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

In a word, they were Spanktacular...

Opinions may vary...

Very well put willf270. But also there are concerns with a few ( not all ) of the so called " seasoned" or "experienced" veterans.  

The same few that have been running for years and qualify for maybe 1/2 the features when car counts are low and when they do are moving targets when getting lapped. Just last week at Lincoln a front row starter flew down the straight at the drop of the green and got to the corner and either jumped out of the throttle completely or hit the brakes. he never set the car and was pointed straight. ( I was sitting in the 1st turn stands and had a clear view  ) With no one in front of him. Meanwhile you have 2 track champions on the 2nd row and a rookie ( 2 wins already I believe, need to fact check that )on the front row. Guess what happened ? The other 3 didn't expect the guy to get out of the throttle and already had their cars set sideways to enter the corner at speed and the pileup happened. Now guess who got the blame ? The rookie of course, it couldn't  be the "experienced veteran". No way the veteran admits he messed up. to easy to blame someone else. Point being there are some young drivers coming up that would benefit from test & tune or time in lower divisions for awhile longer, BUT there are definatley a few drivers with many years under their belt that really need to look in the mirror and say maybe I'm just not cut out for this regardless how much fun they are having.    

I have a grandson moving from karts to sprints. Many have done it well, Logan, Jacob, Aaron Ott just to name a few these guys have had 10 or more years of racing experience, and if you think karts don't teach you how to race get out there and let them make you look silly a couple times. Anyway I agree with this to show up and run 3 hot laps and be thrown into a race is a bad situation for a young driver. Our plan, and lucky to have a track like Susky to take care of these young racers, is to run test and tune for a year and look at the progress. It may be a two year test and tune deal, there is no hurry! I have always said if I do this again and the current 358 situation makes it even more of a money waste. If you want to end up in a 410 then you start in a 410. Lets also not forget the Mackison boys straight from karts to 410's. Not for everyone but if they are actually a very very good kart racer they will be fine. Just don't throw them to the wolves right away this is a mental game also and it doesn't do them any good. Hell Danica went pretty much straight from karts to NASCAR.

Any good 410 driver should be able to pass a lap car no matter what speed they are going. If they can't do that, maybe they should be the ones rethinking their class. Every driver has to start somewhere. 

I think you missed the point . You can't blame a driver for not being able to lap a car easily when the lapped car enters the corner low and the good driver commits to the high line to pass him easily then that drivers heads up the track cutting off the good driver. And that happens all the time. And this is not including rookie drivers, we all know and the good drivers know to be on "high Alert" when approaching the beginners until the get a few races under their belt. It's the " seasoned veterans" that the good driver expects that they entered low and will stay low but they don't. Again only a "few" need to really make a hard decision.  

Thegoshow..... how old is your grandson ?

No hater reply....just curious, sounds like you have a plan

He is 15 with 11 years of kart experience. Pretty much to the point of starting in the back and winning most of the time. Our plan is to have him up to speed and knowing what is going on with the car by 17. The karting had become a little stale for him and it is good to see the excitement back in his eyes. He is working very hard on the side to get his dream up and running. Along with being a good racer he has made the hard back book as one of the top National Honor Society students. His plan is to become an engineer to design dams of all things..

That's awesome, and a sound plan..I'm sure your very proud of him !!

Fair warning tho, when he makes his 1st rookie mistake in a race ( and they all do !! ) be ready for the "he's to young to handle the car" , "he's just a child", "dad must be on an ego trip", "he needs to go back to karts", etc., And most of that will be on these boards from the grandstand drivers that drive a prius to work  

Not like we have never seen a top guy put a slider on another top guy and put him in or over the fence, or get into the the back of a guy and turn him around or chop his nose off blocking into the corner. 

My advice is to grow thick skin and once he starts racing stay off these boards.