Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirtfan
As ISW is on the horizon, do any of us care to speculate on car counts at any of the tracks? We are all used to 40-45 cars in the past. I don't want to sound negative, but more down to earth, the economy is bad so how will this affect car counts?
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Dan,
Good question. In my opinion this is the biggest series of races during the season. Yes, you do have races that pay more, but this series in a series sets the table for all of the racers to prove they not only belong but can compete. We have seen 50-60 cars check in during prior sprint week shows. I doubt you will see that this year. The USAC formula being what it is, only 32 cars are set to compete in the heat races after qualifying. Everyone else is sent to a qualifying race and most of them end up on the hauler for the trip home.
With that being said, the economy will effect the car count somewhat. Last year fewer teams from the West Coast hauled out to compete. I think this year will be the same. We have seen a few new teams the last couple of weeks so I might be all wrong here. I still think you will see the 40-45 car count at most of the tracks. The exceptions I would think would be Terre Haute and Haubstadt. Kamp is a toss up since it isn't a traditional sprint car track. I don't feel you need to have that many cars as a field of 30-35 still provides plenty of action.
I think that some of the lower budget teams will be affected but with car damage that is usually the case anyway. Torn up equipment is difficult to repair with racing 7 out of 9 nights for any one much less family owned and operated teams. I think that the car counts will be strong and I am sooooooooooooooooo looking forward to sprint week. This is my favorite time of year. July in Indiana!
Looking forward to seeing the normal suspects on tour (I don't mean drivers either) and hope to meet some new folks again this year. Is tomorrow FRIDAY?
