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

Who fills the ride? How will the WoO bring people in w/o "King Kinser? Thoughts?

Saammmmmy!

When Steve's done then the series is done it's only a matter of a short time without swindell and kinser.

they made the series what it was and without the fans will decline cause those two have a huge fan following.

there are too many 40 year old plus fans in the stands cause of them two and when those people quit going it will hurt the sport and IMO TV will suffer cause Pittman and schatz can't carry a series like swindell and kinser. I don't want to argue with anyone so please let's be civil it's my two cents and that's all.then there is to many young guns that want to do it just to go cab racing cause sprints don't pay enough.i can't see Stewart putting anybody in Steve's ride when he is done cause who could fill his shoes? Nobody cause there not Steve Kinser........ Tony don't have Steve for his talent IMO cause I think he is a marketing tool for the ages to his race team cause his results with tony are poor as heck,anybody else with those results would have been ousted fast,Steve should have hung it up years ago and ran a limited schedule  and he would have stayed fresher and lasted longer. Your question is a good one and hope to hear some results on how a series will make it with the drivers they have left ??????? I am sure someone will answer in there view how but time is up really for this series and it will be time to  pop the wings off or the all stars will get a few more teams running for even less money and then that series will eventually fold. schatz already dominates the series  now but with the swindell kinser exit who will he actually be beating?????  anybody the nation really knows .......nope

It will certainly be interesting to see how the series "moves on" after Steve as he has been with it from its beginning.  Will it lose its fan base?  No, it won't.  Kinser fans will still attend the races, wearing their Kinser shirts and remembering all his great feats over the years.  I want to recall the "good" years and not these last few.  Thanks Steve for the memories and I am looking forward to watching him in "Lost Wages" in March!

 
I LEARNED ESP FROM MY MOM

"PUT YOUR SWEATER ON: DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW WHEN 
YOU'RE COLD?"

Sammy and Steve may have made the series but remember they did not always run the series.  Sammy was a part time competitor for many years and Steve twice tried to kill the series by getting behind rival organzations, USA and NST. 

The WoO may not succeed but to hinge it on the 2 greats leaving is silly.  Really it is going to come down to owners and drivers with deep pockets to keep it or any other series running. 

Taking wings off will not solve anything for a national series just ask USAC where they stand in the pecking order of coverage. 

If all sprint car racing falls back to regional stuff we all lose as fans.  The big events will all suffer The Nationals, Kings Royal, The Open, Gold Cup,.... ect

are you serious here.  the world will stop revolving when steve is gone...i've heard it all now..

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

I will call it now, Logan Schuchart in the 11 in 2015.  As for an entire series falling apart by losing one driver, highly doubtful.  Im not too sure everyone goes just to watch one man race.  Or two if you add Swindell.

Maybe the question should be what will NASCAR do WITH / Jimmie Johnson.  The WoO doesn't have many venues where they can take out 46,000 seats.  We haven't been going sprint car racing since 1960,  USAC racing since 1968 and WoO racing since 1978 just to see the " King " and the "Slammer ".   If you know some people who are going to miss them that much,  schedule some bus trips to Bloomington or Germantown.   And tell those NASCAR fans we have seats for them but they might have to get there early at some tracks.

Dollansky in thr thr 11 car...renumbered the 7 car...

The Crowd Pleaser IS THE BEST ever!

The WoO will survive as long as the product on the track is good.  Personally, while I respect Kinser and Swindell, I don't go to a WoO show to see them (I'm 51 years old).

Other series survived when their big stars retired.  Makes room for new stars, plus I would think those two will remain involved in the series in some way (car owners, etc.)

A few yrs ago Steve n Sammy both missed the A at the nationals.  The stands still looked pretty full on Saturday night.  A lot of sad people but they were still in the stands watching. 

We have been sprintcar fans for a long time it will be differnt not having him in the field but with all the great drivers and teams that are out there someone will step up to fill the shoes for me i will just keep going to the races and enjoy all the teams that are there...for some of us old timers just try and love the moments that these great drivers have given us... no matter who your driver is

I tend to believe their retirements will be a good thing.  It's going to open up new seats for young talent like David Gravel.  Guys who want to race sprint cars, not use them as stepping stones to NAPCAR.  

You can't build the future of the series with stars in their mid 50's

+1

I'm a huge Steve fan and I will certainly miss seeing the #11 roll out onto the track.  However, that's not going to stop me from going to the races.  Like 'larsonfan' above noted, people will still come to the races if the product is good.  Us older fans need to pick a new driver and get fired up about his/her racing.

It has been noted that Pittman and Schatz, etc. can't carry the series.  I don't think that is fair to them.  They may not have the personality that some of the other guys have, but that isn't uncommon among the younger drivers.  There's a few, like TK, who show their passion.  Many racers today have been conditioned to keep a lid on things, which means no big post race celebrations, no story time at the Dingus, beers in the pits, etc.  That's a factor of everyone having a video camera on their phone and instant posting on the internet where a sponsor sees it.  Younger racers are every bit as passionate as the old guys but the downside of showing that passion is the instant publicity.  Ask Richard Sherman of the Seahawks how that worked out for him.

@ Larsonfan. Good post but I disagree. Steve and Sammy ARE THE PRODUCT!

WHO are the "new stars"?? Seems like every new, up and comer since Jeff Gordon to Kyle Larson has left dirt racing and gone on the the big bucks of NASCAR? I go to WOO races to watch great drivers and I am hoping, just for one more time, that Steve and Sammy put on a wheel to wheel show. I know the odds of it are slim but I want to see that "magic" just one more time.

Donny, Craig, Pittman, Joey are all great drivers but they are just don't have "it" like Steve, Sammy, Wofie, Don Garlitz, John Force or Richard Petty! All these drivers transend thier own series and are well RESPECTED by all racers and fans. Even if Steve and Sammy stick around as car owners, I think the WOO is in BIG, BIG trouble! I don't come to see Steve the car owner, I come to see Steve, the driver!

I don't think the series will wither away and die because Kinser and Swindell retire. 

As long as you have significant events like the Knoxville Nationals, Kings Royal, Summer Nationals, etc you have venues that showcase the divisions talent.  Look at young Kyle Larson... that kid generates more buzz than Sammy and Steve combined at this stage of their career.  Larson's drive in the feature event in last year's Trophy Cup was worth the price of admission alone.  Where are the other 30, 20 and teen-somethings that make us stand up and take notice?

As long as the WRG addresses the racing and fosters an environment of racing that is exciting to watch and you have some young stars willing to race hard... I don't think fans will miss Steve or Sammy too long. 

Race fans are race fans... they just want to see great racing despite sanction, car number, graphics, etc.

Rich Olson

Rich Olson
FANS Fund - Founder
www.FANSFund.com

The previous statement was meant as an anology to the subject at hand not a historical record of anyones failures at the nationals.  Sorry if it confused anyone that may have been looking to hate on sammy for any given reason.  The basis of my point was while we will all miss seeing these icons of our great sport when they are gone, we are sprint car fans and as long as there are sprint cars on the track racing we will be there watching them.  You can guarantee that we will be wearing out the younger fans with our " i remember the time Sammy or Steve (fill in the blank)  stories . We should just make sure and tell the stories well enough that the younger fans ( trust me they will come) who werent fortunate enough to see them wish that they had. 

in the late fifties roger an mickey were my idols, baseball survived.

watching wilt chamberlin toss that ball up towards the net underhanded was spectacular...

watching johnny unitis lob that ball towards the end zone was a sight for sore eyes...

the sport that we all enjoy so much will be just fine....

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

No Steve and Sammy will mean a lot to the old-timers (say Over 40) who have been going to Outlaw races most of their lives but not as much to the newbies I feel.  Take a look around at most Outlaw shows and the crowd is generally older so it will be more of worry for the promoter than anyone I feel.  I used to do 50+ Outlaw shows a year and from PA to CA and that's the way it was.  Heck, they were about 3/4 of my photo sales for more than a dozen years sprint wise but Earnhardt sold more than both of them, go figure.  Steve and Sammy were a big part of the show because you went to cheer one and boo the other and nobody has picked up anywhere near that following, sadly.  I am not sure anyone ever will because they will move on up the ladder like Kyle Larson is doing.  Don't want to sound pessimistic, hope I am wrong....

I personally think it will help the Outlaws...Kinser will either run with his son, or even start another team. I also think Sammy will own some kind of a team, maybe with Kevin, or somebody. Todd will keep 2 Big game cars, 1 full time for sure. Kyle Larson will have a huge year in Nascar and his team will be full time, and you know he will race as many races as he can possible. Don't forget about little Rico either, he will race whatever he can get into

Saammmmmy!