Posted By: Nick14 on May 29 2019 at 02:18:43 PM
As far as the Outlaw racing part, I know this is not a popular opinion but I have felt that since the Outlaws have gone to lining up the heats straight up from qualifying the competition level in the features has been far better. That's not to say there has been more "passing," but the challenge and competition for position has been a little more intense than prior. Heat races are basically the same for the big tracks but some of the smaller bull rings they seem to be a little more competitive since you can advance your starting position by 4 positions with each pass. I know a lot of people enjoy the invert because the thought process is that slower cars start up front and the faster cars will pass them creating excitment but with the equipment & drivers today I do not think that is the case anymore.
A number of years ago when the invert was happening people had 2 knocks against it, drivers would sandbag in qualifying to try to get a front row spot in the heat and get into the dash. Some people made it clear that a driver would qualify between 13th-16th, win the feature and not pass a car the whole night or only 1 or 2 since they started on the pole of the heat, would draw the pole or up front in the dash, then lead the feature. The other knock was front row winners and guys from the front 2 rows won 60-70% if the races & they weren't competitve.
Under the new format, it seems that there is always a challenge for the front positions & guys coming from the back of the field. Now I am not saying that the drivers of today are better than Kinser, Swindell, Wolfgang, etc from the 80's & 90's, but I think the equipment has closed the gap between the top drivers and bottom. I think maybe it was Brad Doty on winged nation a few years ago had stated that back when he raced some of the guys had the same horsepower thats the equivlant of a 305 by today's standards. With the equipment now, the know-how available, and how tight the qualifying times are they days of multiple drivers coming from the back to the front consistently might be over. However putting the faster cars up front might get them into traffic a lap or two faster and create more guys racing for position in traffic.
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