Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Tentative Knoxville schedule has the non wingers on Saturday nite with 360 nationals finals.Good move ya think?

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

It's appealing to me

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Don't the 360 Nationals and Belleville Midget Nationals usually run the same weekend?

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Website said August 4th.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Only problem I see with it is a guy like Brady Bacon might not be able to run both

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Originally Posted by dkdorkboy:
Website said August 4th.

Belleville hasn't posted their 2012 schedule as yet, nor has the fair board posted the fair dates, but if they hold true to form, then the Nationals will be held August 3 & 4. If that's the case, and Knoxville's (tentative) schedule stands, then it's just one more kick in the shorts for what was once a premier USAC event - the Belleville Midget Nationals.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

That night USAC will be like the modifieds are during ISW. All of the wing fans will head toward the exits when USAC races.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

I hope USAC finds some other races that weekend as to have the teams sit there till Tuesday to run Osky sure don't make much sense.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Also won;t those wings dry out the track? So Knoxville will turn out like Osky are what ever its name is dry one lane no passing I hope it don;t happen then

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Originally Posted by staggerman:
I hope USAC finds some other races that weekend as to have the teams sit there till Tuesday to run Osky sure don't make much sense.

Good point!

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

:15::13::19::26::14::(:7: I give up :47:

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

When did USAC Sprints become a support class? I hate this idea. I espically hate the potential conflict with the Belleville Midget Nationals.

It would seem that after this weekends Gold Crown that everyone (USAC, POWRI, Badger, ADRC, etc) would be working on ways to create more special events. The four groups should get togehter and create several "non-conflict" races. Belleville, Gold Crown, Fireman Nationals, Hut Hundred, USAC midget week, POWRI money week, etc. It was evident that there are still a ton of great midget cars. We just need to work on ways to get them all together. Not ways to hurt midget racing.

Ask anyone who was at the Gold Crown, and they will tell you what a great race it was. No one was complaining about the race format, No one was complaining about the admission price. It was just a great race that had everyone excited about midget racing. When I pulled in Thursday and notice that the amount of campers had almost doubled from last year, I knew it was going to be a specail weekend. Next year should be even better. This is the type of racing that we need to build on. Not spliting the talent because of petty ********.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Originally Posted by dkdorkboy:
Tentative Knoxville schedule has the non wingers on Saturday nite with 360 nationals finals.Good move ya think?

So, will they run three classes that night? This year they ran their weekly 410 winged cars with the 360 show. The pits were really crowded, even with no haulers. I don't see how they'd be able to stuff in another 25-30 cars. It's also going to suck having to unload/reload the haulers as well.

Tim Simmons

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

They are running a 'Prelude to the Nationals' race on Sunday night for winged 410s... so I'm guessing that Sat night will just be the E-D-C-B-A features for 360 Nationals and full USAC program. They unload the trailers and put them outside so fans can see the backstretch. An inconvenience, but for good reason!

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

In my opinion, never gonna be a good idea to run wings and real Sprints on the same card.....:7:

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

I'll be there both nights anyway, so it is no big deal for me! However, the 360 nats crowd was much larger than the Sunday night crowd. After 3 nights of 360 races, their supporters and families were headed for home, while mostly the people staying all week were there for the non-wing race. I think that this could expose a few extra fans to the USAC drivers and style that we get to enjoy here in IN.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Terrible for a lot of reasons. Conflicts with Belleville, wings and no wings need different track prep, predict a lousy USAC show after the 360s wear out the track. Does this mean the new promoter at Knoxville is trying to make a name for himself by changing the program? I doubt you will get many more fans on Saturday with a split show but they may think they can get a bigger crowd Sunday with wings. Remember a few years ago they ran the non-wing cars from Osky on Wednesday with the first night of the Nationals and they had no track at all to race on and they never did that again. They just need two different types of track to put on a good show as was proven at Osky this year when they had a wet track for the wings and a dry,slick track for the USAC show and ended up with two lousy shows.
Part of this may be driven by the fair board trying to get another night of winged racing to make as much money in the 10 days of 360 and 410 Nationals as they can to cover the losses on their weekly shows. I just think it's a bad idea but you need to remember Knoxville is the Mecca of winged sprint car racing and most of the people still think that since the wing cars are so much faster that they are better. The first year of the USAC show at Knoxville I heard more than one person remark that they had never seen sprint cars race three wide. That pretty much tells the tale right there.

Vern Plotts

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Originally Posted by ColoradoFan:
Terrible for a lot of reasons. Conflicts with Belleville, wings and no wings need different track prep, predict a lousy USAC show after the 360s wear out the track. Does this mean the new promoter at Knoxville is trying to make a name for himself by changing the program? I doubt you will get many more fans on Saturday with a split show but they may think they can get a bigger crowd Sunday with wings. Remember a few years ago they ran the non-wing cars from Osky on Wednesday with the first night of the Nationals and they had no track at all to race on and they never did that again. They just need two different types of track to put on a good show as was proven at Osky this year when they had a wet track for the wings and a dry,slick track for the USAC show and ended up with two lousy shows.
Part of this may be driven by the fair board trying to get another night of winged racing to make as much money in the 10 days of 360 and 410 Nationals as they can to cover the losses on their weekly shows. I just think it's a bad idea but you need to remember Knoxville is the Mecca of winged sprint car racing and most of the people still think that since the wing cars are so much faster that they are better. The first year of the USAC show at Knoxville I heard more than one person remark that they had never seen sprint cars race three wide. That pretty much tells the tale right there.

Vern Plotts

Vern,
I can't believe the track was prepared any different from the 360 race night on Sat to the USAC and 305 winged night on Sun.
But like it or not, it's their sand box and we have just been invited to come play. I ran their sometimes back when it was a non wing track in the late 70's, when I first started racing.....so I have had a pipe dream of some kind of Silver crown, sprint and midget weekend like the 4 crown...or even the gold crown......but I don't think Knoxville will ever leave their wing guys out, do to their faithful attendance each week of 305/360/410 drivers. I think you are right though of them changing the schudule around to get better attendance for Sunday.

Steve

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

This sucks. I hate wings.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Sucks! :(
Best Regards,
John

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

The Knoxville Nationals had the winner come from 13th, 2nd from 17th, 4th from 19th. So there's a lot of passing there.

The Non-Winged Nationals didn't draw as well on Sunday, so they are replacing it with a 410 race. It's going to make for an excellent night of racing on Saturday.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

I don’t like them on the same night. Wing and non-wing on the same night rarely works out. The track never seems to be able to take the whole night. Knoxville is great at track prep, but I’m not sure they can even pull off both classes having a good track on the same night. Several years ago they had a non-wing race (just a race no show) at the end of one of the nights. The track was absolute garbage and Sammy walked away with it driving the Walker #11. It was one of the worst races I saw all year. All the wing folks I talked to said that proved that type of racing sucks. NOTHING would have looked good at the end of that night. Track was used up.

I’m sure this is a money thing. They want to put the non-wingers on the card for the week, but want the wing race fans money too (that’s what the week is for). They can then make more money on the Sunday night by having wings. I personally don’t like it, but I get it. Wings are how they make money. I actually like both (non-wing much more), but the two on the same night rarely work. Remember, different guy running the show there now.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Or maybe USAC could not run there at all. How about that?

These days with a bad economy, you take what you can get and be grateful for it.

Seems like lots of negative thoughts being shared here WAY before the fact. How about some constructive criticism (if needed) after it happens?:27:

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

For those of you that think the track will be junk due to running wing & nonwing, just wondering where you're coming from?? It has been my experience that winged cars are much harder on a track 'cause they have higher HP bullets and are locked down hard on both the left and right rear. Nonwing cars are planted hard on the right rear, but are sideways and dancing across the track. At this show in the past, there have been around 100 winged 360s and 40 winged 410s. If they can prepare a good track for 140 winged sprints (like they have in the past), they can surely prepare a track for anything! JMO on that, but the Dunkins do a great job. Wings are better on a slick track (not rubber though), and nonwing are better on a tackier track (but not mud!) -- hopefully we'll see a track that is somewhere in the middle.

Re: Usac at Knoxville 2012
 

Originally Posted by chillyrn:
For those of you that think the track will be junk due to running wing & nonwing, just wondering where you're coming from?? It has been my experience that winged cars are much harder on a track 'cause they have higher HP bullets and are locked down hard on both the left and right rear. Nonwing cars are planted hard on the right rear, but are sideways and dancing across the track. At this show in the past, there have been around 100 winged 360s and 40 winged 410s. If they can prepare a good track for 140 winged sprints (like they have in the past), they can surely prepare a track for anything! JMO on that, but the Dunkins do a great job. Wings are better on a slick track (not rubber though), and nonwing are better on a tackier track (but not mud!) -- hopefully we'll see a track that is somewhere in the middle.

Track prep last year was decent but going back years before like people have mentioned, it was terrible for non-wing cars. All I know is the USAC sprints just became an undercard instead of having their own night and that sucks. Plus, it very well may conflict with Belleville, one of the most prestigious non-wing races already on that night. I think this will also hurt car count because there was a few 360's there last year that won't be now, plus some drivers will be at Belleville instead. Finally, I don't think the Sunday night crowd will be any better simply due to the fact that it's Sunday. We'll see if this race lasts much longer.