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cecil98 (Offline)
  #1 7/14/08 7:40 PM
Went to the King's Royal last night. It was the first wing race I've been to at Eldora in five years. The hot lap sessions are incredible when viewed from the turn 1 or turn 3 inside wall. That was the highlight of the evening. There were 34 cars there for $50k to win. The heat races were dreadful. Evenly spaced high speed parades. Maybe two or three passes that meant anything, if that. Once the pass was complete, that was it. There were very few, if any, sustained battles for a position. Dust wasn't bad at all. Great crowd. Daryn Pittman won because Saldana had a tire go down (not sure of the cause). Saldana was gone until that happened.
Steve Kinser threw a monumental temper tantrum over Donny Schatz being given an extra qualifying lap after getting a terrible time on his first two laps. He (Schatz)claimed another car on the track interfered. Steve pushed an official and loaded the car up. He later calmed down a little and ran. Started 18th(?) in the featch and wound up 4th or 5th(?) due to passing several of the slower cars running at the back-to-mid field and the rest of his positions came through attrition. He was the only one that seemed to be passing with the exception of the leaders lapping traffic. Went up to watch some buddies run. If they go back, I'll probably go back to support them. If not, I've seen all I need to see.
Charles Nungester (Offline)
  #2 7/14/08 8:12 PM
Originally Posted by cecil98:
Went to the King's Royal last night. It was the first wing race I've been to at Eldora in five years. The hot lap sessions are incredible when viewed from the turn 1 or turn 3 inside wall. That was the highlight of the evening. There were 34 cars there for $50k to win. The heat races were dreadful. Evenly spaced high speed parades. Maybe two or three passes that meant anything, if that. Once the pass was complete, that was it. There were very few, if any, sustained battles for a position. Dust wasn't bad at all. Great crowd. Daryn Pittman won because Saldana had a tire go down (not sure of the cause). Saldana was gone until that happened.
Steve Kinser threw a monumental temper tantrum over Donny Schatz being given an extra qualifying lap after getting a terrible time on his first two laps. He (Schatz)claimed another car on the track interfered. Steve pushed an official and loaded the car up. He later calmed down a little and ran. Started 18th(?) in the featch and wound up 4th or 5th(?) due to passing several of the slower cars running at the back-to-mid field and the rest of his positions came through attrition. He was the only one that seemed to be passing with the exception of the leaders lapping traffic. Went up to watch some buddies run. I they go back, I'll probably go back to support them. If not, I've seen all I need to see.

I really don't get it Cecil. I used to follow them religiously and they used to get about 60 cars for that race. Seems all winged races are severely down in car count. What I don't get is the fact that 30 thousand people will travel to see maybe 15 guys truelly capable of winning it and won't visit ISW where there are 40 that could win on any given night and a car count over 50.

The money's going in the wrong direction and should be USAC and MSCS, Not WOO.
Chuck, who sees Wings going the way of indiana except maybe in PA and NOR Cali.
20 races per rebuild vs 6-10 and a new flat top everytime you dump it.

Charles Nungester
cecil98 (Offline)
  #3 7/14/08 9:11 PM
I really don't get it Cecil. I used to follow them religiously and they used to get about 60 cars for that race. Seems all winged races are severely down in car count. What I don't get is the fact that 30 thousand people will travel to see maybe 15 guys truelly capable of winning it and won't visit ISW where there are 40that could win on any given night and a car count over 50......Chuck Nungester


Chuck, I think that group has raised the sport to such a level, that most teams that run well locally, and even with the All-Stars, figure they don't have a chance.
I went up with Glenn Gresham, Norm Miller and Ken Hess. They have a real nice Maxim with a fresh 850-900bhp Fisher Motor and Todd Kane (excellent driver!) driving. They run real well at various winged local tracks, MASS and even the All-Stars. They couldn't get a sniff up there. If your car isn't absolutley perfectly setup, you're out to lunch against those WOO teams. The Days of the little guy going up there, hittin' it right, and running well against those guys are over. Bill Rose was in the same boat as they were. Oh Well!
Trippy (Offline)
  #4 7/14/08 9:48 PM
Wings are for airplanes!! Enough said. It's a crying shame that Steve Kinser wasn't in a non wing sprinter for the last 25 years....... imagine him racing at Indiana Sprintweek......ahhhhh dreams are free......
hogan6 (Offline)
  #5 7/14/08 11:41 PM
Originally Posted by Trippy:
Wings are for airplanes!! Enough said. It's a crying shame that Steve Kinser wasn't in a non wing sprinter for the last 25 years....... imagine him racing at Indiana Sprintweek......ahhhhh dreams are free......
Steve was racing for 50k to win not 5k.
Trippy (Offline)
  #6 7/15/08 3:22 AM
I agree about the 50k deal but wings are still for airplanes. When you guys up there get your new President ask him to ban wings !!! :O::kookoo
bigmojo5
  #7 7/15/08 8:18 AM
Go figure.
You have 30 guys racing one time for $50,000 and year and USAC has 30 to 40 to 50 guys racing seven or eight times in two weeks for $5,000 to win. Guess guys would rather have a chance to win $5,000 than no chance to win $50,000.

Jim Morrison
Bill May (Offline)
  #8 7/15/08 11:49 AM
I guess that's why they make Toyoto's & Honda's ( used to be Ford's & Chevy's )
ie; you have a choice.
Charles Nungester (Offline)
  #9 7/15/08 11:57 AM
Thats not it at all. Its the speed freak, nascar mentality that because its better known and faster that its actually better racing.

Not to me! I've seen tons of :dologob: bomber races better than most of the wang shows I've been too.

I edited this post to add this. I do think wings have a place, A training ground for Non wingers. It teaches you to be smooth and carry speed.
Chuck

Charles Nungester
Todd Gates
  #10 7/15/08 4:29 PM
Before I say anything let me say that I'm from Pennsylvania so all we get is winged racing. I love non wing racing as well so I made the trip to Indiana for my first ever Sprintweek.

Lawrenceburg was very good. The facilities are first class and the staff were very fan friendly. The racing was great. I can't wait to go back.

I would have to go back a long time to find a feature as boring as the one I saw at Gas City. I heard so many great things about the place and was really disappointed. When they pulled the plug before noon on Saturday we decided to head to Eldora. After Eldora rained out Saturday night we decided to stay there for Sunday instead of driving back to Kokomo.

I thought the King's Royal was great. Myers and Pittman running down Saldana through traffic was awesome. I do think Saldana had the race won if he wouldn't have slammed the wall giving him a flat. Myers last lap attempted slide job on Pittman through 3 and 4 was pretty gutsy. Steve Kinser coming from 18th to 8th in 2 laps (and none of it through attrition) was incredible. Watching every car bounce their right rear off the turn 2 wall was a little more exciting than the parade around the bottom I saw at Gas ******..... I mean City.

I am disappointed that I missed Kokomo. I've only been there one time and love the place but I wasn't disappointed in the King's Royal. I guess it's all in what you're used to.
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