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

I am strongly against this idea. 30 laps is plenty of racing. 40 is too much and 50 is absurd. If it's not broke, don't fix it. This is the SPRINT car capitol of the world. Taking a break in the action for fuel takes the sprint out of it. I don't believe the tires will hold up either and I'm not talking about running 40 or 50 laps on the same set. I'm talking about the last segment on a fresh set. Leading up to the championship feature, seven out of the previous nine nights of racing are at k-ville. I recall the brodix race in 08 or 07 I'm not positive which one but the A feature was shortened because of fear of tire failure. That's after only three nights on the track, a 360 motor, and they run a Hoosier medium. Add horspower and I don't see a D10 or D12 lasting. If they run a harder compound then they're buying something for one race only. I understand that they're going to be buying a set of tires regardless but the rest of the week they'll be running on a soft tire and then they'll have to switch to a different compound for the championship A. I'm all for positive changes but I'm not seeing the positive in this one. Donny Schatz will win by a full lap instead of just a half lap.

Im not sure whay my opionion is worth , but i love the whole invert in the heats. I do beleive 2 extra laps ore so added here would make more of a differnce than adding laps to the saturday A. I would also add laps to the b actually to alowe chargers and hard luck guys more of a chance to goto the show. OBV my opiion but leave the a the way it is. More laps? No thanks. One more though add laps to qualifying night a's. Would allow more passing and let some guys make up for poor q'lfyin times. Also would give guys closer setups for saturdays a.

The drivers who start up front have worked their asses off all week to get where they are and should

not have to work with an invert. I'd like to see the E D C & B mains a little longer just to help out the

guys who had bad luck on their qualifying nights and give them a shot at comin through the field and to

widen the track out for the A. If it is changed to 50 or 40 laps something could go horribly wrong with

drivers not having much knowledge of what tires and amount of fuel to put in their cars. We don't want

the biggest race in the history of sprint car racing to be awarded to a driver who only won because the

winner did not make weight or have a race that is marred by blown tires.

-Austin Rankin

30 laps is the correct amount for a track of this size. Leave it alone. A scheduled red for fuel is absurd. A 35 lap race could be considered but that's all, with no scheduled red.

You would be turning this thing into a endurance race instead of a sprint race if more laps were run with a mandatory red for fuel. It's bad enough they throw a red for fuel now for too many laps run under yellow.

"Just the facts ma'am", Sgt. Joe Friday, Detective, 
LAPD

I wrote a long response where it went i dont know.. Sum it up ,12 lap heats , Up the laps on q'fling night a featch, up laps on the b on saturday, please leave the a feature alone. Love coming Thanks!!!

Well heres my reasining, I love the total invert for the heats but maybe give em a few more laps to elimantes Kamikazi moves? Add more laps to the q'fing a featch each night? It gives bad qualifying laps a chance to even out in points. Add more laps in the b Saturday night this gives soup chasers and others more laps to come on up to the BIG SHOW!!!!!!! Witch is a sprint car race, No more laps please , it is a great show!!!!!

Ok this is the way I figure it from what I've seen. On a heavy track that is a 1/2 mile it's ABOUT a gallon a lap. So pretty much 33-35 laps. Now if you slick it off (I'm usually not in favor of with the exception of the big tracks) you can stretch it to 40 and still make weight if you fill up. So I personally think it can be done without a stop but with bigger motors the top guys have it will be tougher. So I say barely touch the track after friday's show and let it go 40 straight laps. If they get 2 cautions or more they'll need a stop. So it's kind of a no win situation IMO. BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE 40 LAPS NO REDS!

hell, why not strap a 55 gal drum of fuel on each side nerf and run 'em 100 laps! i don't believe you are advocating sacrificing track conditions (after ALL the flack about locked down or dry slick tracks that has gone on in here) for the biggest race of the year. would you be willing to buy a $1300 + tank to put on the shelf ?

I'd be willing to bet that most teams that have a shot a making the A already have a 33 gal. cell. Therefore, 40 laps is not out of the question. I, as many of you, do not like the idea of a planned stop. 50 laps would be too much.

I've noticed almost every year after the Nats. this board is filled with people saying that 30 is not enough. Where are those people now?

Inverting 10 or 8 or whatever in the A is too much also. Like it was said, they work hard enough qualifying for Sat. that to penalize them would be totally unfair.

Savage

anything over 30 laps becomes just another snoozer(champ car) race.

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Forty laps would be fine only if they can make it without a mandatory fuel stop. IMO fuel stops(pit stops) and provisionals suck! This is not Nascar.

I know, I know, I know. I hate slick tracks and would rather see a rough heavy track BUT, for the Eldora's and Knoxville's when it's been heavy those tracks become Daytonas and Talladegas. FREIGHT TRAIN FOLLOW THE LEADER! or I like to say BORING like Daytona and Talladega. You can't make those tracks rough or it is way to dangerous, so the only way to get some action going on the big tracks seems to be to slick the hell out of the track and hope it doesn't lay rubber. It all goes back to what I believe is the biggest problem with winged sprint car racing on big tracks: Glued down race cars. But the only bonus that comes with a slick track is that equals less fuel consumption and more laps. (Maybe 40 laps with minimal caution laps)

I know this has to do with the nationals but I'll say it anyway. Wing cars need to do something and something fast to keep cost down and create up front battles on the big tracks. I'm slowly turning to the "dark" side and watching more and more non-wing races at the big E and less wings. If they have to they might have to take a look at late models and see what they did to go from freight train racing to side by side battles for the lead and unfortantly THE MOST POPULAR FORM OF DIRT TRACK RACING! (BLAH)

_

For us who have been following the Nationals from the early 70"s the quality of competition has been deteriorating as technology has stuck the cars to the race track. This is not only true at K'ville, hell you never see a winged car truly backed in at Eldora anymore, might as well be Winchester. So, as often stated, loosen the cars up. In my ideal world the wings would be gone, but willing to compromise: no sliders, no nose wing at all. Harden up the tires. Advertise the race at 40 laps, and let the competitors deal with setting up their cars to go the distance. A view often expressed here is the racers express their engineering creativity, so lets see that creativity expressed by figuring out how to set up a car for 40 laps of racing with no fuel stops/tires that last and a race that doesn't look like a bunch of slot cars going round and round.

Captrat

It's suppose to be a RACE, not a CHASE! Invert the A 8 or 10. Did they work hard all week to get there? Yep! But those are qualifying nights. This is the biggest and highest paying race all year! Make them earn it...put some excitement in it for the fans. I've noticed almost every year after the A on Saturday night of the Nationals an echo of people disappointed because the winner was so predictable...from the first row or two! Anticlimatic!

More laps run.......advantage Schatz!

How many Posse made the A at last years Nationals?

http://www.racefan.com/Results.asp?TrackID=1169&StoryID=255472

Only in Iowa! .... LMAO!

"Just the facts ma'am", Sgt. Joe Friday, Detective, 
LAPD

If the qualifying night features were 25 laps instead of 20 laps last year Schatz would have been starting several rows back...Shaver told me the engine was gone and he couldn't have made another lap or two.

Perhaps the biggest advantage the top guys have, other than being quite talented and having the best that money can buy in everything, is the ability to R&D the shocks. Shock technology is rapidly changing and the top teams have a distinct advantage in harnessing that new technology.

There's not THAT much difference in horsepower and everybody runs on the same tires. Even if you took away cockpit adjustable wing sliders and went to a smaller tire, the top guys would still have an advantage, perhaps even more than ever.

As for format, I can see a time when everybody runs every night, without splitting the field on qualifying nights. It's a radical departure from tradition, I know, but the money involved, the competition for the entertainment dollar and the very real possibility other racing events may surface around the country that could take cars away from Knoxville may well dictate this in the future. I'll say it happens within the next five years.

John, I would have to somewhat disagree with you on the value of R&D'ing shocks. Yes, there are lots of expensive, complicated shocks on the market, but asphalt seems to be the place for them. Remember super shox? Everyone on the outlaws had to have them because Sammy was fast with them. I don't know if any of the WoO guys have them now. Penske? Yep, they all had them. Maybe 2 guys run them. Look at Kinser's car next time. He runs the same Pro shock that you could buy years ago. You could go down to Jocko's and pick some up for maybe $120 or thereabouts. Last time I looked, Schatzy was running pretty much a standard design afco. Ya, they dyno them, but almost any decent race shop or parts shop has a dyno service anymore. Usually for $10 or less per shock.

The greatest deal would be No wing sliders and here's why: On a typical Knoxville feature track, guys would have to pick their strategy. Starting up front? OK. Are you going to leave your car free so you can get out quick and be the rabbit, or are you going to leave it a little tight, possibly fading at the start and maybe coming back towards the end.

Guy at the back; free it up and make a charge only to have the track blow off too much before the race is over, or leave it tight, take what you can, and then come on like gangbusters at the end when your set-up is almost perfect for track conditions?

How awesome to maybe watch Haud or whoever REALLY sink'er in the cusion because he guessed wrong. You'll get your money's worth.

As far as tires, I would prefer a narrower, harder tire, (like Knoxville has suggested) as opposed to just a smaller tire.

2 cents from gdude!

www.Numbersusa.com  

go tell the teams (most of them) that have shock dyno's and revalve kits in their trailes that shocks aren't important. as for kinser, you can bet he has put a lot of thought into those plain looking pro's.

to indy and beyond!!