[D.O.]

Paul the ole boy that built the car was firing it off at home in Michigan[ i think] and the truck hopped the rear wheel and got up on top the rear wheels and car and cut the guys head off. No cage just a hoop bolted to the tube frame. poof !

The Indy cars from back then until Mears chopped his feet up weren't too good. If you survived the impact the fire more than likey toasted you pretty good. [ Ask Norm Brown from Milwaukee with Duman. survived the crash but got burned]

If the Leffler car and others had grown addressing the safety issues too and the owners saw the light that in a few years they would own two cars anyway, might of worked. But can you image sticking one of those old POS's into the Guard RAILS that Winchester and Salem used to have. They would of been sliced like apple pie on impact then burned as fuel cell weren't much better that rubber bags covered by fiberglass or maybe metal.

[Bruce Harrison]

Originally Posted by D.O. But can you image sticking one of those old POS's into the Guard RAILS that Winchester and Salem used to have. They would of been sliced like apple pie on impact then burned as fuel cell weren't much better that rubber bags covered by fiberglass or maybe metal.

I seem to remember Ray Smith's rear-engined sprint car catching the main-stretch wall at Salem and threw parts everywhere...some of which landed on the roof of the old covered grandstands!

[AlkyMadness]

Concerning Richmond car count: seeing as Kalamazoo only drew 15 and three of them are not likely to be at Richmond (Bloom, Swain and Clarke), are we realistically looking at only 12 cars?

I saw that Brad Sweet was running with the All Stars at Eldora that night, so does that mean the Kahne/Mopar thing is cut back due to Chrysler's financial woes?

Hell of it is, it seemed like only yesterday (2years) that the pavement sprinters had increased their numbers at Winchester to 28cars. That was a good field and it seemed like the pavement sprinters were on the rise. How quickly things can die on the vine in the USAC world today.

I'm saddened to hear that USAC may be dropping pavement sprinters completely. I know some will not care, but to me, it will seem like the last link to the Brickyard will be gone. Anybody remember the "Road to Indy" deal that involved USAC, USCS and I believe TBARA?

Oh well, like Aero said, I guess there'll be the AVSS/HOSS and there is always supermods.

[Honest-Sam]

Makes me sad too, Alky. If tire bills are driving away the owners, then a combo car won't fix that.

---------- Post added at 03:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:51 AM ----------

Originally Posted by nowingsjeff What about Superduke's answer of narrowing the tires? I'm for that & stiffening the sidewalls too. That should bring some of the side by side back to both dirt & pavement. The only problem with that is the sanctioning body doesn't have the balls to do it because of all the crying they know they'll hear from the racers. Especially the well funded teams that out horsepower everyone else.

I haven't been able to figure out, or have explained, how a narrower tire on pavement would aid in passing. So long as everyone is on the same brand, size and compound of tire, like now, wouldn't it still be 'equal'? When narrow tires did exist on pavement, all of the other technologies of the day(shocks, motors, chassis design, etc.) was probably not up to the level of today's. I wonder if today's pavement cars could run narrower tires at all. Or, at least, run them without tire treatments and traction control. Where would we be then? I don't know.

[Seadog]

I'm not sure how much credence is in this. Maybe Duke has some cold hard facts. Maybe he doesn't. Maybe the decision makers have talked to Duke and tell him what they have decided to do - or maybe not.

I am a pavement fan. I've never been afraid to admit it on here. I know I am in the minority on IOW. But I prefer it. Nothing wrong with dirt, but I like pavement better. All I can say is if the pavement goes away then so will I. I may hit a few dirt races just to stay in touch, but without pavement USAC racing, I will become more scarce than I already am at tracks.

Looks like Duke reeled in some big ones on this thread.

[tjslideways]

Originally Posted by Honest-Sam I haven't been able to figure out, or have explained, how a narrower tire on pavement would aid in passing. So long as everyone is on the same brand, size and compound of tire, like now, wouldn't it still be 'equal'? When narrow tires did exist on pavement, all of the other technologies of the day(shocks, motors, chassis design, etc.) was probably not up to the level of today's. I wonder if today's pavement cars could run narrower tires at all. Or, at least, run them without tire treatments and traction control. Where would we be then? I don't know.

Saturday's show had plenty of passing. Santos moved up from sixth and the race with Coons through traffic for the win was stellar. Nobody but the two local cars had ever raced at Kalamazoo before and I'm pretty sure nobody tested there. Maybe that had something to do with why the racing was so good?

[kinser]

Here are a few things I think would save pavement racing. 1- we need to change the offset rule, this would decrease the left rear weight bias and in effect unhook the big motors. 2-lower the price of tires, USAC needs to either open the tire rule up or tell Hoosier this is the set price if you want to be the exclusive supplier sell tires at this price or we will take other bids. 3- increase the purse on pavement, pay 7000 to win and spread a little more on back through the field.
Posted via Mobile Device

[LEADERS EDGE]

After I ruffled some feathers last year with USAC by complaining about them coming to/splitting up Quarter Midget racing, I decided I should step back and watch. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I couldn't see the big picture.

It has nearly been a year since then and sadly, things seem worse rather than better. I get the whole deal with the economy. I really do. I understand it costs alot to go race and it costs alot to go watch. That said, I don't know anyone who owns a race car or is a fan of racing that doesn't want to race or go watch a race.

I don't own a car anymore, so I don't know all of the headwinds the owners a facing. Rob Hoffman or someone like him would be the one who would have to speak from the owners side. As a casual observer, the first things I think of is tire costs and travel costs.

I still believe that the National Series should go to stamped tires when cars roll out for practice. Leave the LR for stagger. The big teams will still roll out with new rubber every night, but it won't be everytime. Does that get into Hoosiers pocket? Sure. But, it's better than not selling any. Their stance may be this: Why make so many compounds for so few racers? Well, make a common tire that is used in HOSS,AVSS, AND USAC. Less inventory needed. Much like what they did with the DT3.

As far as travel costs go; that is a tough one that will only be solved by the advancements in the trucking industry.

There are many cars out there that want to race, but they are not going. USAC has to find out why that is and address the 2-3 most sticking problems.

What USAC fails to capitalize on is this: They can never seem to identify what makes them special and what is unique about their series. In doing so, the have started alienating racers and fans.

The last wave of the racers over the last 15 years were fueled by two things:1) The Thunder series on TV. So many racers and fans were generated from that series. I understand that TV works different today, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't do whatever it takes to get back there. No excuses. 2)The success of drivers Jeff Gordon,Tony Stewert, and Kenny Irwin in NASCAR. That started and sort of "Gold Rush" to this style of racing because these drivers were seen first on the Thunder series.

USAC at one time meant this:"The Best". If you were a USAC champ and a USAC competitor, then you were generally recognized as the best. Then a few things happened:

-The dirt cars were taken off of the championship trail. While I don't believe that you should have to run the dirt to be the IRL champ, it started a split in USAC and the dirt divisions started to lose importance.
-USAC banned the Rear Engined cars, at the time it wasn't seen as a big deal, but later proved to be a very big deal.
-The plane crash took the lives of many people who really cared about the sport. Maybe they didn't always make the right decision, but they understood the sport.
-USAC was basically in Zombie mode after that and relied so heavily on the Speedway that when the CART series was formed(For good reasons) they really lost direction and a major "Carrot" to entice people to race with them.
-Around the same time, the WoO was formed and was basically the anti-USAC. Over the years, the WoO challenged the USAC position as "The Best" and basically has out USAC'd USAC. They have the sponsors and the TV. I'm not saying all is perfect in their world, but they have stayed progressive.

Right now USAC is seen as a club that is going backwards and not forwards. They are also seen as a club that does not have it's racers interest upfront. Many people are saying: "What is the purpose of USAC"? and as of now they haven't been able to respond.

They may point to the Focus series, but that was an ok idea that wasn't handled right. Instead of being a good traing ground, it was really a deal to move obsolete motors for Ford. The IRS series picked up on the concept and did it the right way by allowing converted used motors that could be done by the racers.

They may point to the series sponsors, but I don't know if anyone besides them really benefits from those.

In all fairness, I think there are good people that work for USAC and it was great to hear about Bill Carey sticking up from the racers at Terre Haute, but it really looks like a rutterless ship right now. Hopefully I am wrong.

Instead of dropping the series, why not find ways to make it work? Get with the teams and see what they need.

[sc96]

You could go to a very hard right rear.

[SteveE]

USAC has shot there self in the foot so many times.