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

What was your opinion of that format? Weird to me.

For anyone that was there how was the crowd?

The worst president of my lifetime:
Ronald Reagan

I thought it was strange.  Not having the leaders ever reach lapped traffic made it especially lame up front.  Watching Sheldon come through the field was cool.  

I was not there to witness the crowd size, but the 50/50 was over $3000.  Couldn't have been terrible.  Didn't look packed from DV but TV never does the crowd justice.  

They tried something different.  It suched, I hope I never see it again.  We quit working on a broken race car to watch that.  It was bad enough to pay per view, glad I never paid to get  in stands.  Another bad thing, they paid the B Main cars $50.00 each.  They call WOO a pro racing group and to pay $50.00 is  bad.  I am sure Gibson got paid more than $50.00.  Please never again.

Keep in mind last night was preliminary action and had no impact other than time trials setting the line ups for this weekend. The elimination races don't count and have no impact on points or anything else. 
 

It's my home track with my first visit dating back to 1962 and I spent seventeen years writing and shooting for a racing paper with CLS as my base.  Its been a few years and I am watching on PPV this year but I still have a good idea of how things roll at what once was like a second home.

As far as the format goes CLS has tried different things over the years such as spinning a game show like wheel one year to determine starting positions.  Keep in mind that if they hadn't done the elimination races the whole show would have consisted of time trials so we got to see more racing than we would have.  Another point is that Cedar Lake multi day shows have to be attended with a tent, camper or motor home to be truly appreciated.  We might not measure up in some ways but until a person has enjoyed the whole camping experience they can't imagine how fun that place can be.

One thing that is difficult up here is there aren't many 410's around this area and with Knoxville having a two-day show aside from a few IRA and Knoxville defectors there aren't many cars around to fill the fields.  Balog, Theil and Dobmeier can have their good night's but it's not like PA where there are locals that are going to fill half the top ten finishing spots. Tonight and tomorrow should look more like a regular Outlaw show.

One advantage I have is that I like Late Models and know Jimmy Mars, Pat Doar and Brent Larson from when I used to write.  I have been to probably fifteen or more of the USA Nationals Late Model $50,000 to win that takes place the weekend of the 360 Nationals so I will be glued to the TV the entire time.  I messaged Brent yesterday and told him to have a good run this weekend but he kind of struggled a bit so I probably shouldn't jinx him next time.  He appreciated the good wishes so I hope he has a better night tonight.

Speaking of competitive Sprint Car teams Brooke Tatnell lives nearby about the same distance as me, 35 miles or so, and isn't racing there this weekend.  I'm not sure if he's racing at Knoxville or sitting this weekend out but he knows how to get around CLS and has won some big races out there.  That kind of illustrates the lack of 410's in our area when a former Outlaw lives 40 minutes from the track and isn't racing there this weekend.  That is what the Sprint Car landscape is like up here.  I see that if I was going pit passes for three nights along with gas and food would total more than my Floracing annual and Dirtvision monthly subscriptions so with the virus situation for me it's better to sit home this time in spite of it being like a second home at one time.

Stan Meissner

That's why I'm not too worked up about it.  They tried something that I thought at the time sounded cool.  It wasn't.  However, as you said, just setting up the main show.  If I were there for 3 days, I wouldn't be disappointed as I got to watch some racing and all of the time-trials are done for the weekend.  I have seen similar formats to this at other events where prelim nights were nothing but heats and qualifiers.  Those events were still worth the price of admission. 

" Keep in mind last night was preliminary action and had no impact other than time trials setting the line ups for this weekend. The elimination races don't count and have no impact on points or anything else "

I get that

They had to give paying spectators something besides Qualifying, but format was pretty lame

If I had known I wouldn't even have watched on PPV

Oh well, good try I guess

Doesn't the world finals have two sets of time trials and a last chance race and that's it for the night?  At least last night they gave you some kind of race with the top qualifiers.  

Thursday Night @ Charlotte World Finals runs Hot Laps and Qualifying for the WoO Sprints and WoO Late Models, and they run Hot Laps, Qualifying, and Heat Races for the Big Block Modifieds.

I would definitely not go to that...

I live 35 miles from CLS and I didn't go any nights. When I saw the Thursday format I instantly rejected that one. 50 bucks to get in the next two nights kept me home the next two nights. Spent those nights with FLO. She was good to me. 

I am not going to comment on the format.  But I did see Sheldon come from 14th to 3rd and knocking on the door for second.  

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

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