[jjones752]

I don't know if you struck a nerve. Richie is doing his stats-guy thing and answering your question, I'm just stating the obvious; money always has and always will prevail. Even in the long-lamented "Good Old Days", I betcha that Howard Keck and Bob Wilkie had deeper pockets in their respective heydays than the car owners that were struggling to get their cars fast enough to make the race.

[WinglessLovers]

Originally Posted by revjimk They had 24 cars Wed. & Thursday, and 22 on Friday. I have no idea why there were so few Saturday Hard to see what was the point of heats since everyone qualified, other than entertainment

There were only 16 on Saturday for various reasons. One being that some of the racers went off to run in their regular divisions (Steve Buckwalter - 410's at Port Royal, Bruce Buckwalter - winged super sportsman at BAPS, Kyle Larson - Cup at Watkins Glen, Alex Yankowski - 358 modifieds at Grandview & Tanner Thorson - winged 410's at Knoxville). Also Kevin Woody must not have rented Buckwalter ride for Clyde Martin and Alex Bright and Tim Buckwalter rides along with Kenney Johnson had engine woes plus previous entrant in several of the races Zach Curtis did not show. Add those number to the 16 total at Clyde Martin and you have 24 (not counting both Steve Buckwalter and Kevin Woody as they drove same car on two different nights.

Bruce Eckel

[dustbowl]

http://www.kokomospeedway.net/news/?i=42396

[HDbill]

But the bottom line, after you take away the "dog ate my homework excuses"; 16 cars started. 11 finished the race. the first ten cars were either Toyota or SR11X and the winner started 3rd.

[Ntfsprint5w]

This debate can go on an on blah blah about SR 11 and Toyotas. At the end of the day, there arent really any other engines being built. So if you want to blame the minds at ARDC for allowing the USAC legal engines, ask the teams who had the older ones where they were going to find parts for their outdated engines. PA just isnt equipped for weekly midget racing anymore as much as i wish it was. Theres so much racing that drivers can go do for the money that you'd spend on a midget. In PA if you're not running at least two to three nights a week in a 600, you wont be up front at any show. As also as mentioned above, this week: Kunsman only ran Friday, Zach Curtis only had plans to run Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Thorson went to knoxville, Larson had nascar, Kenney Johnson Blew up, Alex Bright sold his stuff, and then he and Timmy Buckwalter had blown up in the Seymour cars, Steve Buckwatler had port royal and did not rent the car out to Woody, or Yankowski who was at grandview, Bruce Buckwalter had Super Sportsman at susky, Ryan Greth Blew up, Heffner car wasnt out except for Wednesday because thats all Pauch Jr could do, Shawn Jackson blew up, Ethan Mitchell Blew up, Bobby Butler blew up on saturday as well. There were 16 cars at Lanco and I had an absolute blast. Midget week was great, and hopefully PA can have monthly midget races again in the future.

[revjimk]

Originally Posted by WinglessLovers There were only 16 on Saturday for various reasons. One being that some of the racers went off to run in their regular divisions (Steve Buckwalter - 410's at Port Royal, Bruce Buckwalter - winged super sportsman at BAPS, Kyle Larson - Cup at Watkins Glen, Alex Yankowski - 358 modifieds at Grandview & Tanner Thorson - winged 410's at Knoxville). Also Kevin Woody must not have rented Buckwalter ride for Clyde Martin and Alex Bright and Tim Buckwalter rides along with Kenney Johnson had engine woes plus previous entrant in several of the races Zach Curtis did not show. Add those number to the 16 total at Clyde Martin and you have 24 (not counting both Steve Buckwalter and Kevin Woody as they drove same car on two different nights. Bruce Eckel

Good info, thanks

[revjimk]

Originally Posted by HDbill Ouch, looks like I struck a nerve. I didn't say that no races were won from the back at USAC races. It is just highly unlikely. And almost impossible without a $40K+ engine that won't make 20 races an "MO MONEY". And then there is Badger for those with less that 6 figure incomes. From the grandstands at Angel Park, they put on a better show with FAR less that $40K in the trailer and everything in it. Our sport has a serious problem with car counts falling. Throwing money at it isn't working. Ever wonder why there are billions of 600cc micros? That is as close to a midget as you can get and keep the house. Badger will continue to grow with guys coming up from 600s. There are about 300 midgets that come out of the garage for the Chili bowl that don't have $40K engines. They come to race against their friends that don't have one either. But the Chili Bowl isn't a race. It is a world class event not run by USAC or POWERI. Sure, the Saturday A will be won by a Toyota or a SR11x. But the guys in the C.D.E.F.G.H.....Mains will have a fun time racing with talent, brains and a lot of hard work.....Like the kids with the VW, Hondas and the Bike motor, instead of deep pockets.

Those 600 micros are pretty fun to watch tho, good close racing. My favorite support class now

[jeffj]

Previous to last week I thought we were saving money by running an older engine package, but my thoughts on the 40K engines have changed after PA week...
There were a lot of engine failures among those of us who were running older engine packages.
The cost of PA week to me was a lot more than just the cost of the engine that we lost. We had time off from work, travel expenses, hotel bills, Tires and fuel, pit passes... the list goes on and on...and we didnt even get to race because we blew up.
When you factor in all those expenses, the $40k cost of a modern engine that should last through a season or 2 of racing without breaking is really not that bad ... I have spent close to that that over the past few seasons of racing on repairs to my older engines and still had a lot of DNF's
We will be back before the end of the season and it will be with one of the current National Midget engines...
(if anybody know of a good deal on a used SR11X text me 203-228-4034)
Jeff Johnson
#46 Autocraft Spike
driven by Kenney Johnson