Mini Sprints I have been asked to get some feedback from you on a race at Shadybowl on Oct. 5th. They are interested in running them on Oct 5th but are looking for feedback to see how many would be interested in this race

Lets see? Six hundred for tires, four hundred in T-bars, four hundred in shocks? Big Motor Pavement just suck the power up like it't going out of style. But it would be fun. About 15 years ago when USAC was dong a lot of pavement Midget racing, we made a TV commercial at the Sportsdrome in Jeffersonville In. with a 600cc car using Midget take off's. The first thing we noticed was it took a lot lower gear to run a 1/4 asphalt verses a 1/4 mile dirt. There just wasn't any slip. We tried for 3 or 4 years to get them to put us on the program at the Sportsdrome but they were scared to death of Mini Sprints, and besides we were lapping the track faster than their late models.

Those big old dirt tires just wouldn't make it on pavement, too soft too much flex. asphalt is not a bit like Coke Sirup on concrete.

If we could get a line on pavement tires now we would probably go play.

Honest Dad himself

I'll chime in as I used to race dwarfs there years ago. We could just run the dwarf car tires so help with costs as they wear well, they would also help "free" the cars up alittle. Shadybowl is a tricky 3/10ths, nicely banked track to master so for the tinkerers, this would be a fun challenge. The new owners / promoters have worked their butts off to make the facility a very nice place. Yes, I'm alittle biased as the track is only 30 minutes from the shop, but I'd be willing to give it a go if the opportunity was there even if it was just a hot lap session for the fans that haven't ever seen what a mini sprint is or it's hidden potential. I know the sportsmen midgets ie ecotecc, focus, etc have pavement races. Has anyone put an upright out there to see if they are as close on pavement as the two cars on dirt?

I'd be willing to give it a shot. But only if we used something like the STARS do up at Grundy with the narrow legends tires. I couldn't justify buying full blown midget stickers for one race. The torsion bars/springs and shocks are re-usable or sellable so that's not a huge problem for this one off deal, plus with all of the pavement midget stuff down you can probably find used stuff at a reasonable price. Let's just not have it on October 11th because of the MMSA/national race down in Haubstadt, that would draw away plenty of cars.

Would this be a non wing deal? I'm really interested in finding out more.

Be careful what you try guys. Rules are a must. many years ago a bunch of guys ran dirt sprints on pavement. Had a ball. Then a few pavement guys showed up with special cars. Then guys sold their dirt cars. Prices skyrocketed and the fun left. Gradually the originals disappeared. USAC, HOSS shows this.
Midgets did the same thing.
600 sidwinders did it too.
A couple guys got hurt and 2 special built cars did it in.

We ran 600 this year up in michigan on asphalt 1/4 mile and it was just fine. Ran dirt tires and no problems .... I think there should be a start up group for this !

i have thought about building some mini (lighting) sprints with quick change rear ends for pavement, this would give me a place to run them plus its not far from the front door.

What about the rumble at Fort Wayne? People ran it and loved it! Would be cool to try. Just have some rules dirt tires only... Bring out the tires that have been feathered to be look alike drag slicks