Little car quality

Dyno Don · 5/26/08, 7:56 AM

I would like to see the quality of the cars running The Little 500 improve.

I have been chasin' racin' a long time,but there were sixteen drivers I have never heard of. Throw in a few I knew that were in less than stellar equipment and you end up with maybe 8 or 10 quality car.

The Little 500 has become almost like a NASCAR race. The first half is for getting rid of the wanna be's and the second half is for racing. And you hope one of the wanna be's does not take out a lot of the quality cars.(like what happened Sat.)

If they could increase the halfs and decrease the half nots, it would make for better racing, less wrecks and safer racing.Think how good those last 150 laps could have been with more quality cars.(By the way, why was that 12 car not blacked flagged. He was getting lapped ever other lap.)

I know the night before the 500 is a big USAC deal, but there has to be a way to make The Little 500 better. I love that race.

Do you think a monster purse would provide cause for the USAC guys to come to The Little 500?(Or since USAC sanctions both, they will not let the Little 500 have a large purse).

Or am I living in the past, when I thought fields were better?

LEADERS EDGE · 5/26/08, 9:17 AM

If you look at the past race results and the past qualifying results you will see that the split has always been pretty large.

I do agree that a minimum speed would be good, but what would it be based off of? I don't understand why guys who have problems that may be able to be fixed continue to run around the track slowly losing many laps.

Actually, I would say that it isn't that often the lead three were on the same lap at the end and actually fighting for position. Granted, I have only been to 3 of them, but I think many of the race results will show the leader usually wins by a lap or more.

I think that race was a tough one to watch because of the crashes by the leading cars and the unfortunate accident.

The Mark Hall deal was pretty mind numbing, but he followed the rules and by doing so he had the right to keep racing. It did bother me though that he would move up to the groove on occasion causing severe bottlenecks.

As far as drivers you hadn't heard of, isn't that one of the things that makes it cool? Seeing guys like Heveron competing with Cottle and Elliott is fun to see.

SUPERDUKE · 5/26/08, 9:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyno Don

I would like to see the quality of the cars running The Little 500 improve.

I have been chasin' racin' a long time,but there were sixteen drivers I have never heard of. Throw in a few I knew that were in less than stellar equipment and you end up with maybe 8 or 10 quality car.

The Little 500 has become almost like a NASCAR race. The first half is for getting rid of the wanna be's and the second half is for racing. And you hope one of the wanna be's does not take out a lot of the quality cars.(like what happened Sat.)

If they could increase the halfs and decrease the half nots, it would make for better racing, less wrecks and safer racing.Think how good those last 150 laps could have been with more quality cars.(By the way, why was that 12 car not blacked flagged. He was getting lapped ever other lap.)

I know the night before the 500 is a big USAC deal, but there has to be a way to make The Little 500 better. I love that race.

Do you think a monster purse would provide cause for the USAC guys to come to The Little 500?(Or since USAC sanctions both, they will not let the Little 500 have a large purse).

Or am I living in the past, when I thought fields were better?

THERE JUST NOT A LOT OF GOOD PAVEMENT SPRINT CARS! OR DRIVERS OR RACES!

grinch · 5/26/08, 9:29 AM

well i`m hesitant to reply to some of these posts because it`s a long way away from me. but what attracted the drivers in the first place to run 500 laps? has the purse truly kept up with the times? in the old days a promotor would throw out a big figure and attract the real racers regardless of the sanction. there are not many of these promotors left if you ask me. plus the fact that you have other races racing on the same day as the little 5 so if you want all the drivers you gotta draw them with the money.....the prestige is nice but hoosier wont accept prestige to pay the tire bill.....in my opinion it has gotta be the money that will bring the drivers....bring the drivers and the fans will follow.....:thumb

TQ97 · 5/26/08, 9:43 AM

Saturday was my first Little 500 and while I wasn't concerned about "name" drivers, I did think there were 3 or 4 cars that had no business being out there. I had always thought seeing a race where the leader was a full lap ahead was a snoozer and I was glad to see that not happen Sat night. It wasn't until about 10 laps left that it was evident Elliott would not catch Cottle, and he put on a heck of a show the 50 laps before reeling him in.

alrho23 · 5/26/08, 9:55 AM

I wasn't able to go to this race this year and have been the last several years. I have never been really truely concerned about who is in it as long as there are 6 or 8 good cars and drivers because they always seem to come to the front and have alot of traffic to make it exciting between them. However I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't say I would like to see Hoffmans, TSR, Kasey Kahne Racing, or some of the other big pavement teams there on a regular basis. This will never happen as long as the Night Before the 500 is a points paying National Midget race, and most of those teams are chasing that title also. I would like to see both races be big purse non-points USAC races, that would give teams and drivers a choice, and maybe shore up the Little 500 crop.

usac14 · 5/26/08, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyno Don

I would like to see the quality of the cars running The Little 500 improve.

I have been chasin' racin' a long time,but there were sixteen drivers I have never heard of. Throw in a few I knew that were in less than stellar equipment and you end up with maybe 8 or 10 quality car.

The Little 500 has become almost like a NASCAR race. The first half is for getting rid of the wanna be's and the second half is for racing. And you hope one of the wanna be's does not take out a lot of the quality cars.(like what happened Sat.)

If they could increase the halfs and decrease the half nots, it would make for better racing, less wrecks and safer racing.Think how good those last 150 laps could have been with more quality cars.(By the way, why was that 12 car not blacked flagged. He was getting lapped ever other lap.)

I know the night before the 500 is a big USAC deal, but there has to be a way to make The Little 500 better. I love that race.

Do you think a monster purse would provide cause for the USAC guys to come to The Little 500?(Or since USAC sanctions both, they will not let the Little 500 have a large purse).

Or am I living in the past, when I thought fields were better?

Proving you can't please everybody!!! Someone will always complain.

Any time you put 33 cars on a tight track you are going to have a huge differance in speed between first and last. It happens on a regular 20 car feature. :kookoo

LRP36 · 5/26/08, 1:28 PM

Monster purse? The winners share of the Little 500 purse is $35,000! That being said I know there are quite a few drivers that were at IRP that would rather be at Anderson going for the big dough.

sprinter25 · 5/26/08, 1:45 PM

Just curious....

What's a "half"? And a "half-not"?

pizzaman · 5/26/08, 2:51 PM

The only problem I have with the race was there were about 3 or 4 cars who could not have beat their street stocks Mark Hall was nothing more than a rolling roadblock he was faster in the turns than down the straights but the really funny thing was the 12,11, 28, 6 the slowest cars on the tracks were bumping and banging with each other but all those same cars had some hand in some of the wrecks that happend. There does need to be a minimum speed but how do u set it It was a good race and I thought the field was pretty good this year Steele, Gordon, Cottle, Neely, Puterbaugh, Tyler, Gerster, Elliot, Blonde, Rodriguez and some others. It would be nice if a few other big teams would come but then some of the smaller guys wouldnt. Its the one of the few asphalt races I really attend every year out of about 40 plus races I attend each summer but I really enjoy it.:checkered:

5/26/08, 7:56 AM	#1 Little car quality
Dyno Don Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 579	I would like to see the quality of the cars running The Little 500 improve. I have been chasin' racin' a long time,but there were sixteen drivers I have never heard of. Throw in a few I knew that were in less than stellar equipment and you end up with maybe 8 or 10 quality car. The Little 500 has become almost like a NASCAR race. The first half is for getting rid of the wanna be's and the second half is for racing. And you hope one of the wanna be's does not take out a lot of the quality cars.(like what happened Sat.) If they could increase the halfs and decrease the half nots, it would make for better racing, less wrecks and safer racing.Think how good those last 150 laps could have been with more quality cars.(By the way, why was that 12 car not blacked flagged. He was getting lapped ever other lap.) I know the night before the 500 is a big USAC deal, but there has to be a way to make The Little 500 better. I love that race. Do you think a monster purse would provide cause for the USAC guys to come to The Little 500?(Or since USAC sanctions both, they will not let the Little 500 have a large purse). Or am I living in the past, when I thought fields were better?

5/26/08, 9:17 AM	#2 Re: Little car quality
LEADERS EDGE Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 980	If you look at the past race results and the past qualifying results you will see that the split has always been pretty large. I do agree that a minimum speed would be good, but what would it be based off of? I don't understand why guys who have problems that may be able to be fixed continue to run around the track slowly losing many laps. Actually, I would say that it isn't that often the lead three were on the same lap at the end and actually fighting for position. Granted, I have only been to 3 of them, but I think many of the race results will show the leader usually wins by a lap or more. I think that race was a tough one to watch because of the crashes by the leading cars and the unfortunate accident. The Mark Hall deal was pretty mind numbing, but he followed the rules and by doing so he had the right to keep racing. It did bother me though that he would move up to the groove on occasion causing severe bottlenecks. As far as drivers you hadn't heard of, isn't that one of the things that makes it cool? Seeing guys like Heveron competing with Cottle and Elliott is fun to see.

5/26/08, 9:29 AM	#4 Re: Little car quality
grinch Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 241	well i`m hesitant to reply to some of these posts because it`s a long way away from me. but what attracted the drivers in the first place to run 500 laps? has the purse truly kept up with the times? in the old days a promotor would throw out a big figure and attract the real racers regardless of the sanction. there are not many of these promotors left if you ask me. plus the fact that you have other races racing on the same day as the little 5 so if you want all the drivers you gotta draw them with the money.....the prestige is nice but hoosier wont accept prestige to pay the tire bill.....in my opinion it has gotta be the money that will bring the drivers....bring the drivers and the fans will follow.....:thumb

5/26/08, 9:43 AM	#5 Re: Little car quality
TQ97 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,095	Saturday was my first Little 500 and while I wasn't concerned about "name" drivers, I did think there were 3 or 4 cars that had no business being out there. I had always thought seeing a race where the leader was a full lap ahead was a snoozer and I was glad to see that not happen Sat night. It wasn't until about 10 laps left that it was evident Elliott would not catch Cottle, and he put on a heck of a show the 50 laps before reeling him in.

5/26/08, 9:55 AM	#6 Re: Little car quality
alrho23 Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 17	I wasn't able to go to this race this year and have been the last several years. I have never been really truely concerned about who is in it as long as there are 6 or 8 good cars and drivers because they always seem to come to the front and have alot of traffic to make it exciting between them. However I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't say I would like to see Hoffmans, TSR, Kasey Kahne Racing, or some of the other big pavement teams there on a regular basis. This will never happen as long as the Night Before the 500 is a points paying National Midget race, and most of those teams are chasing that title also. I would like to see both races be big purse non-points USAC races, that would give teams and drivers a choice, and maybe shore up the Little 500 crop.

5/26/08, 1:28 PM	#8 Re: Little car quality
LRP36 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 414	Monster purse? The winners share of the Little 500 purse is $35,000! That being said I know there are quite a few drivers that were at IRP that would rather be at Anderson going for the big dough.

5/26/08, 1:45 PM	#9 Re: Little car quality
sprinter25 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 547	Just curious.... What's a "half"? And a "half-not"?

5/26/08, 2:51 PM	#10 Re: Little car quality
pizzaman Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 6	The only problem I have with the race was there were about 3 or 4 cars who could not have beat their street stocks Mark Hall was nothing more than a rolling roadblock he was faster in the turns than down the straights but the really funny thing was the 12,11, 28, 6 the slowest cars on the tracks were bumping and banging with each other but all those same cars had some hand in some of the wrecks that happend. There does need to be a minimum speed but how do u set it It was a good race and I thought the field was pretty good this year Steele, Gordon, Cottle, Neely, Puterbaugh, Tyler, Gerster, Elliot, Blonde, Rodriguez and some others. It would be nice if a few other big teams would come but then some of the smaller guys wouldnt. Its the one of the few asphalt races I really attend every year out of about 40 plus races I attend each summer but I really enjoy it.:checkered: