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Topic: 15 Blown Hoosiers at Calistoga Sunday Night
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Page 2 of 2 of 27 replies
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September 08, 2010 at
11:58:59 AM
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11/09/2009
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430
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The races this year at Calistoga have been good,and I had a lot of fun up there this past weekend.I have seen this tire problem many time's in the 32 years I have been attending Calistoga (that's racing in my book).I think the promoter is doing a great job with keeping the track open,and trying new type's of racing.The car count has been so bad over the past 6 years for the wing 410 that they have brought in support from modifieds (wich have been good as well) run 360 programs ect..
The flat tracker's were awesome,and I can't remember the track ever being so crowded,and the track was perfect for motorcycles...
Last point is that there was a huge,huge,huge pile of clay,and with some love there should be a new surface for next season.Nobody would go through putting that much clay on the fairgrounds if they didn't care about the outcome of the track.
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September 08, 2010 at
12:28:15 PM
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02/28/2008
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128
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Threadkiller, you are mistaken. Some if not all visit this board and read the comments.
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September 08, 2010 at
01:01:00 PM
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11/07/2006
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174
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the problem at Calistoga is track prep. did they work the track after saturday night? you just can't put tons of water on it. you half to open it up (rip it) to get it down into the track. i sat in the main grandstand on sunday and could tell in hotlaps that it was gonna eat tires.
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September 08, 2010 at
01:27:58 PM
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08/14/2009
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595
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Reply to:
Posted By: stoga on September 08 2010 at 12:28:15 PM
Threadkiller, you are mistaken. Some if not all visit this board and read the comments.
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Well tell em' to stop........:-)
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September 08, 2010 at
02:41:28 PM
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08/13/2009
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Reply to:
Posted By: Moonken Motorsport on September 08 2010 at 10:03:39 AM
Guys First time post long Time lurker and I had to chime in
on this one.
This was all about track prep plan and simple. My family
managed that facility from 1984 to 2008 since then the fairgrounds has gone
through two managers. This last manager has found a way to fire ever last one
of the employees and most of the grounds keepers in the past yr. The new people
do not know how to prep this track. From the reports we got from our friends
the track was dry the first night and only got worse. More than half the races
this season they had to take the blade to the track to fix it after some racing
had started because of the bad prep.
In short this has nothing to do with tires it is plain and
simple BAD TRACK PREP.
The bad thing about this whole season for Calistoga is that
ppl are going to remember how bad the track was and the car number count is
only going to get worse and worse until they get someone back in there that
knows how to work that track correctly. The two guys that worked with my father
for many yrs and have for that track for close to 20 yrs were told there
service were no longer needed. It looks like management may have been wrong
because they have not been able to have a good racing surface since. I hope
that someone form the Board of Directors reads this page because until someone
opens their eyes that once Great Track is going to bite the dust because of low
car counts and low attendance in record time. California cannot afford to lose
another dirt track and especially not one with the history like Calistoga.
Moonken Motorsports
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augie is still driving the grader as he has been for as long as i can remember so it wasnt anything on his part. maybe since charlie doesnt drive the water truck anymore the guy doing it now isnt doing HIS job???
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September 08, 2010 at
02:58:23 PM
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12/16/2004
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CRA91 and filtir, guess my common sense failed me again 
"The reason nobody at Calistoga ran the hard tire is because it's a piece of junk,works fine if you run a staight 30 laps,but if you have a yellow it cools down and seals over and to the rear you go.By the way the hard tire does have a different sidewall construction,but it doesn't help the tire work any better."
Why did USAC, Hoosier come up with a junk tire that nobody would run even on proven tire eating track like Calistoga, choosing to blow a tire (15 did) instead of running this "piece of junk"
By reading previous threads on tires, I thought Hoosier was the answer to everyone's problems.
I guess you can't please everyone everytime.
Everyone agrees the track prep was lacking this weekend at Calistoga, but if Hoosier/USAC provided a good hard tire, maybe it would of been a better race without all the blown tires and yellows and with drivers like Damion and Spencer babying the tires to make them last 30 green laps.
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September 08, 2010 at
02:59:14 PM
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08/13/2009
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Reply to:
Posted By: jdfast on September 07 2010 at 03:43:57 PM
I could be wrong, but I think in USAC CRA and National CRA you have to run Hoosiers and they are limited on compound choices. My guess is everyone ran the hardest available.
Watched Damion win on the net, it looked like he babied the tires most of the race. Not much sliding and little smoke. The other guys who slid their car or spun tires blew them pretty quickly.
IMHO - just because a tire blows or wears out, its not always the tire mfgs fault whether being Hoosier or Goodyear. It depends on car setup, pressure, track conditions and the drivers ability to make tires last and get the most from them without going over the limit.
Someone said over a 2 day race. I believe the 15 blown tires were for one main event of 30 laps. The night previously was 20 laps and Damion's tires were also bald coming from 13th to win.
Not an expert on the production of tires, but isn't there a human element in producing them, thus you can have a bad tire once in awhile. Happens in all forms of racing. Look at Michillin at the f1 race at Indy, Goodyear at Nascar race at Indy, both Hoosiers & Goodyear when there was a tire war in Nascar and I guess you could say Hoosiers at Calistoga. Crap happens. All 3 tire companies generally make good or superior products
Can not imagine what the tire conditions would be with wings, with more speed and downforce, and probably more HP on the cars. But how could it be worse than 15 blowouts
Open tire- not many series do that anymore. I remember when they did that in Nascar, tore up alot cars & drivers. Lots of races determined by the tire mfg and if you couldn't run that tire you were screwed big time. In F1 it probably led to the demise of the F1 race at Indy there due to the fiasco one year. But is it good for sprint car racing, maybe. Harder tires could be used at tracks like Calistoga, but I'm guessing some big name highly funded teams could get special tires especially if they do the R&D work. If it is open tire rule, have a limit on the price of each tire and make all compounds available for each team at each track. Thus everyteam has a fair shot at victory.
Concerning the last comment, goodyears blow with tread, and hoosiers blow when they wear out. Well if I was one of the drivers/teams that blew a tire Sunday, it had the same results. I would have to buy another tire and still start at the rear at best. Worse, I would be going to the hospital and/or replacing a car. There are no guarantees in racing. Thats one of the things that make it exciting to the last turn of the last lap.
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"Can not imagine what the tire conditions would be with wings, with more speed and downforce, and probably more HP on the cars. But how could it be worse than 15 blowouts"
when you got cars without wings pitchin it sideways like they need to do to run low 3/4 of the way down the straight or driving in so deep that the cushion is 2 feet from the wall it to pass it kills the track. was there and i got to hand it to Damien he didnt haze his tires but once or twice the whole night. guess thats why Rod put him in the car and that mystery guy Rod flew in to set the car up after night ones heat race he had ALOT to do with it too. memorial weekend those modified did the same thing . point is wing cars are alot easier on the track than non wing.
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September 08, 2010 at
03:46:27 PM
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06/16/2009
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This message was edited on
September 08, 2010 at
03:47:52 PM by mattmusselldesigns
Reply to:
Posted By: moolie on September 08 2010 at 02:59:14 PM
"Can not imagine what the tire conditions would be with wings, with more speed and downforce, and probably more HP on the cars. But how could it be worse than 15 blowouts"
when you got cars without wings pitchin it sideways like they need to do to run low 3/4 of the way down the straight or driving in so deep that the cushion is 2 feet from the wall it to pass it kills the track. was there and i got to hand it to Damien he didnt haze his tires but once or twice the whole night. guess thats why Rod put him in the car and that mystery guy Rod flew in to set the car up after night ones heat race he had ALOT to do with it too. memorial weekend those modified did the same thing . point is wing cars are alot easier on the track than non wing.
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I have to disagree in earnest with the notion that non wing cars are harder on the track than wing cars. The winged races are always a rubber down fest on the second night, always. It is far less common to have a rubber down surface at any racetrack with non wing cars than it is with winged cars. Not being rude just saying winged cars pull the moisture right out of the surface wayyyyy quicker than non winged cars.
The problem with Calistoga is less about the prep than it is the actual dirt itself. It is the most abrasive surface I have ever seen in my years of following sprint cars. The only thing more abrasive is rough asphalt. Mark Kinser once told me it was the most costly tire eating track the outlaws ever ran on. The tire bill he quoted me on for the annual 3 day outlaw show at Stoga was outrageous.
"Winged or non-winged its all about
the sprint cars for me!"
http://mattmusselldesigns.daportfolio.com
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