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

Read plenty of critics tearing down the biggest event in sprint car racing, so figured it was about time someone gave them a pat on the back.

THANK YOU, KNOXVILLE!!! Certainly was not an easy task this year (considering the economic status and fighting rain), but still the greatest sprint car event of the year and provided the fans with plenty of action.

Track crew did an awesome job getting the track in shape after the rain. Certainly not an easy task, but the track had plenty of passing grooves for the features each night. Even Wednesday night (Thursday morning) was an exciting track to watch a race once the features rolled out.

The decision for an 8-car invert was bashed hard in here, but I'll commend them for making the call as everything seemed to work itself out in the end. The format was tested as we witnessed the lowest point totals (night one) and highest point totals (night two) in recent history, yet when the checkered flew on Saturday night the Top Eleven consisted of 6 Thursday and 5 Wednesday qualifiers.

Big time kudos for the change to the Friday night program. Arguably the best overall Friday program in recent history and the shortening of the NQ show led to a much better track for the Scrambles with a lot of passing.

The planned fuel stop doesn't look as bad afterwards IMO.... and I am a die hard Saldana fan. I was completely against it when the statement was released, but I chose to reserve judgement until after the event. The fans were still provided a great race and the longer the race the more driver becomes a factor IMO. While realizing Schatz is the best on a slick Knoxville track, thus 40 laps plays right into his hands against Saldana... I'd be a lot more pissed off to see several cars run out of fuel over laps 35-40 leading the car sitting in 8th to sneak out a Knoxville Nationals title due to fuel conservation. Yes, I'm also one of those shaking my head at 50 laps in 2010, but again I'll wait to see how it plays out before I bash it. A pair of 25 lap segments at the Naitonals finale may not be such a terrible thing... I'll wait and see.

As for the "if you don't like it, don't show up" attitude.... I have to agree with them. Fans need to be open minded in regards to change and quit bashing the event before it even occurs. There are a lot of fans that wouldn't even give this event a chance due to the planned fuel stop and then bashed the event even further due to... mother nature? Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but it is amazing how many negative topics are posted in this (and other) message boards against nearly every aspect of the Knoxville Nationals. The Nationals is still the premiere event in sprint car racing and I commend the track for looking for new ways to continue improving the event for the new generation of fans while maintaining the prestige and tradition of the event for the previous generation.

CONGRATS and THANK YOU to Knoxville Raceway for providing us fans with the best sprint car event of the year; your effort is appreciated.

Also, THANK YOU to Hoseheads Radio, KNIA/KRLS (yeah I know, they are the competition), the knoxvilleraceway.com staff, and SPEED for their coverage of the Knoxville Nationals. Hoseheads Radio provided us the best play-by-play radio can provide and I can't imagine a 4 hour rain delay being as entertaining as they seem to provide! KNIA/KRLS is an excellent alternative and provide plenty of local stories you may not get anywhere else! The knoxvilleraceway.com staff does a pretty imprssive job of getting results posted quick with a solid bulk of notes; if we didn't have radio we could still keep up just fine thanks to them! SPEED.... unfortuneately due to rain I don't think we got the full package, but it sure seemed like there was an attempt to improve the coverage from last year. While I would love to at least see a tape delayed coverage, I still appreciate the effort to bring us sprint car fans the biggest event of the year Live and hope to have the opportunity to watch again in 2010!

Funny how no one responds to a postive post as everyone wants to bash the race or track. It was the same crap after the Kings Royal. Most of the people on here just complain and complain and complain.

I thought the race was great with Joey & S. Smith putting on a great battle and then Donny coming from the 3rd row to win. Joey drove his ass off to try and hold off Donny but he was too strong. The extra laps was fine. The fuel stop no big deal. Running the race Wednesday was necessary and only Mother Nature's to blame. I am looking forward to seeing 50 laps live on Speed next year! Everyone please shut the hell up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF you don't like, go watch a parade on aspahlt!

My main problem with the fuel stop is the lengthening of the race. Its just making this race more about strategy than racing, and I think that's wrong. I would have been more upset if they tried to go 40 laps without a fuel stop, because I don't want this race to become like the Syracuse Modified race, where fuel strategy wins. Fuel isn't the only issue, as the bigger issue is tires. If they go 50 laps next year, tires will be the main issue. Some people say that the race is better because its longer. But I'd rather have 30 laps of racing than 40 laps of conserving and 10 laps of racing. I argued against the fuel stop, but not because of the fuel stop itself, but because they are turning this into a conserve, conserve, conserve, bide your time and then make your move in the last few laps kind of race. That's what you get with NASCAR. I don't want this to become NASCAR. Some people say put on bigger fuel tanks, I disagree, I say go back to 30 laps. You didn't have much of a battle for the lead this year. By the time Schatz caught Saldana, Saldana could do nothing, he had already burned his tires off. People say Schatz deserves it because he was smarter. That is true. But the race shouldn't be about who is smartest, it should be about excitement, and making a strategy race out of this is not exciting. The reason I don't like it is because its becoming more and more like that "parade on asphalt."

I guess 2 out of 3 aint bad so far. I'll make it 75% now; well said msu.

Savage

Race was good...fuel stop was no big deal..added more racing for the fans

The Wed. night A main was going to be a classic before Dollansky hit the car sitting the wrong way on the track. There were 5 guys who could have won that race. I agree with the friday night show too. It was a pretty good night of racing.

THANK YOU, MSU 12, for saying something positive amidst a whole bunch of crap. Nobody is perfect but everyone employed by Knoxville Raceway works their butts off to make this the best race track in the world, whether it is Nationals week or just our regular show. We all do the best we can with what we have and it's impossible to make everyone happy. But the bottom line is we all love racing and that's why we keep on going. Thank you for what you said about my part of the work. It's really nice to know that people do appreciate what we do instead of just expecting us to be perfect all the time.

of the many nationals that I have attended at least one night of like all others there was some bad but more good!

Weather sucks but they made the best of it.

This is only the second year that I have said this, they have almost priced themselves out of my budget

Rogue-9;

You don't think that EVERY sprint car race is about strategy?? It's all about setting up for the finish of ANY feature race. You have to get the car right so it comes in at the end of the race, and Donny & his crew are among the very best at it.

How many 410 features have a red flag for fuel anyway? This one did nothing to alter the outcome because they took advantage of a yellow that had already been thrown.

Why do you think Donny wins so much, other than his raw talent? It's set-up, set-up, set-up. Why do you think Steve Kinser won all those races and championships? Give Karl a red flag and you're toast, and even without it those 2 were a combination to be feared at any race. How do you think Jason Sides won his Kings Royal? He set up for the end, saved his tires when everyone else was blowing theirs.

Maybe whatever driver/drivers you root for needs to learn set-up and tire conservation. If you know it's going to be a long battle, only a fool uses up all of his/her ammunition in the first part of it.

Kudos to Knoxville's entire crew, the broadcasters, the racers and the fans. One of these days I'll get back there to take in the whole event, because it is more than just a race.

I am lucky enough to work at one of the best tracks 
anywhere.

I don't know how you define set-up as strategy. Everyone is trying to figure out the right set-up. Its whether you figure the set-up out that makes you fast. That's not strategy, nobody purposely puts the wrong set-up on the car and hope that it helps them win. Everyone is trying to set the car up right, its just a matter of whether you actually make the right decisions or not. That's not strategy, that's science. I know its all about the set-up, I never had an issue with that. But I've been to Syracuse for Super Dirt Week, and I don't want the Nationals to become like that. That's what I'm afraid of.

After 15 years I still get goose bumps when that first heat of the week and Saturday's A-Main take the green!

"Setting up a car is not strategy."? "..its just a matter of wheather you actaully make the right decisions or not."?

The definition of strategy in the dictionary reads- "a plan, method or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result".

I'd say that setting up a car to be the first car across the finish line is definitely a strategy for winning since that is the goal. Sorry, I don't understand your comments Rogue-9. Of course drivers have to make split second decisions while on the race track, but there are many decisions that are made prior to the race that affect the outcome. It's all strategy.

Just curious, you're not that crazy guy riding around Knoxville with the "yellow motor scooter" (#15 on side) are ya???

I get the same...and the legs start shaking when Katie Davis is singing...

If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me! 
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com

I wish she'd just sing the ONE song she's suppose to sing and get on with it already.

Get the SD Lottery guy and get the show underway.

On another note, the 132nd Fighter Wing of the Iowa Air National Gaurd was on hand for opening ceremonies, why can't we get a F-16 flyover? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the helicopter but a F-16 flyover would be awesome.

Umm, no comment. Besides, there has to be quite a few yellow 15 scooters.

Yeah, but there is one in particular that "attacks" orange street cones and ..... well..... lets just say it wouldn't be caught dead around eastern KY!

had to leave sunday morning, but i was very happy with the racing i saw especially thursday night and friday night. wednesday night was twice as good i thought it was going to be after the rain delay. wish i couldve seen sunday nights features but had to go back to work. i will be back next year and i think the 50 lap feature is an excellent idea for next year. strategy doesnt bother me at all. could end up making much more exiting A-mains in the years to come but we'll see. raw talent doesnt guarantee you a win in any other sport. you need to have some intelligence and strategy. as much as i hate to see donny win, he is the one who should win until someone else proves they can beat him night in and night out. just the way it is. i wanted to see joey win, but i think if the race would have been 30 laps he still wouldve lost. donny would have held back 10 less laps and let her fly at lap 25 instead of 35. just my opinion. donny knows what hes doing right now. god help us.

The only changes needed for the Nationals is a new flag man! Maybe one with 20/20 vision would be a nice change of pace. If it's not for the cautions thrown too late it's cautions thrown far too pre-mature. Same old stuff with Doug Clark. Take the pre-mature caution thrown on lap 1 for Jason Meyers in turn two. He never came to a stop plus the leaders were just entering turn four!???What the??? This caution put Stevie back to 2nd and Joey in the lead. I would love to have seen Joey slide Stevie again and put on a good battle for the lead.

I just hope after next years ticket price hike Cappy has enough sense to bring the prices back down for 2011! If he doesn't the Nationals could become a hardly attended dinosaur.