How much body work can be hung on a sprint car before it becomes visually an Eastern Dirt Modified? For many years I have been touting our sport and bringing what I hope will be new enthusiasts. Before I used to hear "great racing but wow the bathrooms and the dust". Now I get 'I thought you said I could see the driver doing their thing, but I could barely see them".

IMHO we need to think about this issue if we want non-wing racing to differentiate its product from its competitors for the potential newbie that might become a diehard.

IMO, I just don't think you become a diehard based mainly on whether you can see a drivers arms or not. As a fan, I've never really thought about that a whole lot. A lot of those changes have come along to keep flying objects from getting into the cockpit and to keep the drivers arms from extending out of the cockpit in the event of a crash. My uncle spent the last 40 years of his life with a steel plate holding the bones in his forearm together after getting them smashed by a roll cage in an old time sprinter. In fact, one of his sons and 2 of his daughters were at the Haubstadt Hustler to commemorate the 50th anniversary of that crash there. And I think Bob Christian lost an arm because of a piece of wooden guard rail that came into the cockpit. If you didn't tell them that they could see the driver working the wheel, then maybe they wouldn't go to the track expecting to see that and wouldn't leave disappointed when they didn't and would notice all the other things that make this the best form of racing. And there are so many.

Jerry

I'm all for the least amount of body work possible.
I love seeing the driver and the basic outline of a sprintcar.
Also have any of you guys ever worked on a dirt modified ? We would probly have and race a n.e. mod if it weren't for the insane body. Its just a huge pain in the butt compared to a sprintcar and almost makes in mandatory to have a crew.
Theres kinda a comparision that can be made between the awesome mid sixty mods compared to the new cars and Sprintcars compared to winged cars. The old bigblocks I worked on had the most simplistic bodies and the hugest engines, weighting in as light as 1500lbs. They dominated the heavy factory cars till they were ruled out of existence.
If you feel you need body parts to keep you safe your in the wrong sport anyhow. Never saw a piece of tin that would stop a wood post. Stop trying to over protect everyone. Reminds me of my government, all the things I cant do because of people that don't know me are trying to hold my hand and lead me to safety, lol.

Man, I've really had some hostile responses about this issue. I've been going to midget, and sprint races since 1960 ( I was 6 weeks old at my first race!). I've driven, owned, been on board of directors for a midget club, etc. etc. But I've not set foot in a speedway in nearly 6 years, it's my personal choice, but visually midgets, sprints, differ very little from dirt modified, (or even late models when there is a wing on top) They all look like wedge shaped door stops with tires stuck to the sides. The cars could very well be remote control, there is little visual evidence that a human is behind all that body work actually driving the car. Then I get this..."well, it's the action on the track that matters, you can't go back in time man, it's the racing"...yeah, well....if it's only the racing on the track that is paramount, then all dirt (or oval) racing should be one type of car, a hobby stock, dirt modified, or even a go-kart. If it does not matter what the car looks like, then who cares what type of vehicle is on the track? Again, it's my own personal preference, but when you show a photo, or a video clip to a newcomer who is somewhat interested, do to the stories you have told them, and they ask.."are those big R/C cars", or "do people drive those". It's hard to get people excited or interested in the "on track action".

I just got to thinking....at least with go-karts you can see the driver!

I'll live in the past, saves money, time, aggravation.

Me too!.....

I do think some of the chili bowl bodies are excessive, but the normal bodies are not. And you will understand why when you are going about 90 and take a decent sized rock off of the rr tire of the car in front of you.

You need to checkout Korey Weyents Body work he is running at the Jesse Hockett Memorial with the WAR series . It is Old school and looks great. He has pics on his FB page. It is nice looking made me think back to the 70's, ya I guess I am old.

As one who builds all these problem for all of the above mentioned classes (even karts,) I will have to be on the other side of this one.. I love some of the new stuff that all of the guys are doing.. I was the one that brought Rick Ferkel's #0 to Syracuse in the early 80's with the wheel covers,sideskirts and a few other Kenny Weld type items.. So I truly love the aero look.. But some of the old stuff still looks great and I don't have a problem living with it.