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

How bout we put a ring in victory lane and have a few of the drivers go at it MMA style. Or we can have a driver beer drinking contest. Winner starts on the pole. How bout some chuckwagon races!! Or school bus races!! LOL!! But seriously, I'm just happy I get the chance to go every year. Way better than sitting at home in front of a computer watching/listening to the online broadcast. People wont find a bigger better event in all of sprint car racing. It's the entire experience that makes the Nationals so special for me. Whatever they do on Friday, I'll be happy as long as they get the show in that night and do not have to reschedule for Sat afternoon. I didn't mind the scrambles, but lets see how this new race of champions turns out.

Oh yeah, lets hope mother nature cooperates, and these crazy temps cool off a bit too.

Knoxville Natioanls attendee since '95
Favorite Tracks...River Cities, Knoxville, Cedar Lake
Favorite Drivers...S.Kinser, T.Kaeding, K.Madsen, S.Smith
Proud Canadian 

the new champions race will be good. I never was a big fan of scrambles, but scrambles are better than no racing. Friday is a chance for small teams to make some money. If it makes noise and kicks up dirt it will be fine.

How about going back to Heats and features for all the non qualifiers, like they used to do, and adding a full 360 program. You know those guys will be all out as most of them are very good racers that do not participate in the 410 Nationals because they lack a 410 engine.

It don't matter who the drivers are, if the race does not effect the Nationals line-up, it's simply an exhibition race where 90% just ride around.

Can you imagine a $10,000 to win, $1000 to start 360 feature? Now that would be worth watching...CZ

+1 to the 360 race

Agree completely.

Also agree with going back to the 5 heats instead of the 2 semis.

A night of wingless sprints and midgets would be cool

how about getting rid of the boring usac non wingers and go back to the tournament of champion 360 like they used on sunday

+1 to the idea of going back to a full non-qual show of timing, heats, C, B, A. Keep the race of States and the new race of champions. By my math that would be 10 races. Add a wheelie and donut challenge for $2,500 each to win with a bonus if you win both and you have a full show fans would enjoy.

I think the format now is two last chance races, the feature, race of states, and race of champions. Those 5 races aren't enough to warrant the price of the ticket and in my opinion won't bring any more fans than the scramble format.

I like the idea of some type of contest like the wheelie contest...They need something on Friday to get the crowd into it kind of like the king of the hill races they do at Osky earlier in the week. I also like going back to the old Friday program with the heats.

I love the contest and the king of the hill idea. It seems like quite a few fans skip Friday nights show and this would get them to the races. The wheelie and donut contest is great with a bonus for winning both. As far as the king of the hill idea, what about doing that instead of the scrambles. Take the top 8 qualifiers from the C B & A. 1 point for winning round 1, 3 points for winning round 2, and 6 points for winning the finals making it a total of 10 possible points. Run the king of the hill after the non-qualifiers A main to make sure the track is wide enough to have two racing grooves and the contests throughout the night during the down time.

Race of the states... fastest 20 qualifiers from 20 different states....

Like the Race of Champions concept....

Give the 410 guys the night off to recoup and run a high dollar 360 show All the big dogs are all ready in town and either have or would bring 360's with if the money is there and they wouldn't have to worry about tearing up there nationals equipment.

Out of all of these ideas, I like what they are doing this year the most.

Too bad that show never existed...

It had always been (until the (2) semi-mains and World Challenge were intoduced).

Hot Laps, 5 heat races (8 laps) with top point getters on the front, Top 4 to Feature, 2nd 4 to "B" and last 2 to "c", the C (if needed), B, A (20 laps), Race of States (20 laps) and Mystery Feature (20 laps).

Now, we get (2) 20-25 car Semi-Features (top 10 to the feature), a B-main (top 4 to feature), a FEATURE (fast guys still start up front in all of these just like the old formats), the Race of Champions and World Challenge.

My only gripe is that I'd like to see every car that is locked into Saturday run on Friday Night (although that never happened back in the old Race of States and Mystery Feature days either).

Seems like we are still getting our bang for our buck (instead of heats, we are basically watching 2 additional Feature Races) and the night now has (1) $10,000 to win feature with $1000 to start (Race of Champions), (1) $10,000 to win, $600 to start Feature (World Challenge) as well as a $5000 to win with $500 to start Feature (Non Qualifier Feature) and (2) $1000 to win Semi-Features and a total purse in excess of $152,000 for FRIDAY NIGHT ALONE. Wednesday and Thursday have a total purse of just over $177,000 over BOTH DAYS (around $89,000 each night).

Say what you want, there is more $$ to be made (if you are willing to run in the races) on Friday night than there is on your qualifying night.

And just for giggles, I did some quick math for any Champion thinking about attending. You are guaranteed $1000 for rolling out onto the track Friday for the ROC, and if you finish LAST in every race you run all week, you will gross $1500 (last place in your qualifying heat race, last place in your qualifying night "C", last place in the Friday Semi-Feature, last place in the ROC, and last place in the "E" main on Saturday Night. If you make the main your Qualifying Night and run the "D" main on Saturday, you won't leave with less than $2590.

Seems to me that if you are a CHAMPION at a local Racetrack (and you are within $1200 miles of Knoxville, you at least will cover your travel expenses (if you stay in your rig for the week). You may not cover your racing expenses (fuel, tires, wear and tear, crash) if you run that poorly, but looks like, to me anyway, that there is $$ to be made....

Vande, you make a great point that I tried to make in a previous thread. I do not know why some of the lower budget teams do not make the trip. I convinced a former co-worker of mine to bring his car and "low budget" 410 to the nationals (his first year he actually had his ASCS 360 in the car) after sitting him down and breaking down the payout. His first year at the 410 nationals was two years ago and the past two years he has made the 7 hour trip and has not made it past the D main. After all expenses and everything for the week were paid he has still left with $500 or more in his pocket than when the week started. After his first year he said he could not believe they had been going the previous years and watching. They ended up getting paid to go to the nationals when they were going to be there anyway. Plus, he has had a blast competing in the biggest sprint car race in the world. I just do not understand why more "lower budget" teams do not make the trip.

I hope there are no champions out there that will run that poorly.

I want to see good racing...maybe have a beer

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A healthy diet of dirt in my nachos and beer.