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

Just wondering why there are not more top notch teams that support this event.  What are your thoughts?  Because it is not a sanctioned event?   It still pays $5000 to win, $300 to start.  Pretty good if you ask me.  Quite a few western PA guys( bowser, sodeman, kekich, both matus', spithaler, lych, etc..), a few all stars (helms, holtgraver, both blaneys), one attica regular (caleb griffith), 3 wayne county guys (lee jacobs, jimmy pooler, danny mumaw), and others.

Mid-week shows can be a crap shoot.  Plus, I'm guessing that last year turned a lot of drivers off.  The racetrack was a complete joke for the All Star show here and not much better for the Blaney Memorial.  I heard it was better Tuesday night.  If they can keep the track good I think more cars will return next year. 

How many cars showed up...?

Opinions may vary...

They had 27 cars, including a few 305's. 25 Started the feature (no B main). Mumaw scratched before TT. Ruth scratched after heats (I believe). I was surprised more cars from the Ohio region didn’t show up (Sebetto, Jac, Philo, etc). Sheldon tweeted that afternoon that Jac would be there in the 6 car but he wasn’t. The track was fast and the racing was pretty good. Especially the last few laps watching Griffith try and make a move on Sodeman. In the past some heavy hitters showed up. The first year Tim Kadeing, Tim Shaffer, Tyler Walker in the 17, and others showed up. Brad Sweet was there last year and won. Sam Hafertepe has showed up in the past and won in 2011. I think some unfavorable track conditions in the past few years contributed to the declining car counts but they also changed the date. It used to be run after Ohio and PA speed weeks the week of Eldora on Tuesday night, instead of late August like it was this year. It may have been geographically undesirable for some when it wasn’t on the previous date.  Either way it was still a good night of racing. It would be nice if they could get some more cars though. It’s a good cause and a good payout. Seemed to be a large crowd having a great time. 

I could be wrong, but I could almost swear that this event use to be in July around Kings Royal week. I went a couple weeks ago and they had more true Outlaw like guys show up like Hafertepe, Sweet, Danny Smith, Tony Stewart, Etc. Maybe its due to not as many teams around the area like their normally are during the Kings Royal week.

One team gets 27% of the purse.  Four teams get 50% of the purse.  I guess if that's you, that's pretty good.  Good for you,  but not good for sprint car racing.  Half the field goes home with $300 and some.  So the question in the future will be not where are the " top notch " teams but where are the teams.  Next year those teams that left with their $300 just might show their support as spectators. 

He'll that's a weekly event at the PAS anymore. We're lucky to get 3 heats and the A main anymore.

We need more sprint car racing at our home track.

The change in date could have been made to fit the schedule of the Nascar drivers planning on running the event (Smoke, Dave Blaney)

They just took a multi six figure loss on an ill fated Charlie Daniels Band Concert. Maybe they couldn't pay for any heavy hitters to show up like they have always done in the past. They promoted the heck out of Kyle Larson replacing Kasey Kahne. Where was Larson?

Word in the pits was that he called earlier that morning and said he wouldn't be there. No idea why. 

I agree. I've always felt that a team should get at least 10% of the first-place prize to start the main event. A lot of teams are realistic at looking at their odds of finishing in the top 3-5 and won't race if it's a top-heavy purse.