Forum: Oklahomatidbits.com General Forum (go)
Moderators:  /  David Smith Jr

Thank you for clearing that up. I'm 30 now, if I really studied hard on Pro Stocks for the next 30 years and was around one daily, would I know as much as you then? That wasn't very nice.

I just kinda came after you because I get so tired of the few guys that think you have to be in the pits weekly to have any sort of understanding as to what it takes to operate a race team It's like you guys get some big woody when you tell people you work on a race car. Most of you don't know the "fans" background. How do you know how much knowledge we have about racing? How can you be so sure that we buy $4.00 corndogs?

"They're steering them sum bi***es with their right 
foot!"

I talked to Steve right before he left the pits. He said they checked wheelbase,A-arms,Spring pocket location,removed a cylender head and checked cubic inch. The ball joints are welded in the a-arms which was determined to be legal since they were not moved. This is all he said was checked but since i wasn't there I don't know if anything was checked. Were you there?

You guys are looking in the wrong place. It's guy behind the wheel.

If you think he has some type of traction control why don't you call for a strip search of the guy and get that card from him. LOL

You guys crack me up. Can't keep up with him so he must be cheating. LMAO

I'm saving my corndog money for a Steve Smith T-shirt!

No, some of us race fans are not appreciated by the racers or even some who do nothing but get in the way in the pits.

I have never driven a race car msyelf. Been pushed by a little Danny Jennings in Bruce Jennings sprint car when he won a NCRA 410 show back in 1988 up onto the scales at Wichita.

Guess all that means that I just sit on my ass here behind the computer, owner of the largest and longest running Oklahoma racing website for the past ten or so years and yet I don't know crap. I don't eat those crummy corn dogs.

Guess that there are those who I know who use to be top crew chiefs for several sprint car teams, and a couple of them do even post here (as a matter of fact) and yet they don't know crap.

Maybe one day we shall reach YOUR level and those with your mentality. Well, let us hope not - nevermind.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

The fans are appreciated, very much so. It's the ones that have no first hand knowledge that want to make comments about things they "think" are true. Most of the car owners try to do things by the book, but you can't have the rules in writing and not apply them to everyone across the board. Most of the teams try hard to maintain their equipment and keep them within the stated regulations. They try to drive a clean race, and by that I mean not act like it's a demolition derby. Accidents happen.

The majority of the fans are terrific. But there are a few that have a poor sportsmanlike attitude. They don't care about anything but seeing their team win. That's fine, there are a few of those in every bunch. But when you don't care how your guy wins as long as he wins, it shows what you're made of, too. Those people don't need to think that they can shoot their mouth off and have everyone else take it. No team can win every race, and they know that. But when each team drives through that gate and pays their money to race, they all have a right to equal treatment and rules. They're there to race after putting their hard earned money and hours of work into their equipment. If it weren't for the fans, they would have no one to put on a show for, but without the race teams, the fans woulod have no reason to go either. The whole point of these posts is that everything needs to be kept on the up and up all the way around. Hope you are there Friday night and enjoy the show.

Where does that put me cause some weeks i am in the pits helping on 2 different cars. Then other weeks i am in the stands. I agree most people who tell others the work on a race car, you can see it in there face that they think they are better than other people. I know for a fact that some people in the stands are former Drivers and pit crew members and most people on this fourm have at one time i bet had something to do with a racecar. Yet we are all stupid according to some people.

David Foley

"Just let me make it to the Dirt Track.. Truck then u 
can break down!!!"

If you aint first
Your last

Okay, SFSfan, my point in all this has been that the rules need to aply to EVERYONE across the board.

There is so much crap that goes on down in the pits that the fans don't see every week. As with most things, there are two sides to every story. Everyone wants a fair playing field and everyone knows that, with all things being equal, the same person is not going to win every night because there are just too many variables. You can have equipment failure or there can be an accident, things like that. These kinds of things just happen.

This protest has been inevitable for quite a while. You see things and hear things down in the pits that you don't see or hear in the stands. The drivers talk among themselves. They are all competitors, but for the most part, they don't want to see anyone have bad luck. What is the fun in winning if you don't do it by skill? Steve Smith is a good driver, but there are several good drivers. But, all things being equal, if one team is allowed to make modifications that the other teams would get disqualified for, then you don't know if that driver's skills are really that superior. All any of the teams want is a level playing field. And I doubt seriously that if there were legal issues under the rules that the one benefiting would admit that he had an advantage due to that. How many times did you deny something when you were young because you knew you did something wrong? You might tell your best friend the truth, but not everyone because anyone else could get mad and snitch you out. As the saying goes, loose lips sink ships.

Also, working on a race car isn't all that glamorous. It's hard work, but it does take a lot of skill and understanding to get to a setup that works for your car and driver. And I know that you buy $4.00 corndogs because the corndogs at the fairgrounds are the best. Everyone buys them.

Steve says, Steve says, Steve says. They don't do strip searches at the fairgrounds, that's the jail-house.

Have kept up with him and beat him. Plenty of times. And if you'll read back in these posts, others are aware of the "modifications" also. LMAO at you for being so naive.

Wear it with pride.

What is your opinion on a fair playing field? That is what started all this. That's what this all boils down to. If someone wants to mouth off on this website (or anywhere else) about a protest, yet they weren't there, what do they really know? And the person protested is going to smile like a possum eating (a crummy corndog) if the protest goes his way by the rules being over-ridden in his favor and he darn sure isn't going to admit that there was anything to question.

So everybody put their egos and whatever else back in you pocket, and just answer this question:

Should the printed guidelines in the State Fair Speedway rules book apply to everyone or not? And if it is suspected that they have not been followed by any racing team, does another team have a right to protest? And during that inspection, should the person that wrote those rules have the right to say that his say-so is the final and over-rides the written rule book?

Okay, that's three questions, but that is what all of this is about.

No one said that all fans are stupid. They aren't and they are very important. This is really about the politics involved at the speedway. That's it, pure and simple. My original point being that unless you are heavily involved in one of the race teams, it's difficult to get a picture of what goes on behind the scenes. Just like the protest last Friday. Few people know why there was a protest and it's not just one thing that got it started. It was several and it had been building for a while. As I've said before, this is really about the rules and politics at the speedway.

The majority of fans are terrific. I was referring to the ones - well, you know the type I was referring to because you've seen them too. Steve Smith is a great driver, but this isn't about his driving skills. This is about the equipment he is running, whether he knows what has been done to the car or not. This is about the right of another driver to protest if they suspect that a car has illegal parts, and that during that protest, the outcome being determined by the printed rules or someone that can over-ride the rules. And this is about the fact that there needs to be a level playing field across the board. Maybe Lanny Edwards needs to go over the rule book at the next ORA meeting and tell the racers how far they can stretch things before going over the line. Black and white is black and white, but now we seem to have gray entered into this thing.

There has ALWAYS been a gray area, ALWAYS.

I am certain that even you Sir have found yourself going into the gray area a time or two. Owning a race car forces a man to go there even if he doesn't intend to. The artform of being there without going too far is part of it.

The only way to I can see to settle the issue of the car in question to be legal is----switch drivers. Or take the "good for the goose, good for the gander" approach since a precedent has been set.

I like the ideer of switching drivers, Smith is smart enough to know if he is getting a square deal and I am sure your driver will too.

Better yet, a grudge match, 2 out of 3, drivers flip a coin for the preferred outside or inside.

Well Pipewrench64...... I can see some of your rant is directed towards some of what I have posted on this subject. Let me say that I set in the stands NOW. But in the past I have not only set in the stands; I have drove a race car, been a flagman for twenty years, promoted at race tracks,been the guy drivers sumit a protest to,help build cars from the ground up and have spent many hours preparing a track before it could be raced on. I am not bragging just letting you know that I do know a little bit of what goes on at a race track. Including the pits.

My whole point is do I agree with a protest hell yes! If it is done wright to begin with. Witch goes back to the owner or promoter.

My problem is that when a track does not have a reasonable format and inforces it, when who can protest a car and when. Because when it gets down to the end of the year and points are involved a point contender gets crashed and probably out of contension. And after everybody goes thru inspection, a driver that did not finish goes and finds someone to protest for him when all cars are back at their pit area that my friend to me is BS. And no this is not the first time I have seen it done or have been put in the middle as an official trying to sort it all out.

That is my opinion I do hope this clears it up for you and anyone else I may offended.

 Randy       

       DIRT TRACKIN
"When it's wet slide it in"