[ThrowbackRacingTeam]

Last saw a dirt car run pavement back in the 90's when Mark Alderson wheeled an ill-handling Stapp owned and wrenched #4u at Winchester that still had Eldora dust on it from the night before! Something tells me that it could work though if everyone gave it a shot. I sure miss those Sunday afternoons at Winchester after Eldora. Then again they don't really run Eldora much anymore either. Not much is as good today as it once was.

[jdull99]

Originally Posted by Revolution Racing The short answer is that it DOES work. Or at the very least, it CAN work. This applies equally to Midgets, by the way. Now, the longer answer (there is ALWAYS a 'longer answer'), is that it would change some things, and if there is one thing that Sprint cars guys - and especially Midget guys - just don't do well with, it's change. Salem and Winchester were mentioned earlier in this thread. If sprinters went to a combo formula, those would be two tracks that would be off the menu for sure. Look at it this way, the reason that the pavement car evolved was so that we could run on larger and larger tracks. Sprinters at Salem, Midgets at Phoenix... man I love watching that stuff but if we went to a combo formula we'd be watching pavement shows on 1/3 mile tracks or smaller. Don't forget about what has happened in the engine compartment over the last couple of decades - power is way up today compared to the combo car days. This also adds a lot to the equation. I guess what I'm saying all boils down to this - If our choice is to say goodbye to pavement racing, or just to say goddbye to it on all of those big, beautiful and incredibly dangerous tracks, my vote is to keep pavement alive. One way to do that would be to bring back the combo car, and run short tracks. Its pretty clear that nobody has an appetite for slowing down the engines at the top levels (myself included), so this may be the best option we have.

Restrict the engines back to 1990's numbers then...was a "golden era" for those of us born b4 the 70s...

ARCA has rules for their stock cars to be very close to pavement cars I believe? For dirt AND road coarses...

Guess now we know why that last date was maybe cancelled this fall???

[goodnight39]

ok guys, here is my two cents on this subject. When i first came to sprint cars i had just left a pavement stock car series (Baby Grands). at that time i wanted to be a nascar driver(woke up and smelled the coffe), now some may not admit it but if you were to walk up and down the pits at any usac show and ask the drivers what their all time goal would bee in their career they would all tell you INDY or NASCAR, but in the very next breth if you asked them what they thought about going pavement racing in a sprint, midget, or crown car MOST would cringe and tell you they hate pavement and didn't care to ever run a pavement race. my comment to that is, last time i checked there isnt a dirt race on the indy or nascar schedule nore is there ever going to be. this series was invinted to groom drivers for the big leagues. if we loose the pavement program how are our up and comming stars ever going to get some pavement time. the next step is to sell your open wheel stuff and buy a late model to get the experience needed (Chad Boat). now we have lost a valuable member of our racing family that may have put ten more butts in the bleachers. there are ways to control the costs of pavement racing, like tire rules, and no testing in the weeks before a race. My take on the situation as a dirt car owner and potential pavement car owner is that it is not worth the time effort and mony to purchase a pavement car and get a program going for eight-ten races. if i were goning to pull the trigger on purchasing a pavement car i am not so conserned about car counts, and purse pay out, but how many times am i going to get to race. i believe that if we traet this as a way to get more of our drivers on to the next level, all of the other things will fall into place, but there must be strict rules to keep the cost down, and it doesent mean anything if the cars slow down a little bit, as long as everyone slows down.
well there it is, so go easy on the tearing down of this comment. first time poster long time reader you guys just touched on a very important topic and thought i would chime in.
Thanks, Matt Goodnight

[Revolution Racing]

Originally Posted by Dick Monahan Are all of you too young to remember that through the 70s, a USAC owner could not combine points from two cars, so the serious contenders had to run the same car on both surfaces? Then they yielded to the wishes of a few rich owners and allowed two cars to carry the same number and combine the points. It's been downhill since then.

Mr. Monahan has it right. I was just old enought to witness the last of the combo car era as a fan. Anybody who says that a combo car CAN'T work is either too young or too close minded to remember that it already HAS worked. And as I said, we also made it work (for a while) again in the early 2000's with the FFMS.

There is NO QUESTION that a combo car can work. The question is; do we implement this idea as a way to revitalize the pavement? Or, is there a better way? Or, do we just bury it.

One final thought about returning to short tracks. 600 people in the stands at IRP (or whatever the hell you all call it this week) is a recipe for failure. There are many short tracks that, while not thrilled with 600 people, could probably at least try to build on that.

OK I'm done.

[staggerman]

Originally Posted by short track scott The Spartan season was swept by Tommy Fedewa in a full up Beast car. The car count was in the upper teens for most of the year, except when it swelled into the 20s occasionally. I don't know what the purse was exactly but it was around half what the HOSS/AVSS purse paid to win. They ran a very hard Hoosier tire and guys were getting a handful of nights out of them. Posted via Mobile Device

Here is the payout for Spartan. Yes, not a lot on top but they have spread it out through the field. Have heard several more guys are planning on running this series in 2012 as Springport is also going to run pavement sprint occationaly also.
1. 750
2. 550
3. 400
4. 350
5. 325
6. 300
7. 275
8. 250

Remainder of field 250
Heats - 20, 15, 10, 10

[smith19]

in 1978 we had greg leffler drive for us in usac. of course we had a leffler built car with one of the first titanium rod built motors at the time. this car was a combo car. we had one win a sandusky and ran ok in some of the dirt races. we would have won at the indy fairgrounds but that titanium rod broke. let's face it greg was a pavement guy. we were one of about 10-12 guys that ran combo cars back then. i really don't think granny would have had another car just b/c she was just old school. lol just wish it was now as it was then minus the roasters...nothing against them.

[Rapid Rick]

Times in USAC reminiscent of the poor economy of the early '80's. 1981-1984, there was no pavement racing other than the Speedrome. Even if you don't love the high banks like I do, you have to see the downside. Other than Ken Schrader, who else climbed the ladder during these years? USAC needs the pavement to provide opportunities for talented young drivers.

[Honest-Sam]

I have a question about the subject of the combo car that comes up every so often: Would we be using ANY make or model of dirt sprint car that could be raced anywhere, or, would we be using a new design? If it's the latter, I wonder how some of the 'dirt only' owners would feel if they were told that they would have to buy a new, special purpose combo car that would be needed to run USAC dirt races? I don't mean the perennial point contenders like TSR or HAR. I'm talking about guys that towed to Florida last Feb. or Gas City guys etc., such as Byram, Riggs, Stockon, Christian, Short, Fox, Gulick, Edison, Fitzpatrick(I know, he's parked), Cook, Baldwin, Tapy, Goodnight, Gorby, Robbins, Gross, Weber, Olson, Roberts/Tate, Westfall, Walker, Puterbaugh, Nigg, Shuttleworth, Burdette, Welpott, Spencer, Hupp, Ted Hines, Simon, Studley, Briscoe, Stines, Holtsclaw, Beauchamp, Cramer, Sciscoe, Hughes, Grant, Bacon, Thomas, Clayton, Wissmiller, and so on. I would imaging that forcing a new car on them would bring about the same problem that we currently have with pavement. And as a side note, would probably end any Eastern or Western swings. I guess I'm just looking for clear definition of combo car. I kinda feel like it means different things to different people is all. I also have questions/concerns about putting a full fledged, race ready dirt sprint car on the pavement at places like Winchester, Salem, or even Anderson. But that's a different topic....

Posted via Mobile Device