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Topic: My Happy Place is gone :-( Email this topic to a friend | Subscribe to this TopicReport this Topic to Moderator
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Paintboss
MyWebsite
April 07, 2020 at 11:19:26 AM
Joined: 12/02/2004
Posts: 2097
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Checking in to Hoseheads once a day during my lunch hour was normally my release from the hectic going ons of work and I get to catch up on the latest race talk / news. I guess you could say it was my Happy Place.   Any more its just as depressing as the news! Covid Covid Covid... It's all you hear everywhere you turn.  So ready for things to get back to some sort of normalcy.....

 




beezr2002
April 07, 2020 at 11:34:03 AM
Joined: 04/21/2017
Posts: 1116
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This can still be a happy place, unfortunately every thread attracts the doom and gloomers. Just ignore them and be safe and smart. You are a Knoxville fan right, what have been your favorite years there? Who are your fav drivers and why? What is your fav color of race cars? We can still talk about racing, you've been around a while tell us what you like or don't like about racing.

If you want to talk about the virus do it on one of the other infected threads, not every thread needs the same culprits bringing it down.

 



beezr2002
April 07, 2020 at 11:55:53 AM
Joined: 04/21/2017
Posts: 1116
Reply

I am from PA, been going to sprint car races since the late 70's but only would see one or two events a year until 1984 when I started working in a car dealership in Hanover PA. The owner of the dealership owned Lincoln Speedway and gave his employees free season tickets. Well that really hooked me and I have been going there almost every week since. I remember going to races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday usually the Grove, Lincoln, and Susky, all are still about a half hour drive for me. Those were good times.  I would have to say that my favorite local drivers are Keith Kauffman ( I've always loved the Al Hamilton 77)  Fred Rahmer, and Lance ( I remember what I think might have been Lance's first 410 win at Hagerstown quite some time ago). I liked Wolfgang but dammit I got tired of seeing him win every week .lol. The red Hamilton 77 will always be my favorite winged car but these days I kinda like some of the generic white cars instead of all the colorful wrapping on the cars today,yeah, I know I'm getting old. There is  a ton of new talent in the sprint cars these days and it has been fun watching them mature just as it has been for decades.  Everything will come back around and sooner or later some people will be discussing track prep. Hang in there and tell us some racing stories.




Murphy
April 07, 2020 at 02:01:49 PM
Joined: 05/26/2005
Posts: 3261
Reply

     I hear ya. But there are people on here trying talk about anything other than the elephant in the room. I count 9 threads on the front page that are non-elephant. The rest are all elephant 24/7 or threads that drifted from racing to elephant because some peopel just can't help themselves.

     Heck, maybe we start a thread about the advertizing boxes at the bottom of the page when I look at Hoseheads. Right now there are 5 about links to old Hoseheads thread, one about wedding venues, one about "best swimwear for large busts" and one about "How to easily clean earwax". <What the hell? I'm skipping the one about earwax. Does everyone else get the same ads? Smile



Nick14
April 07, 2020 at 02:54:41 PM
Joined: 06/04/2012
Posts: 1734
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Reply to:
Posted By: beezr2002 on April 07 2020 at 11:55:53 AM

I am from PA, been going to sprint car races since the late 70's but only would see one or two events a year until 1984 when I started working in a car dealership in Hanover PA. The owner of the dealership owned Lincoln Speedway and gave his employees free season tickets. Well that really hooked me and I have been going there almost every week since. I remember going to races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday usually the Grove, Lincoln, and Susky, all are still about a half hour drive for me. Those were good times.  I would have to say that my favorite local drivers are Keith Kauffman ( I've always loved the Al Hamilton 77)  Fred Rahmer, and Lance ( I remember what I think might have been Lance's first 410 win at Hagerstown quite some time ago). I liked Wolfgang but dammit I got tired of seeing him win every week .lol. The red Hamilton 77 will always be my favorite winged car but these days I kinda like some of the generic white cars instead of all the colorful wrapping on the cars today,yeah, I know I'm getting old. There is  a ton of new talent in the sprint cars these days and it has been fun watching them mature just as it has been for decades.  Everything will come back around and sooner or later some people will be discussing track prep. Hang in there and tell us some racing stories.



From Ohio,  I was a big Nascar fan growing up and would watch the IROC races so I had heard all of the praise about Steve Kinser in the 90s. We finally got cable when I was 12 around 1998 so I saw my first sprint car race on TNN and thought it was real cool. Never knew that sprint car racing was in Ohio as we did not subscribe to magazines or publications. After college, my girlfriend at the time worked Friday & Saturday nights which left me alone to do whatever I wanted on those nights, so I went to the track (Kil Kare on Friday & Columbus Motor Speedway on Saturday). Always made sure to go if they had sprint cars on pavement. Took one of my friends who was not a racefan at all. 1 day and he called me the Wednesday after and said, "my dad is on me for going to the track with you but never with him so he was asking if I'll go with him back up home in Lima tonight. Would you want to go?" Girlfriend had to work that night so I said sure. Did not know it was the Brad Doty Classic. Pulled in and saw World of Outlaws on the sign and the cars in the pit area and got excited since it was a bucket list thing for me. They came out for hot laps and I watched Kinser's Green and black Quaker State car take off and felt the energy from the cars in the stand and got hooked. Instantly became a fan and said this is better than going to Nascar race and I can go to more so it was a double win for me. Looking forward to  discussing who loves and hates Sammy, Tyler, Tony, etc and how the Outlaws are the devil to sprint car racing for some, and if PA is better than Knoxville. Although discussing the elephant in the room is a little more pleasant than talking about talk prep of a certain track by a certain person



longtimefan
April 07, 2020 at 06:29:43 PM
Joined: 12/02/2004
Posts: 846
Reply

I have been working every day while taking many more precautions than normal. I watch the news long enough each to keep track of what is going. I don't allow dooms dayers to ruin my day Today I talked to two customers. One spent a week in the hospital from the normal seasonal flu, went home and had a heart attack brought on from the stress of the flu. he spent more time in the hospital and is just now geetting out. The other has been undergoing cancer treatment for the last three months and started driving truck again this week against Doctor's orders. They were both laughing and joking. I decided if they can find something to laugh about every day surely I can do it too. We will race when the time comes.




dave01
April 07, 2020 at 06:45:22 PM
Joined: 06/28/2005
Posts: 16
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: Murphy on April 07 2020 at 02:01:49 PM

     I hear ya. But there are people on here trying talk about anything other than the elephant in the room. I count 9 threads on the front page that are non-elephant. The rest are all elephant 24/7 or threads that drifted from racing to elephant because some peopel just can't help themselves.

     Heck, maybe we start a thread about the advertizing boxes at the bottom of the page when I look at Hoseheads. Right now there are 5 about links to old Hoseheads thread, one about wedding venues, one about "best swimwear for large busts" and one about "How to easily clean earwax". <What the hell? I'm skipping the one about earwax. Does everyone else get the same ads? Smile



Murphy: Try ghostery.com. No more annoying ads.



egras
April 07, 2020 at 07:00:54 PM
Joined: 08/16/2009
Posts: 3913
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: beezr2002 on April 07 2020 at 11:55:53 AM

I am from PA, been going to sprint car races since the late 70's but only would see one or two events a year until 1984 when I started working in a car dealership in Hanover PA. The owner of the dealership owned Lincoln Speedway and gave his employees free season tickets. Well that really hooked me and I have been going there almost every week since. I remember going to races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday usually the Grove, Lincoln, and Susky, all are still about a half hour drive for me. Those were good times.  I would have to say that my favorite local drivers are Keith Kauffman ( I've always loved the Al Hamilton 77)  Fred Rahmer, and Lance ( I remember what I think might have been Lance's first 410 win at Hagerstown quite some time ago). I liked Wolfgang but dammit I got tired of seeing him win every week .lol. The red Hamilton 77 will always be my favorite winged car but these days I kinda like some of the generic white cars instead of all the colorful wrapping on the cars today,yeah, I know I'm getting old. There is  a ton of new talent in the sprint cars these days and it has been fun watching them mature just as it has been for decades.  Everything will come back around and sooner or later some people will be discussing track prep. Hang in there and tell us some racing stories.



I'm from the sprint car hotbed of Northwest IL..............................................just kidding, not a sprint car within an hour's driver of here. 

Anyways, started out going to my local dirt track of Freeport, IL in the 80's and 90's.  We had bombers, mods, pro stocks and late models.  I thought I was in heaven with a track 14 miles from my house.  Was there every Saturday night.  As Nascar exploded, I became a huge fan of sitting around the TV on Sunday afternoons watching the races with a group of people.  I was a huge Gordon fan and started going to Nascar races in the mid-90's while still attending local late-model races at Freeport, Farley, Dubuque, etc.  Fender dirt racing and Nascar were two of my huge passions-----------until 2002.  

A friend of mine called me up on a Friday night and said "I have an extra ticket to the Nationals in Knoxville..............we leave at 5:00 tomorrow morning.  Would you like to go?"  I ended up going.  But I was confused when we left home and started heading West.  You see, I looked it up and it looked like Knoxville, TN was a good 8-10 hours away.  Then it was explained to me we were going to Knoxville, IA.  I'd seen the Outlaws on Saturday Night Thunder on TNN or TNT.  I'd seen the IRA Sprints at Freeport before.  But, we rolled into Knoxville that Saturday morning in August................................do I really need to tell the rest?

This August, God willing, will be my 19th straight Nationals.  I have not seen a Nascar race in person since 2002.  I have only been to a handful of late model races in that time either.  I've traveled to all of the Outlaw, All-Star, NSL, and IRA races I could possibly get to since then.  

That's how I got into sprint car racing.  I am one of the few sprint car fans within a 30 mile radius of my hometown.  

 



beezr2002
April 07, 2020 at 07:37:55 PM
Joined: 04/21/2017
Posts: 1116
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Reply to:
Posted By: Nick14 on April 07 2020 at 02:54:41 PM

From Ohio,  I was a big Nascar fan growing up and would watch the IROC races so I had heard all of the praise about Steve Kinser in the 90s. We finally got cable when I was 12 around 1998 so I saw my first sprint car race on TNN and thought it was real cool. Never knew that sprint car racing was in Ohio as we did not subscribe to magazines or publications. After college, my girlfriend at the time worked Friday & Saturday nights which left me alone to do whatever I wanted on those nights, so I went to the track (Kil Kare on Friday & Columbus Motor Speedway on Saturday). Always made sure to go if they had sprint cars on pavement. Took one of my friends who was not a racefan at all. 1 day and he called me the Wednesday after and said, "my dad is on me for going to the track with you but never with him so he was asking if I'll go with him back up home in Lima tonight. Would you want to go?" Girlfriend had to work that night so I said sure. Did not know it was the Brad Doty Classic. Pulled in and saw World of Outlaws on the sign and the cars in the pit area and got excited since it was a bucket list thing for me. They came out for hot laps and I watched Kinser's Green and black Quaker State car take off and felt the energy from the cars in the stand and got hooked. Instantly became a fan and said this is better than going to Nascar race and I can go to more so it was a double win for me. Looking forward to  discussing who loves and hates Sammy, Tyler, Tony, etc and how the Outlaws are the devil to sprint car racing for some, and if PA is better than Knoxville. Although discussing the elephant in the room is a little more pleasant than talking about talk prep of a certain track by a certain person



I really enjoyed the IROC series it was a cool idea and I'd love to have one of those early cameros.  TNN had a good thing going for a while and so did ESPN...Not MSPN.  My open wheel pavement races are few and far between. Back in 1990 went out to Eldora for part of the CRA midwest tour and the first night rained out, well I went back to the motel and was hanging out with some other racers and an SUV showed up and asked if anyone wanted to go to Indiana to see a race, I jumped at the chance. We were heading to the Indianapolis Speedrome. The pilot of the SUV was a racer named Harlen Willis and he was a pretty cool guy, kept telling me that wings are for airplanes. I was introduced to his friend Rene and his crew chief Mike Nigh. During our trip out to Indy Rene told me she had a son who raced three quarter midgets out in California and was pretty good, his name was Cory Kruseman. I have followed his career since that day and would love to visit his school. I don't remember that much about the racing at the Speedrome that night but I still have the program. I went to Richmond VA and watched some decent USAC races and Indy cars. Got to see Jack Hewitt win at Richmond in the crown cars. My wife has family in Florida and when we traveled down there I went to Desota Speedway to watch my hero Dave Steele race. The first time I met him he came from 12th to win. I really miss that guy he was always kind to me and my wife whether at the track or at his shop, he was a super guy. I still want to visit Anderson, IRP, Winchester and Salem out in Indiana those are bucket list tracks.

 I remember that Kinser character coming into PA and kickin butt, I wasn't a fan of his by any stretch due to some of his driving over people, but in 90 or 91 Karl and Steve went out to Eldora and cleaned house on the best non wing drivers in the country, it was impressive considering it had been about 10 years since he had raced without the wing. I have been a fan of his since.

I'm hoping we can have a little positive bench racing here until the season starts 

 




beezr2002
April 07, 2020 at 07:49:16 PM
Joined: 04/21/2017
Posts: 1116
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Reply to:
Posted By: egras on April 07 2020 at 07:00:54 PM

I'm from the sprint car hotbed of Northwest IL..............................................just kidding, not a sprint car within an hour's driver of here. 

Anyways, started out going to my local dirt track of Freeport, IL in the 80's and 90's.  We had bombers, mods, pro stocks and late models.  I thought I was in heaven with a track 14 miles from my house.  Was there every Saturday night.  As Nascar exploded, I became a huge fan of sitting around the TV on Sunday afternoons watching the races with a group of people.  I was a huge Gordon fan and started going to Nascar races in the mid-90's while still attending local late-model races at Freeport, Farley, Dubuque, etc.  Fender dirt racing and Nascar were two of my huge passions-----------until 2002.  

A friend of mine called me up on a Friday night and said "I have an extra ticket to the Nationals in Knoxville..............we leave at 5:00 tomorrow morning.  Would you like to go?"  I ended up going.  But I was confused when we left home and started heading West.  You see, I looked it up and it looked like Knoxville, TN was a good 8-10 hours away.  Then it was explained to me we were going to Knoxville, IA.  I'd seen the Outlaws on Saturday Night Thunder on TNN or TNT.  I'd seen the IRA Sprints at Freeport before.  But, we rolled into Knoxville that Saturday morning in August................................do I really need to tell the rest?

This August, God willing, will be my 19th straight Nationals.  I have not seen a Nascar race in person since 2002.  I have only been to a handful of late model races in that time either.  I've traveled to all of the Outlaw, All-Star, NSL, and IRA races I could possibly get to since then.  

That's how I got into sprint car racing.  I am one of the few sprint car fans within a 30 mile radius of my hometown.  

 



Northwest IL.  I know thats some serious late model country but there has to be some good midget racing out there. I went to Fairbury in 17 for a powrI midget and WAR sprint race, it was awesome!!! Are you close to that track? I went to three tracks while in IL and I loved every one of them. Belle Claire is on my bucket list. I went to Knoxville TN on my senior trip to the Words Fair. I went to Knoxville IA for a USAC race in 17 both are memorable occasions.



DirtKing9
April 08, 2020 at 05:49:03 AM
Joined: 01/18/2017
Posts: 59
Reply

Growing up I went to Silver Spring Speedway in PA almost weekly in middle school.  Huge fan of Rich Elchelberger in the Super Sportsman.  The buddy I went with grandfather was the race reporter for the Patriot newspaper and I got to spend a lot of time in the Press Box. I would go to the Grove occasinaly and was a fan of Lance.  Then High School, and Army interven and lost touch of dirt racing for a long while.  In 2014 went back to the Grove and was hooked again.  Been going to about 30-40 races a year ever since.  Have had the oppurtiny to see the Kings Royal and Knoxville Nationals once each. I go to the World Finals every year.  Sure am missing it, But I know eventualy this will pass and will be back at a track again!  Stay healthy everyone!



Murphy
April 08, 2020 at 07:09:05 AM
Joined: 05/26/2005
Posts: 3261
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Reply to:
Posted By: DirtKing9 on April 08 2020 at 05:49:03 AM

Growing up I went to Silver Spring Speedway in PA almost weekly in middle school.  Huge fan of Rich Elchelberger in the Super Sportsman.  The buddy I went with grandfather was the race reporter for the Patriot newspaper and I got to spend a lot of time in the Press Box. I would go to the Grove occasinaly and was a fan of Lance.  Then High School, and Army interven and lost touch of dirt racing for a long while.  In 2014 went back to the Grove and was hooked again.  Been going to about 30-40 races a year ever since.  Have had the oppurtiny to see the Kings Royal and Knoxville Nationals once each. I go to the World Finals every year.  Sure am missing it, But I know eventualy this will pass and will be back at a track again!  Stay healthy everyone!



Can you explain what a super sportsmans was/is?




DirtKing9
April 08, 2020 at 07:38:13 AM
Joined: 01/18/2017
Posts: 59
Reply

Basicly a 360 sprint with no front wing.  (I'm not sure on exact engine size)

 

SUPER SPORTSMAN RACE FOR $3K AT BAPS SATURDAY SEPT 28 – The Cushion



railfan33
April 08, 2020 at 08:08:49 AM
Joined: 07/24/2010
Posts: 637
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: DirtKing9 on April 08 2020 at 07:38:13 AM

Basicly a 360 sprint with no front wing.  (I'm not sure on exact engine size)

 

SUPER SPORTSMAN RACE FOR $3K AT BAPS SATURDAY SEPT 28 – The Cushion



In addition to no front wing, the top wing is smaller than a 360/410 sprint. Also I believe the sportsman are self starting and run a carbureter rather than fuel injection. 



bigrickpa
April 08, 2020 at 08:44:08 AM
Joined: 03/07/2011
Posts: 32
Reply

a super sportsman looks like a sprint car, but is a little different. bottom rail of the frame is a square tube by rule, motor rules are very restrictive (350 w/carb) to keep racing affordable. some one who knows the rules can correct me if i'm wrong, i started watching races on tv in the early 60's watching wide wolrld of sports on tv. nobody in my family was into it. it was also the height of muscle cars, so all of us were getting into that. in 68, i found dorsey speedway, a little 1/4 mi high banked dirt track south of baltimore. that got me hooked. the cars were the same as the ones on the road, so it was alot easier to follow. your local hero probably drove the same kind of car you had or wanted to have, and they could build a car from junkyard parts. it was a working man's sport back then, average joe could afford to race. the sprint cars came to dorsey evry once in a while, but i didn't care for them. i got more into drag racing after that, so dirt tracks kinda faded away. in 1983, my nephew said, lets go to lincoln to see the world of outlaws and that was it. sprint car racing, if it hooks you, it hooks you hard. that grew to 30 years of chasing "them damn sprint cars", as the old late model guys called them. took my kids, they grew up at the tracks in pa. i was lucky enough to catch lynn paxton's last win, the national open at the grove, which was my first race there. i have been lucky enough to see steve, sammy and doug in their prime.i still follow sprint cars, but can't get around so good anymore, but i try to keep up as best as i can.




Paintboss
MyWebsite
April 08, 2020 at 11:18:17 AM
Joined: 12/02/2004
Posts: 2097
Reply

Yep Eastern Iowa here right on the Banks of the Mississippi River. Can't wait for that first drive to Knoxville, About 1/2 way through the drive there I tune into Race Talk,  on KRLS until I pull into town. Listen to the names of the drivers in the pits, New Rookies in the field, Invaders that have shown up and hopefully how beautiful the weather is! Just gets my blood pumping.



revjimk
April 08, 2020 at 11:20:24 AM
Joined: 09/14/2010
Posts: 7594
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Reply to:
Posted By: railfan33 on April 08 2020 at 08:08:49 AM

In addition to no front wing, the top wing is smaller than a 360/410 sprint. Also I believe the sportsman are self starting and run a carbureter rather than fuel injection. 



Yep, & sometimes they run without wings at all



egras
April 08, 2020 at 01:22:50 PM
Joined: 08/16/2009
Posts: 3913
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Reply to:
Posted By: beezr2002 on April 07 2020 at 07:49:16 PM

Northwest IL.  I know thats some serious late model country but there has to be some good midget racing out there. I went to Fairbury in 17 for a powrI midget and WAR sprint race, it was awesome!!! Are you close to that track? I went to three tracks while in IL and I loved every one of them. Belle Claire is on my bucket list. I went to Knoxville TN on my senior trip to the Words Fair. I went to Knoxville IA for a USAC race in 17 both are memorable occasions.



You are correct on the "Late Model Country" reference.  That and Modifieds.  Midget racing?  Fairbury is over 2 hours away from me.  Angell Park is about 1-1/2 hours or 1 hour 40 minutes.  Wilmot Speedway is 2 hours.  34 Raceway is 3 hours.  Knoxville is about 4-4.5 hours.  

As you can see, I am in never-never land.........unless I wanna watch mods and fenders.   

 

I need to venture to some powri midget races.  I love watching them, they just never really get that close.  




Paintboss
MyWebsite
April 09, 2020 at 07:07:27 AM
Joined: 12/02/2004
Posts: 2097
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Reply to:
Posted By: egras on April 08 2020 at 01:22:50 PM

You are correct on the "Late Model Country" reference.  That and Modifieds.  Midget racing?  Fairbury is over 2 hours away from me.  Angell Park is about 1-1/2 hours or 1 hour 40 minutes.  Wilmot Speedway is 2 hours.  34 Raceway is 3 hours.  Knoxville is about 4-4.5 hours.  

As you can see, I am in never-never land.........unless I wanna watch mods and fenders.   

 

I need to venture to some powri midget races.  I love watching them, they just never really get that close.  



I am 120 miles from Knoxville, Roughly 50 miles from Burlington (34 Raceway), 20 Miles from West Liberty and Columbus Junction which mainly run Fenders except for the Special Events. West Liberty is all but Defunk now. But this area is also very Late Model favored.  I know of just a handfull of people in my area that travel to Knoxville. 

Our Home Town claim to fame racers would be Brian Birkhofer, Tom Hearst, (Late Modelers)

As far as Sprint Cars, Evan Epperson who races 305s at Knoxville is the only Sprintcar in our area that I know of. (he actually lives about a 1/4 mile away) 

 

 



egras
April 09, 2020 at 08:21:22 AM
Joined: 08/16/2009
Posts: 3913
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Reply to:
Posted By: Paintboss on April 09 2020 at 07:07:27 AM

I am 120 miles from Knoxville, Roughly 50 miles from Burlington (34 Raceway), 20 Miles from West Liberty and Columbus Junction which mainly run Fenders except for the Special Events. West Liberty is all but Defunk now. But this area is also very Late Model favored.  I know of just a handfull of people in my area that travel to Knoxville. 

Our Home Town claim to fame racers would be Brian Birkhofer, Tom Hearst, (Late Modelers)

As far as Sprint Cars, Evan Epperson who races 305s at Knoxville is the only Sprintcar in our area that I know of. (he actually lives about a 1/4 mile away) 

 

 



I've seen Brirky and Tom Hearst race multiple times.  Hearst used to come to Freeport and Farley back in the day----I think he even won the Yankee Dirt Track Classic in Farley in the 80's or early-90's maybe?  Can't remember how long ago that was. 

The closest "nationally known" guy we have in our area would be Darren Miller.  His hometrack track was Freeport and I watched him come up through the ranks before jumping into a late model.  He had some big national wins, almost winning the Knoxville Late-Model Nationals (in a fierce battle with Birky) before abrubptly retiring from racing.  

No sprint car guys in my area at all that I know of.  

 





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