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

a 4-wide parade lap after 2am with fog rolling in.  Whomever decided to do the 4-wide parade lap garbage, at that time in the morning, with MAJOR fog rolling in, is clueless.  

Johnny Gibson said over the pa not to worry about the fog cause the wind off the wings would blow it away once the race started. Like someone else said, he's DW jr.

Super Chuck says in Johnny's defense, saw that EXACT thing happen at Kokomo so it's not so far off base.  Fog rolled in that night at a WoO race.  Couldn't see the other side of the track when they'd roll out, then as the cars got up to speed the fog would lift and it was clear until they stopped again.  Guessing the size of Kokomo in relation to Knoxville has a lot to do with it, but Johnny wasn't out to lunch on this one.

Super Chuck

I don't even think there was time to react with or without fog. That crap moved in within a matter of minutes. Let's be realistic about it - nobody has a crystal ball where they can predict what Mother Nature is going to do.

Insane that you can find a reason to complain after the track a ton of time getting the track back when nearly every other track in the country would have canceled. 

I'm by no means a Knoxville apologist but they were on-point Saturday night and deserve to be commended for the efforts they put forth.

Yes, that would of speed things up but with a yellow or a red, which did happen, it didn't matter anyways. Who knew it would of gotten that bad? How often does that happen? Once every 30 years? If I remember correctly fog robbed local Mike Brooks of a Nationals title. 

Kudos to everyone at Knoxville; push trucks, the duncans, officials, drivers, and fans. What a long night. I was amazed at how many fans stuck around until they called it. It was a disappointment to say the least b/c the race track was a bit dryer than normal, which was probably fine less cars than a typical Saturday night, but the racing was fantastic. 

Schatz throttle control (shocks and right foot) is incredible. The one guy that runs the bottom during time trials and gets 5th in his flight. 

Come August hopefully someone can pull the upset; Brown? Henderson? Madsen? Sweet? Stewart? McCarl? Lasoski? 

Right now do more drivers who run regularly at Knoxville have a better chance than any other Outlaw?

Keep It Real

Last year at I94 Speedway in Fergus Falls MN, they skipped the 4-wide do to impending rain.

Sprint car racing is life.  The rest is just details...

Just to make sure you were watching the same race I was... the bottom was junk in qualifying... with everybody that was fast running the cushion.  Schatz ran the bottom his first lap, and his time was awful (15.9-something).  He went to the cushion his next lap to record the 5th best lap of his flight (15.705).  The bottom DID come in during the later heats... as Davey Heskin passed both Stewart and Saldana working the bottom to perfection in the 3rd heat.  

It was a strange track early on.... seemed like the Dunkins didn't know how much water to put on, so went light given the clouds & humidity, and lack of wind.  Full disclosure:  I don't know that for sure, just speculating.  The sun came out during hotlaps, and the track blew off completely and was super slick... which doesn't usually happen unless they go light on h2o.  The 80% humidity and dew point (upper 60s, low 70s) did strange things though.  Should've known weird things would happen later... like the tiny speck of green heading north/NW past K'ville ... then inexplicably turning back east ... and the 2 AM fog.  

Brown, Henderson, Madsen, and Lasoski have the best chance to unseat Schatz... but you would be stupid to put any amount of $$ on anybody but the 15... JMO.

Yes, the bottom was dryer, however that typically means better racing during the heats. His first lap, if it was 15.9....I wouldn't consider awful, given the other times, would of placed him 10-12th? I honestly wouldn't mind if it was like that more often, however with another class of cars on the track the bottom could be a freight train by the end of the night. 

I agree the track was weird. I was expecting more sliders however it seemed like  there wasn't even enough moisture on the bottom to even make that work. 

Keep It Real

You can't b serious?!!? i paid good money to watch the best go 4 abreast. at that point I had been in the stands for roughly 8 hrs. I get chills to this day EVERY time I see them 4wide. you just can't make some people happy. 

I'm no track prep expert, but I'm not sure anyone was banking on that much sun. Forecast called for rain at worst, but cloudy at best and it was pretty beautiful until the rains came. 

Must not have been EXACTLY the same cause I did not see the wind from the wings have ANY effect on the fog at all. And the cars go faster at Knoxville so would generate stronger wind! All Gibson needs to do is start saying boogity boogity and he would be exactly like D W.

By the standard that Schatz has set, it was pretty awful!  I'm pretty sure it was a 15.9 - maybe someone else can back me up on that?? He tried to run the bottom in 1&2, slipped off it in the middle of the corner, and slid through the slick upon exit.  He didn't do much better in 3&4.  That first lap (15.9) would've been good for 11th quick in Flight #1 of the new WoO format (which IMO is pretty stupid).  Only the top 8 in each 'flight' are locked into the invert, so he would've started 6th in heat #2, instead of the front row.  Without the new format, a 15.9 would've been 19th quick overall ... which is outside the top 16 in the old format... and he would've been starting 5th.  He's Donny Schatz though and went to to the top on lap 2 to grab just enough speed to put him on the front row of his heat -- which he ran away from and hid.  

After qualifying, it looked like it would be strictly a slide-job track ... but it wasn't really even that in the first 2 heats - all the fast guys ran the cushion... then the moisture came up or something for the last 2 heats, and the bottom was super fast (as Heskin demonstrated).  I think the feature would've been pretty good if the rain wouldn't have come... naturally.

if nothing else some photographers or the wrg hopefully got some cool shots of the air breaking over the wing tips more than usual. 

This is the truth - I'd love for some good shows. I said in another post, I've never seen a nosewing vapor trail and they had them barreling into turn one.

Also, I can't recall seeing trails off both wing panels simultaneously and there were definitely a few the other night. 

Lastly, some of the biggest and most defined I've vapor trails I've ever seen. 

Some really cool sights. The four-wide under the fog was pretty awesome as well.