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

Yawn, yawn, yawn!

A very disapointing field of cars for some reason. A tremendous lack of passing all week. Talk about milking out Saturday night's show until midnight (Knoxville time), three races(C, B, A) in three hours...

By the way, Wednesday's complete show was done in just over three hours, including qualifying...

I spoke to many people this week who felt the same way also...

And they wonder why there were so many empty seats...

This was my 10th year at Knoxville and by far the most unexciting racing yet.

I am going to become more of a fan of non wing racing so I can see some paasing, or get out my train set to simulate this year's Nationals...

This is how I saw the races and will continue to attend the Nationals, however something needs to change to keep it exciting...

Your consructive thoughts please...

this was my 3rd year at the nationals...i thought it was alright i enjoyed the qualifying nights more then i did saturdays show but overall i thought it was alright and i will go back next year i just hope that they can figure out how to create passing up front if you look in the middle of the pack thier is tons of good racing its just up front were u dont get much...look at justin henderson for instance him and lance dewease did a great job of passing

football4life is right, Henderson and Dewease both passed a lot of cars. Yeah, there was maybe some lack of passing overall, but I was a happy fan and will go back. Hell, there has been a lack of passing all over the country this year. Lack of people may be from gas prices and the heat wave. As far as milking the Saturday night show, you should have know that was coming since they were going to have live TV plus multiple red flags. Like it or leave it.

Right. To bad the Nationals are not full of drama and excitement EVERY YEAR like the Super Bowl and World series are. Man, you never get a boring one of those!!

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Man oh man, the negativity on this board sometimes. It was a fun Nationals. The C and B Mains both had lots of drama. I do agree the live broadcast sometimes killed the momentum at the track. And they should definitely find ways to eliminate all but the Non-Qualifier's events from the daytime surface, but all in all it was fun. Schatz made it somewhat anti-climactic, but surely no worse than when Steve and Mark made the shows a race for 2nd place in the 80s and 90s.

The best win at the Nationals because of the format. Saturday night's format is fine because the high points guys earn their position for the big race. Nobody wins on a fluke of format. Maybe Schatz is just that much better this year. I thought he won the Nationals (and said so on our broadcast) when he went out 56th and set 5th fast time when everybody else was struggling. He raced through his heat and gained six positions in the prelim feature. He was the best all week. Saturdays throughout the years have had a similar ring to it, whether it was the Kinsers, Lasoski (usually), Wolfgang, Leavitt or the Welds.

The "non-qualifiers" night/day probably could use some spark or a whole new concept. There just isn't much interest in that race historically. How about the NQ's just get whatever points they earn on Wednesday/Thursday and have a Tournament of Champions type event that pays $25k/win for the rank and file around the country. I'm getting concerned about the Nationals car count. Lucky to get 100 this year so it's now getting to be more important to attract more good rank-and-file 410's from around the country.

I'd also like to see a way be found to back off the time trial points a bit but only if it can be done to keep guys from sandbagging. Maybe you can keep the 10 car inverts in heats but add passing points to make it into the feature on Wed/Thu.

I know they are trying to attract more of an audience with live TV but the fans who spend an awful lot of money to buy tickets and travel to Knoxville really don't seem to care for the delays. If they are going to have an "open-ended" broadcast of at least three hours starting at 9pm central, then the fans in the stands deserve to see a tighter program. I'm sure the TV audience would like the same. Maybe announce a starting time for the E Main for 9:10 pm so the fans aren't having to sit in the broiling sun beginning at 7:15. Also would allow for the "little guy" some TV time as well as save the track a bit.

There wasn't anything wrong with the track. yes, it was difficult to pass on Saturday because the fast way around was on the cushion in the feature. I really thought there would be a bottom but it never developed. The was a middle groove until nearly the end of the B but it got used up. I thought the track might take rubber late in the feature but it never did. That might have been one of the few times when late rubber could have been a good thing if the guys behind Schatz could have found it.

The thing is this...had there been a late caution with less than ten laps to go, it may have been a race to the finish. Saldana was closing a bit until he got behind a couple of lapped cars. With car setups and tires, ect. you never know...

I guess race fans are a totally different breed. Go to an NFL game and see how the TV timeouts disrupt the flow of the game. Yet I never hear any complaining from those I know who attend NFL games regularly. But a delay for TV at a sprint car race seems to be a major sore spot with the fans!

Who in the Feature was not "supposed" to be there..Martin, Smith, Hindi, Wolfe, Cram perhaps? Not taking anything away from those guys' efforts to which they should be congratulated for well deserved runs. Seems as some have never made it previously, some have struggled as of recent years and some are on new teams.

Most everybody's pre-race score card certainly had most of those 24 starting cars in there, whether you had them front row, middle, back where-ever. Not too terribly surprised who was in there, although, Martin and Wolfe had me kinda like "Well, that was cool that they made it." As Martin makes only his 2nd Nationals attempt.

Haudenschild, Meyers, Kemenah, Hodnett, Rahmer, DeWease, Stewart and Pittman and a few others would have certainly been on the score cards of some pre-race Top-24 picks in the show. I had them pegged over some of the guys who made it in. Take 100+ drivers and whittle it down to 24, you are always gonna get some fan that thinks their driver got screwed at the Knoxville Nationals.

This format awards the driver who does the best in ALL the races they enter. And yes-qualifications is a race, albeit against the clock.

Only gonna be 24 in the Feature anyway, if say 200 guys show up and guess what, 176 would have little to show for-how would that fair? The days of guys starting 11th in the C and finishing 5th in the A are long gone-sad to say, the competition is just too good or equally fast.

Votes for leave the format, what makes it unique.

BTW, Why would the late Dave Helm's name not make the Memorial Page in the yearbook?

The lead car takes the available air away from the following car. Horsepower won't help without sticking to the surface.

Drivers won't drive if they are dead or mangled which wings do help avoid tremendously.

Maybe the wings need to come off for only the top shows per year, no more than five.

I thought the feature was a fine show. This was not intended to be a negative post, however, when you read someone's words without hearing the tone which I meant it is up to your interpretation.

We spoke to many people that felt as we did about this week's racing. The Nationals are a great event and it is hard to live up to everyone's expectations; this year did not live up to mine, however I look forward to next year, and the year after, and so on...

Unlike other sports and events (Superbowl) Knoxville isn't making any money on TV.  If fact the past few years (not sure about this) barely sold enough sponsorship to pay for the production.

With that said shouldn't the show be run for the 25,000 fans in seats?

Thank god the ChiliBowl nixed the "live TV" deal before it happened, they won't allow a network to run the schedule of the event.

With the success of Eldora's "Dream" race for Late Models on pay-per-view, I wonder if that avenue might be something to look into. Then again, I have no idea how successful the Nationals telecast was in terms of Knoxville's and Speed's goals so maybe it should be left as is.

I was asked by a few fans if television affected Saturday's attendence. I really don't know.

I could be mistaken but wasn't this the final year of the contract between Knoxville and Speed for presenting the Nationals? If so, what happens now?

JK - the crowd looked ok on TV except for the low rows on the backstretch. was the attendance off?

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The original deal was a 3 year (2003-2005) with renewals due prior to September 1. They did extend what I thought to be two years but don't quote me on that.

I wouldn't think that initially the TV would effect attendance to the "EVENT" but certainly could have an effect on butts in the seats on the final night. You can watch from your trailer / motorhome with Speed Channel....

The biggest issue again is do we alienate all of the fans that bought tickets to create a break even situation and get them on TV. Teams / Owners / Sponsors will say "YES" but should Knoxville?

BTW, I thought the TV was very well done.

Does anyone know just what the buy rate was for the Prelude to the Dream PPV? I also wondered about Knoxville going that route but have to wonder how many bought the PPV because of the Nascar "Names" involved or just to see the novelty of those guys racing on dirt.

This is a week, starting at Osky, that I look forward to unlike any other week during the year. Kind of like a kid looks forward to Christmas. However this year for whatever reason just seemed a little off, not sure why, probably just a combination of factors.

I definitely thought with the quality disparity, meaning time trial spread, we might see some charges from the rear to win a heat like several years ago, but it just didn't happen. The heats were mostly anti-climactic, meaning most of the guys who timed fastest and started in the back row didn't have the talent to charge to the front. Also, we didn't have 65-70 cars taking time each night, only 51 and 55, so again there are less quality of cars starting each heat which should make it possible for a last to first charge, but both nights for the heats the track was still pretty narrow.

It's amazing how much griping about the format some fans do. Despite the fact that some big dogs have to come from the b-main on their qualifying night, the cream still rises to the top and most everyone expected to make the a-main on Saturday still does. I will say, if they change the format because "the cars are so equal anymore" and take away the heat race inverts on Wednesday and Thursday, there will be another empty seat, if it becomes just another race there's no need to go. I was very surprised by the fan attendance, especially Thursday and Friday. I can only imagine what Wednesday would have been. Also, the car count was WAY down, and considering the payout, this race pays good way down thru the field, it is a bit worrisome why there aren't more teams.

In the past, I would have gone just to watch the heats on Wednesday and Thursday, they can be that exciting. Everything about this program can be exciting, even time trials, because once you understand the point system they use, you realize what is at stake everytime a car hits the track, and that the driver is on the ragged edge at all times. Because of the points, seventh in your heat can make a big difference over eighth, and the racing for that spot, let alone the win or transfer can be incredible.

I'd be willing to push a rewind button and go do it all over again right now. This time last week we were just getting started, and it beats the hell out of being in the office all day long.

Hope the racing is better next year, and a different guy wins, but already counting the days until next August.

I like the idea for passing points in the heat races John. I would prefer to see a driver who goes from 10th to 5th in their heat make the preliminary night main than the driver who goes from 1st to 4th in their heat.

Qualifying has too many points and seriously affects the over all points. A bad pill draw and you are behind the 8 ball before the night even starts.

Twenty8-RE: The late draw deal

Schatz qualified as the 52nd car out on the track out of 53. Saldana was last out of 50 to take his time.

First and second on Saturday night, so try and convince me it had any bearing.