Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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 Excerpt taken from Jerry Reigle's sprint car notebook in this week's AARN

"Sometimes, a slide job doesn't work. But our races have been getting rougher this season. There is more blocking than I have ever seen. It's going to take something major for this to change."

Like tires.

Tracks have adopted a mandatory spec tire that has to be used on race cars and Dewease feels that is something that needs to be reviewed.

"The tire technology is good," Dewease said. "Anyone can drive these cars. Guys go on the wrong part of the track and they can, for the most part, make it stick.

"Racing is more equal than it's ever been. I think that's due to the tires. You have drivers blocking and making moves they probably shouldn't be doing. It's just the way this sport has become."

The tires they ran this year didn't make a lick of difference. Schatz actually says they are stuck even harder. Smaller open tires like the late models run is what they should have done, if not for all the bellowing. 15-16" wide x 100" right rear. 13" wide modified tire on left rear. Open manufacturer. A flat top wing with the left sideboard lowered a little would be better yet. Doing away with the 410 limit would be icing on the cake. Drive 'er driver. The late model philosophy is a proven winner over the past 15 years. Their sport has grown by leaps and bounds. The F-1 of dirt track racing philosophy has been a proven loser the last 15 years. As a whole the sport of sprint car racing is fractured and dwindling. It's time to inject a little more bang for the buck, looking at it from all angles, even the grandstands.

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com

if the racing is more equal than ever and guys are able to go all over the track why do you want to change it? the fast guys are ALWAYS going to complain when the competition closes in on them. what do you want to do, make it so that just a few guys can handle things better than the rest? they had no tire rules back in the day and you people think that was some of the best racing ever. go to a hard small tire and see MORE train races where guys can't pass, and moore spins and crashes when guys try catch each other. tire rules are good for one thing and one thing only. to help the maker of the spec tire chosen. what is the difference of a train race because cars are locked down or a train race because they are so loose they can't pass?

regardless of what you do to the cars some people are just going to be faster and figure things out faster. They tried to " slow " down the drag racers for the past few years by taking blower boost away, less nitro in the fuel hell they even changed the tires a couple of times guess what they are going faster and quicker now than before they made those changes. This is a technology based world now and it just keeps getting more technology advanced every minute and we just need to accept that. Maybe we should do away with the 410 and 360 cars and make everyone run steel block 305 or maybe even 283 with steel wheels and then we can be back in the 50s like everyone thinks we need to be. Just accept the fact the cars are different than they were 50 years ago and that means the racing is going to be different personally i think it is better and i dont want to step back in time

I can think of many more instsnces where guys have won or passed a ton of cars from deep in the field this year than in many previous years. Car counts in most places are higher. Some top teams, like Schatz, have figured out how to be fast with the new tire. Some, like Dewease, apparently, have not. The tire specs are a work in progress but certainly a step in the right direction for the betterment of sprint car racing overall.

I think Jerry Reigle needs to talk to some promoters and other drivers (those who ar saving money and still being competitive). He might get a totally different response.