What happened to Bell?
 

I heard the other day that Christopher Bell will no longer be in the Six-R #21. My question is why and who will fill the seat? I figured it might take some time to get him up to speed in a champ car, but I figured he would be tough when they got their car lined up.

Sounded to me as though the car is gone, not the driver. Guess, as always, we'll have to wait and see unless Darryl Guiducci would like to chime in.

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

Sorry I have been down sick for a few days and didn't see the post . But here is the answer on Christopher. His character is equal to his talent. I received a call from him about a week after the Hoosier and we talked and his comment was that I have lost interest in the silver crown cars. I told him I understand, we talked for a minute or two and i wished him luck the rest of the season and told him if he needed anything give me a call. He is a great young man in my book. I guess the whole thing is that with the schedule he is racing on this year it is pretty tough to run the silver crown when there is not a posted schedule until 2 or 3 days or not at all before the event it is hard to decide where to go to make your money. Here we are 5 days from our next race and one of them is the travel day to get there,and there is nothing on USAC web site about Memphis. We are in the guessing mode of what the purse will be. I am sure if you go look you can get all the info for the dirt sprint car series. When all you hear out of the USAC president is technology and web site and nothing is there. No wonder silver crown is failing. This is not due to Andy's efforts of not trying. It is hard to do anything without help from the top.

In answer to who is driving the 21 dirt car I will let them announce in the coming days.

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

It is also pretty shocking to not only the teams but also the fans that they cannot get any kind of information on the website related to silver crown races. It would be nice to know the schedule of events plus also a list of racers that will participate in the race. USAC still has not posted an entry blank to even let teams know how much the payout will be or the schedule of events. USAC gives bonus points for early entry and not sure how they are doing that since no entry has been posted in a timeframe that allows that. It seems like someone down at the USAC office could take a few minutes and help the series. When a USAC employee that is a regular on this board post that he is not a fan of silver crown and finds it boring( paraphrased but general thought), i start to wonder if that is feeling of the whole USAC office? Maybe Kevin Miller will take the time to talk to teams and ask for ideas on how to revive the series instead of saying how he is going to fix. It does not take a real genius to figure out how he made USAC profitable last year because of taking all the sponsor money and not paying out to any series as a way to make the books look great at the expense of the series.

It's a shame Christopher isn't interested in it any longer because he was tough, just had some hard luck.

As far as the website goes, I'm still pushing for more. I have a Facebook Silver Crown page with almost 5,000 members and I try and post something news worthy at least twice a week. I think Andy is doing a great job, but that effort has to be full circle. Give it time and keep giving insights and I believe over time we will see great change. We have already built up so much over the past few dirt races and I believe that in time, we will all be happy with where the series is.

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

Agree with Hardy Boys fully and not blaming Andy as i think we need to get others involved in this at the USAC office to get this going forward for more car participation. You have done a great job with Facebook etc. but it is sad if you look right now, nothing is listed for this race this weekend in Memphis unless you really look but still no entry blank. Keep up the great work and hope to help grow the series also

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

Can you also blame Christopher for not wanting to run a series were you have no idea even what you are going to make if you win the race. With the talents he has, it is no wonder he would not want to run in a series that you do not know if you are going to get 10k to win or 8k or less until you get to the track. He has so much talent he can go run other cars that he knows what he will have a chance to win weeks in advance, seems like pretty obvious choice to me.

Re: What happened toll?
 

As for the purse, there are no other divisions overlapping this weekend so there should be no need to trim the purse for travel fees for another division....my suggestion would be to hire someone to take care of the web site, with a 1.5 million dollar payroll whats another 40, 000 or so? Or does anyone really think the President really cares... just keep making checks payable to USAC and keep your expectation low and you will only be mildly disappointed!

Re: What happened toll?
 

Put the Madman in the car and watch it run up front!!!

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

Thank you to USAC for posting the entry blank for the teams. I know some of the above comments might have come across as harsh and personal but they were not meant but to try and motivate to push the series up and not down further.

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

Many thanks to Darryl for his response. No substitute for hearing it strait from the man himself. 'Everyone' keeps saying that 6R/Darryl is done, but, to his credit, he keeps hanging on. And, in the process, helps lots of drivers. I keep seeing Jet Star driving suits everywhere I look. Maybe Darryl is today's J.W. Hunt.........

Put Jerry coons in it!!! U can always count on your equipment coming back in one piece and a consistent up from driver! Jmo

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

I believe Mr. Hillenburgs title is Silver Crown Series Coordinator, I would assume that getting the information out to the teams on all things related to the series would fall under that title. Also, he is a USAC employee, so saying he is doing a great job but USAC is failing the series doesn't really make sense to me. Let me be clear, I'm not saying Andy is doing a bad job. I've talked to him on the phone, he's a nice guy with good intentions. But from my perspective, there are a lot more issues plaguing the series that USAC/Andy can't rectify than what they can. Theres no magic bullet, it's going to take time on everyones part. Mr. Hillenburg is 4 races into his tenure and the series seems to be holding steady so hopefully that bodes well for the future.

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

C. J. LEARY will be at Memphis

The madman would do a great job and he would make it a fun race to watch.

If I remember right, first time on a mile he didn't even make one lap.Stuff it into the third turn wall..

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

wrong!! first time on a mile was Duquin, he was running 3td and lap 68 tagged the 3td turn wall. And if you were there that nite the groove was on the fence.

So your saying he can't keep it out of the third turn wall? lol

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

So this thread about a driver quitting a team turned into one bashing on the Silver Crown series, again. I don't see a need for the negativity, Chris has only one 10th place finish this year in the series, that is probably the reason for his lack of interest when he can get in a KKM car and win any night of the week. The uncertainty of the purse I am sure has no effect, the SC series pays better consistently than all sprintcar series except the WoO or a premier event. Regardless if it is 8k to win or 10k to win a young racer wants to win. Darrell has fielded a car for many years and won a lot of races but for some reason this duo did not seem to click, I think that is the problem here, as it is with numerous sprintcar and midget teams throughout the year for lots of drivers.

Here's an idea.... Put Brian back in the 6r. This weekend at Memphis! He'll be in the top 5 at the end...guaranteed!

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

At Duquoin he didn't tag the wall, he led the first 80 laps then ran out of fuel, refueled and restarted down 1 lap came back on the track and passed everyone including the leader and made the lap up and finished the race as about 3-5 other teams ran out of fuel on the last lap, he didn't even know where he had finished because so many cars were stopping he wasn't sure who was on the lead lap etc. The PA announcer stated he was 7th, the USAC official said top 5 to the scales, he assumed he was not in the top 5 due to the PA announcement didn't go to the scales, turns out he was in the top 5 and then was DQ'd because he didn't go to the scales because he didn't know he was in the top 5.

http://www.wheelsofspeed.com/2013/09...-race-results/

At the Springfield mile he started 14th finished 9th.

At the Indy mile he set quick time, then went out for feature and yes he did tag the wall because there were no brakes, so I guess you're right he stuffed it into the wall as you stated, I suppose you could have done a much better job in the situation with no brakes, given the opportunity I will gladly offer to put you in a car and let you prove your criticism although I'm not going to tell you when you will lose your brakes I will just surprise you with it - kind of like what happened in Indy.

Driver bashing, series bashing, track bashing, does anything make anyone happy on here anymore? I might as well jump in - I can't stand keyboard racers, keyboard track prep experts, keyboard series directors, keyboard crew chiefs, keyboard push truck drivers, and all the other keyboard things I'm leaving out.

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

I think USAC 99 was talking about Chris Bell..whose nickname is not the Madman so I don't know how he got that mixed up...

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

Bet he NEVER makes THAT mistake again! Been there, done that.

steiny
:32:

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

Thank you.

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

I was there,it was the most confusing finish I ever saw,Robert got screwed big time!!

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

"Driver bashing, series bashing, track bashing, does anything make anyone happy on here anymore? I might as well jump in - I can't stand keyboard racers, keyboard track prep experts, keyboard series directors, keyboard crew chiefs, keyboard push truck drivers, and all the other keyboard things I'm leaving out."

I couldn't agree more!

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Last edited by wtvwrocks; 6/25/14 at 2:56 PM.

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

maybe they should look at some of the people turning the wrenches

Re: What happened to Bell?
 

Robert Ballou was exciting to watch at DuQuoin. He rode the cushion up top while most were hugging low. But they were getting passed so much that soon many cars moved up top and it made for a much more entertaining show. The series needs guys like "The Madman" running cause they are fun to watch. I only hope that some SC owner will give Ballou a ride because he is worth the price of a ticket to watch.