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

The new Jimmy Spencer...

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

It was a cluster, there's no doubt about it.  I am not a Danny Dietrich fan but not a hater - I think the guy is an unbelievable talent.  That being said I thought he got a bad deal but that is my opinion, I don't think the track had enough checks and balances in place to be 100% sure he was late.  There were a lot of factors in why he was late or not late, lack of push trucks, maybe lack of employees or dedicated employee for this rule, you can't hear the sound system and I didn't hear the horn so I'm not sure if he could have heard it (I could be wrong, I'm only speaking on what I could hear).  I think Scott Gobrecht is a great person and owner and his management is going through some learning pains.  That is all to be expected and I hate to see Kolton get thrown under the bus but you can't have your cake and eat it to.  If you are having difficulties running a show, you have to be somewhat tolerate on a rule like that.  You can't all of a sudden in the middle of a poorly run show and say you are putting your foot down at that exact moment because you open yourself up to a ton of scrutinity - which is exactly what happened.  Danny made a scene and as much as people hate it, it probably wasn't a terrible thing.  Someone needs to play the bad guy every now and then and get people talking.  Dale Earnhardt was great at that throughout his career, people love or hate him but it got people to the track and this sport needs people like that.  As for the staff, people on here say that it is all the old ownership staff, that is a bunch of crap.  They are wearing headsets and being told from the tower what to do, they are not deciding these things on their own.  It was a tough night for the track but it was a great race all things considered.  A lot of good can be learned from a night like this going forward, it doesn't all have to be doom and gloom.

Didn't go but sounds like deja vu from previous years. Screaming, begging, threatening cars to get on the track for heat in motors, hotlaps, heats, and feature. Poorly run time trials.  Endless unnecesary laps under yellow.  Overwatering of track (at least previous years).  That show should be over before the sun sets, that's for sure.

Did the appropriate staff have head sets on?  Were they in the tower or were they getting chicken fingers n fries During the pace laps????

That pretty much sums it up. I hit all of the 410 shows at Susky this year and it's basically been the same deal as always, just as you described. I'm still willing to give them some slack because of the fact that they're still pretty new to this but time is running out. Procedurally, they need to get their shit together or they will be losing support. Time trials were painful. I've been to many stock car tracks who don't run sprints regularly and most of them did a better job of keeping time trials moving than Susky has this season. As far as procedure goes, not much had changed from the Fisher era. In fact, one could make a legitimate argument that it has gotten worse. They've done a good job on improving the facility but they definitely need to get better at coordinating the various aspects of the event itself. 

Lol, yeah you have a valid point on that one.

Hard to believe Mr Altman has not replied on this post since it is about his favorite track and he has been begging fans to support it all year!

I have worked for 1st time promoters and it's not that hard to get things organized and systems implemented to run a show in a decent amount of time. If those running it now can't figure it out then they should hire someone to run it who can.

who is the race director at Susquehanna?  Anyone know?

The sprint shows have been pretty much ran the same way as when Todd ran it. When you don't have enough push trucks it's hard for anyone to run a sprint program. I'm glad they're making improvements but I wish they take 20K and buy a bunch of trucks. It's a stupid problem to have.

20 K?

Port, Lincoln and the Grove were not running, it only needed organization.

Push Truck

In DD's denfence.  I'm not saying this is what happend, but the only speakers working in the joint were ones on top the press box. Those could barly be heard at other end of front stretch let alone the pits with motors fired up. maybe just maybe He and 3 other team did not here the call to stage their cars. 

You're full of shit. Been to everyone and it's been a hell of a lot better. Only things that bothered me about the night. Endless caution laps for no apparent reason. Maybe there was, and i just didn't hear it over thre shotty sound system.......non working scoreboard had no idea what lap they were on or tt...times. couldnt hear them either.....Other than that i had no complaints.....oh need more shitters....

There was an 8 minute air horn for staging. It was loud and could be heard anywhere in the front pit area. It was also covered in the drivers meeting, about the air horn. The official in the front pits did cycle back and forth through the front pits indicating to teams to start moving to stage the cars. BTW , this is in no way an indictment of Susky or the teams who were penalized. I just thought I would throw this out there for informational purposes. 

I could hear the air horn from up in the stands well passed the flag stand towards turn 4. Dont you think "DD" and company would of gotten the picture when all the other cars left their haulers? Was it extra time he needed from the earlier contact with the 21? As someone else said earlier in the thread... rules are rules.

Scoreboard has been out. Koltan was on winged nation a few weeks ago and mentioned it broke and they couldnt find parts to repair it. I guess the board is over 40 years old. They are most likely going to have to replace the entire board or find somebody with the resources and knowledge to repair 40+ year old non solid state electronics.  

If it's vacuum tube technology, then I'm sure it would be much cheaper to replace it.

A

Maybe they can buy Port's old one and use it for parts to fix theirs.

Full of shit? We raced there for 8 years. How bout you? I'm willing to bet you've never touched a race car. Or been in a race shop. I bet you're 50+ with your favorite driver's t shirt on, sitting in the stands drinking Busch. You have know idea what you're talking about. You have know idea who you're talking to. Take a seat chump.

wrong on all accounts....nice try though. Only thing you're right on is I've never worked on a car....Don't care who you are really. Im not 50+. I dont drink and im not a chump... IMO it has gotten better with the exception of this show. Just because you wrench your moms mini van at the track for the last 8 years....Does not mean you know more than me on how the shows have been ran..Pound sand douche nozzle.