Love Hate
 

It never fails that a lot of threads on here ends up with some folks bashing the United States Auto Club. I have a hard time understanding why. As a fan I certainly don’t see it. What I do see is large fan turnout and almost always the best sprint and midget racing in the country with the best drivers and teams. I don’t race anymore but if I were a competitor I don’t see how you could have much to complain about. I’ve talked with Spridge a couple of different times and Levi once also, they sure seemed friendly an approachable. I can’t imagine them disrespecting anyone that came out to race. Now I’ve heard complaints of favoritism and so forth but I have yet to see any concrete evidence that provides proof to that allegation. Tickets are fairly priced in most cases when compared to going to an Outlaws race. My only complaint would be that they don’t have a big enough corporate sponsorship to pay a points fund similar to what they have in wings. Seems to me for some it’s a Love/Hate relationship with USAC. From my perspective the haters must have some underlying issues with the club because I don’t see how you can’t appreciate the product

Thats my only complaint too is the lack of corporate sponsers.sonething needs to be done to keep your series teams and drivers from bolting to another series like the all stars.does start monies need increased? It need looked into.live usac and I will support whenever we possibly can.we don't have the financial capabilities to attend each and every usac meet but we try hit what we xan

Agree, however, from a fan's point of view sometimes it seems they forget they are in the sports/entertainment business. Last night 30 cars took time, 1 car did not make the call for heats. So, I assume because of the new 30 car rule, then the 29 cars were divided into just 3 heats. IMO it is these kinds of things that often cause negative feedback. $30 for tickets is reasonable, however a shortened program is not. If I go to a baseball game I expect 9 innings, not 7.

Re: Love Hate
 

I only follow the sport online now-a-days, last time me and the wife and kids went to a race was 2010 at Ocala for the USAC sprint cars. I'm about 2 hours north east of Ocala, so it would be the only possible option for a race I'd want to see. With that being said, the last few races I attended one of the two guys on the front row checked out in the main event, it was not exciting. If you go back through USAC results, sprints and midgets, and see how often the feature is won from the front row, it's way too common. USAC needs a way to line up the main event so the fastest guys have to pass at least 2 or 3 cars. Outside of that I always thought USAC racing was as good as any other organization.

First 6 cars always inverted.

Last night's winner started 9th.

I thought Dustin Clark got a bad deal last night. He was was leading the B, gets a flat, and they cant wait a minute for him.

Re: Love Hate
 

You need to make the distinction between "bashing" & constructive criticism, If you dig traditional sprint cars, obviously its the best. Very few things in life are perfect, & people shouldn't be offended by suggestions for improvement :23:

There is no work area time during the heats or the B-Main. There is a work area until the last five laps of the feature. After that, there is no work area. Cars have to be ready to be pushed off before the lead car crosses the start/finish line with one lap left before going back to green.

Yup get all that. Maybe you should revist some rules when drivers pull 1,000 mile to race. Still dont think its fair.

And same for fans, 3 heats? Really

There is one way to be equitable at all times. Follow your rule book

Believe me it isn't any different in wing racing either.start the fastest towards the back make them work for the win would be a lot better racing.there is plenty of laps for the guys to get the job done

Re: Love Hate
 

Love hate?

Yeah, I guess.

Love the badassery Bacon showed last night winning from 9th and the racing in general.

Hate? 24 cars for a ten grand show.

Love, Ten to Fifteen drivers and teams that could win at any track at anytime.

Hate, Three heats and a feature. Vs Four or five heats, Two dashes, consi and feature some other sanctions are doing.

Love Now wing racing heats etc.

Hate, The fact they can only get two or three races for traveling a thousand miles. The wing guys have no less than ten races they can run and if they have a 360 motor can race the whole month down there.

Re: Love Hate
 

Hate,I had to leave Florida early.Love,the word badassery :9:

Love the new format that puts more emphasis on winning the heat race. Both DD and Phillips improved their feature starting position tonight.

Re: Love Hate
 

Well badasseryer is doing it in twelve laps in night two :)

Love:usac racing.hate said usac driversbolting for wings

Levi Jones drove around just a little after the feature was finished and thanked drivers and crew members. Just a FYI to the USAC bashers.

The $40 to get into the pits at Bubba was a bit of a shocker when I handed them $30 like normal and was told I needed more.

I certainly understand all of your concerns about only 3 races for the travel and such. I actually wonder if there were more races, would that help or hurt? To be honest I’m surprised they had as many as they had and I think more would require more expenses than just the one weekend. As many of you can tell, I’m a big USAC advocate, but I almost wish they didn’t go to Florida. Might help a couple teams save some money for the regular season

Re: Love Hate
 

The time of the heat races is listed at just over 2mins or less...(so most likely, that is how long the "missed" one woulda took...). There was still a semi-feature too...

Not a question of time, rather getting a full paid for program when there is more than an adequate number of participants.

Love - Non-Wing Traditional Sprint Car Racing.
Hate - losing drivers and teams to Wing payday Racing.

USAC appear to be in a stable and healthy position at present (the young blood have done wonders in the overall running of the show) maybe the time is right to look at the prize / appearance money for the teams & drivers.

Re: Love Hate
 

Yes it is...take the time to realize (everyone on this thread that is upset)...you are talking about TWO MINUTES worth of a "program"!!! LOL. You all buy more tickets than I do (so I thank-you), but really...TWO MINUTES of action??? Then you woulda had 7 car heat races & I'm sure someone woulda complained (maybe not on this board, but at the track). I'm sure all the people complaining were there for track prep, hot laps, time trials, the 3 heat races, semi, feature, and then went in the pits to buy t-shirts and autographs. Have a couple beverages and some track food and call it a good night! Stop somewhere on the way home if you need to find some more entertainment to replace the two minutes of action you missed...:22::22:

It now takes 31 cars in attendance at the draw to equal four heats. Scratches aren’t taken into account anymore. That is still less than WoO and ASCoC.

The average starting position of the feature winner over four races at Ocala was 8.25!

Rules & procedures simple can’t be changed based on distance travelled. Either give work area time to EVERY competitor in heats & semi-feature, or guarantee none. I’m quite certain the complaints would be more plentiful if all that work area time was used as opposed to how it is now.

Thanks for supporting my point. 🤔 Correct it is only a few minutes. 29 cars were divided into 3 heats. 29 into 4 would equate to 3 heats of 7 and one 8. No 6 car heats. 27 or below no problem with 3 heats.

Re: Love Hate
 

I retract the plural "heats". I meant a 7 car heat.

Read the rulebook if you must before attending every race, I guess. Decide then if it's worth your admission. I wouldn't wanna live that way myself...lol

oh gosh no !!!
Please!!!
I can hardly stand it just when its used for a feature.
I just about flip out whenever theres an open Red.
I dont think its a good idea to lengthen things out like that. Lets not go back to features running at midnight and me carrying the kids out to the car because they're asleep! That’s not going to keep the future of this sport going.

Dad and I were talking the other day about format when he first started going to and taking me and my brother to USAC races back in the day. If memory serves only 28 cars made the show, and heats were completely inverted. I’m sure some of you were there then, is that correct? If so I would love to see that again

thats correct, and that was the best format.

Just circling back to a comment in the original post about point funds, I just heard on the DIRTRACKR podcast that 13th in the Outlaws points got $14k. That seems pretty good for that far back to me. Now there’s a lot of factors that I imagine go into their fund paying so well, first of which would be the amount of races. Just a guess but they probably run twice as much as my beloved USAC, crisscrossing the country at least twice. That kind of exposure I would bet would certainly be more attractive to bigger corporate sponsors. Also if they didn’t have a tangible payout, it would probably be tough to get 12 to 15 teams to commit to that kind of grind. I’ve gone on long enough but the expenses of that schedule and travel are also double at least. So bottom line is I just wish we could find a sponsorship that has plenty of money to throw around that made it worth it for a few more teams could run the entire schedule with the premier non wing club in the country