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

Why does everyone say "Well the whole field had to be in on this "

I believe 100% that Kyle was trying to win the race, but Rico getting by  might been an action of opportunity moment for Kyle. I say Rico was the only driver and possibly Lance that Kyle would have lifted the pedal a little for.  Also Why does everyone think Kyle wouldn't have made it look good, that he was trying his damnedist to pass Rico.  You put on a show for the fans.

We already have proof to fall back on that Kyle stopped his car to overrule or he just made the decision  himself to get Rico back in the lead of the heat race.  We don't know if Kyle would have done it for any other driver , he can say I would have done it for anyone; but he actually did it for Rico. We all saw him do it.

What would everyone be saying if Kyle won another HL race.  People are saying it now, this is turning into the Kyle Larson Benefit series.  Another thought if Kyle wins 8 of 12 races or 7 , whatever,  how will that look for the series going forward. How many racers will want to run it next year.  I  know I will.get hammered for this next statement,  but I don't think Kyke or any racer should be able to race a series they own.  Does anyone truly believe that any of the tech men or other officials would put their jobs on the line to make a call on Kyle.  He signs all there paychecks.  Let me use a simple analogy.   If you coached a baseball team and it came time to play the game and you found out the the umpires of the game were related to the opposing coach.  Would you all shrug it off or be this isn't right.  

I am not saying Kyle's car is illegal,  but really would anyone truly trust the HL tech man to go over the car with a fine tooth comb of the man who can fire him.  

Plus Kyle has raced for 12 years or whatever in the biggest "show" series in the world.  It doesn't take much research to find the quotes from Bill France Jr.  He said " winning by a car length is the same as winning by 10 seconds" .  He meaning behind the quote was to put on a show.  When Jeff Gordon was dominant in the late 90's , his team had code words for him that if he got more than a 4 second lead Nascar would throw the caution.   So Jeff would slow down.  Read Michael Waltrip's book about the 2001 Daytona 500.  Dale Sr. came to his bus and said here is the plan, we are going to push you to victory.  Michael said what about Dale Jr?   Dale Sr. said he knows the plan and he is going to push. Do I  think Dale and Dale Jr. didn't want to win the race,  No they wanted to win but if Michael was in the lead then they didn’t want to win it was stick to the plan. 

So my long winded point is yes , Kyle wanted to win.  But he had an action of opportunity moment and said maybe from a business standpoint it was better for Rico to win.  Now everyone is all stoked for the next Rico and Kyle show. Hey it sells more tickets and T - shirts.   Remember it is all business $$$$.

Why does everyone say "Well the whole field had to be in on this "

I believe 100% that Kyle was trying to win the race, but Rico getting by  might been an action of opportunity moment for Kyle. I say Rico was the only driver and possibly Lance that Kyle would have lifted the pedal a little for.  Also Why does everyone think Kyle wouldn't have made it look good, that he was trying his damnedist to pass Rico.  You put on a show for the fans.

We already have proof to fall back on that Kyle stopped his car to overrule or he just made the decision  himself to get Rico back in the lead of the heat race.  We don't know if Kyle would have done it for any other driver , he can say I would have done it for anyone; but he actually did it for Rico. We all saw him do it.

What would everyone be saying if Kyle won another HL race.  People are saying it now, this is turning into the Kyle Larson Benefit series.  Another thought if Kyle wins 8 of 12 races or 7 , whatever,  how will that look for the series going forward. How many racers will want to run it next year.  I  know I will.get hammered for this next statement,  but I don't think Kyke or any racer should be able to race a series they own.  Does anyone truly believe that any of the tech men or other officials would put their jobs on the line to make a call on Kyle.  He signs all there paychecks.  Let me use a simple analogy.   If you coached a baseball team and it came time to play the game and you found out the the umpires of the game were related to the opposing coach.  Would you all shrug it off or be this isn't right.  

I am not saying Kyle's car is illegal,  but really would anyone truly trust the HL tech man to go over the car with a fine tooth comb of the man who can fire him.  

Plus Kyle has raced for 12 years or whatever in the biggest "show" series in the world.  It doesn't take much research to find the quotes from Bill France Jr.  He said " winning by a car length is the same as winning by 10 seconds" .  He meaning behind the quote was to put on a show.  When Jeff Gordon was dominant in the late 90's , his team had code words for him that if he got more than a 4 second lead Nascar would throw the caution.   So Jeff would slow down.  Read Michael Waltrip's book about the 2001 Daytona 500.  Dale Sr. came to his bus and said here is the plan, we are going to push you to victory.  Michael said what about Dale Jr?   Dale Sr. said he knows the plan and he is going to push. Do I  think Dale and Dale Jr. didn't want to win the race,  No they wanted to win but if Michael was in the lead then they didn’t want to win it was stick to the plan. 

So my long winded point is yes , Kyle wanted to win.  But he had an action of opportunity moment and said maybe from a business standpoint it was better for Rico to win.  Now everyone is all stoked for the next Rico and Kyle show. Hey it sells more tickets and T - shirts.   Remember it is all business $$$$.

Agree or disagree that Kyle threw the race, you bring up many good points. I said awhile back before anyone turned a lap that if Kyle truly wanted to help the sport with this series, he would leave the car and the merch trailer at home. Let the full time sprint car guys race for these purses and the title while taking on a role like Brad Sweet where he's visible but not competing. Him running every race just opens things up wide open for controversy. Then throw in the night he stupidly decided to officiate from the driver's seat and that just throws gasoline on the fire. But on the flip side, does a crowd that big pack Grandview at $40 a head if Larson isn't racing? I'd bet not. So then how do you afford to pay a $23,000/$1,500 to start purse with 26 cars in attendance? That won't fly either. So there's some institutional flaws with this series that have been there from the beginning and are now becoming more visible as the newness wears off. But either way, him competing in every race will lead to constant controversy. There's absolutely no avoiding it. And that isn't good for any series.

The ticket sales over rule the controversy!

Packing the stands for a midweek race is a win/win situation

As they say, bad publicity is better than NO publicity!

But maybe they should do a bounty or some other type of competitive gimmick?

Six months ago as you point out some were predicting that the High Limit would replace the Outlaws and everyone loved Kyle.  Now High Limit is being called the KL retirement fund and he's a bum for taking money from the local drivers.  They make it clear up front that High Limit was strictly a specials only series that would not be going head to head but they did make an exception due to the Tuesday rainout.

I remember back when the Outlaw regulars wanted less mid week one night show.  I can't provide names but my understanding was that midweek races were difficult with all the traveling so the WoO cut back on midweek shows and put the emphasis on multi day weekend events.  Then a younger bunch of racers came along who weren't around when that change took place and demanded more week night specials which gave rise to High Limit.  Now we're seeing teams backing out of the schedules they put out at the start of the year.  Meantime I think people are seeing why there is a limit to how often these teams can race.  It doesn't help that it has been so hot all over the country as that is taking the wind out of a lot of sails this season.

I am not saying I predicted anything but I'm not surprised either.  Older fans will recall the push by the Outlaws to cut back on midweek racing.  I find the whole thing somewhat entertaining just watching the fan reactions to something a lot of us saw coming.

If 1,500$ to start (more than it pays at weekly shows to run 5th everywhere except knoxville I believe) doesn't get guys to travel 200 miles or less to a race, a bounty on Larson won't either. 

If it was Tuesday as originaly scheduled, instead of Wednesday when it conflicted with Allstar race, there would have been more cars.

They've had big car counts at most other shows, don't judge by one nite

They had plenty of butts in the seats which = $$$

The ticket sales over rule the controversy!

Packing the stands for a midweek race is a win/win situation

As they say, bad publicity is better than NO publicity!

But maybe they should do a bounty or some other type of competitive gimmick?