Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

Has anyone or any series ran mini's on asphalt? winged/non winged? I saw a set of midget hoosier slicks for a low price and thought of taking my 1200 to a couple test nights. Anyone else done this yet? Would any tracks support it? Just kickin around some ideas... Thanks

There were a 3 or 4 600 sidewinders that raced at Plymouth a few years ago Dale Wood was one of them. They were plenty fast on the 3/8 track. Maybe too fast for there. And maybe that's why it stopped happening.
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Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

The series that Scott mentioned happened a few years ago. They ran Plymouth, Fort Wayne, etc. Wood and Newenswander had special cars for the series. They were having front wheel bearing problems. Larry Strouff (not Larry Joe) got hurt. The car were very fast, but with
your legs next to the fence it scared me. Just kind of went away.
I know Culp's ran. Others might shed more light on it.

Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

Why doesn't USAC run asphalt like they used to? Dirt tracks are great for racers but hard work for promoters, Asphalt is great for promoters but hard on racers. We rented the old Sportsdrome several years ago to play on and shoot a TV comercial. We were running 600 uprights and right off the bat we were under the track record by about a second. WE were also trying to get the promoter to put on a few races for us. All he could see was us flying over his catch fence into the crowd and a big law suit. I know a guy down in Corbin Ky that would love to put on minisprint race but can't find enough cars to make the tripdown there. We could probably do it this fall if we had any people to race.

Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

I have thought of the same thing and tried talking a few people into the idea as a "stepping stone" so to speak. The answer I keep getting is that a 600 or larger mini would be way too fast on most, if all, paved tracks. The diameter of tubing that is used to make the chassis, etc. are reasons that I was told they would be unsafe. I remeber as a kid when my family was running micros out west, that we did an exhibition at Kings Speedway, which is a 1/3 mile clay oval. They didn't even get past hotlaps before cancelling the show because the cars were way too fast. Hope this helps.

Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

A mini sprint is nothing but a midget chassis with wings and a motor cycle motor. They run those things at one-mile tracks at speeds that get close to light speed and wreck them too. I don"t fear the strength of our car i do fear an asphalt only chassis and the cost that goes along with that. I'm currently having an inside only chassis built out of .049 tube just for ft wayne and i don't think i could afford another for asphalt racing. Racers are strange people they spend any ammount of money for a very small advantage i know. It would be neat to race on asphalt but before long the pocket books would come out.

DAD, you know way more about minis than I do. However, I know that a few years ago the wall thickness of critical tubes on many minis was a good deal smaller than that of a midget. In fact I've seen a few cars where the OD of the roll cage was smaller than roll cages of midgets made by the same company.
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Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

MINI SPRINTS say .095 x 1.250 midget .095 x 1.375 chrome moly but a lot of guys race old midget frames that is why it would be nice if weight was raised to 1000 lbs car and driver.

Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

What is the definition of "too fast"? What method is used to determine if something is too fast? That's why we race isn't it, to go fast? The fans come to watch races to see fast racecars and the skill of the drivers that push the limits, knowing of the dangers involved, to outlast and outdrive other racers for the the win. Yes, **** happens and drivers crash and sometimes get injured or even die, but we knowingly take that risk everytime we buckle down in the seat of a car! So is too fast determined by the car and track size? If so then take a look at the Silver Crown Cars, there was a bad crash in one at Terre Haute, a 1/2 mile, these cars also run on 1mile tracks too, so because of that crash I didn't hear anyone say that they shouldn't run here or there because of being too fast! Would they be too fast for the 1/2 mile or the mile?
I would love to race my 1000 on pavement! What a rush that would be because yeah, I'd be haulin' ass, along with 19 other friends/competitors on the track! I remember that someone said something about tying a gas rag around your ankles to keep the ants from biting your candy ass.....LOL!!! Let's try it because the fans might like it. :31::22:

Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

wow!!!!

---------- Post added at 01:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

I'll give John Davis a call!

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I think along time ago they said Indy roadsters were too fast for Daytona like 220-30 mph didn't want t stay on the darned race track. Now with aero???????

Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

They tried to race them awhile back in the Michigan area on pavement. A micro sprint (600) is not a midget frame. A mini sprint is a basic midget frame. The normal track for a 600 is a 1/6 1/8 mile track. A problem with running them on pavement is the loads in the corners. Hubs-wheels-bearing. do not hold up to the loads. For ever brand new-state of the art 600 that would show up to race you would have ten minis that are old and a little long in the tooth. So before you say go out and buy all new parts to race on pavement. Remember most racers -spend more then they can--or right at the limits of what they are doing. A street stock racer has a street stock because that is what he can race. Its not like he could have a indy car but just likes steet stocks. Its what he can do with what he has. Same for mini sprints. They have million dollars in the bank--just race 600 because they do not want to move up the ladder.I have gone around on a 1/2 mile dirt in a 600. fast-fast -fast

Too fast is usually determined by the insurance underwriter who says whether or not they will cover a given event. Any racer still in his senses will not race at a track that does not have insurance, and insurance companies spend a lot of time looking at the safety of speedway and their potential of (financial) risk if a driver, fan or official is injured racing a given car at a given track.

Just because a car CAN go around a track does not always mean it SHOULD go around a track.
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Re: Mini sprints on asphalt?
 

Good responses and I'm glad to see there is/was a little flame to it. I grew up watching Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN and loved Midgets and I was told a 1200 mini could hang with one. It's too bad that there couldn't be some kind of semi-local series. I'm just a small guy so I can't afford to run a Midget but my 1200 is more affordable for me and trying it on asphalt has been something to shoot for. I remember Shadybowl Speedway running the NAMARS Series there in 99. It's a 3/10 mile track. Anderson would be cool too, but I've just always like the track there...lol