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

Just saw that Knoxville changed the rule where the top 2 out of the B main get their time trial spot back just like the Outlaws. Personally I'm not a fan of this at all. This doesnt promote passing in the heat as much and will forsure lead to less passing in the A main. I always enjoyed the difference between Knoxville and the Outlaws because you had to truely earn your spot in the main.

A driver that needs a second chance to transfer to the A should never start ahead of a driver that did it his first chance.

I'm on the fence on this one and here's why.

At Knoxville, generally the quicktimer starts outside the transfer in the heats (whereas in the Outlaws they start inside the transfer every night).  If the track isn't conducive to passing yet (and face it, a lot of times the track is still "wide open" in the heats with little if any passing even during a regular show).

By only allowing the Top 2 in teh B get their time-spots back, all of a sudden it MEANS SOMETHING for the guy running 3rd to try to pass the car in 2nd during the B-main (the top 4 transfer, but now it could be the difference between starting 9th or starting 23rd.  The Outlaws give ALL 4 transfer cars their timespots back, so if you were QT, didn't transfer, but run 4th in the B - you get to start 11th.  Under Knoxville's new rule, you start 24th.  Same goes if the guy was 30th fast that runs 1st or 2nd, he might start 21st or 22nd, but that "faster car" that couldn't pass him in the b-main is gonna start 23rd or 24th.

We'll see how it works out once the season starts.

The new rule I'm not a fan of is an invert draw of 0, 4, 6 or 8 for the feature.  IMO, a 0 shouldn't be an option, but I don't own a car either  (if I did, I'd only want 0 as an option (I would expect my driver to be fast every night and want him to start up front every night).

I was a little more heated about this before I heard that the B main transfers could start no better than 9th but i'd still rather keep more excitment in the heats than the B. They will take alot more chances even if the track is narrow if it means avoiding the B. As for the invert I agree that 0 should not be an option. I get it that some drivers will like it but fans will not and sponsors/promoters prefer there to be fans in attendance. We will be groaning when the pole sitter wins every night this year. I hope I'm wrong though. One positive change is the added laps for the 360 A. 15 always seemed a little short.

Dollanksy won 3 races last year, started on the front row every time (so 7th or 8th fast generally unless someone didn't transfer).  A few of the other wins through the season were from the front row as well.... IMO, the invert doesn't mean a winner from row 3 or 4, odds are it will be a winner from row 1 or 2 (any winner from further back than that is an anomoly).

The bottom line is that any of the top 15 or so cars at Knoxville can win from the front row these days (the equipment is so equal and the drivers are all capable).

I intially thought you mean this change was for the Knoxville Nationals. For the weekly show it is fine, for the Nationals it is not.

With that being the case why should the fast qualifier be penalized and not have the chance to start on the front row?  That to me is just wrong.  He's already been penalized and inverted in the heats.  He gets thru that and then always gets penalized again.  Why would you ever want to be fast time?  I think a 0 invert should be available.  

For me, this again adds more emphasis on 2 laps of qualifying vs being able to do what racing is named for - RACE! Especially when qualifying can sometimes be all about the pill you draw and the track conditions. The order should be more so determined by how you perform in a crowd, not by how you perform by yourself!

Seems fair enough to me! Cant believe its taken this long

AS a FAN, I want to see the fast cars PASS people, not start up front and watch a parade (which is the mindset of I'm guessing 80% of the people in the stands).

The bigger issue is no consistency.  How do you GROW a fanbase when the format is different every single week?  People who've never attended have a hard enough time following the format without changing it up weekly....

Well back in the past good anouncers informed the crowd of things like how races are lined up.

Now it would seem that most anouncers are little more than audio advertisements that hit play on some music when they get through the list of sponsors.

If you like to see them start up front you need watch Late Models. Went to Attica & paid 30 bucks to see the All Stars & can't remember the LM series right now but they had like 7 cars to a heat with the likes of Bloomquist, O'Neal & others & they started on the pole based on times. Hell the 1 heat finished just like they started & people were clapping & I said you people clap for that shit ?  I should have ask if I could have paid 15 bucks & walked around while the LM's ran. I guarantee I will not go back to that race.

I'm personally tired of seeing big money up front. I even said on some of these bigger races that the B-main tranfers should get more money. Like the Mopar Million payed 10 grand to start & the payout was pretty damn good now why did it need to pay that when say 120 grand could have been split between the B & C mains. When I mentioned that scenario I was told that it was not a charity event, well why give so called charity to the one's that are going to make the big money anyway's.

You know damn well who is & who isn't going to make the show unless something breaks or some kind of fluke or there is just 2 many cars & someone won't make it.

i think it has good intentions, but the outlaws suck. They set it up so only outlaws can win their own event. They aren't even that great to watch. You pat double the price when locals put on a better show any other time of the year. They are a bunch of greedy jerks who think they own the world because they have WoO ironed on their shirt. I don't think anyone or place should take after them.

If that's how they have it set up, they're doin a piss poor job. Several races this year were won by non outlaws.

let's not get started on announcers.....they need to do a LOT more to inform the crowd IMO (especially if they are trying to entice new people to the races every week).

Just helps big motor teams. Why even have heat races then just qualify and line them straight up by time (joking). I don't understand why anyone would want this rule, too much emphasis on qualifying.