USAC Sprints all Dirt in 2011
 

Interesting post on the TSR Twitter, must be from the banquet tonight

http://twitter.com/tonystewart_rcg

USAC National Sprint Car Series schedule will be all dirt events in 2011... 37 events ... season finale at Perris Auto Speedway.

I think this is going to make an interesting 2011 if this is true. I wonder how many guys might make a run at a championship with now not having to finance a pavement deal. Should be interesting.

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It seems as if lately their attitude is why be unique, when we can be like everyone else. If it is only 37 shows, there are going to be some great local and MSCS fields that's for sure.

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looks like im gonna make the trek to turkey night and perris next year

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Just checked last years schedule and there were 38 dirt races and 7 pavement shows.

Tim Wolffrum aka Cowboy

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can see the same stuff at any local joint. pavement changes that fact. yall remember when usac wouldn't run under a half mile? where is the distinction?

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I wonder what effect this will have on The Lil 500?

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I look for the Little 500 to sprout wings in a couple of years.

There was only 11 teams that ran both (at the most) and that happend one time. The other races were under 10.
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I sure hope not. If it does I will have to find something else to do that night. Never been to the night before the 500 at Irp.

It may have made them unique, but it's what might have made them extinct! It's near impossible to run both surfaces anymore. Why try to force the issue when it clearly was not successful? Let some pavement series
form or maybe USAC can form a pavement division separate from the dirt.
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USAC doesn't sanction the Little 500 anymore.

For several years in the 1980's, USAC didn't have pavement races and The Little 500 survived.

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There not smart enough to run the same car on pavement and dirt! We done it for 50 yr.! And we had plenty of cars!!!!!!!!!!!!!:6::15::14:

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Duke, I believe the smart spelling would be, they're, not there. And, imo, very smart people designed and built pavement cars which made using the same car a thing of the past.

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LOL . I agree Real Deal .

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And those same very smart people is why no pavement in USAC next year. Also the fact that there are no seats available in Nascrap. Pavement was thriving when people thought it would get them to taxi cabs.

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I can tell by your photo that your a rocket expert! Go have a bud with mowerman!

---------- Post added at 10:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 AM ----------

Go have a bud with mower man!!

Superdukes right tho if you could run and be on par wth everyone else with a dirt car on pavement and do away with the pavement only cars it would be a lot better.
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I worked with Duke many moons ago. We ran an old cut down Watson. We were competitive on the pavement and won on the dirt with the same car. I van remember running a dirt race on Saturday night and Salem on Sunday. We'd knock off the dirt and change the bars, and be ready to go.

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Here would be an easy rule change. "You can't run a car at a pavement race unless it has ran a "FULL" show on dirt and brings the (governing bodies) registration or proof." Front Axles and Bird Cages can be changed. :2:

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I remember when you couldn't get on the Internet and spout how the past was so great:18:your same 2 friends had to hear the same old stories over and over again:16

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The problem with pavement is not the cars, there are plenty of pavement cars out there, it is the expense of running them, tire costs per pavement race are very high, and to be competitve you need new tires and testing, and the costs of those two things alone more than offset the purse of pavement races.

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Aero, I can't believe I'm siding with Duke , but on this one I am. The good days were better, but you weren't here in the 70's. Salem would run twin 50's, or Quad 25's, midgets being 2 of the 25's. There were so many cars , you'd run a semi and some guys wouldn't make the A.

Yeah the same old stories I know, but the old days were better in a lot of ways.Actually better than you'll ever know.It was great being a 14 year old working on race cars back then.

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Duke & Co. are right on this one

Let's give the dirt chassis a couple more inches of offset against the pavement chassis on the asphalt & Let er Rip

Same thing needs to happen with the Midgets

You should not have to have 43 combos of chassis & engines to run Sprints/Midgets

We need to get back to runnin Sprint Cars & Midgets & not this alphabet soup on multiple eng. chassis tire combos we have now across the country

You should be able to have 1 chassis & engine combo that is competitive on Dirt or Pavement ... or even with a wing nut on it if that's what floats yur boat LOLLLLLLL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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We did and you can ask jones foyt jr unser (ect) one car same frame pavement and dirt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---------- Post added at 04:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:03 PM ----------

Was you there? If so you would understand!

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I did watch those guys U listed above & SuperDuke also LOL

Myself I raced with CRA 85-90

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Ok, I was trying to ignore this post as we had the same discussion on the same rumor last year. But here goes.....

The problem is not the cars!

Ok, I'll say it again so those of you that didn't catch that can respond.

The problem is not the cars!

The chassis is the cheap part in the equation. (by the way, USAC allows the dirt cars more offset then the pavement cars.) There are plenty of pavement cars out there. Just look at the number of cars that tried to make the Little 500 last year (and the year before). And there's probably the same number sitting at home not wanting to spend the money it takes to make that race. In fact I'd go out on a limb and state there are probably 100 pavement cars in the Ohio, Michigan and Indiana area. And another 30-50 in the Southern states. Remember you have HOSS, AVSS, MSR (santioned by HOSS) and the Ohio 305 group all running. And except for just a couple of cars, they are all pure pavement cars. And they all have mostly full fields. The problem is the d**n tires! The four groups mentioned above all use the same tires. But USAC uses a different compound on three of the four corners. So if you want to try to run USAC one race, you have to buy at least three new tires. Remember the Salem race late this summer that had USAC and MSR both on the same night? Some of the MSR racing guys didn't make the feature. But even with a short USAC field, they were not allowed to try to run the USAC race. Why?...... TIRES!

Even if you made a rule that said you had to run a dirt chassis on pavement, most dirt guys have no desire to run the pavement. And the top teams would still have a pavement chassis. It would just look like a dirt chassis. But there would be subtle differences.

I've run dirt, I've run pavement. I've run with a wing and with out a wing on both surfaces. And even with my limited resourses, I own a dirt car and a pavement car. Believe me, it's not the car keeping the USAC fields short.

Tom Paterson

P.S. If the people that run the winged pavement races don't come up with a different tire rule, they will be facing the same problem within a few years.

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:6:1121:6: We have a Winner!! :9:

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Today car owner choose to run dirt or pavement! Ask a woo team how much they spend a night on tires?????????????? I've seen them go thru 6 tires a night and blow out in heat races!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------

You and mower man needs another bud!

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Soo...You think spending that kinda money on tires is a good thing Denny? :15::15:

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progress people.good old days huh, lets take the cages off too.some people thought it was a bad idea when roll cages were put on sprinters.some people want to pick and choose progress,well you morons it does not happen that way.

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I thought I read somewhere that there would be no USAC races at the PAS in 2011. Glad that was wrong.

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Sounds like many are saying USAC quit pavement racing. Maybe it's the other way around.

Even with support classes, it's tough for a promoter to pay the purse, let alone the other bills, if only 10 or 12 cars show up in the division.

Rear engine cars were outlawed in 1974 because it would have required two types of car. By 1977, the USAC championship was won by a team using two types of race cars. But, the roadster was OK because it was traditiional.
Whether it was the roadster or not, the numbers of pavement racing was dropping off when the tornado destroyed the stands at Salem Speedway, Dayton closed, IRP was bought by NHRA, leaving Winchester. Teams did not believe that was enough to support pavement race. When Salem rose from the weeds in 1987, the first "sprint race" was actually a super modified deal with a few old sprint cars thrown in for a non-USAC race.

When Salem reopened with a hodgepodge field of old pavement and dirt cars and its first USAC race in half a decade, the folks at ESPN saw an opportunity and the Thunder broadcasts were born with IRP, Salem and Winchester in the fold. That drove the USAC pavement division and new pavement cars. When ESPN signed major league baseball in the mid-1990s, it didn't need racing any more and pavement racing gradually fell off.

But, the real bottom line is the reason why Foyt and Hurtibise and Bettenhausen and Carter and Bigelow and most of the dozens of others drove the banks and other pavement tracks -- to get to the Indy 500 and the championship division. This was the best route to get there and the big money to be found there.

The last driver to follow that route was Ed Carpenter.

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they used to run both asphalt and dirt for the USAC Champ cars also mr. Duke......But then again you didn`t have to take a blue pill back then did you! Point is , times are changing and it sucks!!!!

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:22::6:we run dirt cars in the 1981 pocono 500 before most of you experts where born!:15:

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I think taking the cages off would be great! Then we would see some real racing and real men not boys and girls driving there daddys car!!!!!!!! Hell i stated in a midget with no roll bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A midget without a rollbar? You are old Duke! JK. I liked the 60's better and I was born in '83!
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I'am 67 first race feb. 1963 st.pete. Fla. Nascar midget race! How many started in nascar?

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People kept ding-donging for better/stickier tires, and Hoosier obliged them.

Since Hoosier has no competition, they decided to jack their prices up.

End result, monoply on the tires, and people crying that the tires don't last, and cost too much.

'Technology' in some forms, is racing's worst enemy. Technology means $$. Spend the $$ for 'the latest and greatest', or start running mid pack. So people start trying to spend their way into victory lane, and end up broke, or not able to run the many, many thousand dollar 'toy' that they have already paid for, so it gets parked.

I too think it might be a good time to cut the cages off. I've seen way too much -driving right at people-, and -sticking a RR into somebody- the last few years. Several of the youngsters drive like they are never going to get hurt/hurt someone else!! Plus they are tearing up way too much equipment, and in some cases, ending some people's seasons, with their BS driving style!

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I think he is saying the Outlaws are buying the tires they need, so apparently the tires are not a 'make or break' deal for the WoO teams.

The Outlaws don't run pavement though, so they don't have a totally specialized machine sitting in the shop, that only gets run 7 times a season....now 0 times in 2011 :7:

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If the supposed number of races for next year is 37, my only beef is USAC not replacing those pavement dates with more dirt races. Would be a good opportunity to try and run at some new tracks.

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What form of auto racing wasn't better in the old days?