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

Here in Minot when the Outlaws come, NoDak Race club runs 1 of the 2 Mod classes, and the Mods put on a Great show.

My home track is Eldora and I personally like more than one class. As others have said, the down time is just too much when its just the Outlaws. Also, I hate to say it but sometimes the other classes put on a better show if the sprints get strung out like the tend to do.

I am generally in-favor of good support classes being run at WoO shows, like late models or modifieds.

However, I remember a 2-day WoO show at Eldora Speedway during the early '80's and I couldn't believe what they did with their support class.  Day one of the show was just qualifying and heat races.  The support class for this show was the crappy old street stocks, and they had almost 100 of these at the track.  The WoO sprints (and there were about 75 of them there) did their qualifying session (two laps per car), AND THEN... they went ahead and QUALIFIED all 100 of the Street Stocks too!  Then to add to the misery, they held a SECOND QUALIFYING session for the WoO sprints AND the STREET STOCKS!  Qualifying took over FOUR HOURS!  This was the most ridiculous thing that I have ever seen at any track, let alone at Eldora (Earl Baltes was still running the track then) at a WoO show!  I have never seen anything done like that before nor after this show, and I am glad for that.

I don't remember if the dual qualifying sessions was scheduled as part of the show, or if the track was too wet during the first session of qualifying, but no track should EVER QUALIFY STREET STOCKS.

Just my opinion.

Thanks.

My take on what Brian Brown posted was that the races should get done sooner to allow kids and fans to get to the pits.  I never saw anything that he mentioned that it damanged the track.  He tweeted that he would never take a kid to the pits at midnight.

I look at it as being a time filler and value for my money.  I would feel like I'm not getting my monies worth for paying $30-35 for 18-20 410's and a few 360's to run 3 heats and a feature.  There is going to be down time between WoO races throughout the night so you might as well have some type of a support class.  The track and sanctioning bodies can do a lot to help this by starting on time and making sure things run as fluid as possible.  This isn't just for special events, but weekly racing needs to be setup for 1 race is off the track the next is ready to go.  Having a few minutes between heats adds up throughout the night.  

Yes and if those so called fans went to a track and saw just 24 sprintcars with just 3 heats and a feature and were out of the track in 90 min. they would feel cheated.  Some people say they do not want to see time trials nor a dash.  They want no support class.  What the heck do they want to see.  I  think the big problem with support classes is the track promoter/race director that have no clue on how to run a program along.  These support classes are passionate about their racing and have fans also.

A (one) support class at a WoO race is Ok , but just about any other major show I've been to needs at least one , maybe two support classes to fill in the voids. In no way should a support class feature be ran before the main class feature, unless that class is only running one race that evening.

All in all , I like a full evening of racing . If an event only last 2 hours , I feel cheated.

One more thing , I'd never call out a class as being shitboxes. People have different classes that they like to run and most every team puts as much time , effort , and money as they can into what class they want to race. People that use those degrading terms are just showing their ignorance.

100% agree with all of the above.

I haven't been to Attica in 15 years, too much life getting in the way. 

Yes, thats crazy. Tony has done a good job at streamlining the show in an effort to get out of there at a decent time. I've never seen stocks or modified qualify except on maybe family fun night when they're the main attraction. Back when Earl ran things, it was typical to get out of there at midnight. Now its usually finished around 10:30.

I'm sure the main reason for the late nights was mainly so Earl could sell more hot dogs

Amen! no support classes, and if you do, make it one and an open wheel class. We run IRA and get stuck at these tracks until 11-11:30 because they are running 3 support classes, most sport mods which are caution after caution. Allot of nights are back to back and people want to get home, and get stuff ready for the next night. A sold out sprint car crowd does NOT want to watch 30 sport mods and 30 stock cars crashing all night. Any show thats done by 9-9:30 and gets people home, is a success. People now days dont like to sit in one spot too long anymore. Give them what they came to see, and go. No reason to be running 4 classes.

I can certainly see why as a team you wouldn't want to wait around on the other cars. Personally, I LOVE sprint cars but I still do like seeing support classses run. I just don't feel like I'd get my money's worth watching one class of cars. I look at going to races as a night out, and usually go just before the start of hotlaps and stay until the final checkered is thrown. As long as the race is finished before midnight I'm happy. But I suppose I'm young and don't mind staying out a bit later than some people. Hell I went to Attica's opener last year and stayed til the end and it had to be barely 40 degrees with heavy winds. I couldn't feel my feet by the end but it was great racing.

I know this is a sprint car forum, and that's what I certainly prefer, but I don't really see all the reason for people hating on other classes (not referring to you here Heinen). I'm perfectly happy to go to a race that runs 410s or 360s Winged or Non-winged with 2-3 support classes any day. I certainly like open wheel support best, but I really can actually enjoy watching Hornets/Mini stocks/etc as well. And IMO Late Models and Modifieds are an excellent support class. In a lot of areas where sprints aren't the big deal LM and Mods ARE a headliner. So getting to see two headliner divisions at once? Fine by me. I wouldn't want any more than 4 divisions at show though personally. I've never understood why some tracks run 7 divisions that only get 12 cars each. Seems to me if you consolidated it to 4 divisions you would get the same amount of cars but more in each class.

When WoO comes to our neck of the woods they do not use a support class.  But then again, it's during the month of money, they sell the place out and it's a race "with history" (Lernerville Silver Cup) so it's not needed.  Also a midweek show.  Usually get mid-30s (on bad years) to mid to upper 40s for a car count.  I don't mind the down time cause it gives me a chance to walk around the pits and check out the action from multiple places. 

All Stars had 2 support classes last year at Lernerville and between the last All Star heat and the All Star feature was almost 3 hours...not a typo.  Almost 3 hours.  All Star drivers were less than happy.  Should've capped the support classes time wise. 

Point taken. I go to modified and sport mod shows as well as late models... just tough from a team standpoint when travelling is involved, and you pull in and there are 4 cylinders, mods, sport mods, stock cars and then the sprint cars. I enjoy every division minus the 4 cylinders, but it makes for a long night when you have to get up and to the shop in the morning to do maintenance, wash everything and be back on the road by 12:00-2:00 in the afternoon. Brian is exactly right, when a track like Beaver Dam finishes at 9:30, kids are everywhere in the pits. People hang out and talk. When other tracks finish at 11:00-11:30.... pretty bare. People just want to get home by then.