Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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Chose Lincoln on Saturday 34 410s and 24 358s were on hand went to Lincoln over Port because of iffy weather and not a big late model fan ,only 16 at Port was a little less than I expected but it looks like they will struggle to hit 20 for a regular show.

Jeffries (back to Knoxville) Flick (part timer) Smith (360) Blaney (most of the bigger races) Streaker smart choice would not suprize me to see some of the other Lincon cars make the switch if the trend continues.

Of the names mentioned missing from Port only Stroup and maybe Grubb will be there every week Taylor stated in Area Auto that he was only running Big Shows,Erdley has no ride #98 you never no what will happen there.

I chose Port and regretted it the moment I got there. I damn near went to Lincoln but for whatever reason didn't. I won't make that mistake next week. I've been a Port regular all my life but this year that is going to change. 

Cale Grubb will be there for the rest of the shows, as long as we don't break anything.  He was unable to make it Saturday.  

I'm reading through this thread about car counts and when these conversations come up my two cents worth is that they'll only dwindle so far before there is a tipping point for the fans.  Personally I'm not turned on by 14-16 car fields here in the upper Midwest.  I climbed out of the stands and chased the sport with a camera and note pad from 1,999 until a couple of years ago and feeling obligated to attend six class shows with 14 Sprints and writing happy things about the experience is one thing I don't miss.  Things were looking pretty good until 2,008.  The local track didn't run weekly Sprints but there would be 40+ Late Models, 50+ Super Stocks, and 30+ Modifieds showing up for weekly shows.  Now it's not too often that we see B Mains.

To throw a little math out there I have attended 100 races since 2010 but only 2 last year to illustrate how much my attendance has fallen off.  Part of that is due to being in my mid 60's and not being as thrilled about running around the pits and infield all night but a large part of cutting back was due to losing interest because of the decrease in car counts.  Last year got kind of complicated so the two shows was a little lower than I'd like but I have to make every penny count so I'm pretty much limiting my attendance to specials.  And before someone chimes in and tells me to support my local short track, I don't have any obligations to any sport.  If an entertainment venue can't stand on it's own merit without me devoting every weekend to it they have bigger problems than me going to a grandkid's birthday party on a Saturday night instead of to a race track.

Like I said, I put in my time of attending two or three races per week and 15-20 hours writing and sending out photos and various other tasks to support local racing.  That's way more intense than sitting up in the stands guzzling beer and stuffing my face with track food would have been.  I like racing and have been going to races since 1,960 but there is a tipping point for me.  14 cars and waiting for six outher classes to run before I can see them by my way of thinking is not a can't miss deal.  No offense but everyone except the most hard core fans have a point of no return.  My simple solution was to put the camera and note pad down and find other things to do on the weekends.  I subscribed to Lucas Oil TV and follow along on social media, sanction, track and results sites. 

Stan Meissner

Its kind of sad, hope the Port picks up. Whats the point of heats if everybody qualifies for A -Main?

I don't live in Pa., but will probably hit Port for some of the special events

Guess T Mac just proved to us all how little cubic dollars really knows.  Which is not much. 

Come on cubic, tell him he's wrong!!!

Considering there are a dozen or 2 spec cheaper dirt track divisions in central PA, 410 car counts are pretty good:)

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

Hoosier took back over in 2013. Most post weight rule track records in Central PA have been set since then. The Outlaws specifically asked Goodyear to slow them down. They did. The racers asked Hoosier to hook them back up so they could run the middle. They did. The stop watch doesn't lie. Only blow hards like you. You also can't go narrower without going smaller around like SOD. Tall and narrow rolls over to easy.

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com

Come to the Nationals and call him a blow hard to his face! I dare you! Be a man dude!

You nailed it as usual Stan. That's pretty much the direction Port is headed & like you, it doesn't interest me one bit. Thankfully, we have Lincoln too & they're going as strong as ever with a lot of young talent just starting out with a lot of others in the 358's who are coming up behind them. For the first time ever, I'll be attending Lincoln on most Saturdays this season and in the foreseeable future. The racing there is much better too thanks to the fact that unlike Port, they don't mind having a little moisture in the surface.

Post weight track records?? WTF is that? A track record is a track record.

You are correct, the WoO had Goodyear change the tire to try to make the racing better. The new Goodyears were HORRIBLE tires!! They even made their fronts garbage (Only wore the middle three rows) Goodyear is a fine tire maker & the tires they made in the past (like the 25C) were great tires. The one's they made for the WoO were junk and dangerous. 

FYI, the WoO also had Hoosier make the tires that the WoO felt would make for better racing, narrower and HARDER with hard sidewalls, especially the left rear. The H series was not a normal Hoosier tire & was specifically built for the WoO & what they wanted. 

Blowhard? LOL! I don't believe I lied,  I asked you which of those track records have been broken? Answer...none. What is your expertise on tires? I have a bit of knowledge on this subject & to even make sure I was correct I talked to Neil Cowman with Hoosier Tire. Now, I'm sure you know more than us as he is probaly a Blowhard too.

"Hoosiers have a way floppier sidewall. That is why everyone is running RR's out so far now". Is it that or that the RR's are narrower & "Tall & narrow rolls over easy"?? I'm confused??

My name is Terry McCarl. What is yours??

Since about 08. Back in the day all that was required was a handstamp. You could get your hand stamped on way out. Have your buddy wet his hand and tranfer stamps. So they started making people have both a raincheck and hand stamp. Then people figured out they rotated raincheck colors so they keep them for later use and still could transfer a hand stamp. Now they change the print on rainchecks every year. I know i made a killing back in day transfering my handstamp on people at Outlaw shows for half price. Paid for my weekend.....lol

Shit. T-Mac just opened a can of verbal whoopass! Any trips to Pa scheduled for this season Terry? Would love to see you come out here again.

Easy hoss.....don't hurt him......he's just a kid.

You know given the quality of Cube's other posts here, I'm surprised he's not more educated on the sport (sarcasm alert).

I'm gonna try to be back East in time for Weikert Memorial at the Port, hitting some races in Indiana & Ohio on the way. If they can't draw a good car count for $10,000 on a Sunday, there is a serious problem....

How 'bout this theory?: racing participation as a spectator, car owner, driver evolves from a passion for cars.With less of the latter, there's less of the former.

Back in the day in my little hamlet, there were many car guys around town doing something to their car every night - if nothing other than leaning on it over a few beers. Some of those same guys are still around and still puttering, but no one has taken the place of those who have dropped out. What was maybe 20-30 hot rodders and buddies, might be 5 today - certainly not more than 10.

That target demographic just isn't into cars and racing like it was a generation ago.

And, I still like the big tracks. I'm not going to say they have the best racing- hell, I'm just going to admit that they don't -  but I still like them. The power and speed.......

And to think this whole thing kept going because couple of guys were surprised that there was a low car count for the first race in March when several teams don't start until april every year. Believe it or not some guys can't race from Feb. until Nov. I would bet if you put the effort into it you would find a thread on here about Port no having many cars the first race a lot of years. For the Weikert Memorial there wont't be fifty there then either but it will be a Quality field.

Please respond Cubic, I want to hear you get owned some more LOL !

Longtime Mitch fan, I swear you love nothing more than predicting the end of 410 racing to in Pa, Port will be fine and so will WG. 

Fixxer, usually I agree with your posts, to say that Port only cares about Late Models is a bit far fetched don't you think, what exactly would you suggest they do to get more Sprints to race there? I mean I guess they could shorten the track to make it easier on motors and equipment but what else can they do? Did you check the 34 cars at Lincoln this past week, they had about the same amount of cars capable of running up front that Port did and three times the field fillers. We need rookies and field fillers as they are the future of the sport but they don't necessarily make for a better night of racing, plus 10 of those cars did not qualify and were in the trailer watching the feature not racing, so they had 8 more cars start the feature, and only 18 finished, whoopee! I love Lincoln too, but it has nothing to do with car counts, it's just an awesome track.

Unlike the rest of you I have faith in the passion of Pa fans and racers, Port, Williamsgrove and the rest will be fine, too much history and passion to let these places turn into housing complexes. 

As someone eluded to earlier, the problem in Pa isn't a lack of teams and drivers, it's the super sportsman, 305's, 358's, 360's, and 410's. We have 5 freaking different Sprintcar classes.  If we could get rid of the super sportsman and 358 divisions those drivers would not quit racing, they would race in one of the 3 classes available like the rest of the world. Can you imagine the car counts we would have if all the SS and 358's were divided among the other 3 classes?  Sorry to those who love the SS and 358's but it only makes sense to drop the 2 classes that don't  exist outside of Posse land. 

Let the bashing began!

Sorry to hit a little close to home with the blow hard comment...lol. But the simple fact still remains that you are wrong. When Hoosier took over from Goodyear in 2013 they were instantly a couple of tenths quicker. And it wasn't only their RRs, it was their higher growth LRs. Then they tried the RD tires again around here that were softer than an old D10 and wouldn't even last a feature. And now they have big wickerbills and the Outlaws have a qualifying motor format. 1000 hp is coming quick and they are a lot more expensive again than under Goodyear's tenure. -12s even at places like Lincoln here in Central PA are finally gone for good if you want to win consistently. Not with the Goodyears.

And looking at the bigger picture the late models aren't on 88"X11" tires because they are faster. Neither is Sprints on Dirt on 100"x13".

If sprint cars went to SOD tires and a 23 degree wing angle rule like Brad Doty wants (and the wing has to be in front of the rear axle) there wouldn't be 410s. The Outlaws and ASCS would both be unlimited, they would be both cheaper and harder to drive, the sport wouldn't be segregated into 410s/360s/305s, fans would get to watch "unlimited" sprint cars again and both your boys would have solid rides for the rest of their careers.

I realize it will never happen because there are too many people like you with pull in the sport. Common sense still trumps bullshit though. Just tell the truth that you would rather have the hp and money advantage because you had to earn all the sponsorship by building a career. Not that you really think the sport is better the way it is with only a couple hundred race teams affording 410s and most of them with multiple major sponsors. Not like before when garages and small businesses could run their own race cars by themselves. Now it takes a "team" of sponsors and the racing is worse, because they are so aero dependent because of all the speed that money can buy because the tires are too hooked up.

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com