Racing tires! Midgets & sprints!

SUPERDUKE · 11/27/08, 10:19 AM

I guess you missed my point here! They can build tires to run more then one race! And be just as fast the second time around! Now they build tires for time trails and heats - semi and then the feature! Too many compounds!!!!!!!!!!!!! Build one for the left side and one for the right side! Today just like nascar you can sell them junk and they will say the tire cut down! They have no competition! In my days with firestone we loved to kick goodyears ass! I remeber the usac twin 50's at the indy mile one night aj foyt was on new goodyears and after hot laps! Drove to my van and told his guys to get this f-in tires off and put on what duke says! He beat pancho in both races! Pancho had the same white dot 16's! And run 2nd. Same rr in both races!

LEADERS EDGE · 11/27/08, 11:26 AM

It's not just $5,000 for the year. It's roughly $1500-$2500 a pavement race. Not including races that have a practice night before and not including testing.(Which is a whole other subject)

It isn't that they have so many different compounds that you go through a night, it's that you go through so many tires period of the heat cycles.

I would be in favor of first a limit of tires used by stamping them before the first practice before developing all new tires. Someone mentioned they did it in Vegas and it worked out well.

Instead of 2-3 sets a night you are looking at a set with a LR or two added because of stagger.

I'm not saying that this is the ultimate solution, but it is one that I believe is a step in the right direction and could lead the sport down a path that can keep it more than just viable, but thriving as well.

If you can save $700-$1,000 a night on tires, that is a huge impact on the smaller teams ability to get to the next show or repair whatever might be wrong with their cars.

TQ97 · 11/27/08, 2:17 PM

I agree, and because Don doesn't run pavement, I was speaking more about dirt than pavement.

DonMoore10 · 11/27/08, 7:30 PM

If I can save a dime, that would be a victory considering the sport has absolutely no committed effort to reduce costs and no vision of where we are going in the future.

Doing nothing results in nothing.

Really quiet from all the midget rogs.

Read the Dave Argabright article in current issue of SPRINT AND MIDGET MAG.

11/27/08, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonMoore10

For ur information, I've signed with the William Morris Agency and I'm pretty sure Speed Channel called today. I may be able to afford those HoosierDaddy tires after all. Now if I could just get all those Cincinnati Procter and Gamble sponsors on my side. Maybe free Tide so I won't have to clip those Sunday paper coupons.

Don maybe u can find some rich parents thats thinks little billy or sally is the next tony stewart !!!

Puppy · 11/28/08, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonMoore10

Personally, I've never been interested in running a lot of races. I have too many other obligations to take care of. And as a spectator, I love the midgets on the dirt mile and the half mile type horse tracks. Seeing Arnie Knepper win many years ago at Springfield in the Martinez Higman built midget was a real treat. The races at the Ohio State Farigrounds on the half mile in the 1960's were great times in front of over 20,000 people.

Hold it right there, did you catch that? 20,000 people at a midget race?
If we could be racing midgets in front of 20,000 people today, I think the payout would be such that we wouldn't be bickering about the cost of tires or how long they last.
The question should be.... How do we fill the stands again?
I personally think those days are LONG gone.
Racing is not chaep. If you can't afford to do it at a certain level, be humble and step down a notch or two. Winning is still fun whatever "level" you are at.

DonMoore10 · 11/29/08, 1:50 AM

During that era at the Ohio State Fair, admission to all events inside the grounds was free.

R.Drang · 11/29/08, 2:33 AM

As far as i can tell, everyone on here has a valid point, but i think the biggest issue is still getting the fans in the grandstands. Unfortunatley midget and sprint car racing are both dying, and its not something that can be reversed just by cutting a few costs for the teams here and there. There seems to be lack of promoting with some clubs or tracks. If the decline of fans in the stands does not stop, we wont have to worry about tires anymore, becuase the tracks just wont run.

cecil98 · 11/29/08, 8:47 AM

What needs to be done is too educate young kids to the fact that "drifting" was pretty much invented by dirt racers and is alive and well at the local dirt tracks across America. These kids are going crazy over this "drifting" sport and it is attracting big corporate $$$$ but, if you ask a kid if he's ever been to a sprint car race, he'll ASK: WHAT IS A SPRINT CAR? I taught school for 30 years and talked to kids about racing. Young kids simply are not being exposed to the sport. I went to the non-wing races at East Bay, each year they had them, and the crowds were terrible and very, very old. I was 53y/o the last show they had, and I brought the average age in the stands down by 10-15 years!!!! It really was sad. Not that there is anything wrong with us "older" fans but, as we die off no one is replacing us. It is a huge promotion problem. There are great resources out there to tap, but it takes lots of leg work and being on the phone to get it done. Most promotors today either don't have the will or, the ingenuity to get it done. They would rather simply add classes of cars that bore the fans to death.

SUPERDUKE · 11/29/08, 9:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.Drang

As far as i can tell, everyone on here has a valid point, but i think the biggest issue is still getting the fans in the grandstands. Unfortunatley midget and sprint car racing are both dying, and its not something that can be reversed just by cutting a few costs for the teams here and there. There seems to be lack of promoting with some clubs or tracks. If the decline of fans in the stands does not stop, we wont have to worry about tires anymore, becuase the tracks just wont run.

WE STARTED OUT TALKING TIRES! NOW FANS? LET ME SAY THIS! THERE IS TO MANY TRACKS IN INDIANA RACING SPRINT CARS! THINK ABOUT IT BEFORE YOU GO OFF ON ME! FRI SAT SUN YOU CAN GO TO 10 TRACKS IN A 90 MIN. DRIVE FROM INDY! FIRST HOW MANY FANS CAN AFFORD TO GO 3 OR 4 TIMES A WEEK? THEN HOW MANY CAR OWNERS CAN AFFORD TO RACE 3 TIMES A WEEK FOR $1000 -$1300 TO WIN? YOU HAVE DRIVERS THAT CAN'T WIN AT SOME TRACKS SO THEY RACE WHERE THERE THE BIG FISH! SO THE FANS DON'T SEE ALL THE DRIVERS AND CARS AT ONE TRACK RACING FOR MORE MONEY!!!!!! AND YES THERE IS NOT VERY MANY PROMOTERS LEFT IN THE USA! NOW BLAST AWAY!!!!!!!:angry-smiley-007:

11/27/08, 10:19 AM	#41 Re: Racing tires! Midgets & sprints!
SUPERDUKE Banned Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 2,256	I guess you missed my point here! They can build tires to run more then one race! And be just as fast the second time around! Now they build tires for time trails and heats - semi and then the feature! Too many compounds!!!!!!!!!!!!! Build one for the left side and one for the right side! Today just like nascar you can sell them junk and they will say the tire cut down! They have no competition! In my days with firestone we loved to kick goodyears ass! I remeber the usac twin 50's at the indy mile one night aj foyt was on new goodyears and after hot laps! Drove to my van and told his guys to get this f-in tires off and put on what duke says! He beat pancho in both races! Pancho had the same white dot 16's! And run 2nd. Same rr in both races!

11/27/08, 11:26 AM	#42 Re: Racing tires! Midgets & sprints!
LEADERS EDGE Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 980	It's not just $5,000 for the year. It's roughly $1500-$2500 a pavement race. Not including races that have a practice night before and not including testing.(Which is a whole other subject) It isn't that they have so many different compounds that you go through a night, it's that you go through so many tires period of the heat cycles. I would be in favor of first a limit of tires used by stamping them before the first practice before developing all new tires. Someone mentioned they did it in Vegas and it worked out well. Instead of 2-3 sets a night you are looking at a set with a LR or two added because of stagger. I'm not saying that this is the ultimate solution, but it is one that I believe is a step in the right direction and could lead the sport down a path that can keep it more than just viable, but thriving as well. If you can save $700-$1,000 a night on tires, that is a huge impact on the smaller teams ability to get to the next show or repair whatever might be wrong with their cars.

11/27/08, 2:17 PM	#43 Re: Racing tires! Midgets & sprints!
TQ97 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,095	I agree, and because Don doesn't run pavement, I was speaking more about dirt than pavement.

11/27/08, 7:30 PM	#44 Re: Racing tires! Midgets & sprints!
DonMoore10 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,474	If I can save a dime, that would be a victory considering the sport has absolutely no committed effort to reduce costs and no vision of where we are going in the future. Doing nothing results in nothing. Really quiet from all the midget rogs. Read the Dave Argabright article in current issue of SPRINT AND MIDGET MAG.

11/29/08, 1:50 AM	#47 Re: Racing tires! Midgets & sprints!
DonMoore10 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,474	During that era at the Ohio State Fair, admission to all events inside the grounds was free.

11/29/08, 2:33 AM	#48 Re: Racing tires! Midgets & sprints!
R.Drang Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 85	As far as i can tell, everyone on here has a valid point, but i think the biggest issue is still getting the fans in the grandstands. Unfortunatley midget and sprint car racing are both dying, and its not something that can be reversed just by cutting a few costs for the teams here and there. There seems to be lack of promoting with some clubs or tracks. If the decline of fans in the stands does not stop, we wont have to worry about tires anymore, becuase the tracks just wont run.

11/29/08, 8:47 AM	#49 Re: Racing tires! Midgets & sprints!
cecil98 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,399	What needs to be done is too educate young kids to the fact that "drifting" was pretty much invented by dirt racers and is alive and well at the local dirt tracks across America. These kids are going crazy over this "drifting" sport and it is attracting big corporate $$$$ but, if you ask a kid if he's ever been to a sprint car race, he'll ASK: WHAT IS A SPRINT CAR? I taught school for 30 years and talked to kids about racing. Young kids simply are not being exposed to the sport. I went to the non-wing races at East Bay, each year they had them, and the crowds were terrible and very, very old. I was 53y/o the last show they had, and I brought the average age in the stands down by 10-15 years!!!! It really was sad. Not that there is anything wrong with us "older" fans but, as we die off no one is replacing us. It is a huge promotion problem. There are great resources out there to tap, but it takes lots of leg work and being on the phone to get it done. Most promotors today either don't have the will or, the ingenuity to get it done. They would rather simply add classes of cars that bore the fans to death.