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

Yes, I believe they put the top 2 from each heat and the top two fastest qualifiers who transferred in the heat to the dash. I didn't really watch when they inverted but to me it makes the drivers actually race to get there. Now if you run a good qualifying time and start on front row you pretty much lock yourself into the dash. I don't agree with having the two fastest qualifers also go to dash like All Stars do now and WoO did then but that's just my opinion.

I'm referring to inverting the heats not the A main. So say you qualify first you start 4th in your heat. If people wouldn't have complained about sandbagging in the WoO they wouldn't have gotten rid of the invert in the first place. Which, there is almost no way you can accurately sandbag to the tenth of a second but people will always find a way to complain.

Yes and it didn't produce any better heat races than they have now. Just that the 13-16 fastest timers won from the pole and got in the dash instead of the guys who earned it. It's not the format, it's just that there's a lot of fast evenly matched cars running hammer down on a tacky heat race track. Nothing new, it's been hard for sprint cars to pass in a heat race for over a decade now. PA speedweek had a format that used group TT's(1 group for each heat),invereted 4 in each heat and they took the heat winner plus fast timer from each heat into the feature inversion. I'm pretty sure the qualifiers outside the invert were lined up by heat race finish instead of time so you could advance your feature starting position in the heats. Format worked pretty well I thought.

A

was at eldora last year for the nasnap trucks, which kyle won from the rear of the field by the way.  the real acation was all the beating and banging he was doing with bell!  someone was pissed off and repeadetly tried to take him (Kyle) out.  only one larson in the world and bell is not him!  does that ring a bell?

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

I love the "fast cars in the front" argument. Keep in mind Bell, last nights winner spent Thursday night mired in the B Main. There are probably 20-25 cars capable of winning, how can you come up with a format for that?

Everyone has the exact same equipment. Everyone is driving the exact same speed. And 90% of the field last night were really good drivers. There just aren't enough variables in an 8 lap heat race for any decent amount of passing. 

"Once in a generation" There can be more than one incredible talent per generation. Do the names Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, and Doug Wolfgang ring a bell?

"How do you eliminate sand bagging?"

Easy, eliminate Time Trials

I know this will upset traditionalists, but random draw for heats, race your way in. They could even reverse starting positions & run heats back again, cumulative best finishes determine A-Main lineup

Time Trials are boring to me, other than as a way to learn who's driving what.... let 'em race!

First off.....sandbagging within 2-3 tenths of a second in time trials to secure a certain spot in the heats regarding an invert from a random order in qualifying?  Ridiculous! Can't be done!

Second....No organization is going to ever allow a format that even resembles making it tougher for their stars to run up front. Especially the WoO! 

I like your ideas of racing their way in. I've wondered about double heats, also. But again, they arent going to increase the number of outsiders that win WoO Features by giving them any more of a chance than they have right now. They like to brag about how many win one from time to time (making the total number of winners look good), and the WoO drivers and team owners like it that way, too.

You're just adding costs at that point. Double heats, more laps on the motors, more laps on the track leading to rubber down. 

The "Johnny Utah Over/Under" for tonights gap between 1st and 24th is .475 secs. What do yous got? Over or under?

I don't think you need to try and eliminate sandbagging.    Since everyone is playing the same game,  let's add to the drama and see who is good at sandbagging,  who is good at going fast and see who is good at actually racing.   

I do like the two heat or heat/qualifier format over time trials though.   Midwest late models seem to have taken to a two heat format but they just run the same cars in each, inverted.     Mix it up a little.     I doubt the extra motor cost of an additional 8 lap heat is much more than a 2 lap time trial.

Sandbagging has been done and can be done, have a few drivers as your friend, lol.  Like the old Traction Control argument.  I had a driver tell me after finishing 2nd at a high paying event say, 'His traction Control worked better than mine"...Believe me Blazer, we agree on virtually everything....

You guys are forgetting the most important thing.  The WoO has to take car of the guys that tour. That is the reason for time trails. 95% of the time it's the travelling guys fighting for there respective spot in the heats. The rules are made for them. Which if your committed to tour it should be. Me personally, I'd like to see them pull a pill for the feature line up. 16 spots, that's only 8 rows back. A 40 lap feature is enough time to get to the front. Add in some handicap points or passing points and the guy that has the really good night gets rewarded for it. 

About the only thing I would change about the format is for guys who have a total crap time trial, you keep getting penalized for it throughout the night unless you qualify through the heat. Sweet at Attica came through his heat from about last to 4th, one spot out of a transfer and had to go to the D Main because they went back to the times to line up the D-B mains. 

You're probably right.   There's absolutely nothing similar about the two of them other than the ability to jump in any kind of race car on any surface and win...

The track prep tonite looks like it is set-up for the NASCAR truck race, dang....

Im sitting in a red flag at Port, what's it look like. I saw Schatz ran a 13.1 in his heat. Thats seems pretty fast for a heat.

Yes, the way it should be at Eldora FAST!  You can have good racing with it being really fast!

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

Largest crowd in Kings Royal history.