Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

Larson says add starters, Sweet says no. I recall Willie Davis and Gary B. having a starter on their USAC sprint car back in the day. Speed up the show? Add too much weight? Too much cost? Millennials not sprint fans due to cars not being able to start without a push? Will time sensitive broadcasting demand starters? What other Pros and Cons exist out in online sprint car land?https://www.floracing.com/video/1092...weet-disagrees

Kenny Weld had a starter on his car at the Knoxville Nationals either 1977 or 78.

No starters!!!

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

I'll not be a party to such a ignoramus discussion.

Lets just put transmissions in them too......

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

starters, battery, wiring, where to put it, lets spend more money.

I hear a RR is going for 400 bucks!

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

ACTUALLY, Gary Bettenhausen had a starter on the car HE built, owned and drove (#99) not on the car that Willie Davis built and owned and Gary drove(#24,1,2). Gary said he put a starter on the car because USUALLY it was just him working on the car and he could start it and load it on the trailer by himself.

Starters, depends on what you want. Do you want the sport to possibly grow with more television coverage and younger fans? If so, starters are a must. If tradition is more important and keep the sport as it is, a niche sport, then no starters. I am fine with it as is but no way it grows in a big way with all the dead time.

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

This is bunk IMHO, With a good push truck team. You're losing nothing in time.

Sheesh, Go to eldora as soon as the last car is off the track the next heat is pushed off. Lined up within a lap and green the second.

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

I think that this is the jist of the thread here. The show will more than likely needed to be sped up to draw more fans in.

Starters being tabled is an option. A good push truck crew is another option. What other options do we have? Throw them out there, IOW fans.

Without taking the thread off into Never-Never Land, I'll put this on the table: Pill draw beforehand for heat starting positions. No qualifying. Use passing points. The key here though is that you have to bring the fans up to speed real quickly and properly to keep them abreast of how passing points work and where every driver stands in points after their heat. Without that it would be like watching a basketball game and not knowing the score as the game progressed.

Me? I am fine the way it is, but I also understand that I have a lot of race watching miles under my belt and know the way it works.

But I also don't carry a phone so that leaves me out of mainstream America.

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

I am old. Push trucks don't bother me, but don't see the downside to not having them. I don't know that the technology is there for starters to be effective. If it makes the show faster, I think that is a good thing. Tuesday's race was a good example of how 2 push classes, can be really slow. That is why I am skipping the Midget week races that add a third class. 2 push classes make for a long enough night. I am sure there were people who thought when sprints went from a pull rope to a push truck, it was the end of the world. Same thing with roll cages.

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

The problem with a debate like this is if you are on this site you are a die hard fan. Racetracks cannot survive on just die-hard fans. I have no idea how much time a starter would save and how much extra cost it would be. And I see lots of things that are considered "necessary" that I doubt really are that add to costs -- but that is not my decision to make. I can just say this. I am a huge baseball fan. I see guys my age just screaming about the new rules. I have been to three games this year and two of them were completed in about 2 hours and I loved it. I really don't have to have the batter step out after ever pitch and adjust their gloves, the pitcher fidget before every pitch and then throw over to first base eight times.

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

Perfect example

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

If the overall question of car configuration and equipment is to be entertained, should it not also address the matter of still using suspension designs that were last used on US built passenger cars in 1948 (straight front axle & torque tube rear)?

I have a problem with Mike not carrying a phone!
Actually what I have more of a problem with is jacking around after the car’s have fired. And if any of you had Tri State WOO on last night there was no shortage of crowd.

Hogwash! Sprint Cars should not be modernized in any way. They got their roll cages, they shouldn’t be asking for anything else.🤓

They were mandated for the espn shows on the midgets for a few years. Cars got a few inches as a result and the clutch was very unreliable. It added significant cost and prevented many of the smaller guys from competing in those shows. I understand from the time aspect to make it tv friendly and maybe technology would make it more feasible now than it was then but it was a pain in those days.

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

Serious Question for the pro-starter camp - Where is the starter and battery supposed to go? There is already very little unused space on a sprint car.

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

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Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

Tried to post but the site went awry.

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

30 Years Ago - A USAC Non-Starter

https://www.speedsport.com/opinion/s...c-non-starter/

Re: Debated Since 1970 or Earlier - Sprint Car Starters
 

If speeding up the show to get more people to come to spend more money to pay more money then for heavens sake put in starters. If we need to sit thru those god awful time trials we can have three out there at a time using starters. There is only one Eldora with all of its push trucks. Other tracks have adequate numbers but many don’t. For the crowd who says there isn’t any room in the car to put starters that is incorrect. We have a beginners division of sprint cars that are self starting. Also the winged and wingless super sportsman out here are self starting. It can be done.