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

Any format with 2 dashes and 12 cars eligible for a dash is crap. Most fair? What if you have the fastest overall time, win your heat from 4th, and pick 6th in a dash draw? You could be looking at starting 12th in A main. 
 

Also, until Every track on the woo calendar has a track conducive to passing early In the night, it gives a huge and unfair advantage to slower cars. It's not like if you invert 4 you're suddenly going to have a lot of passing. 

I think a invert of first 2 rows.  It is impossible for it to be equal for all cars.  Time trials are fastest if you go early with rare exceptions when track is very wet.  You draw to see when you time.  At a local track our average draw was over 50 in several years.  Racing is a hard  sport.

Heat races are needed to widen the track out for better A mains. In saying that, I do prefer some form of an invert like the All Stars have. 

I'm a fan, I do not care what is most "fair" (which is subjective anyway), I care what is most entertaining which inverts tend to create more of. Also, inverts give a chance to the local teams to possibly hit and give themselves a shot of a good night. There's a reason a lot of local teams won't run outlaw shows but will run all-star shows (biggest example is Sharon speedway, 27 cars for their outlaw show, 40+ for the 2 all-star shows run on Saturdays)

Agree.  Put the fastest guys in the back after TT's.  Count up points from TT's and heat finish.  Top points guys start up front, or at least do like they did last night for Cappy's race, for the top 8 in points.

To actually see some side by side racing rather than a single file freight train?

That's what those 5 support classes are for.

(Sorry man, the devil made me do it.)

So you're saying the Devil drives a Hornet?

They had just as many freight train heats when they had inverts. I have seen freight train heats at All Star & FAST shows which invert. The purpose of the heats are to setup the feature. To me the features the Outlaws have had since the format change have been night & day so much better than before when they inverted. No one really remembers the heat races that much, it's all about the feature.

All Stars format is good too but I have seen some heats due to luck of the draw be more loaded on the talent side while others are easy pickins for certain drivers. One year a driver qualified 8th overall in the whole field i believe but lined up 5th due to missing the invert and everyone else qualifying ahead of him. Finished 4th and had to about 14th. 

While yes this is entertainment, it should be competition first. All the gimmicks and changing of formats for fans entertainment purposes just turns the competition into....... Nascar

Well I certainly don't like the idea of getting rid of heat races for no other reason than tradition, I'd have to say that in the WOO races I've attended for the most part they've been pretty boring to watch.  Unfortunately there is no perfect format, something will seem unfair to someone (although I've never understood that argument since everyone knows the format before the event starts, unfair would be changing the format partway through to cater to somebody).  I would prefer some kind of format that puts fast guys in the back, I don't really think that's possible because many times the tracks aren't very racy in the heat races.  I don't care for the current conditions of heat races with the WOO they have to give the WOO regulars the best chance of being in the feature, it's not going to look very good if every night 1/3 - 1/2 of the WOO regulars miss the show.

Inverted Heats are for Weekly Racing series where there's 2 legimate nightly threats with the random occurence of a couple other drivers having a lucky night. IMO

Well we definetly don't want that! 

...and an announcer who calls the race like it's the most exciting race he's ever seen!

    There's a lot of truth to that statement. I tried to explain WoO heat races to my wife. The best explanation I could come up with was that WoO heat races are similar to players/teams being seeded (sp?) in tennis or basketball to make sure that nearly all the best players/ teams show up in the finals.

Tradition... I remember a lot of years ago at a WoO race at Husets, during the last heat race Mark Kinser bonked into Stevie Smith. Smith spun out and Kinser won the heat race. The announcer Denny Oviatt said that was the first pass he'd seen that evening.

Maybe the top 4-6 timers go straight to the dash and the rest run heat races with the winners added to the dash?

One thing that doesn't impress me is to redraw the front 8 positions for the feature like some tracks do weekly.

I say leave it alone! Better than passing points for me anyway! I can go to the races and follow the format without having to have a pen and paper and a calculator!

"Maybe the top 4-6 timers go straight to the dash and the rest run heat races with the winners added to the dash?"

Hmm, interesting idea...

Next question is how would you line up the heats?

Jake, I like the AllStar format as well. I like that the draw at the gate determines which heat race you are in and who you time with. I also like the invert and having the heat winner and the fastest guy locked in if he qualifies for the A.

I understand the argument from some that the AllStar format sucks if you are second fastest in your heat and start third due to the invert. As a driver at a  WoO show I'm not sure if it would suck worse to draw the last pill for time trials and then have to start third in a heat race and be outside looking in as well. So each format isn't perfect for everyone. 

I really like both series and have seen great races in both the past couple years, but I truly believe it's because there is a ton of talent and the equipment is closer than it's ever been. Come A main time the best driver's and crews are going to figure out how to get to the front with either format. But I beleive we would have better racing throughout the night for the fans with the AllStar format.

The races are interesting. You need to find another sport to watch if you don't agree.

I don't have a problem with this idea........as long as the finishing position in the heat doesn't guarantee you a spot in the feature.  (with the exception of the Nats-----Leave That Alone!!!)   I like that idea for one-night shows