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

If Sammy is as dominant in 2021 as he has been hijacking this thread he will be unstoppable.  

Stan Meissner

Could be. I know it is easy to discredit wins on heavy tracks but when he actually made a tight pass for the lead and got through traffic better than the rest it deserves some credit. I can also promise you when Sammy got 2nd the night before at Knoxville during the Allstars it was not a heavy track. And yes I know this was over 2 years ago so I'm sure age has caught up some more since then.

I can only comment on how age affects me personally.  Sammy turns 65 this fall so he's still going to have one more season until he's reached full social security retirement age at the end of the 2022 season.  All I can do is relate that to my own experience and in my case the drop off has been more noticable every year since around 65 and I presume will likely continue.  I know that I don't even handle tripping on a shoe and falling on the carpet very well anymore let alone getting banged around in a racing wreck.  Having done photography for close to twenty years I have seen some nasty wrecks on tracks ranging in size from 1/4 mile up to big half miles.  I wouldn't want to have been in any of those cars, it hurt just watching.  I wouldn't put myself in the position to be in one of those wrecks but I've got a surgically enhanced neck full of unobtainium so I look at it through that filter.

I wouldn't argue his driving abilities,  He will be better than some drivers I've seen over the years until he's 80 if he keeps on doing it.  Actually I consider myself more of a Sammy fan than not but I have a different perspective of being a fan after photographing, interviewing and writing about drivers and getting to know many of them.  I'm not the same starry eyed idealist about Sprint Car drivers that I was before I had those experiences.  It's hard to unknow some of the things one finds out when they're that close to the sport.  I still love it but I have a different perspective than someone who has only ever sat in the bleachers.  I think as far as Sammy goes I want to see him retire when the time is right and not push it so far that he gets hurt or embarasses himself.  Life after we're done working can be a great time when we still have our health and can travel and do things.  That is why I personally would not push myself to do something like racing Sprints as a senior citizen.

Stan Meissner

Thanks, everyone, for playing.

This is the most successful thread highjack that I have ever done. 

Sammy in sprints, Bloomquist in SLM. Who would have ever thought that could happen.

I don't mind the Sammy hijackings.  What other senior citizens stir up this board as much as the mere mention of Sammy's name does?  Certainly not me. 

Stan Meissner