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

Who wins the Rookie the of the Nationals this year? 

1. Rico Abreu - Certainly the front runner as he's been running Knoxville all summer in both divisions. Effectively an endless budget so you know he will have a huge powerplant when qualifying rolls around. Was the current KWS points leader when he left to run out east. Anything less than Rookie of the Nationals would be a disappointment. 

2. Brent Marks - Having a breakout season in Central Pennsylvania and has quickly become a force night in and night out. They don't have the budget to travel often although they did make it to Lernerville with the WoO and he won his heat and ran 6th in the first feature before getting taken out in the 2nd feature. Will be thrown into the waters cold as he's running Wednesday with no look at the track prior. Young gun in a family owned car that hopefully will be making trips back to Knoxville as his bright future unfolds. Unfortunately a lack of track time puts him behind the 8-ball.

3. Kevin Thomas Jr - USAC star putting on the wings to run Nationals. Has been dominate at times without the wing and is coming off an impressive Indiana Sprint week. There's no telling how he'll do with the wing on at the big half-mile. 

4. Danny Dietrich - Defending Lincoln Speedway track champ and has sent the Outlaws packing 2 years running back in Posse land at Lincoln. Starting the travel a lot more this year, they were horrific in Florida and were equally as bad the first 3 months back home too so don't look too much into those Florida results. They've gotten it figured it out since then and he was still horrible at Lernerville, not making the A. He's running 360 Nationals so will get a look at the track, but he'll have to prove his worth off the porch because he has yet to do that in his young career. 

5. Brad Loyet - ASCS talent that is strapping in a 410 to run Nationals. No idea how strong of a motor program their 410, but if that motor hits, Loyet could open some eyes. 

I've liked what I've seen from Skylar Prochaska but I just don't know how big their motor is and how it will run against the best of the best. I'd put him 6th with some major upside if they have a big powerplant ready to go. 

Mostly a keyboard jockey lateley.  I havent been to many races only read about them.   But the few i have been too and what  I haved heard.  I like the Lusk kid from jackson.   He charges and races hard!

Rico will have the best shot! Skyler and Lusk wont make the C-Main the PA boys will struggle to finish in the top half of the B. It seems like the PA boys that come for the 1st time struggle ex. "the Edge". Brad Loyet might have the next best chance. don't know much about the USACer.

Cole Wood is he a rookie this year?

Jacob Allen?

Shawn Peterson

4x

That there is funny!

Solid details on the top rookies Dirthawk.  A key detail for Rico is that Paul Silva is wrenching for him.  That along with the laps he's been getting the past few weeks pretty much makes it his race to lose.  Kevin Thomas Jr. has a wrench (Dutcher) that has winged 360 experience (SOD) - so he might be ok.  But going from nonwing to wing is always a lot harder than the other way around, so he might suck too.  It's a pretty solid rookie group though.

#2 Brent Marks could be a very pleasant surprise.  They have been upping their program and seem to be extremely prepared with new cars and fresh engines heading to Knoxville.  He has been consistantly fast wherever they have gone so far this year.

#4 Dietrich.  This team could also be another pleasant surprise in Knoxville.  We need to completely throw out their trip to Florida this year as they were down there strictly to try out new Krimes racing engines and those engine combinations failed miserably in Florida.  That failed experiment in Florida set them back months in Pa.  They now seem to have it figured out and he has done well at home and also won a ASCoC race in NY last week at a track he never saw before. 

#?  Logan Schughart - never know what you are going to get with this team.  Depends on what engines they are carrying with them and the condition of the car. 

#?  Jacob Allen - same deal as Logan although on the learning curve, Jacob is behind Logan but at times shows flashes that he is getting it and could be a force somewhere down the road.

Dirt's for racin' asphalt for gettin' there

Schuchart is not a rookie he ran last year and was in the C main. Jacob Allen is in the 2nd Allen racing car and while he is getting better each week, he is most likely E Main material. He's running around with Logan solely to get experience and hell it's been working, he got his first career top 5 finish last night at Path Valley.  

It will be nice, regardless of how they run, to see some young PA talent at Nationals. Been a while since we've seen that. 

Accurate, I'd put Dietrich ahead of Mark's though.  I'm not a Dietrich fan and I love what I see out of Mark's, but if the car is ok, Dietrich does drive the hell out of it, and he doesn't slip under pressure.  Having Schatz on your bumper 35 laps proved it.  Doing it with the all-stars at a track he never saw reinterated it.  That said, agree on others, Abreu's to win.  Fast all over, more likely to perform on that track.  

Rico

Wasn;t Dietrich there last year?

Rico

Not in the results on Knoxville Raceway website.

I'm going to say Loyet gets it....I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him contending for a top 4 in the B Saturday night...his biggest obstacle won;'t be his engine program, it will be his lengthy tenure in all these series that don't time trial.

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

Just asking

Danny Dietrich was not at the Nationals last yet.  This is his 1st year and he's definately a "gaser".  Hope he throttles down and shows the nation what he's all about.