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

It doesn't take much to convince any reasonable fan that the World of Outlaws are the elite drivers across the country. But it's mid-April and no non-WoO driver has won a feature yet in 2016...why? 

The California crew struck out this year, after winning 3 last year, which was a huge surprise to me and I'm sure others. Netto should have won and Forsberg was strong at Placerville. Many of these races had little locals even in the top 10. Even mid-west drivers Brian Brown, Dusty Zomer and Terry McCarl couldn't snag a win out there.

Is it the Outlaws new format? I think it definitely is a factor. It is so heavily based on qualifying which, on many tracks, plays into the Outlaws hand because of their presumably bigger budgets and more horsepower. It used to be that if you qualified 12th-16th, you would start up front in your heat race and have a shot at making the dash but now you start in the 2nd row behind the Pittman, Schatz, Sweet and Saldana's. It's tough to hold off these guys, let alone pass them - which is what you need to do if you want to make the dash if you can't qualify as well as the big boys. 

There are some less horsepower hungry tracks coming up where a non-outlaw could pull of a win before the Posse have a shot against the best at Lincoln and Williams Grove and then the tough Ohio guys take their shot at Fremont, and then the Knoxville guys have a shot. River Cities and Badlands also host the WoO in the upcoming months.

What's up? Where do the WoO get beat first? Thoughts? Why?

At the risk of being ridiculously obvious: Cause they haven't hit Pennsyltucky yet?

There were 5 non-outlaw winners at this point last year. 

Anthony, good question.  No doubt not many people would've thought a clean sweep thus far for the WOO on tour.  Perhaps the new format, but horsepower may not have as much to do on most CA tracks which don't tend to be horsepower driven speed palaces.  Before hitting OH and PA they do go through I-55, so many a Midwest guy grabs a win there.  If not maybe Eldora before hitting PA, where I guess counter to my above comment HP would matter some.  Little Haud there?  Blaney?  Clauson if he comes?  Maybe Greg Wilson will run the bottom again and grab the win (though that would still be a WOO win)

Was it last year that T. Kaeding beat the Outlaws? I fergit.... he's not racing in California as much now, right?

TK's still in the Lunstra ride in the Midwest this year (same ride he had in the Midwest last year when Dobmeier started his own team to travel less). 

I think it mostly comes down to the format. The WoO drivers have always been the best qualifiers in sprint car racing. That one fact hasn't changed at all. The Posse guys have really improved in that department in recent years because of them running so many more time trial shows but the WoO have always been the best at it because they do it more than anyone else. With a format such as this one that puts even more emphasis on timing well, it plays more into their favor. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they sweep Pa next month but I'm hoping our guys can at least win one.

By this time last year, Kaeding won once, Rico & Shane Stewart twice. TK's not in Cali, Rico's in NASCAR, & Stewart joined the Outlaws.... that accounts for 5  Outlaw losses last year

or was Shane an Outlaw last year?

The 5 winners last year (2015) up to this point in the season and where they qualified:

McCarl 12th

Brown 5th

Kaeding 3rd

Abreu 8th

Abreu 1st

The format will continue to yield these types of results with maybe a few different winners before year's end. An invert used to give a locals of a chance at the dash but now it's a lot harder to out qualify the top 7 cars. 

BIG J

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

I think this is a perfect 2 sentence summary. 

Well there's a pretty simple answer as to why it has only been Outlaws winning the Outlaw races so far this year. They are pretty much the only cars that run now! Look at the cars in attendance so far. They barely get enough to field an A Main of 24. Look at USA Raceway the other night, a pathetic 18 car count. Perris a dismal 21 cars. Bakersfield another pathetic count of a whopping 22 cars!

And what about good old Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, remember back in the day,well to be exact,only a few years ago where they were getting 40+ cars, & what about the Gold Cup where it was split qualifying nights because you would get a whopping 120+ cars??? Yeh well wait for it, Chico a few weeks ago had a MASSIVE 25 cars show up.

Even blind Freddie can see here that WoO are killing what used to be the "Biggest Show On Dirt"

I think you can blame the promoters in calif for the low count ,,, use to be when the outlaw's were in Calif no other tracks would run any sprint cars on the night of racing,,,,, take Bakersfield for instance  they were up against the season opener for the taco bravo series at Watsonvile and a 410 show further north i beliee it was Chico so that took out quite a few cars not showing up to run with them ,,,,,,,

Car counts falling off completely in Cali is the bigger story here.

As to the Outlaws winning, I think it's mostly the format and partly the resurgence of the KKR teams. It's a stronger top 7 or 8 teams this year than last year, and I think it'll make for a good year.

Yes, TK snagged a win at the Tulare Thunderbowl, last year.

yes he was

While I agree with you in regards to scheduling against the Outlaws, I can really only think of 3, maybe 4, cars that maybe would've raced in Bakersfield. Those being Shane Golobic, who won that night at Ocean, Rico, who won at Silver Dollar (Chico) that night, and Allard who finished 3rd at Chico. The fourth would be Justin Sanders, big maybe, he finished second to Golobic at Ocean. 

They need to leave the rules alone for for a few years.  All the changing around is just making teams stay away. 

How many Outlaws are there now at every event? 12?

Many talented 410 regulars don't even show up when they hit Huset's(BMS now).

I expect it has to do with the rules and money.

While the guys on the tour are very talented, just becuase they are on the tour does NOT make them the best.

I've seen several more exciting sprint shows that were NOT under the WOO banner.

"Gimme fuel, Gimme fire, Gimme that which I desire!"