Originally Posted by 1121:
Long time reader, first time poster......except for an ad about selling a motor. I've always hesitated to reply to a post here because honestly, some of you guys scare me more then Winchester or Salem ever did! But this issue is dear to my heart. I am a long time HOSS driver/car owner. And I am a very low buck guy. But with all due respect to Duke, the answer is not having guys drive the same car on dirt and pavement. The problem is not a shortage of cars. There are 20-25 cars running with HOSS and another 20-25 running with AVSS. The cars are there. And I personally would love to run some USAC races to get more non-winged pavement expierence. But the shear cost of running USAC is out of control. Not the price of the cars, but the race to race expense. HOSS and AVSS both run very similar tire rules. But USAC (and yes, I know they came first) uses different compound of tires on all four corners. And add to that, the big dogs bolt on new tires every time they hit the track. To me, the MSA (supermodified group out of Ohio) has the best tire rule. They specify a compound and you can only buy two tires a night. They don't care what two you buy, but you can only buy two. In fact this is a rule I wish HOSS and AVSS would adopt also.
Also, and I don't want to start a safety debate here, but with USAC, you have to run a HANS device. I'm not debating their effectiveness, but I doubt if there is five guys total between HOSS and AVSS that have one. Again, MSA mandates them, but they give you a three or five race (I'm not sure which) grace period to buy one. That allows you to decide if you want to run with them all the time before investing in a HANS.
I would jump at a chance to run more non-winged, I'm just not going to mortgage my house to do it. Maybe someone would like to have some non-sanctioned non-winged races..........are you listening Tony Barhorst?
Tom Paterson
Sprint car #11
Duke is correct..One car for pavement and dirt....Why did they get away from what worked in a GOLDEN ERA?
The leaders in charge at critical times did not listen to teams like Tom Paterson's opinion above...this is the other part of the equation. It really is not that complicated.
I have promoted pavement USAC races at Columbus Ohio with the midgets ( Bryan Clausen the youngest National winner ever)...2006 a sprint and midget double header...Bobby Santos- Tracy Hines.
I had no luck with weather...but there was also no buzz from race fans...the interest in pavement racing not even close to dirt. I lost a TON of money on USAC pavement racing...
That's why I went to dirt at Kamp in 07, ....LOTS OF INTEREST ....Jerry Coons Jr... and Union County...I ran into sub standard race track facilities. Steve Buckwalter won that one by the way...Kent Christian the sprints. Two fine racers.
Now we are back on pavement at the Speedrome...the racing has been pretty good...but dirt track racing is winning the battle. I wish the same midgets that race on dirt would be able to run with us...it would help bring in dirt track fans..THE CARS ARE TOO SPECIALIZED. I still love the a variety of pavement midgets we have running at the Speedrome...the first week we had 19 different chassis/engine combos.
This is not a blast at USAC..I used to bleed red, white and blue...
I can hardly wait for the UMRA TQ's to run with us August 30...Those cars are the same ones on dirt and pavement...like it should be.
Best,
Tony Barhorst
www.rumbleseries.com
