Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by racephoto1:
I went yesterday out of my love for Champ Dirt Cars. I know that if I miss one on a mile, I may miss the last one. Hopefully I'm wrong. It's sad to see USAC crap on the ONLY series they have exclusively, but of course that doesn't fit their business model, only the Ignite money does.

I'd like to congratulate A.J. Fike on his win. It's been a long time coming, and I can think of no one who has worked harder at it to get it.
Also like to give American Racer a pat on the back too. If you have a Champ Car , they make the ONLY tire to run for the miles.

As for the future, there is somebody VERY interested in taking this away from USAC, but it will hinge on Bob Sargeant. If he says yes, then at least they will be part of an organization that appreciates racers, as they have proven with their midget series.

Appreciating racers, a concept that USAC should try.

Whoa...very interesting, Powri?

An outlaw like Silver Crown division? Would the teams follow a new series to fill the pits at historic dirt miles?

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by miledirt:
Whoa...very interesting, Powri?

An outlaw like Silver Crown division? Would the teams follow a new series to fill the pits at historic dirt miles?

There would be enough teams that currently run that would follow and enough teams that have parked that would follow that this would be a good start to a new series. That was pretty obvious yesterday at Springfield and leading upto Springfield.

Time will certainly tell.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

I would not hold my breath waiting for some one to start a champ dirt series. The PRA had a golden opurtunity and no one showed up. Cars, fans nobody. I love the cars, but when the average age of your fan is 60 years old it is impossible to grow. I am 49 and I am usually one of the younger fans. It is sad, but true.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

There is now a dilemma in Champ Dirt Cars. Do you risk running DuQuoin with a car count of approximately 18 cars after the DNF's of yesterday, or do you pull the plug ? My heart says run, but from a financial point of a promoter, this is a tough call.You're given what is at the present time a truly horrible product, and have to TRY to work with it. Unfortunately you don't have much to work with. An organization that seems not to care a bit about the series, low car counts, and mechanical instability in the cars, which also falls back to the organization. This is a tough call.

If the contract is already signed, and USAC doesn't like the idea to pull the plug, then maybe they should pay the purse, that way they have equal responsibility in improving the product.

As for Bob Sargeant, remember, he is the ONLY person willing to stake his time and money to keep the dirt miles going. I know many people have asked him in the last few months to run the deal on his own, heck he has 4 of the 5 dirt tracks they run on, and is a business partner with the guy who has the fifth one. For his financial interest alone, it seems it wouldn't be a bad idea.Now that he has a successful organization that appears it wants to run them , this just may be the time to do it.

As for those of you who swear USAC is the only way, and I know your out there, remember this.PRA is what saved these cars he first time, when USAC went the NASCRAP route, and the Jasons, McCord and Smith saved them with the PRA. It's starting to appear as if someone named Siner just may now have to do the same thing.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by racephoto1:
There is now a dilemma in Champ Dirt Cars. Do you risk running DuQuoin with a car count of approximately 18 cars after the DNF's of yesterday, or do you pull the plug ? My heart says run, but from a financial point of a promoter, this is a tough call.You're given what is at the present time a truly horrible product, and have to TRY to work with it. Unfortunately you don't have much to work with. An organization that seems not to care a bit about the series, low car counts, and mechanical instability in the cars, which also falls back to the organization. This is a tough call.

If the contract is already signed, and USAC doesn't like the idea to pull the plug, then maybe they should pay the purse, that way they have equal responsibility in improving the product.

As for Bob Sargeant, remember, he is the ONLY person willing to stake his time and money to keep the dirt miles going. I know many people have asked him in the last few months to run the deal on his own, heck he has 4 of the 5 dirt tracks they run on, and is a business partner with the guy who has the fifth one. For his financial interest alone, it seems it wouldn't be a bad idea.Now that he has a successful organization that appears it wants to run them , this just may be the time to do it.

As for those of you who swear USAC is the only way, and I know your out there, remember this.PRA is what saved these cars he first time, when USAC went the NASCRAP route, and the Jasons, McCord and Smith saved them with the PRA. It's starting to appear as if someone named Siner just may now have to do the same thing.

There-in lies our potential problem. Siner and Brownare only part time organization runners. They have 40 hours a week jobs. Saving the Silver Crown series would require a massive influx of time and resources (not talking about money) to get it stopped on it's down slope and moving in a positive and healthy direction. It's going to take a strong and devouted leadership and equally strong and devouted fan base to get this series back to what it was even 10 years ago.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by Jerry Spencer:
Wow, interesting.

Jerry

All should know how he feels about the little guys, he takes $100 out of their sprint pay! But, that is the fault of any that support that type of attitude!!

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

From my "studies" back in the day, I am sure I noticed 18 car fields when things were SO great??? How many can anyone watch at one time anyway??? Too many classes of races and things to do these days. Hopefully those that can attend will enjoy! I am goin to put an effort into checking out Springfield when I can!

Jason Dull
815 494 6002
jdull99@hotmail.com
jasondull.com (For all the Racing News)

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by BrentTFunk:
I would not hold my breath waiting for some one to start a champ dirt series. The PRA had a golden opurtunity and no one showed up. Cars, fans nobody.

Last PRA race at Lakeland, FL, in December 2006 had Tony Stewart and Travis Pastrana in the field, and the stands were packed. I respectfully disagree with the "no one showed up" portion of your statement.

The 63 is making all efforts to get its powerplant back online for duqion

Posted via Mobile Device

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by Max Revs:
Last PRA race at Lakeland, FL, in December 2006 had Tony Stewart and Travis Pastrana in the field, and the stands were packed. I respectfully disagree with the "no one showed up" portion of your statement.

How many were there for Stewart and Pastrana only? I stand corrected. How many cars showed up, and was it successful enough to have them back? Not being critical, hoping I am wrong.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by BrentTFunk:
How many were there for Stewart and Pastrana only? I stand corrected. How many cars showed up, and was it successful enough to have them back? Not being critical, hoping I am wrong.

Brent,

Not being a smart a$$, but they won't be going back period. USA International closed and I believe that it is now a logistics hub for the trucking industry.:24:

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

I made the trek to Stafford Springs when Bobby Santos made 50K. The place was 7/8 full on a weeknight, and as for Stafford, you can't get there from ANYWHERE. Great show also. Give the people a good product and they'll come.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

It's obvious that some of you on here only race a keyboard. We at 500 motorsports don't seem to be having a problem with new "The sky is falling, doomsday fuel"
I ran the entire Springfield race without a pit stop what so ever, and never saw the Temp guage get over 195* while at speed. Caution laps the temp. was never over 215*. We can live just fine with those numbers.
Granted, I didn't have the fastest car on the track, but thats other things that we will work on.
We will be at DuQuoin and hope more teams show up.
Not working with the E90 is a lameass excuse. Like I've said before, go to Willy's Carb and arrange a dyno session with Tim Engler. It's easy and don't cost that much. They have the "R&D" figured out.
Steve Adams, Driver, 500 Motorsports

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Steve enjoyed watching your run Sunday

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by racephoto1:
I made the trek to Stafford Springs when Bobby Santos made 50K. The place was 7/8 full on a weeknight, and as for Stafford, you can't get there from ANYWHERE. Great show also. Give the people a good product and they'll come.

How many cars did they have.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by Max Revs:
Last PRA race at Lakeland, FL, in December 2006 had Tony Stewart and Travis Pastrana in the field, and the stands were packed. I respectfully disagree with the "no one showed up" portion of your statement.

Wasn't that race during the PRI show?

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by jdull99:
From my "studies" back in the day, I am sure I noticed 18 car fields when things were SO great??? How many can anyone watch at one time anyway??? Too many classes of races and things to do these days. Hopefully those that can attend will enjoy! I am goin to put an effort into checking out Springfield when I can!

Jason Dull
815 494 6002
jdull99@hotmail.com
jasondull.com (For all the Racing News)

Jason,

Back in the day, they only started 18 cars but had 30+ cars in the pits. Go watch the 1982 Tony Bettenhausen 100 on Youtube and see the number of cars they had in the pits. Also, someone did a Flashback to the 1996 Tony Bettenhausen 100 here on AOW and there were enough cars for a Consi and nearly half the cars there went home without even starting the 100 miler.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Same amount of cars in main event tho...I never knew how much people cared about semi features until the last couple years...b4 that it seemed u had to run in the top ten of the feats to get any respect...

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

You wouldn't know what prelims are like Jason cause you don't show up till feature time from what I hear!LOL. The point is, the real fans who attend these races are pissed because USAC has made 2 major rule change mistakes that have led to a great reduction in the show. And by the way, when they only started 18 as anyone can see in a Dick Wallen video, they didn't have roll cages or enclosed cockpits and they ran on the cushion for 100 miles most of the time! I'm sorry but it was much neater back then so maybe 18 was fine.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Here's a bit of trivia for you. Just 10 short years ago, on August 17, 2002, the Bettenhausen 100 at Springfield had 17 cars in the Consi all trying to make the cut for the feature which was limited to 30 starters. So the Consi in 2002 was only one or two cars less than the whole field in 2012. Back then, the Consi's were a Who's Who of great drivers.

Just out of curiosity, I went through the entire results in 2002 to see the number of cars in the pits. Here is a sampling of some of the races held in 2002.

March 15-17, 2002, Phoenix International Raceway
Feature: 30 Cars Started
Consi: 24 cars in the Consi
A few names of drivers who didn't qualify for the feature: Brian Tyler, Jack Hewitt, Jimmy Kite, James Chesson, Cory Kruseman, Bentley Warren, Travis Rilat, Dan Drinan, etc.

Hoosier Hundred, May 24, 2002
Feature: 36 cars started

Pike's Peak, June 15-16, 2002
Feature: 30 cars started
Consi: 16 cars

DuQuoin, September 2, 2002
Feature: 30 cars started
Consi: 19 cars in the consi won by Brian Tyler

IRP, August 1, 2002
Feature: 31 cars started

Two Consi's: Consi #1 had 14 cars (Kasey Kahne won Consi #1 in the Zarounian #67) and Consi #2 had 13 cars (Tony Stewart won Consi #2 in the Foxco #56)

Consi #1: 1) Kasey Kahne, 2) Rich Tobias, 3) Tyler Walker, 4) Teddy Beach, 5) Coons, 6) Jeff Mitrisin, 7) Dane Carter, 8) Nick Lundgreen 9) Brad Armstrong 10) Tom Capie 11) Gary Penission, Jr 12) John Starks 13) Sammy Swindell 14) Eric Butze

Consi #2: 1) Tony Stewart 2) Jason McCord 3) Jay Drake 4) Gough 5) Jimmy Kite 6) Tony Elliott 7) Bentley Warren 8) Jason Fuller 9) Eric Gordon 10) Jimmy McCune 11) Johnny Parsons 12) David Bridges 13) Dan Drinan

These are the Consi's, folks! Not the feature. My own car started 20th and finished 8th in the feature which was won by Mike Bliss in the IWX #111. Does anyone remember the IWX #111 that night? That car was like it was on rails at IRP. Carl Edwards finished 6th in the feature in the Don Ott #95.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by ThrowbackRacingTeam:
You wouldn't know what prelims are like Jason cause you don't show up till feature time from what I hear!LOL. The point is, the real fans who attend these races are pissed because USAC has made 2 major rule change mistakes that have led to a great reduction in the show. And by the way, when they only started 18 as anyone can see in a Dick Wallen video, they didn't have roll cages or enclosed cockpits and they ran on the cushion for 100 miles most of the time! I'm sorry but it was much neater back then so maybe 18 was fine.

Sadly, the only cushion at Springfield was the one the guy was sitting on in the seat ahead of me. The track needs a massive redo like they did over at Jacksonville. Now that is how you do track work. Sadly there the horse people will not allow TE to do that.

---------- Post added at 4:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 4:20 AM ----------

Originally Posted by SC90:
Here's a bit of trivia for you. Just 10 short years ago, on August 17, 2002, the Bettenhausen 100 at Springfield had 17 cars in the Consi all trying to make the cut for the feature which was limited to 30 starters. So the Consi in 2002 was only one or two cars less than the whole field in 2012. Back then, the Consi's were a Who's Who of great drivers.

Just out of curiosity, I went through the entire results in 2002 to see the number of cars in the pits. Here is a sampling of some of the races held in 2002.

March 15-17, 2002, Phoenix International Raceway
Feature: 30 Cars Started
Consi: 24 cars in the Consi
A few names of drivers who didn't qualify for the feature: Brian Tyler, Jack Hewitt, Jimmy Kite, James Chesson, Cory Kruseman, Bentley Warren, Travis Rilat, Dan Drinan, etc.

Hoosier Hundred, May 24, 2002
Feature: 36 cars started

Pike's Peak, June 15-16, 2002
Feature: 30 cars started
Consi: 16 cars

DuQuoin, September 2, 2002
Feature: 30 cars started
Consi: 19 cars in the consi won by Brian Tyler

IRP, August 1, 2002
Feature: 31 cars started

Two Consi's: Consi #1 had 14 cars (Kasey Kahne won Consi #1 in the Zarounian #67) and Consi #2 had 13 cars (Tony Stewart won Consi #2 in the Foxco #56)

Consi #1: 1) Kasey Kahne, 2) Rich Tobias, 3) Tyler Walker, 4) Teddy Beach, 5) Coons, 6) Jeff Mitrisin, 7) Dane Carter, 8) Nick Lundgreen 9) Brad Armstrong 10) Tom Capie 11) Gary Penission, Jr 12) John Starks 13) Sammy Swindell 14) Eric Butze

Consi #2: 1) Tony Stewart 2) Jason McCord 3) Jay Drake 4) Gough 5) Jimmy Kite 6) Tony Elliott 7) Bentley Warren 8) Jason Fuller 9) Eric Gordon 10) Jimmy McCune 11) Johnny Parsons 12) David Bridges 13) Dan Drinan

These are the Consi's, folks! Not the feature. My own car started 20th and finished 8th in the feature which was won by Mike Bliss in the IWX #111. Does anyone remember the IWX #111 that night? That car was like it was on rails at IRP. Carl Edwards finished 6th in the feature in the Don Ott #95.

Thanks for dredging up a lot of really good memories with this info. I'd dearly love a return to these days.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by okie:
Steve enjoyed watching your run Sunday

Thanks for supporting the SC cars, okie. Very much appreciated. See ya at Duquoin!

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

With maybe the exception of Terre Haute and Eldora, the Champ Car tracks (miles) have been virtually the same for the past 25 years.
Nice during hots, so so for quals, and hard slick rubber in the groove for the most of the race. Big deal. It is what it is....for 100 miles.
So, the way I see it, other than the current debacle over the change in the fuel issue, the big reason you're seeing less cars is because the owners (longtime guys, and gals) have grown tired of putting out the expense of running these cars for the same purses, or less, than they did 10-15 years ago. For christ's sake everything has gone up from parts to travel expense to motors to tires, etc except the prize money. Kinda like bein at work. After a few years without a raise, most people are gonna get bitter and either find a new job or retire.
Hard to believe to me that such a unique faction of our sport can only muster $9000-$10000 winners share in 2012. But it takes marketing, fans in the stands, and owners willing to race for the love of the sport to pull it off.
I'm betting that if more owners felt they were getting a fair shake, there would be plenty of cars, and we know there are plenty of great drivers who wanna run these Champ Cars.
And then there are guys like me who don't wanna see em just become hot rods for sale on Ebay.......
I'll have another beer now:D

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by mortboyz:
With maybe the exception of Terre Haute and Eldora, the Champ Car tracks (miles) have been virtually the same for the past 25 years.
Nice during hots, so so for quals, and hard slick rubber in the groove for the most of the race. Big deal. It is what it is....for 100 miles.
So, the way I see it, other than the current debacle over the change in the fuel issue, the big reason you're seeing less cars is because the owners (longtime guys, and gals) have grown tired of putting out the expense of running these cars for the same purses, or less, than they did 10-15 years ago. For christ's sake everything has gone up from parts to travel expense to motors to tires, etc except the prize money. Kinda like bein at work. After a few years without a raise, most people are gonna get bitter and either find a new job or retire.
Hard to believe to me that such a unique faction of our sport can only muster $9000-$10000 winners share in 2012. But it takes marketing, fans in the stands, and owners willing to race for the love of the sport to pull it off.
I'm betting that if more owners felt they were getting a fair shake, there would be plenty of cars, and we know there are plenty of great drivers who wanna run these Champ Cars.
And then there are guys like me who don't wanna see em just become hot rods for sale on Ebay.......
I'll have another beer now:D

Totally agree mortboyz. Sargeant needs freedom to go in and rip the track up and relay the dirt. Jacksonville did this and the racing has been the best it has in years, many years at that. The dirt at the miles isn't able to be worked like it needs to be to make the racing better.

What happened to the USAC megatotor? The one they had at Springfield was smaller then the ones RW, 6R and TSR had and last year USAC's was equal to those. Is USAC falling on hard times and had to sell it or are they showing even more that the Silver Crown series is of no interest to them?

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Stafford Springs was an awesome show, really enjoyed going up there. And thanks SC90 for the tires that night.

Re: Bettenhausen 100
 

Originally Posted by BrentTFunk:
How many were there for Stewart and Pastrana only? I stand corrected. How many cars showed up, and was it successful enough to have them back? Not being critical, hoping I am wrong.

Alot. PRA required the drivers show at a pre-race autograph session - right on the front straight. People were lined up down to turn 4 - carrying armfulls of Pastrana and Stewart stuff - evrything from posters to model cars & hats. Stands were packed.

PRA went out of business the next year, and so did the speedway in Lakeland. A return was not possible, and USAC did not come back w the Silver Crown series either. A mistake on their part, I believe.