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

The short track nationals has died  no one seems to give a s@@@ anymore about it.... use to be the best 360 race in the country. Such a disappointment 

Seems to me like 360 racing in general has steadily declined over the last few years.   I know there were at least a few ASCS races this year that had as few as 13 cars.  

You obviously haven't been to races in California! We have the Sprint Car Challenge series and the Civil War series in addition to other tracks that have their own weekly 360 shows. If anything 410 racing is declining here and going to mostly 360 shows with the exception of the King of the West and World of Outlaws when they come in the spring and just a few weeks ago. Our Sprint Car Challenge (SCC) 360 series usually get around 40 cars and since they don't compete with the KWS we have a hot bed of talented drivers that are racing each week. We are lucky to have racing here from about the end of February to the beginning of November with some big shows such as the 360 Nationals at Chico this weekend and Trophy Cup at Tulare in October which both draw a big number of cars and talented drivers! There is no doubt that California is producing the best drivers in the country and it is thanks to many of them starting to race carts and then moving up race to 360s and 410s. When our drivers start dominating here and winning championships they move on to race in other areas of the country and also win at tracks they don't even know, including beating the World of Outlaws drivers.  I am not as familiar with racing in other parts of the county, but sprint car racing here is very alive and well.  I am very lucky to live here and be able to go to races on Saturday nights not too far from where I live. In the winter I have to settle for just watching races on Youtube.  

Looking forward to the new Golden State King of the 
West series schedule! 

Winged sprintcars = the fastest and most exciting 
racecars on dirt! 

True that, I haven't been the races in California but I'm glad to hear that 360 racing is healthy out there.    I live in Texas, where good sprint car racing has been kind of scarce in recent years.    I guess if you like the 305s then there's that, but I'd rather be watching 360 or 410.    We get the Outlaws once a year at Devils Bowl and it's gotten to where any ASCS shows are regional and don't draw many cars either.   

Not including the Knoxville 360 Nationals the ASCS National Tour has averaged 35.4 cars per event.

Jeff Kristensen

ASCS National Tour has run 6 races in Texas so far this year (2 more scheduled) and averaged 28.7 entries

Jeff Kristensen

Agreed, 360's have become so expensive that I think a lot of teams decide they are better off running 305's if they can't afford a 410. The once great URC has very few cars and not much of a schedule anymore. The NY series are doing better, especially the ESS, but they have no 410's or 305's up there.

A

I stand corrected, the events I was looking at with 13 cars were regional events not National.   

August National tour race at Iowa's Hamilton County only had 13 show for that one

I-30 moving the STN to early October pretty much eliminates the likelihood of attracting many, if any heavy hitters, used to they would put out press releases highlighting the notable entrants, but not this year  :(

WoO and the All Stars are both racing that weekend, Missouri's Lake Ozark Speedway has USAC and the ASCS Warrior region that weekend, this year I-30 has cut the STN back to a two night show and altered the payout, seems the STN is going from a prominent national event, to more or less regional event, i'll bet the local competitors down there are thrilled that there will be fewer high caliber drivers, as they'll have a easier shot at winning, but I have no interest driving 7 hours down there to watch the locals whom I'm not familiar with battle it out, besides last years Friday night race was so dusty, my wife and son chose to stay at the hotel for the Saturday finale, my wife I could understand, but my 14 year old son who is a sprint car fanatic opting to skip it shocked me, used to be it would get a little dusty come the B mains, but last year they were pretty much stirring up dust before hot laps were complete, .......no thanks!!

It did. 1st sprint car race there in over 20 years

Jeff Kristensen

my sentiments exactly. i couldn't have expressed it any better. we get to watch these young stars start winning then dominating, & they're gone. and we get to cling to the hope that they'll be back for Trophy Cup, which it seems most of them will be. even though i have never been to Short Track Nats, it saddens me to see races that were once prestigious & loaded with good racers diminish to no more than a regular saturday nite show. i feel for you guys, and wish you could come experience what we get in a couple weeks

Sammy is running the STN again. It's on his site and on multiple twitter posts.

You can thank Emmitt Hahn for that ... He got pissed off at the track owner a few years back over a scheduling issue. Hahn basically said it’s my ball and if you don't play my way then I'm taking it and going home. The ASCS and I-30 Speedway put on a great event and it's sad to see it wither away to what it is today. He went as far as to schedule an ASCS event held on the same weekend as the STN and told his drivers that they couldn't go race it without there being serious repercussions.

On another note Hahn related.

I've never been a big fan of old man Hahn or his late partner in crime Lanny because of the lack of payout at the Chili Bowl. It's hard for me to watch these driver's, teams and team owners put the time and money into this show to basically win bragging rights and compared to the monies generated for this event, chump change. Emmitt and Lanny make a shit pile of cash from the chili bowl, well Lanny used to. I know it takes a lot of cash to bring together that big of event, but you can bet your wife’s sweet ass they aren’t coming out of pocket personally to put that show on, lots of sponsors with deep pockets for that. I have nothing against anyone getting paid for their efforts, but come on man !!

The Sprint Car Bandits (a 360 group) put on a barn burner last Saturday, at the Lonestar Speedway!?! 

ASCS, as a whole, has made some terrible decisions in recent years. Their PR is an absolute nightmare.