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

For a rubbered down race track, last night's feature was really entertaining. After qualifying I thought Haud's struggles would continue but really glad to see him turn it around. Shark team with a strong showing and another top-5 for Brent Marks.

What blew my mind was of those who I consider to be the "heavy hitters", Schatz, Sweet, Pittman, Gravel, Stewart, Johnson... none of them were in the dash and none finished inside the top 5. I'd be willing to bet this is the first time this has happened in 2018 and may be the last.

Sheldon should probably have 4 more wins. He’s been leading or close to a bunch more and wrecked or spun out.

No matter what, to take that car which wasn’t competitive last year and be a top 4 car on the tour is huge. Especially from a driver who had no woo wins coming into the year. 

He easily could have given another away last night. The more patient he gets, the better he will become. He's handed a few away already this year running too hard when it wasn't needed. It should come with time, but he'll definitely need it if he ever wants to be a bonafide title contender.

I still think the 17 camp found something under the hood as well. They have consistently the best on starts/restarts and it doesn't particularly seem close. Part of the reason he was able to turn his night around last night was his ability to grab spots on the restarts in the heat race. 

Just wonder if they would have run the Woo feature first would we have not had a rubbered up track?

Ah, the power of that wee wittle chromosome!

Also mentioning that last year they had very little time to put together an entire team and program before the 2017 - 2018 season.  Swank has even said that in interviews (I think his Open Red podcast interview he mentions it).  Having a full offseason + what Sheldon is doing + the team meshing has made vast improvements.  Kudos to all involved (anyone remember on this board people calling for them to fold and jump off tour last year or go All Stars this year? ). 

Spot on. Just adding they Were being loaned motors from Roth. Having time to sit down and make some adjustments has made a big difference. The jump they get when done right is very noticable and they seem to get it right more nights than not.

I think it would have regardless. The wingless feature was only 25 laps, yet slick all the way up to the cushion halfway through the race.

His ma'ma, Patty didn't even have to get on twitter last night and blast the World of Outlaw officials or the flagman for not knowing what he was doing.  A win/win for fans and family.  She must have got scolded by either her son, husband or the Outlaw officials because she mysteriously took her tweets down the same night or a day later.

ooh... wingless & WoO? Sounds like fun... how was the POWRi race?

The track was reworked after the non-wing feature and before the WoO feature...

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So I am thinking about the value of the note books teams keep. New track for the WoO and many of the regular powerhouses were just racing like everyone else. I wonder if this would happen more often if there was not the experience gained from running a lot of the tracks over and over,. Or if there was no memory of the last time you were there. Do those note books really have that much value?

Looked like a fun track, really like the wall cam angle in the highlights on the WoO site. Should iot become a regular place to visit?

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The notebooks have value but there are so many factors night in and night out. The notebooks surely help to set a starting point or base at the very least and most often a crucially correct set up from the get go. Don Don and Tricky Ricky have a 3 ring binder for just about every track the WoO hit, at least the ones they hit every year. Their catalog of notes is astounding. 

Bingo.  And, he's only gonna get better. 

Probably not totally wrong.   And, at the mid point of last year, I was thinking Joey made a mistake driving that car because it wasn't a winning car. 

Then, Mr. Larson jumped in and won his first time out.  Showed the equipment was plenty capable.  As much of a Joey fan as I've always been, I think the biggest factor in the success of the team for 2018 is Sheldon in the seat.  

T-mez ran down landon simon late. Since the track was slick up to the cushion both were right on the wall. T-mez tried a slider with 2 or 3 laps to go... One lap too soon in my opinion. But it was a good race. Glad dirtvision always show support classes, makes me feel like I'm getting an even better deal than I already am.

I think it's both.  Sheldon + a solid off season to really build the team and equipment (and get their OWN motor program).  Ricky hired Kyle to run that race specifically to see if the equipment (in this case chassis) was up to snuff or if it was something else.  They were thinking of making a chassis change and Ricky wanted Kyle to "test" the J&J.  He won so they kind of figured it might not be the J&J (which they still use)  But you're right for a lot of reasons the team last year didn't mesh (maybe some of it was Joey, maybe some of it was thrashing a team together, maybe Swank and Joey never meshed, etc.).  But with Sheldon plus a solid off season and some meshing it certainly is working now and Sheldon is a big reason for that.  They'll continue to get better as Sheldon gains experience (and patience) and the team gains valuable time together. 

I just wonder where are all the people that held Joey Saldana  in such hi praise ? 

Joey definitely has lost some speed in the past few years but Sheldon is going to need to have to continue to be successful for a long time if he wants to be considered at the same level of Saldana. 

Joey was never flamboyant or drew a lot of attention to himself really, but 7th on the all time WoO feature win list with 105 and 3rd on the All Stars all time feature win list with 74, plus two Kings Royal wins puts Joey among the elite in sprint car racing, imo. If he doesn't get into the NSCHoF during his first year of eigibility, he most definately should get in during his second year. His career is head and shoulders above the careers of those who have gotten in during their third year of eligibility in recent years.