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

Lance Dewease was disqualified at Port Royal after time trials, when it was pointed out that the 69 had front tires on it that were not a compound that is mandated. Is that cheating? It seems like nobody is commenting about this. What if was Walker , Dietrich , Rahmer or others were the ones that got caught?

Lance was'nt disqualified, but was sent to the back of his semi feature. He ended up 2nd in main feature and took home $6000+. As far as the tire thing I really don't know what went on, but that was the reason he was sent to rear of semi.

That's EXACTLY what I typed. His time was disallowed = disqualified. Damn what didn't you understand??? LOL

Well that was exactly what you typed but I think what you typed and what you meant were two different things. I know when I read it first as he was disqualified I took it as he was told pack the 69 in the trailer and head home you're done for the night. When I read his time was disallowed I take it as he had to start at the rear of the field. 

 You hit the nail on the head, I still find it funny that nobody cared. Obviously something wasn't right or wouldn't have been sent to the back. 

Rules are rules.  Front tires would not help you as much as rear tires.  They make rules so that everyone is on the same page.  Sounds like it was handled in an OK matter

I too think it was handled properly. Makes a person wonder how many times they ran illegal tires before.

1. I was surprised coming on here this morning there wasn't a thread started on this. My first thought was wow if it were DD or some other polarizing posse driver it would've been. 

2. Meh, it was supposedly a softer tire that is approved for 305s but not 410s. Also supposedly a team and/or teams reported them to officials. 

3. The 69k's defense the entire time has been "other teams were running the same tire." I'm never a fan a that as an excuse...mainly 2nd I remember getting my ads handed to me as a kid from my parents when I tried that line...

All that said a softer front tire is hardly a competitive advantage but rules are rules are rules. Sound like the right move and also sounds like the track didn't have intention of inspecting them or any other team but it was something specifically brought to their attention so they had to respond accordingly.  

I have said all along, tire dopping, illegal wing and oversize motor.  Nobody ever checks it out.

Yes it is cheating.  Obviously and advantage or they wouldn't have done it.

Sounds like the tracks tech crew dropped the ball on this one. This is an easy rule to tech while the cars are staged in the line up area waiting for TT, heats, and A main before they ever hit the track. 

With an obvious infraction like this does the sprint car series and tracks send out samples of tires to the lab to have them tested for tire doping/treatment. Every major late model race Lucas or WoO and even local tracks are hot and heavy on tire testing.

it absolutely affects how the car handles, etc. 

Does it effect how the car handles?  Probably, but AFTER switching the front tires they still went out there and PASSED tons of cars in their semi-feature and if you follow twitter one of the other teams even eluded to the fact that the tires had no effect whatsoever on how fast the 69k was.

Front tires and especially the left front does not do too much.  Changing compounds from the soft to slightly softer has little bearing on the car (as seen by their results the rest of the night).  Rear tires make a huge difference and I bet if tire samples were cut from 20 rear tires, at least 15 in my opinion if not more would have some sort of solution that isn't part of the tire when it leaves Hoosier.  I can't say what the rules are on tire prep and doping but I'm sure there is a ton of that going on.  As much as I like Lance Dewease and the 69K team, if they broke the rule then they broke the rule.  Even an honest mistake has to be punished and it looks like it did - certainly didn't hurt the team to put a different set of front tires on, he went from the rear to the front.  If tracks and competitors were really serious about this issue, they would take tire samples from the right rears and have them sent out but that would be a perfect world where time and resources are unlimited.  Again I do not know the rules of tire prep on the 410's is so maybe that is legal, maybe it is not. 

Testing tires does not take unlimited resources. Every major and regional late model series and sanction along with some tracks are testing tires. If it was cost prohibitive they wouldn't be doing it. Also some of the "juice" they were/are using is very hazardous to health and the environment and the last thing we need is the Fed, State, and local governments sticking their nose into racing more than they do now.

Testing tires does not take unlimited resources, but it also isn't free. I believe the last price I got was right around $110 per basic test, and $230 for an advanced test that would define the chemicals used. If you test 10 or 15 RR tires per night you are looking at $1-1.5k extra per night. That is a pretty big cost. For that reason I doubt you will be seeing tracks turning up the wick on tire testing more than it already is.

Kenny Weld had a rule infraction theory.. If you don't want them to find what rule you are compromising, show them an obvious rule vilolation somewhere else on the car!!!! hm. hm 

"You will never know it was your "Day" until it's over"

Or maybe they just have their shit together and aren't cheating...

Then please share for the group.  Don't elude to something without providing details.