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

When did they decide to only invert 8 for heat races at the Nationals?

this year is first and hopefully the last

I kind of agree. I used to think they shouldn't because it penalized drivers for good qualifying times even though Qualifying was everything and where the points were. I thought 8 would be a good invert. But after looking at things.... I'm glad that it gives those guys a chance in the feature and not so many of them in the C because of 1 lane or too fast of a track but I think it takes some emphasis off Qualifying. Jury is still out and it sucks not to see so many of the "no name lower budget" teams in the qualifying features BUT I kinda miss that. I think they should keep it and have those surprises in the features...

I don't remember ever seeing this announced previously and I noticed they said nothing about it over the PA... likely scared of the overwhelming negative reaction they would have had. I didn't talk to a single person who knew about it or was happy about it. Maybe Bill W. can enlighten us on when and why the change was made. Of every possible format change this is the worst one to mess with.

This WILL drop the car count. Many of the slower teams only come because they know they may catch a lucky starting spot on the front row and be able to hold on for a transfer and have a cinderella type week. Or at minimum a small piece of glory.

Now the teams who are the 70th to 100th best cars will reconsider coming. If you qualified 41 to 50 on your night you used to still have a shot at a decent week. Now they might as well only run 8 car heats and send everyone but the top 40 timers home.

Sides would still have a chance at the A and Ty Bartz (yes the orange car who passed and held off Schatz) would have likely transferred in his heat. Instead, for both of these drivers for all intensive purposes their Nationals are over and were over after qualifying.

The 10 best races of the entire year in all of racing just became run of the mill heat races.

Congrats Knoxville...

Completely agree with you Klootwyk. Instead of messing with the format, tweak the rules on the cars. Unhook the damn cars!!!!!! Nothing against Cale Conley, but 20 years ago, a guy wouldn't show up for the first time and set second quick time. The cars are too easy to drive when the track is heavy. And everybody has the same or similar equipment. Years ago it didn't matter if the track was narrow or not, Kinser, Swindell, and Wolfie made it to the front from 10th. Several times before the first lap was complete.

Wing Slider

wow klootwyk. i think had the track not been ruined thanks to mother nature we would be talking about something else right now. fact of the matter if the powers that be wern't trying to save everyone money by making all the new rules (tires wings etc...) sprint car racing would be better reguardless of the format. people would be able to pass and the cars wouldn't be so aero dependent. bring back the mystery feature and the race of states.

I believe it was only because of the rain. They made a last minute change because the track was so fast and narrow to give the quick qualifiers a little bit of a chance.

If it was a last minute, last night only decision than it is just plain wrong. I fully agree that it probably had very little effect on the heat results last night due to the extreme track conditions but that is just the way it goes. Now you have to do the same thing tonite to keep things even and give tonites qualifiers the same chance at earning points.

Sometimes you just have to suck up a tough night due to circumstances out of anyones control and quit trying to "even things up".

Jeff Shepard's crash was in the B Main of his qual night not in a heat. Their were no "slow" cars in front of him...my recollection was a pretty well stacked B main and he tried a pretty aggressive hole shot and caught a tire going into one. (just my recollection)

Both heat crashes last night (which could have been worse) were caused by Lynch/Herrera and Davey Heskin...hardly three drivers you would call road blocks.

I think the field fillers did a pretty darn good job last night of showing everyone they can drive a racecar too. If you want an invitational of the top 30 or 40 cars only then go to a WoO show or the Kings Royal. But I promise 25,000 won't show up for that.

Regarding the decision being a spur of the moment due to track thing...they simply can't due that. It changes the points game for half of the cars. It would completely unfair to the 50 drivers who race tonight and the 10 who got shuffled back and an advantage to the 40 cars that got to move up their starting spot. If that was the case Jason Sides would be standing on Cappy's desk right now.

Imagine Knoxville officials "announcing" a change in the format on the day of the race. Taking both racers and fans for granted. Not even having the balls to announce the change over the P.A.

This ticks me off more than the "fuel/tire" stop planned for Saturday. At least they made that public ahead of time.

Talk about arrogance, stupidity and a sense of entitlement.

Schatz didn't go out to qualify until 39th...as soon as he became 3rd quick time the choice was made to only invert 8 instead of 10. They couldn't have Donny starting tenth in a one groove race track! nice laps by darrah and conley last night!!!

do it in the dirt

The track was way too fast for the traditional 10 car invert. No offense to the "Snapper", but when he's holding off the 3 time defending champion, you know the track is in no condition to be coming from 10th to 4th. Rain screwed everything up last night unfortunately.

the track was too fast to honor the rules...interesting comment.

to be fair to all the racers who benfitted at the expense of those who just got screwed:

when was the call made to change the rules?

and who had input on the rule change decision?

will the teams accept that last night got screwed up by the RAIN or by the FUZZY RULE BOOK?

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

The snapper started something like 9th and finished 6th so he had to hold off Schatz after he passed him right?

Sweet! Any updates on the JFK assasination yet?

Haha, the conspiracy theories begin! Interesting that a non-sanctioned show like the Nationals would be prone to the same theories as the typical Outlaw show. And to those who'd rather see a guy qualify 41st to 50th, start up front on a one-grooved race track and get in the show, that's fine. I am hopeful the change is only temporary, but it was the right one to make last night.

Yes, but after Schatz hit the wall and broke possibly a Jacob's Ladder.

I think they should invert the whole 24 car main on Saturday, the 4 transfers out of the b would be the front 4 cars now how about it, a Outlaw car would still win.

so you are saying tonight's compeitors will be awarded points based on a different criteria than last night and then the point totals from each night will be co-mingled and the contest goes on as tho competitors points are awarded on an equal scale?

maybe Kville should try a live poll at the track and ask the paying fans where they want the 15 car to start...only fair if others are making decisions under the cover oif secrecy...huh?

maybe Team Darrah will chime in on the Grove Board and let us know if they were consulted on the rules change...any word from your cronies if TSR or WoO has input on the rule change?

if tonights fast time has to start 10th but FEELS the track might be too tacky to pass, but has less influence over the rubber rules committe...they will have legitimate grounds for protest.

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

I don't think they will change back to a 10 car invert tonight. They'll probably keep then even. But I think the 8-car invert was due to the rain and we will see the 10-car invert again next year.