[Pavement Dave]

MUST SEE TAKES FIRST STEP TO UNIFY PAVEMENT SPRINTS
By David Sink

Anderson, IN - July 13, 2015 - It’s been no secret that winged pavement sprint car racing has been struggling from coast-to-coast of late. Must See Racing Sprint Series president Jim Hanks has also taken notice and today made a major announcement that could be the first step in getting all winged pavement sprint car clubs to work together.

Must See Racing will experiment with an open tire rule at its next event August 8 at Salem (IN) Speedway. Teams from other winged pavement sprint car series wishing to compete in this event will be allowed to compete with their series official tire.

This is a bold move by Hanks to allow other tires to compete in the Must See Racing Sprint Series. Hanks realize it is necessary to get teams to cross-over and run multiple series to strengthen car counts across the country. Must See Racing has taken the first step to work alongside other series in an effort to get car counts back to where they need to be.

Must See Racing utilizes the American Racer brand tire. Teams wishing to compete using the Hoosier Racing Tire brand will now be allowed on August 8th. Officials will make a decision about the future after this event. If a team elects to use another brand, they must use the same compound used in their series. In addition, they must have the same brand on all four corners. The same right rear tire used for qualifying must be used in the feature.This move is seen as positive and is hoped it will attrach cars from other series without forcing them to purchase tires.

“The abundance of tire opinions is difficult to comprehend sometimes. We live in a time and place where we can find just about any piece of information or opinion on the internet or social media in just a few clicks of a button. The ability to depend on objective news or reporting to get accurate information is long gone with reported information more and more biased or influenced for personal or financial gain. An OPEN TIRE RULE certainly can eliminate the biased talk and should be attractive to other race series and race teams allowing competition on tires that they are familiar with, have in stock and work best for them. Hopefully, this open tire invitation will help eliminate any barrier to inter series competition and improve event car counts.” said MSR president Jim Hanks.

It is hoped that other series will take notice to what Must See Racing has done and follow suit in an effort to strengthen car counts. It is possible Must See Racing may be the only winged pavement series to experiment with an open tire policy since the majority of series across the country rely heavily on tire sales for survival. In addition, tire manufactures may frown on such a move as they have invested heavily for exclusive rights in a majority of these series. None-the-less, the move is seen as the first step towards unifying winged pavement sprint car racing and getting all the series working together.

The August 8, 56th annual Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial may arguably be the biggest race of the year for the Must See Racing Sprint Series. Some of the biggest names in the sport have previously won this event including: AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, Tony Stewart, Pancho Carter, Rich Vogler, and Kenny Irwin Jr., and recent winners Troy DeCaire, JoJo Helberg, Brian Olson and Brian Gerster, among others.

[staggerman]

What ever happened to Don Wilshe?

[Stevensville Mike]

Originally Posted by staggerman What ever happened to Don Wilshe?

Last I saw him he was drunk on his arse with Tony George in a bar in Lakeville pondering race series strategy and what went wrong.

[oljonesy]

same as all the other flash in the pans. seen alot of them thru the years.good riddance wilshe.

[Stevensville Mike]

Now that I think about it, looking back when Must See first started, the obvious jist of the controversy was American Racer tires. After the first season, though, didn't Wilshe throw down the gauntlet to all of the guys in AVSS/HOSS to come on over and run a race with their Hoosiers? No one came when it was all said and done, but that seems to stick in my memory.

Makes you wonder what will happen this time.

Tom Paterson? Sound familiar? You, if anyone, would remember that. You have a great talent for presenting history on this and other forums.

[1121]

Mike, if I remember correctly, a few years ago, there was a challenge put out to the Auto Value and HOSS guys to come to Winchester and they would have a qualifying shoot out. I remember it being just qualifying laps, but there may have been a heat race involved. I’ve been hit in the head a couple of times and my memory isn’t that good.

But I do remember that if you wanted to run the rest of the program, you had you then buy American Racer tires. So in other words, if you were an AVSS or HOSS guy, you had to buy Hoosier tires for the shoot out and then buy American Racer tires for the rest of the night. So in addition to the work of dismounting and mounting four tires at the track (and not having any spares) you had to change the set up. From what I have been told and from my own experience, there is a slightly different set up between the tire brands due to the height of the tires.

As soon as the format was released, I knew no one would take the challenge. And no one did.

Now for the rest of this, for the purpose of giving full disclosure, there’s something I’d like to reveal. Jim Hanks from Must See said something to me early in the existence of the group that really pissed me off. I’m not going to say what it was because it does not need to be rehashed here. But I do have a bit of a sore spot for Must See even though I have run a few races with them over the years. But I will try to be as impartial as I can going forward.

I really don’t care what tire I run, but I am a strong believer in a spec tire. I don’t need to rehash why here, but if you go back in my posts, you will see a post where I explain why. If you can’t find it, I will repost it.

And although I am a big believer in a spec tire, I think it should be a right rear only. Especially on pavement, you’re going to buy a right rear anyway, but to make a team mount up four new tires just to run a different series is idiotic. And then you don’t have any spares or stagger choices. This holds true for any series, dirt or pavement. Winged or non-winged.

When I first heard of the race at Salem being an open tire rule, I thought “That’s a great first step.” But then I read the press release. It was all good until the next to last paragraph. I feel (and remember I admit to being a bit biased) it shows a bit of arrogance that is not needed at this time. Enough said.

When Must See first came out with the American Racer, a lot of fantastic claims were made (mostly by Don Wilshe) that made my BS meter jump. When I brought this up, I was beat up a little bit on this board. And after the first race (at Salem I believe) when there were several tire issues, I wanted to scream it from the roof tops. But I didn’t and in AR’s defense, they seem to have solved those problems.

Contrary to popular belief, there is room for two pavement series in the Midwest. HOSS and AVSS co-existed for years and even had some co-sanctioned events. But the key was that they respected each other. They worked hard to not book races on top of each other. The last year HOSS was in existence (AVSS bought them) Joe Swanson almost won the championship with both series. That would be impossible today.

Tires are not the only issue. Must See has had other issues that are well known, but seldom discussed publicly and don’t need to be. And in their defense, from what I have been told, they are overcoming these issues this year. But these issues are the ones that may keep owners away from Salem.

I want this race to work. I want there to be 25 cars at Salem fighting for the win. I want to be able to load the car and go to any pavement track hosting sprint cars in the Midwest with spending a bunch of time mounting and dismounting tires. I hope to see that day soon.

Tom Paterson
PDP Racing

[Stevensville Mike]

Thanks, Tom. As always, top shelf angle, point of view, history, and lesson learned.

Despite my posting earlier taking a shot at Wilshe and George, I hope this works, too, and is the start of an upswing for you guys.

[oljonesy]

hanks ultimately splintered pavement wings. no hoss left, which was a great homespun series. now the man wants to unify? hahaha,good luck.remember, dont swallow his kool aid anymore. too many pavement cars rusting, but davey is doing the same thing. tires and engines,everyone has a better idea. crap.so did cart, anyone remember?