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

I just read an article about Billy Pauch being named the Fastest Sprint Car for doing 144.590 around the Moody Mile. That was back in 1994. Any idea who has gone fastest since then. Not looking for lap times but lap speeds so any length track will work. How fast was Sammy in the Channel Lock at Bristol on the dirt surface?

Also saw some guy do 200 mph on the salt flat but I'm interested in actual functioning race tracks.

Thanks eh!

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

I found a site that calculates mph with regard to lap time and size of track.   I believe Bristol was actually .533 and if that's accurate then it translates to 140.058 mph.     Several years ago they brought an asphalt sprint car in for time trials against a winged supermod, a sportscar, and some high powered Camaro or Charger.   I think Jason Blonde was the sprint car driver, and he was by far the fastest at 13.2 seconds.     That translates to 145.36 mph.    Later that year or maybe the following year they had a sanctioned winged sprint race at Bristol, and I believe the same group that Blonde runs with.   Whoever set fast time during that show lowered it to 12.7 seconds.    That would be 151. 086 mph.    

Now this is all based on my memory, so I'm not entirely sure about it.     That includes Bristol's actual size being .533 of a mile.    

Go to YouTube and search "Bristol Speed Trials" and you can see what I'm talking about.   I was accurate on Jason Blonde turning 13.2 second lap, and actually it was 13.24 seconds.    He was .002 seconds faster than one of the winged supermods and the lap speed was 144.87 according to the video.    Still looking for results from the asphalt sprint car race they held there, which I believe they said was the Extreme Series. 

I would also add that what Sammy did was more impressive in most ways.   I believe they graded out some of the banking for the dirt sprints whereas these other drivers were able to use the full banking.    

Finally found the other part of it.   On October 1, 2011 during Xtreme Sprint Car Series qualifying Brian Gerster turned a lap of 12.74 seconds, which comes out to 150.46 mph.   I'd say that's your fastest sprint car man right there.    Anyone know if anyone else has topped that?   2011 was several years ago, so I wonder if that record still stands.    

Interesting, I was wondering when was the last time winged sprints ran on a mile.   I'm not sure when they quit running Syracuse, but I guess 20 years since they ran Springfield.   

McMahan set the fastest average lap speed for WoO at Rolling Wheels in NY in 2014. 15.461 second lap on the 5/8 mile track for an average speed of 145.527 MPH. 

It was a cool October night, and they were flying.

Absolutely not. I have been to Rolling Wheels many times. It is not a 5/8 mile. It is a half-mile, Cars are not gong as fast at RWR as they did on the miles. The problem with average speeds at places like Rolling Wheels, Eldora and many more tracks is that the size of the track is inflated to make for ridiculous speed claims.

The year Pauch won the Outlaw race at Syracuse, he commented that the best part of racing a Sprint Car at Syracuse is "when it's over.".The Outlaws did not want to go back there after 1995 because they felt the track was too fast. The following year, the Super DIRT Week shirts at Syracuse carried the phrase "The track banned by the Outlaws." on them. Syracuse was also notoriously narrow on the backstretch and the scene of some horrific crashes because of the speed and how tight the track was.

The Sprint Car race at Syracuse was also really sketchy because the back half of the field was always ESS 360s that were as much as 30 miles per hour off the pace of the leaders. Several 360s would always do the smart thing and pull off after taking the green for the $1,000 starting money. It was always amusing to see the official results from Syracuse and see guys who ran one lap be listed as dropping out due to "out of fuel." 

Would tend to agree but that's how the WoO measures it, so take it up with them. I feel like I've heard Johnny say that the Outlaws average the length of the inside and outside of tracks. Did a quick little measurement using Google Maps.

Inside of track = 2,456 feet (0.465 miles)

Outside of the track = 2,988 feet (0.565 miles)

Total feet = 5,444, averaged out to 2,722 feet which is 0.513 miles

15.461 second lap on 0.513 track is average speed of 119.45 MPH.

I don't know about time trials, but here in central PA there is a rocket.....The 69K of Lance Dewease.  

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

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

From what I have seen, the Outlaws just use the track measurement BS that each individual track claims. RWR has been billed as a 5/8 since it opened in 1972, through several different promoters. I am sure the WoO did not go out and measure RWR to come up with a size that is obviously not true.

I had seen measurements fans took with a surveyor's wheel of RWR, and the results were very close to what you listed (right around a half mile). But even just with the naked eye, the track is not bigger than Knoxville or the three central PA half miles: Williams Grove, Port Royal and Selinsgrove. 

20-21 second laps at the “speed palace” is not a rocket. 

 Doesn't matter what RWR chose to be billed at. Eldora was always billed as a half mile. Not. By paying attention you'll hear Johnny explain each night that they have measured the track at the halfway point between the top and the bottom of the track in order to have a more accurate overall measurement for calculating average speed. I know the WoO and some tracks caught flack in the past because of the inflated speeds that were being tossed about, so the measurements came to be. While still not precise, the speeds being shared now are a heck of a lot more realistic than they were.

Eh....there is a difference between not being "precise" and being flat out ridiculously, laughably  untrue. You saw the numbers posted earlier in the thread for what RWR is on the extreme outside of the track.

There is nothing at all "realisitc" about saying cars average 145 miles per hour at RWR or that the track is a 5/8. In order for the track to be a 5/8 mile, the groove on the frontstretch would have to be in the grandstands. I assure you that the cars are not racing in the grandstands on the frontstretch or off the outside of the track the rest of the way around the track. Knoxville is your home track. Do you really think there is another track besides the miles where cars average 30 miles per hour faster than they do at a hammer down place like Knoxville?

If Johnny "explains" each night that the sky is green and grass is blue, that doesn't make it so.  I am skeptical that the WoO actually measures tracks, then just happened to come up with the same highly bogus number the track has used for over 40 years. A person would have to be blind to measure the track and come up with a figure so far off from reality.

Using the "top" and "bottom" methodology, RWR is .51 of a mile, nowhere close to .625.

Don't overlook the timeline. pauch did, but did McMahan record those times before the WoO bought the surveyors wheel?

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

Maybe that is why we dont see these insane speeds anymore!

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

At RWR? The track ran only one race last year and does not have any races schdeuled for this year. Rumors have been out for a while that the place may be done.

The comment I made about a surveryot's wheel came from fans taking the measurement. As posted ealier in the thread, Google is also pretty accurate when it comes to debunking bogus track sizes/speeds. 

I agree, but on that slip and slide they call a track......every other car is sliping and sliding all the way around the corners.   Lance once again was out for a Sunday afternoon drive on a Saturday night not sliping and sliding like the other cars were.  They need to rename that track the "Slow and Boring Palace".  

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

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

Also saw some guy do 200 mph on the salt flat but I'm interested in actual functioning race tracks.

The person who did that was California driver Damion Gardner.

Non wing, skinny tires.

There's a youtube video of it you can search for and decide for yourself if what

he drove qualifies as a sprint car.

You missed my point ya smart ass! Learn to comprehend! The Outlaws HAVE amended their measurements......no longer "measuring" Eldora as a half........and that's just one example........so I rather doubt Gibson now would state that RWR is a 5/8 for speed calculating........but of course like I said you do have to pay attention. And in doing so, I don't recall Johnny ever mentioning the sky was green or the grass blue. LMAO! Oh, and yes......Knoxville (which comes in just under a half mile) runs average speeds somewhere around 109-110 mph if memory serves me right.

anyone know anything about Cal Expo in the late 90's didnt Peter Murphy do some insane speed (180 or thereabouts) I heard those were some crazy badass races