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

The Kings Royal had 50 cars so everything seemed normal but the last three races convinced me that overall racing is slipping Lernerville only had 33 cars Lincoln only 34 and last night The Grove had 31 for the Summer Nationals and even The All Stars only has 19 at Eriez.

The begining the All Stars had almost 19 regulars and that has to be the lowest count in years for the other three,is it the format or why so many no shows?  

Two answers: 1. $$$$$  2.Format

I don't see how format is a problem .last night front row was mostly locals and the one lane track provided 5 of 6 locals in the dash for WoO race.  All star format of qualifying only against the cars in your heat is a great format which keeps the luck of the draw from hurting you on a "bad pill draw" so not sure why format is a problem to make car counts bad . Ohio had high 40s and 50s for their 4 shows last week. Gotta be some other reason in PA 

It was the format that put them on the front rows. I agree about the All Star format and they usually have better car counts.

There was 34 cars at Thunder Mountain smack dab in between Williams Grove and Eriez Speedway. A lot of the western PA drivers chose to go race there.

Anyehere you can get the results from Thunder Mountain would like to see who showed up?

Alot of no shows at the Grone Ryan Smith,Macintyer,most of the Port guys, Even Hodnett did not go to Lernerville when was the last time he missed the Don Martin?

(1)$$$$$, (2)too many open wheel divisions(410, 360, 358, 305, super sportsman, and (3) something that I don’t think gets discussed much...geography. Ohio gets the Ohio regulars, allstar guys if not a schedule conflict, western Pa guys, and Indiana, etc. 

As an example, Eliason, Kerry Madsen, and Tim Shaffer ran all over Ohio and ventured to Lernerville. Instead of towing a couple hours east to run the outlaw shows they headed back west with Shaffer running allstar show in Erie. That, plus 6 or 7 locals who have run at times at the Grove this season decided to stay home. 

There are sprint cars in Jersey, but they are primarily 360’s running URC.

Attica was rained out early still none of the Ohio guys came not even Helms who was a regular or Baker who said he would be there.

Looked to be most of the Lernerville guys. What caught my eye was Kyle Moody. Talk about wondering why car count at the Grove was low? Not exactly sure where Kyle‘s shop is but I believe he’s from Lewisberry. Probably a 20 minute tow to the Grove. Instead he tows probably 3 hours to Thunder Mountain. I know, not my $$$, not my decision. Just a head scratcher IMO.

Aside from the nationals.... if you want to see a big car count come to the Tuscarora 50 this fall.   I’m guessing it to be somewhere in the mid 60s

I doubt very much if Port will even approach the 60t they had last year there were several midwest cars last year same thing may happen that happened at the Grove alot of cars that know they wont make the show stay home.

Seems to me, as far as PA goes, the money dried up.

And you're just not going to find new deep-pocketed owners willing to step in and fund a big-expense team just to run locally.

And I bet you are wrong. We shall see........

2nd place on night 1 at the grove paid less than a typical WoO event. If I was a slow car at the Grove all year I might also go elsewhere hoping for a higher finish. Logically speaking if I run 10th all season at the Grove add 14 WoO and I woukd be lucky to not be last if I even made the A Main.

Who typed *Grone* ... Thot that might be a typo til i see the V isnt very close to the N. Nasty that is-  lol

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

From Thunder Mountains results page here is full feature run down:

Jack Sodeman Jr, Trey Jacobs, Sye Lynch, Dan Shetler, Kyle Moody, George Hobaugh, Brandon Matus, Trevor Baker, Dan Kuriger, AJ Flick, Michael Bauer, Randy Sterling, Anthony Fiore, Brad Knab, Brent Matus, CJ Jones, Michael Marano II, Skip Dougherty, Dennis Wagner, Cody Bova, Clay Riney, Chase Baker, Jim Morris, Joe Sylvester

Non Qualifier feature race:

Jeremy Kornbau, Tyler Denochick, Will Fleming, Jeremy Hill, Andy Fescemyer, Michael Lutz Jr, Gerald Hairboyer, Sadie Siegel, Jonathan Jones, Mark Rossey

... A couple of Ohioans (Jacobs, Baker bros, Bova, Sylvester) and a mix of Western and a few Central PA drivers.

Been around since 1983. Adjusted for inflation and everything else, I think it’s alive and well.

What you fail to mention in your attemp at yet another Port (among) bashing post is that Lincoln's 6/16 race was the Weldon Sterner Memorial paying $6900 to win. So if you put that up against regular shows at Port then by all means throw in Port's Speedweek show, where they had 35 cars. Not to mention Lincoln's other night you rave about, had two 410 features. So let's compare apples to apples oh great Strawser, not apples to sour grapes. LMAO. You are so cute when you try, and oh do you try.

I am really getting confused. This is two times recently(last night and Selingrove's Speedweek race) that Strawser has been on here proclaiming that they were good races. I am not disputing that they were but, they  were running 20 second laps in the feature both nights. How can that be?

While the quality isn’t central PA quality, the quantity in western pa/Ohio has been great this year. I know lernerville has averaged 25ish cars a night. Sharon has drawn 43, 48, 41 for their all star shows and 31 and 28 for regular shows, Mercer just had 48 for the summer nationals.

It isn't just racing that one could ask what has happened.  Membership numbers are dwindling in fraternal and charitable organizations, etc.  It's life in general; a sign of the times.  Major sponsors are virtually impossible to secure and the often flamboyant deep-pocketed owners, who injected life into the sport and gave it character, are a dying breed; few and far between.  Things have changed; peoples' priorities have changed; the dollar doesn't get you near as much as what it did in the 70s or 80s; life in general and the world we live in has changed.  Multiple members of many households are working 2, 3, even 4 jobs just to make ends meet.  I'll stop now as I'm starting to depress myself!

Attempting to be a voice of reason in a world full of
irrationality.