[revjimk]

Originally Posted by 1121 You misconstrued my words. A good race is almost always a good race. But sometimes a race that looks bad on TV is actually a good race that you may not be seeing because it’s not happening in the front. Let me try to explain with a personal story. I was running in a race that was televised (tape delay) and I had to run the B-main. We’re a pretty poor team and we really needed the feature start money. The B-main, as most are, started straight up (fastest in the front) and the guy who started on the pole walked away with it. I started farther back and was in a race long battle for the last transfer spot. We ran side by side for most of the race and we actually swapped positions three times on the last lap. I finally prevailed with a slide underneath coming off the last corner of the last lap. We won the transfer spot by maybe a bumper. Good race or bad race? I’d say it was a good race since several people came down out of the stands after the races and told me how exciting it was. Some told me I barely squeaked it out. Others said they thought for sure the other guy beat me. Does it become a bad race if I tell you there was a wing on the car? I don’t think so Does it become a bad race if I tell you it was also on pavement? I don’t think so. But a couple of weeks later when it was on TV, when they showed the B-main, all they showed was the leader going round and round. A good race became a bad race. Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch racing on TV. (I don’t need angry letters from Dave Argabright or Brad Doty). But I’m saying is that you can’t judge a racing series or genre by solely what you see on TV. And watching racing on TV is a lot better than watching old re-runs of Jake and the Fatman . If that makes me simple, so be it. I’d rather be simple, happy and at the races then angry and on the couch. Tom Paterson Ps: Revjim, Did you mention you live in Colorado?

Yes, I live in Colorado but spend summers on East Coast with my 95 yr.old Mom. I go to races on my way there & back, & drive to Pa. (or sometimes Ohio & Indiana) for some long weekends in the summer. & of course you're right, TV doesn't do racing justice, even live you need to be watching the right duels, etc. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?
I just don't care for pavement racing, from personal experience, not TV..... people have been trying to convince me to see Silver Crowns on pavement... if I had unlimited time & $$, I would, but I don't....

[1121]

The reason I ask is because The King of Wings (a national winged pavement series) has a race at Colorado National Speedway, just north of Denver on July 6th and 7th. I don't know for sure we're going out there, but if we do and you're out there, I'll buy your pit pass if you'd like to go.

Tom

[ISF]

Originally Posted by 1121 There was just a post about NASCAR. Many of you stating how bad it was, but how many of you were there? Or have even ever been to a NASCAR race? I’m not talking about watching it on TV. Television does not do any form of racing justice. You only see part of a race on TV. I’ve been to hundreds of races and never once have I said afterword’s, “Man, I wish I saw that on TV.” Most of the best racing happens back in the pack, an area TV misses many times.Tom Paterson

For the record, I've attended about 15 Daytona 500's, 12 Cup races at Michigan, 10 Brickyard 400's, a half dozen Cup events at Joliet, Illinois and 1 apiece at Texas, California and Las Vegas. If attending NASCAR Cup races lends credibility to my saying it's bad then I believe I've earned it with a couple of thousand dollars worth of ticket stubs to my credit.

As far as the OP is concerned he/she was looking for reactions and he/she got what he/she was looking for. That kind is a dime a dozen.

[ISF]

Oops, not sure what happened but I didn't mean to post twice.

[ISF]

Didn't mean to post twice. Sorry 'bout that.

[revjimk]

Originally Posted by 1121 The reason I ask is because The King of Wings (a national winged pavement series) has a race at Colorado National Speedway, just north of Denver on July 6th and 7th. I don't know for sure we're going out there, but if we do and you're out there, I'll buy your pit pass if you'd like to go. Tom

Thats a very kind offer, thanks!
But I should be back East then (God willin' & the creek don't rise...)
But if by some chance I'm here, I'll be happy to accept!
They occasionally have sprint cars here, but the races I've seen were awful (on dry, rubber down tracks...) no passing at all!

Maybe pavement is better in this arid region?

[JohnnyWingo]

Pavement sprint cars usually have a terrible car count these days. They will pull 20 or so cars every once in a blue moon... but mostly it’s an 8-10 car race with someone grossly outspending 85% of the field then standing on their top wing in embarrassing fashion like they just won the Knoxville Nationals.

[1121]

For the record, The King of Wings averaged over 25 cars last year.

Tom

[JohnnyWingo]

The Auto Value Sprints started 14 cars on average with a high of 20... and a low of 6... which 6-8 cars happened on multiple occasions. The cars are very cool but it’s unfortunately obvious their ******** and egos have killed them. Maybe one series will disappear and one will actually become real again. Until then....

[openwheelfan1]

Okay, I have been in attendance all 3 nights at BRP for the USAC shows and we attended all nights of the WoO shows at Volusia. Yeah, I know...sacrilegious to attend WoO andbe on this board, but we enjoy them too. Anyway, the race Thursday night wasn’t the best race I’ve seen in the 50 years I’ve been going to races, but it was far, far from the worst. Yes, the track rubbered up, but the racing was pretty good overall. Tyler Courtney dominated Friday and again tonight, but the racing was good through the field.

Volusia was a hammer down parade Friday night except for Donny Schatz. Saturday had some passing, and Sunday the track slicked off and had passing throughout the field, Donny Schatz again being the exception. As far as food, a hamburger is $5 both places, drinks are $3 both tracks and most other food items are comparibly priced.

The show Thursday night at BRP had its hitches, but a lot of it I can’t blame on USAC. Everyone seemed to have a case of the first night yips. Now Friday night’s debacle (the sprint feature checkered just before midnight) I place on USAC’s shoulders. They redeemed themselves tonight, with the checkers falling at about 10:00 PM. Now, in fairness, I’ve been to WoO shows where we’ve been in our car on the way home at 10, and I’ve been to shows where it’s been 1:00 AM (no weather, just poorly run).

The point of all this is not every race is going to be the race of the year. You take the good with the bad and enjoy the fact you aren’t up to your waist in snow and ice in February!