Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

The year following the installation of lights and the first night Silver Crown race at Du Quoin the track took on two distinct grooves. I believe Rich Tobias won that year by running up near the wall. The following year it was fast up near the wall as well, at least for a while early on.

Don't know how things changed after that but we haven't seen anything like that first night race there since.

Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

Originally Posted by ISF:
The year following the installation of lights and the first night Silver Crown race at Du Quoin the track took on two distinct grooves. I believe Rich Tobias won that year by running up near the wall. The following year it was fast up near the wall as well, at least for a while early on.

Don't know how things changed after that but we haven't seen anything like that first night race there since.

That was the greatest Silver Crown race I've ever seen and I've seen at least 60

Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

Originally Posted by miledirt:
That was the greatest Silver Crown race I've ever seen and I've seen at least 60

The greatest Dirt Champ Car race I've ever seen was the 1974 Hoosier 100. Journeyman driver Jackie Howerton, in George Bignotti's STP Turbo-Offy powered car, outlasted Al Sr. and Mario in the Viceroy cars for one of the closest finishes in Dirt Car history. On the white flag lap Al Sr. pulled along side of Howerton on the back straight and rubbed him a little. Howerton was able to hold him off at the line. I'll never forget that race.......were any other IOW'ers there that day??

Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

Heck, I was'nt even born yet! How old are you? ;):3:

Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

Originally Posted by SPRINTCAR:
Heck, I was'nt even born yet! How old are you? ;):3:

george, i think he told me he saw the first 500.....lol

Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

Originally Posted by DAD:
There was less competition for the ticket buyer's dollar back then, and for some reason Drivers of the day got a lot more good publicity news papers, magazines, radio and even TV. They all had nick names or last names that people could remembered and they also raced at the local tracks. One class built on the other until they reached the top of the heap "Champ Cars".

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

This is probably best left for another thread, but one thing as a person not living in Indiana that wants to follow USAC I find difficult is there's no blog or specific news source outside of USAC press releases that covers the series and its drivers. I know it's probably difficult for an independent journalist to follow the series but I feel like there's a dearth of information out there for the fans on the internet.

On the whole ethanol thing, I'm not privy to inside information from either USAC or Silver Crown teams, but I am an engineer for a major engine manufacturer, and the main effect of running bio-based fuel compared to normal fuel for us in the past is we had to improve all our seals. Since USAC racing is not having engines run 200000 miles like our end vehicles are, doubt they have to worry about that too much.

Originally Posted by :
You missed the point. The point made was that all you have to do is change the nozzels and you are good to go. This move is costing owners more money. Read your post closer. Dyno time is not that cheap. This is adding additional cost in needing additional time on the dyno, changing fuel systems, needing additional cooling due to higher exhaust temps and losing the cooling aspect of methonal. Nothing is as simple as just changing the nozzels.

For the well funded teams or teams with access to dyno time this isn't as big of an issue. For teams who might come out only for the pavement or dirt shows this is a bigger issue and an extra expense that has to considered when deciding if they will continue to run the series or not.

With due respect, why are they wasting their time building engines then? Racing is a performance-based sport, that means over time you do all the stuff you mentioned anyway to improve performance. If you think you can just show up with an engine and don't do any development work on it, well, you're going to end up like the drivers with the Lotus engine at the big track and in a sport like USAC where it's an open formula no one's going to buy your engine anyway.

The entire idea that nothing should ever change because it costs people money is equally preposterous. Yes, don't make changes that put everyone out of the sport (the Gold Crown car for example), but this is not one of those. Now if ethanol goes away in a couple years, yeah, you can make that argument in a couple years.

Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

Originally Posted by rj1:
On the whole ethanol thing, I'm not privy to inside information from either USAC or Silver Crown teams, but I am an engineer for a major engine manufacturer, and the main effect of running bio-based fuel compared to normal fuel for us in the past is we had to improve all our seals. Since USAC racing is not having engines run 200000 miles like our end vehicles are, doubt they have to worry about that too much.



With due respect, why are they wasting their time building engines then? Racing is a performance-based sport, that means over time you do all the stuff you mentioned anyway to improve performance. If you think you can just show up with an engine and don't do any development work on it, well, you're going to end up like the drivers with the Lotus engine at the big track and in a sport like USAC where it's an open formula no one's going to buy your engine anyway.

The entire idea that nothing should ever change because it costs people money is equally preposterous. Yes, don't make changes that put everyone out of the sport (the Gold Crown car for example), but this is not one of those. Now if ethanol goes away in a couple years, yeah, you can make that argument in a couple years.

My post was aimed more at the car owner side of thing versus the engine builder side of things. I agree with you in that the engine builders are always pushing the envelope on development and it is not cheap. If they don't they will go out of business as someone else will come along with something that has higher hp/torque/reliability.

I think Racephoto summed it up best in more time needed to sort things out. From my perspective, you have a series that only has 11 races. You have a handfull of teams that will run all 11. Some will only run dirt and some will only run pavement. So, overall you have a very niche series with limited amount of competitors. You now throw in a monkey wrench with the fuel. Get it wrong and burn up the motor. How many teams have the budget to do true testing on dyno and development time with the new fuel system? How many teams can afford to lose a motor? With methonal, you have 30+years of continued development in fuel system on the motors and now you are starting from scratch with ethonal and there is a definite learning curve to the new fuel and fuel system.

Racing has always been a two tiered system. You will always have teams that are at the top of the food chain and a good amount of resources for development and can take a hit if something goes wrong. The second tier teams are out there for the love of the sport and being part of the tradition of the silvercrown cars. These guys have a much harder pill to swallow if they blow up.

We all know racing is not an inexpensive propostion and at any time, you can lose an entire car. I guess my point is in a series that has a limited number of races and competitors the rules should be consistent year to year to encourage continued participation in the sport. I know it is a hot topic right now because it is new and hopefully the transition is smooth to the new fuel and will soon be an after thought.

Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

Originally Posted by cecil98:
The greatest Dirt Champ Car race I've ever seen was the 1974 Hoosier 100. Journeyman driver Jackie Howerton, in George Bignotti's STP Turbo-Offy powered car, outlasted Al Sr. and Mario in the Viceroy cars for one of the closest finishes in Dirt Car history. On the white flag lap Al Sr. pulled along side of Howerton on the back straight and rubbed him a little. Howerton was able to hold him off at the line. I'll never forget that race.......were any other IOW'ers there that day??

I was there,and you are 100% correct.

Someone needs to edit the first post

Posted via Mobile Device

Re: Hoosier 100/Silver Crown Misinformation
 

Originally Posted by groove grabber:
Someone needs to edit the first post

Posted via Mobile Device

I doubt that you'll get as many 'likes' as the first post on this thread, but I gave ya one. :32: