!

Thanks for posting Mark! Your insight is pretty spot-on. Those very reasons that you enjoy wrenching a sprint car racing on dirt are the same reasons myself (and I'm sure many others) enjoy watching a sprint car racing on dirt. The track may be good... the track may be bad... but you never know what you're gonna get!!

Mark, I hope to shake your hand some day. Maybe the 360 Nationals at Knoxville this year. Anyway, your posts are greatly appreciated by those of us who want to know more about the owners point of view. Your comments are always relevant, insightful and educational.

Consistent lap times are a very good indicator. I would also suggest that performance improvement during a night of racing in a new situation can be telling. I first saw my favorite driver in a WOO show on a quarter mile track. I'm pretty sure it was his first time on a quarter mile and the first time with the WOO (maybe the second). What caught my eye that each time out on the track, his performance was clearly better. It wasn't so much car set up as how he handled the car. He had a family owned car with adequate but not great equipment. As I recall, he came through the B and did just make the A. He got lapped at least once, but could stay with the front runners for a while when they did pass him. Three years later, he can run with the best in the IRA, Knoxville and I can usually count on him for mid-pack with the WOO on any track. He still needs a good backup motor!

Slideguy, it all depends on how much money theses guy's have and do they own the cars they are driving. Take most of those guys out in PA, most of them really don't have money invested into thier cars, so they can run the shit out of them and if they crash it, thier owners will get them fixed and their in business again. Then you take driver's that own their own cars, don't have a big budet and they tend to drive alittle more conservative for fear of wrecking their car and being out of action some time if not the rest of the season. And you have guy's like Andy Jones, Last year he drove a car that wasn't very good, didn't look that good, but he could drive and this year he has very good equiment and he drives like he don't have a dime in it, which he don't. And Andy is very good. Hsi car is owned by someone that has a good checking acct. So you can't judge Cody by his results. I knew the first time I seen him wheel a car around Cedar Lake that he would be good, put him in a car he doesn't own and with a good check book and you will see a different driving style.