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Topic: Sprint Car Bandits Enter 5th Season with Same Drive & Dedication to Sport Email this topic to a friend | Subscribe to this TopicReport this Topic to Moderator
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dmantx
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October 18, 2019 at 11:50:39 AM
Joined: 09/15/2005
Posts: 5174
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Sprint Car Bandits Enter 5th Season with Same Drive & Dedication to the Sport

Garland TX (10/18/19) by DarinShort.com. You can think about it. You can talk about it. Or you can do it. That famous Nike adage still rings through today similar in the actions of the Sprint Car Bandits series.

At the series inception five years ago, we identified a primary concern of sprint car racing, from the fan, track & team standpoint; which was the change in economics associated with the sport after the events of 9/11/01.

The impacts of 9/11 were never really addressed across the board (fans, teams and tracks) and it began to take its toll. Specifically, the cost of fuel for teams and fans doubled (from averages pre-9/11 of around $1.50 for gas or diesel), and for quite a while costs were substantially more than double.

All the sudden, everyone had a substantially increased cost to attend or participate in an event, which squeezed everyone’s budgets. Yet nothing in the financial model changed – as the tracks alone couldn’t absorb the impact.

Fans started saying “hey, it now costs us more to get there and back than the tickets cost” and started factoring that reality in to their decision-making process. The teams felt it even more, which made traveling to events further away less attractive – and feasible.

Of course, some of these changes to the matrix weren’t felt across the board nationwide for quite some time, but the majority of tracks have felt its impact.

Pushing that aside for a moment, we have to factor in that we’re all just cogs on a wheel in this sport. We all need each other for it to work and sustain itself. Fans and teams need racing venues, and the venues need the fans and teams.

Paralleling the timeline and economic effects of 9/11 is the fact that there has been a significant increase in the entertainment options available to fans – that tracks didn’t have to contend with in the previous decades. So now the tracks had a double dose of impacts going forward.

This means the fan entertainment component had to be addressed, which is one of the primary focus items of the Sprint Car Bandits series.

Back in the day, there were enough fans attending sprint car events that in many cases there might only be one support division, and the races would be over early enough for fans to flood the pits to meet their favorite drivers.

In many cases now tracks can only swing a quality sprint show by adding several divisions to the racing program, which makes it very hard to connect fans to teams – as they finish later.

That’s where the Sprint Car Bandits pre-race Fan Fest comes in. We simply bring the teams to the fans, exactly inverted to the way it was in the past – but it still generates the same result, as fans now can interact with the teams again.

That is step one in the fan-focus commitment of the Sprint Car Bandits series.

The next step is to address the economic reality of travel expenses. So, the Sprint Car Bandits developed a simple solution – that didn’t require teams to go buy some expensive ‘fix’, like under the hood.

We restricted the maximum wing angle to 20° (degrees) and require the left rear tire to be a 92 casing – and that teams must run the same two rear tires throughout the racing program.

And not only has it worked, it’s REALLY worked.

We have proven that you can run the same set of tires all night because the wing angle rule restricts just enough downforce that doesn’t cause excess wear.

That in itself has saved race teams in the Sprint Car Bandits series $1,000’s annually in consumables – which helps to bridge that gap caused by the increased travel expenses of 9/11.

But that’s not all. It’s also allowed the cars to be more freed up so faster cars can pass easier – bringing back what fans want: more racing and less follow-the-leader racing. In other words, fans are getting to consistently see more entertaining racing – which helps with fan retention.

And if you don’t believe that is an important fan component, you don’t have to look hard to see that this is a constant fan complaint on the forums of sprint car racing today.

Here’s a live post on the subject: http://www.hoseheadforums.com/forum.cfm?ThreadID=113502

If you take a moment to skim the post you will see all kinds of ‘what if they did this’ scenarios, from changing track lengths, engine components, wing sizes; etc.

In the opinion of the series, why go through all of that when our rules address pretty much all of it – without having anyone going through the expense of reinventing the wheel.

And we’ve proved it with our base rules package, as we have no rules changes in the pipeline for 2020 – nor have we – since series inception five years ago.

For race teams that want to be rewarded more for their driving skill and ability to set up a car – not just having a big budget to gain their edge, the Sprint Car Bandits continues to prove its rules work in the results. In the past 29 Sprint Car Bandits events there have been 19 different winners. Not to dog on the WoO by any means, but they’ve complete 67 events in 2019, yet have exactly the same amount of different winners, 19.

In addition, we do not penalize top performing drivers in our heat races. We line up feature events straight up by driver’s performance. Yet, that doesn’t mean it’s a ‘gimme’ in the Sprint Car Bandits, as in those same past 29 feature events, the polesitter, or top qualifier didn’t end up winning the feature event 19 times.

Our simple and effective rules package (that takes a couple of crew guys about a half hour to make their existing cars ‘rules compliant’ for the Sprint Car Bandits) has essentially opened up this series to just about any engine platform – and it has been proven in driver results. We’ve had teams race with us that have carbureted 360’s under the hood (and competitively, I might add), along with other popular 360 and smaller C.I. configurations – and ALL have found they can be competitive as long as they can drive and set up a car properly. We even know of two teams that are building a LS engine platform for 2020.

This all results in one primary statement: you cannot ‘buy’ wins in the Sprint Car Bandits by outspending the competition.

Of course, that doesn’t work for all race teams out there, especially the few that are well funded, but the few that are well funded doesn’t generate enough numbers to make the sport sustainable. Our platform has allowed racers of all backgrounds the opportunity to compete with teams of a wide range of budgets. Yet, we’ve had well-funded teams race with the Sprint Car Bandits throughout each season and virtually all of them understand our rules and were very quick to adapt to them. Many commented, on an unsolicited level, immediately after jumping out of their cars how much fun they had racing with our rules package.

Click www.SprintCarBandits.com then the rules tab to check out the details of our rules package.

We are constantly receiving feedback from teams racing to us regarding how the Sprint Car Bandits purse structure and rules package helps keep them more ‘on track’ with their weekly racing budget.

There are areas in the country that have adopted similar rules with great success, primarily in Minnesota and Michigan.

Veteran and young drivers alike have found success in the series – and the parity between age/experience ranges was incredible in 2018:

5 features were won by what I call ‘Young Guns’, with 5 features won by experienced drivers and 5 were won by veteran drivers. Then to add even more to the mix, was the fact that there was also a female ‘Young Gun’ winning a feature last year…technically making the Young Guns the overall winners by group last year.

Next up, the Sprint Car Bandits understands that just booking events isn’t enough.

We are not only hitting on all 8-cylinders in our rules, we also deliver results to our marketing partners, tracks and fans by providing complete pre-race marketing materials, updates and post-event recaps. This gives Series tracks the leg-up to be able to afford to host our events as they’re given the tools to properly promote their event well in advance…which leads to higher fan attendance.

Each event, the Series, the Series tracks and teams are out doing it – not just talking about it. The ‘talking about it’ phase took place the previous 10 years to the inception of this series.

Now it will be interesting to see if more tracks and series dare to step out of the norm and try to do something positive to affect change, and progress, in their area.

On a personal note, nationwide this season I’ve seen more driver press releases out there stating something to the effect of “Bad Draw-Ins Lead to Subpar Weekend Results” or top-notch drivers commenting “this format made me start too far back to win.” Well, some common sense may need to be factored in here. If you can’t pass because the cars are all locked down, is it the format causing the problem – or the car rules they are racing with?

Change in this sport moves at a glacial pace, and that’s OK. And for those that support our series, we appreciate the fact that they get it and we’re honored to give them a platform to race with that is not only sustainable, but competitive, fun and a 21st century solution to changing economic times.

The first round of the 2020 Sprint Car Bandits racing schedule was posted last month, and here is the latest. Tracks interested in hosting an event should email Darin at [email protected] as soon as possible, as remaining dates are very limited:

FRI March 20 – Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Elm Mott (Waco) TX
SAT March 28 – Kennedale Speedway Park, Kennedale TX
SAT April 4 – 82 Speedway, Petty TX
SAT April 18 – Abilene Speedway, Abilene TX
SAT April 25 – 82 Speedway, Petty TX
FRI May 1 – Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Elm Mott (Waco) TX
SAT May 9 – Monarch Motor Speedway, Wichita Falls TX
SAT May 30 – 82 Speedway, Petty TX
FRI June 12 – Boyd Raceway, Boyd TX
SAT June 27 SCB - RAINDATE
SAT July 4 – 82 Speedway, Petty TX
FRI July 10 – Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Elm Mott (Waco) TX
~Sprint Car Bandits Summer Break~
FRI September 25 – Boyd Raceway, Boyd TX
SAT September 26 – Kennedale Speedway Park, Kennedale TX
SAT October 10 – 82 Speedway, Petty TX
SAT October 31 – Monarch Motor Speedway, Wichita Falls TX

Best of luck to all as this season winds down and thank you to everyone that has supported the Sprint Car Bandits series over the years, and if you’d like to interact with the fans, drivers and Series, visit us on Facebook by typing Sprint Car Bandits.

 




Michael_N
October 19, 2019 at 10:26:51 AM
Joined: 11/30/2004
Posts: 720
Reply

Nice job. Our sport needs more people like those involved with the Sprint Car Bandits. You mentioned Minnesota, thank you for noting the efforts of the UMSS. This season was the first year of the new rules for the winged cars. 20 degress wing angle rule and simple motors with 650 or 750 CFM carbs is what they came up with and it was a homerun. They literally started with ZERO cars and finished the year with 19 at one of their final races. Guys are traveling all over buying sprint cars that have been stuck in barns and getting them ready for next season. Thanks SCB for getting the ball rolling! 



Murphy
October 20, 2019 at 07:35:31 PM
Joined: 05/26/2005
Posts: 3262
Reply

      I wasn't expecting to see my thread quoted in there.

      Questions for you about Sprint Car Bandits, and yes- I read the rules that were linked.

     What are the main differences between a SCB sprint and an ASCS sprint? As I read it, it's mostly a differerence in winds & wing angle, motors and tires?

     Is your wing different than current WoO/ All-Stars/Knoxville/PA?

     Since the wing is set a maximum of 20 degrres and is not adjustable by the driver, do most teams just fix them at 20 degrees?

     Do you race mostly smaller tracks, or do you race some 1/2 mil tracks?

     Why the rule about 'no champ cars'? What's the difference, if they meet all the other rules?

     Any compsrisons of lap times between a SCB sprint, an ASCS sprint and a WoO type sprint on the same track?

 




Michael_N
October 21, 2019 at 06:36:18 AM
Joined: 11/30/2004
Posts: 720
Reply

Here is the wing angle video. So easy even I could do it!

Wing Angle



dmantx
MyWebsite
October 21, 2019 at 07:31:27 AM
Joined: 09/15/2005
Posts: 5174
Reply

Hello Michael_N and Murphy, thank you for your comments and questions.

Starting with Michael:

Jackson was my hometown track growing up and I was involved with it quite a bit back then. And when Steve Lang and I founded the SCB, he was in contact with Ron Bernhagen at the UMSS after our first season. Steve is from the MSP area. They have been working together on this transition up there since - and honestly - it's no surprise that it's taken off like it has.  Great job to Ron and staff for having the strength to be so forward-thinking in that region, and seeing the need for a change.

 

Continuing to Murphy:

Your original post (that I referenced in the press release) is right to the point, and honestly, just like several others that have been posted over the years on the subject. But it asks the question that lots of fans have.

And it doesn't mean that every track every night there's an issue with a lack of good racing. But there's been enough an issue for over 2,700 different people on this forum to read your post with several replies.

That being said, I've copied your post and have replied in bold to make it easier to see:

What are the main differences between a SCB sprint and an ASCS sprint? As I read it, it's mostly a differerence in winds & wing angle, motors and tires?  Other than wickerbills on wings, there's really little difference at all other than you're required to have a 92 casing LR tire. In the SCB you can run any pre-approved engine platform up to and including 360C.I. There are several options in this region from RaceSaver to carbeurated 360's - and we've had all of those different configurations race with us, and ALL of them have been competitive using our simple simple rules package - as it really does help equalize teams of varying budgets.

     Is your wing different than current WoO/ All-Stars/Knoxville/PA?  Primarily just wickerbills (which can generally be removed pretty easily). In other words, you don't have to go buy a new wing.

     Since the wing is set a maximum of 20 degrres and is not adjustable by the driver, do most teams just fix them at 20 degrees? Yes. We have built a couple wing angle templates that are available to teams at the track to set/check there, and it's what we use to check cars in post-race tech.

     Do you race mostly smaller tracks, or do you race some 1/2 mil tracks? Well, down here the tracks are all 1/4, 1/3, 3/8 except for one that is a .45 mile. But the cars race great on all the tracks we visit. We had a feature race last year on a traditionally narrow 1/4 mile, but at one point in the feature the top 4 cars in the feature entered corner 1 four wide about 10 laps in to the feature. Then we've raced bigger tracks such as LoneStar where there's passing from the berm to the wall and lots of slide jobs. And the fans comment all the time about how much passing there is.

     Why the rule about 'no champ cars'? What's the difference, if they meet all the other rules? Champ cars are referring to the old 100" wheelbase (I think that's what they were back then) NCRA Champ Dirt cars...which I don't believe have raced in this region for a good decade or so,

     Any compsrisons of lap times between a SCB sprint, an ASCS sprint and a WoO type sprint on the same track? Early on in the night there's really no difference in lap times, but due to the 'one tire' rule there might be a tenth or two difference in the feature - but there's no real visible change, other than it typically opens up more passing.

Again, not dogging the WoO at all, but here's why drivers in this region are liking our rules from a competitive standpoint:

The WoO has produced 19 different feature winners among 323 drivers in 67 races in 2019. That basically equates to 1 in 15 drivers that run the series this year have won a feature. In the Sprint Car Bandits, we have had 19 different winners in the past 29 night in a pool of about 100 drivers - which means that about 1 in 5 drivers that choose to race with us have won a feature.

Thank you both for your questions and comments, and it's obvious you're both a fan of the sport. And to those out there that have control over the groups in your area, if you're not happy with the level of competition in your division, know that there are simple, effective solutions for you to consider.

It's kind of like being on a railroad track. If you choose not to do anything but stand there, you're pretty much guaranteed what's going to happen.

There are areas/tracks that this is more/less of a concern than others. 

I mean, I'm left handed, I'm used to questioning everything, and when something no longer makes sense - why not change it to make it better for all involved.  

Again, best of luck to everyone out there going forward.  Smile 

 



dmantx
MyWebsite
October 21, 2019 at 08:21:03 AM
Joined: 09/15/2005
Posts: 5174
Reply

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAMrSbBDOto

Here's an example of Sprint Car Bandits action from LoneStar Speedway, which is probably one of the fastest, wide-open tracks in the region.

(This video I shot and by no means is professionally produced, but you can easily see the quality of racing.)




Murphy
October 21, 2019 at 08:56:47 AM
Joined: 05/26/2005
Posts: 3262
Reply

      Because I'm the curious type-

      You mention 'preapproved engine platforms'. If I read it right, you have to run a steel block, so no ASCS aluminum engines are preapproved?  Can you run fuel injection?

     On the wing angle question- Do the teams typically change to the wing angle from track to track, or do they just leave them at the maximum?

     If you did take a 100" champ car and shorten the wheelbase to meet the specs, isn't it no longer a champ car?  What is the reasoning behind not allowing them anyway?

      Not a question: Bravo on addressing some of the safety things like rollbar padding and nerf bars, etc.



dmantx
MyWebsite
October 21, 2019 at 09:30:05 AM
Joined: 09/15/2005
Posts: 5174
Reply

Those heads are approved, and the majority of the teams use them - because that's what they already have. That includes fuel injection. Again, people that already are racing sprints cars in this area, the majority literally have to buy nothing to race with us.

Regarding champ cars, there are no champ cars racing anymore, and we've never had anyone ask to run one...and there's plenty of 'regular' sprint frames around for people to buy if they don't have one. But we really just want to keep the division sprint cars only, thus, the rule. Smile



Michael_N
October 23, 2019 at 09:04:55 AM
Joined: 11/30/2004
Posts: 720
Reply

Thanks for all the great information and also for doing something that addresses the insane budget required to race these cars. There is a gentleman by Devils Lake ND who started up a new series following the UMSS wingless rules. This was just two months back and there are literally 13 cars that have been bought and are being prepped for next year already! Some guys have never raced before because of cost and others got sick of dumping money into A mods. Congrats and thanks to Myles Tomlinson for getting the Western Renegads Sprints up and running!




dmantx
MyWebsite
October 30, 2019 at 04:22:51 PM
Joined: 09/15/2005
Posts: 5174
Reply

Thanks for your comments and support.

We've also got 3 teams that are working on an LS2 engine platform for 2020 to race with the Sprint Car Bandits.

We'll be providing 'build up' information, when available, at  https://www.facebook.com/SprintCarBandits





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