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

Very low humidity....  very low dew point...  low temperature...

hard to keep moisture it the track with the above. 

very high horsepower engines....

great air for optimal engine performance

insanse downforce...

What would you suggest they have done differently? 

Yes, I could even smell the rubber. 

Send your application for the job as head of track prep to the Knoxville race board please. 

Not an easy job and not that glamorus. I still remember the year that Dunkins didnt do it.  4 nights of racing takes its toll and even if the lap times were in the 17s the racing excellent. Now its just a memory and Jac being recognized and starting Hard Knox race on pole were two of the highlites.SammySteve Ron and Bobby wth all past champions together was great also.Unless you do it you have no idea what it takes to provide a racing surface night after night.

Be that as it is, it is still freaking Knoxville. No excuses. Send them to Haubstadt for remedial training. 

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

C'mon man, is this just because there is no Port Royal thread?  Thats a joke son, wasn't there and haven't seen a replay.

Looked like it was good for the first half but mostly single file around the bottom the 2nd half. You will have this with that amount of racing in 1 night. Port Royal usually makes sure there is a curb up at the guard rail so when the track is slick, they can still run up top and flirt with the guard rail. Port is much higher banked in the turns though which probably makes a difference. 

A

My opinion is they should have left it alone. When they reworked the bottom and watered it you knew it would be a train on the bottom for a while. With all the crumbs kicking off the bottom into the middle and top nobody wanted to leave the bottom. If they leave it alone more guys would have ran the top early on and not caused the bottom to take rubber late.

I hate track rework unless the track is a basket case. When did rework during the night become an acceptable or expected thing. Knoxville does a pretty good job but watching dirtvision I can't believe how many tracks rework during the night. 

This might be an unpopular take but they need to scrap the whole 50 lap deal it was cool once for the 50th but it doesn't make for a great race. Go back to 30 laps its a sprint car race there are no pit stops.

Easy, harder tires! Expecially with our upper Midwest dirt.

Would slow the cars aliitle but, would make for better racing!

Exactly just like flat wings and a weight rule.

It's common in Pa for tracks to do a little prep to the top before the feature when it needs it, but I've never seen any track do that to the bottom. I remember when running the berm at Knoxville used to be a skill that not too many drivers could master. What has changed that? Didn't it used to be farther in?

A

I had no problem with how the race(s) went this week and was there. There was a nice 3car battle for the lead mid way, Schatz & Larson put on a show, etc. No it wasn't talledega on dirt as far as continuous 3wide racing, but still pretty good. And as mentioned by others the weather was definitely different this year than most. And a 30 lap vs a 50lapper would not have made a difference because someone would still have been complaining about something. If you feel the track Saturday was the worst for the Nationals keep in mind that it was still better than a lot of other races in the past & if you gave the keys to any other crew in the world it would have only been worst Saturday. 

Sorry, I disagree.  The weather, as nice as it was, was their worst enemy.  Before the B started, I told my buddy they would have to do something or this track is going to rubber down in the first 10 laps of the A.  They did a little work, and it actually held up great until the last 40% of the race.  That said, I've seen that place look a hell of a lot worse, and take on a hell of a lot more rubber, in some of the early-2000's A-mains, and they were only 30 lappers.  I thought they made some great decisions this weekend, even if it didn't produce the greatest last 20 laps we've ever seen.  Their call to prep before the heats on Thursday night produced much better heats than I anticipated with the rain.   

Does dirt eventually get contaminated with too much rubber and need to be replaced? Obviously the rubber gets mixed in with the grade and you would have a growing percentage of rubber to dirt to work with? Does it rubber up sooner if there is a high percentage of rubber in it from years of racing?

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

Knoxville - I have seen over 50 races live the week of the Nationals over the years.  That was the first time I have not seen two grooves for all the laps during the feature.  They missed it a little.  They had it wet like every other night however it dried out quicker than ever before.

Knoxville is by fart the best track around followed by Eldora.  Hands down the best two tracks in America!

Port never puts enough water on there track at the beginning of the night.  When isn't the Port Slick is the better question?  Most times even during the warmups or beginning of the heats and to put Port and Knoxville in the catagory is way way out there.....just saying!!

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

I don't know. What I do know, is that most tracks have to add dirt to replace that which went over the fence in clumps, or off to the wind in the form of dust and dirt particles. So, maybe that takes care of some of the residual rubber? In any case, it seems like were talking a ton of rubber in a million tons of black dirt, so it's hard to say how much rubber is too much rubber.

The comment I had heard over and over and over again from the local weathermen in the midwest was "Very rare October like humidity for Friday and Saturday."  I think they said the dew point was 59 on Saturday which is like Halloween.  I don't remember a humidity-free Friday and Saturday night since the early-2000's when they experienced record low temps with highs in the 50's and 60's for the Nats.  Seems to me this would be the culprit as water evaporates much quicker in low humidity than in high humidity.  I don't know if they could have put any more water on the track and had it make much of a difference.  You could tell they had plenty down------just no way to stay ahead of the evaporation.  JMO---I'm not a track prep expert.  Perhaps someone can give more insight.  They did all they could to combat 2 distinct weather issues----wet as hell on Thursday, and dry as hell on Saturday.  In both instances, the work they did likely improved the results even though many of you aren't happy.  I think if they would have left it alone, it would have been far worse and then everyone would be complaining that a blind man could see the track was going to need help.  Lose-lose for Knoxville.

I say great job Knoxville with the circumstances.