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

Ricky has been a winning wrench since the beginning of his career. Every driver he's worked for has been a winner. When it's all said and done he will be rated up there with Karl and Davey.

What?

How many drivers have won both the Nationals and the Kings Royal in their careers? I think the answer is 8. Schatz is the defending champion of both without Warner. Now I'm not saying on a day to day level that Schatz isn't feeling the effects of not having Warner there or that Rico isn't benefiting from him, but the ridiculous notion of Schatz being a nobody without Warner flies in the face of literal recent history. 

Absolutely agree the years the driver and mechanic had together hadn't been seen since Karl and Steve. But Donny has proved when the big races are on the line he's still a proven winner.

Turned around Rico?  Rico has always been good.  Last year, he had a very down year to his standards.................and RW was turning the wrenches.  This year, he's won some races----but he's always won some races.  Rico won 9 WoO races prior to RW.  So how does RW being there translate to Rico suddenly having success?  

IMO, the guy pushing the pedal and turning the wheel is THE most important factor on any race team.  And if that guy is good, or great, the best wrenches in the business will work with them.  Great wrenches will do nothing for an average driver.  

Also---you can disagree all you want that Schatz is getting older, and the competition is getting younger, but that fact is right there for everyone to see plain as day.  

Saying he doesn't have the same desire is horseshit. His desire to win is just as high as it was when he was younger. The difference is:

1.  He knows take what the car and track will give him and not get greedy. Getting greedy will usually cost you more than gain you. 
2.  He would rather save a car for another day than put the car and himself in a low percentage spot. Remember nit only does it wear on your equipment but it also wears on your guys if your tearing up cars and cars are having to be rebuilt because of a stupid move. 

Case in point recently Anthony Macri. This past May when he won the Weikert's. You know he knocked the jacobs ladder out of the car rim riding it so hard?  Tearing up gear kinda nullifies any kinda winnings. 

Before RW he was a WoO champion, but them are a dime a dozen

Its not negativity. Donny is still one of the best, just not as dominant as he used to be

I wasn't trying to put down Donny, I was praising Warner

Good point

Too many variables

Steve "struggled" without Karl for years after he came back. Mark was the most successful sprint car driver in the world from about 1996-00 winning over 100 races and multiple Crown Jewels. I guarantee if we could look at the Hosehead archives we would see the argument being put forth thaf Karl was the real king. 

"struggled' to 6 championships over the next 10 years,,,,, every driver out there would be thrilled with those "struggles"

Bending up a jacobs ladder is hardly tearing anything up, it's a common and easy part to replace or adjust. I kind of doubt it nullified the Weikert win. 

Well sure, but Donny hasn't won the Knoxville Nationals in over a year! How do account for that?

Over a year?

It's more to illustrate the attitude of "to Hell with the car and with my competitors".  I don't have anything against Macri but he is the epitome of young drivers doing young driver things. Junked Mike and Logan Wagner a few times on moves that cooler heads could have prevailed.  A few years ago at the Weikert he had Lance Dewease all but beat. He just had to wait for Lance to slip up. Instead he got impatient, jumps what cushion there was, cracks the wall, and kills the car.  We can go on but it's not about him, it's more about younger drivers and older drivers having equal desire to win, just some aren't gonna tear up a car for no reason.  

The point is somebody like Donny wouldn't have junked his car jumping the cushion.  A Jacobs ladder itself is $200 if we say it was titanium plus all the joints etc. The part itself might only be $200, but how much time and man hours are you going to have in fixing and resquaring everything?  Maybe an hour?  If you're a traveling team with 2-3 guys that $200 part actually cost you $400-$500 and additional wear and tear on your guys. Dragging out the time to maintain and service the car. 

I said he was a nobody until he got hooked up with RW. I also said DS should have a good idea about setups when RW was there for places like eldora and knoxville. BEFORE, can you read before, DS was a guy on the woo tour nothing more. He and RW teamed up and it was magic, he won dam near everything.

Oops! You're right. I should have said almost a year. It's hard to keep track of these old, washed up drivers when they keep winning big races.

I know it's like they're washed up or something.

The magic - the mojo. Some combinations don't need much of it but they still need it. Others never get any.

Fleeting as hell. Sometimes it lasts a race or two - maybe three,  a year or two - maybe three.  Rarely 10-15 years.

Can blame it on the driver, the wrench, the tires - blame it on whatever, but ultimately it's the mojo that is lost.

Applies to just about everyone except Kyle Larson :)

"I don't care who you have behind the wheel, if your car doesn't handle you are out to lunch"-------absolutely spot on.  RW is far from the only guy capable of giving a driver a great handling race car.  Should we name them all?