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

Darrah cant drive a sharp stick up a donkeys ass!

Darrah actually ran well with what he had to run with. to cut cost he had to run with only two guys and an old 270 motor while the other two had NEW 286 motors and full crews

I can remember Steve Kinser winning with just Karl & Elrod.....

I told myself every night this weekend, after seeing results, I was going to get on here Monday and read exactly what I read.  

"Darrah didn't run well because of lack of resources."

Bullcrap.  He should be running better than he did if it was just him and one crew guy.  It's a 3 car team.  No they aren't identical, but dangit it's the same stuff.  Different motor?  Who cares.  His results are awful.

I've no doubt he doesn't have the stuff that Pittman and Sweet have if KKR had to cut back a bit. However, it's not like they went into 2015 with similar resumes and Darrah just got screwed.

Hopefully he can run some local shows to get his confidence back up.

Cody should run the NSL series! 

Keep It Real

The earlier post comparing Darrah & Gravel is right on the money.  ;-) 

I don't know why there is trouble with KKR racing not getting sponsors?  Is Mike Curb no longer involved with team? Or was he never a Co Owner of the team?

Cody should take the wing off and see how he does. Let's back it in instead of holding it down.

We need more sprint car racing at our home track.

I heard they were gearing the car low trying to save the motors Darrah has.  I dont think he has as many bullets as Pittman or Sweet.  

Basically, if they were to blow a motor, they would have to miss Vegas or California.  This could only be gossip in the stands...

Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's

Every time I've seen a KKR story this year, they've been emphasizing "KKR With Mike Curb."

So I'm guessing he's still involved/co-owner.

If that is true about Curb which i thought it was, then it is hard for me to believe that KKR can not find a sponsor for Darrah's ride.. There has to be more to it than just not finding a sponsor?   Curb has been involved in racing as co owner in like 30 different series of racing including different Nascar series, Winston Cup, Usac, Indy 500 and many more.. I don't know what kind of deal he has with KKR but if he wanted he probably could buy WoO, USAC and several other series in the country and not make a dent in his bank account..  On your computer LOOK UP Mike Curb Racing and Mike Curb on WIKIPEDIA..

I'd imagine Mike Curb probably does have the financial freedom to go buy whatever he wants but the keyword here is “want". Most if not all car owners have a set budget of what they're willing to spend out of their own funds and most will stick to that number. If they lose a sponsor and they can't do what they did before, cuts will be made. I don't know for certain but I'm guessing Kasey and Tony are no different. Sure they could empty their entire checking account into their race teams but I'm highly doubting they want to. Tony just cut his USAC program and from what I understand, it was a financial decision as well. These things are extremely expensive, even for multimillionare car owners. I can totally see where losing a big sponsor would affect operations like KKR and TSR.

To add to my previous post, one other thing is Kasey may be a very wealthy man with boat loads of money rolling in every year but remember, he's still a race car driver. No matter what level, racing is a very unstable business. You never know what is around the next corner. Kasey could go from winning the Daytona 500 this week, to being paralyzed in a wheelchair next week. If that happens, his career and the bulk of his cash flow is done. These guys like Kasey, Tony and Larson, no matter how rich they are have to take all these variables into consideration when determining how much they're willing to spend for someone else to race in their equipment. They may be the biggest teams in sprint car racing but they're still hobbies to these guys and if you're in their shoes, you have to look ahead and determine if you get injured tomorrow and can't race anymore, how much money do I need to maintain my desired quality of life for the rest of my life and still have some left over to take care of wives, children or any other friends or relatives after I'm gone? There's a lot more that goes into it than being rich and blowing money on a sprint car team

I really doubt Tony, Kasey, or Kyle spend anymore personal money on their race teams than any owner, it could easily be less.  What those guys have the power to do that your average owner doesn't, is be a face or spokesperson for a a sponsor.  When sponsorship is down, they cut back, if they have it, they run the cars.  As a fan from PA, I do find it ironic that a KKR team driven by Cody Darrah (who had the best family ride in the business when he was here) probably won't be able to run the full season, while the 1a and the 1s keep tooling around the country making it happen.  Hell, they even ran the AZ races and gave out one of their motors for a night to another driver in need.  

Exactly. Those kids and Scruffy need to be commended. They (especially Jacob) seem to be running better this year.

Scruffy's gotten by with less however Darrah's and KKR perspective obviously are much different in what they need to run and what they want. 

Keep It Real

Just a few thoughts:

1. Any smart business person has a budget and sticks to it. If Kasey, Mike Curb, or Joe Darrah are only willing to spend X amount of dollars to keep the car on the tour full time then thats thier decision. Tony Stewart cut his USAC teams due to lack of sponsorship. It sucks but it happens. Dealing in scrap metal I thinking Joe's got to be low on cash. My local scrap yard has laid off 8 of it's 10 employees.

2. Cody has never had a great crew chief on the Woo tour. In Pa he had Lee and Steve Suchy and excelled. I believe since the begining Justin Adams has been turning the wrenches for Cody. While Justin is a great team leader even he would admit he's not a great crew chief. Even great drivers have had off years when the team isn't gelling.

3. Sweet vs. Darrah The results tell the story. Sweet has been the more cosistant driver over the last few years. His tenure with KKR has been much longer than any other driver they have had. It's the obvious choice. I'm not saying Cody isn't talented he just is a step behind the other KKR drivers.

Gravel has more talent than Darrah.  I wish Saldana would post his feelings on KKR decisions in the past.  In the end, it's Kahne's money and decision to make.  Also, Darrah has made the decision to stay on board while racing with limited sponsorship.  He could leave and race his family owned car at any time.  Evidently he is fine racing with limited sponsorship as long as he can hang out with the KKR guys and stay on the Outlaw tour.  

I believe a lot will play out the next couple weeks. I believe everyone thought the money would come through and still may. I doubt Darrah's dad would not make a move towards funding a car local maybe with the Allstars. Money is tight all over! Like someone above stated the scrap business is struggling but I believe Joe Darrah owns like 10 different business. What would make sense for both is to let Joe Darrah fund the deal out of Pa and run the All-star shows and when money comes available join the other two. Keeps Cody fresh and the tie between KKR. I would be worried about the Outlaws too as they have No sponsor either.