Speedworld

[pitcrew]

If you are afraid of tearing up your car you should go drag racing. You must not of known circle track racing is a contact sport.

Drag Racing is probably harder on equipment per time on track than circle track by far; but circle track racing is not by nature a contact sport. It has been portrayed that way "rubbing is racing..." and some are forced to race that way because of lack of talent on their part or those they are trying to pass. The best racing I think you'll ever see is from those who respect each other enough to NOT rub.

...like I said I never worried about tearing up my Howe or Lefthander cars and enjoyed doing a lot of racing. I guess to each there own.

Most racers I know don't plan on junking cars on a regular basis for any reason, can't afford it. Shouldn't have to worry about some idiot running over you for no reason, but in today's racing you do (see above). Running a heat race would be great IF:

--It counted for points, set the field for feature or paid more than $25
--The others you are racing with understand that a heat is a heat, and not worth destroying equipment

[derf]

My opinion as a fan is I like watching the heat races.Friday shows are harder to get any practice for most teams(as mentioned previously).As long as drivers in the heats don't act like idiots with their cars,alot of incidents don't happen.There is always exceptions when you deal with mechanicals.Some tracks that have 5 plus classes a night racing it will take a while to run everything,granted with the way things are nowadays with car counts lower than they were years ago the time frame would be about the same.

[john tenney]

I prefer features only for the majority of the reasons shown above.

My favorite reason is that heats are worth NOTHING and put your equipment at risk just as much as a feature.

Some of you rich guys may like buying car parts (or maybe you are SELLING them?) but I need the money thank you.

[Todd McCreary]

My favorite reason is that heats are worth NOTHING

*shrugs*

some tracks actually do payout for finishing position in the heat.




As long as drivers in the heats don't act like idiots with their cars,alot of incidents don't happen.

why the conditional?

[SeminoleWind]

Heat races are fine if you have 4 divisions with 20 cars each. When you have 10 divisions with 8 cars each, heat races are confusing to the fans, drag out the program and mean little to the starting lineup of the features.

[modracer22]

This was all descussed at the meeting that FASCAR had yes I know it was in Daytona but I made the 1hr drive to attend. I personally don't like heat races just another way to get your car wrecked. I would also rather be done racing by a decent time. The added laps also make for better/safer racing you have more then 15 laps to get it done. Also if you don't have your car dialed in during practice then the heat race is not going to help. I know some people show up late and have a longer drive but I sure the fans would rather be home in bed by 11 or 12 then waitng for the races to end.

[john tenney]

Hear hear.

[Darren]

That is right Edm

it was written in sarcastic. Drivers and promoters have FORGOTTEN that people that sit in the stands want to see a show. It will take a promoter that has guts and to have drivers to stand behind that person to turn short track racing around. That track owner will have to go back 40+ years and change things. Go to 2 classes. Affordable classes. One to start out in with plans to move up or stay because you can afford it. The upper class will still be a class that is affordable so that the track will keep the class big. A track that has 2 classes with 40 cars or more in each class can put on a better show then 5 or 6 classes with 5 to 12 cars each. Most of you will disagree, that's ok, however, you know what you have now and you know where it is headed. There is always club racing.

[Edm]

That would take a lot of guts but I can see something like that working.

[Jimmy McKinley]

I'm gonna go "old skool" on y'all, and pass on some history here.

When we ran at St. Pete, Tampa, Bradenton, and Inverness *ahem...cough, cough...(showing my age here...LOL)* "back in the day", there were TONS of classes and cars in the pits every week. (Super) Late Models, Thunder Cars/Sportsman/Outlaws, Street Stocks/Bombers/Strictly Stock, Sprint Cars, Super Sixes, Mini Stocks, Figure 8s, Mini Stock Figure 8s, you name it. Every class ran at least three heat races, except for the Figure 8 classes (which ran 15-lap features) starting promptly at the posted start time. The next heat race was coming out of the pits lined up behind the pace car as the previous heat winner was taking his victory lap. The first four weeks of the season, everyone drew for a heat race starting spot (and yes, the pill draw would put some fast guys up front, but not for very many race weeks). The finishing order of the heats was then inverted for the feature lineups, putting the fast guys in the back. After those first four weeks of racing, the points were then averaged out to determine the fifth (and subsequential) week's heat race lineups. Then the heats were still used to line up that night's feature (again, inverted, with the fast guys still in the back). If you missed two weeks in a four-week period, you started in back of the fast guys in the heat AND the feature. You wanna talk about some the best racing I've ever seen in nearly 40 years around this sport? How 'bout three and four wide with the (Super) Late Models on a 1/4-mile track (St. Pete)? Outside passing from the back. We came from the back MANY times at those tracks to run up front nearly every week, and DIDN'T tear the car up all that often. Why? Because they were racing for the season points in the features. Oh yeah - that, and (at least at St. Pete if I recall), we ran 25-lap features for $1,000 to win in front of 10,000 race FANS. I just saw on the front page that they had a "packed house" of 1,500 fans at Punta Gorda for the ASA race...? If that's a "packed house", I'd hate to see their parking and grandstands (i.e., *small*...??) My high school gym held over 3,000 people when it was full....

So here's my suggestion/opinion:
If you're afraid of tearing stuff in a 8- or 10-lap heat race, you should find a better driver. Or, better yet, still afraid...sit it out. Not saying you HAVE to run in a heat race. If you don't run the heat, you start in the back of the feature. Take a four-week average of points, split the field evenly into two heats up to 24 cars in the class. 24-36 cars, split it into three heats. More than that in the class, split into four heats. For the feature lineups, invert the heat finishing orders. For example, three heats of say, 10 cars each. The 10th place finisher in each heat will start 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the feature. 2nd place finishers will start 4th, 5th, and 6th, etc. Now, if a car or driver doesn't want to start up front (i.e., rookie driver, new car bugs, damage from a heat race/practice crash, etc.), place them at the very rear of the field. The driver or owner would have to let an official know their intentions before intermission (or before feature lineups are posted) and the feature lineups are posted, so they can be corrected. And again, if a car/driver misses two or more weeks, they basically have to start at the rear of the field for four consecutive race weeks.
Make the "fast cars" come from the back. As a race fan, I like to see passing and action, not some "follow the leader" NA$CAR crap. Maake the drivers RACE, but RESPECT, their way to the front.

[chassisdude]

Thank you Mr. McKinley, I thought I was the only one that remembered how a real race night was run. Get ready though cuz, now your going to hear how they don't want to scratch their car and you can't learn anything about your handling in a heat race, and I want to be able to get home early. Damn I miss the good old racing. Fast dashs, heats, either a crack the whip or a austrailian pursuit and then after a brief intermission it is time for the features....Thanks again Rick

[Winger]

Amen, Jimmy McKinley. There are still places around this country that run programs like that. Mostly dirt tracks.
However, you do need enough cars to run heats. I was at a race this spring that had 3 cars in one class and they ran a heat and feature. Now that was exciting to watch as a fan. NOT!! I will give the track credit though. They had another class with only 2 cars and they ran only the feature. Needless to say I will not go back to that track until I hear things have changed significantly.

[Edm]

Get ready though cuz, now your going to hear how they don't want to scratch their car and you can't learn anything about your handling in a heat race, and I want to be able to get home early. Damn I miss the good old racing. Fast dashs, heats, either a crack the whip or a austrailian pursuit and then after a brief intermission it is time for the features....Thanks again Rick

Yep, I wont let you down. Some of us are not rich, we dont have much for help or time and we have to work Saturdays. Nobody said anything about not being able to learn anything in heat races. If 9 cars show up, a heat is pointless. I can understand them if you have enough cars. I miss the good ole days too when racing got done early enough to the point where the kids could come down into the pits and look at the cars and talk to the drivers. In the good ole days as a kid that's the reason I am into racing now.

[Frasson118]

I don't understand how some of you racers think that having Features only is somehow a BETTER show for the fans? I understand your logic about tearing cars up (although I don't agree with it), but going as far as saying it's better, is a stretch.

And I suppose we should pay the same admission costs to see less than half of the races we paid to see? Maybe the fans should pay MORE to get in, so that more money can be put into the purse, that everyone thinks should be raised too!

Here in Florida, it seems everyone is obsessed with "practice time", and feel the need to be at the track by 3:00 for an endless series of practice sessions. I grew up at Asphalt tracks as a kid, and it wasn't approached this way at all. One practice session per class, each car ran a Heat race, and in most cases, a consolation race was needed to set the feature line-up, and a Feature. Your Heat & Consi ARE your practice sessions. If you don't want to tear anything up, than don't worry about racing anyone. However, if you want to make the Feature, you better get your act together sooner or later. Every Friday, Don Diffendorf would show up late, after a 3 hour haul, have to earn his way in through the consi, and raced the feature from the back of the field.... and NEVER got a lap of practice any week of the season.

Seems like you guys just wanna go fast, turn left, not crash, and be paid more for it than you are now. And we, the FANS, should be happy we are paying $10-15 for a 7 or 8 division show with 8 cars in each.

No Thanks!

[ancrdave]

At Volusia this past Saturday they had a pretty good field of cars... One practice session for each of five classes (five laps)... I noted that probably 15 percent of the cars took no hot laps at all... Two heat races in each class but their new Thunder class and five features... After breaking down our camera gear and loading the truck, stopping at 7-11 in Deland, we still got back to Orlando just past midnite... Good crowd and great racing and done at a decent hour too...
Have to say the OSW show went better than expected... pretty good racing too and the fans seemed entertained... The only problem I forsee is that the show may get over TOO EARLY... Had it not been for the super long Modified feature, the whole program would have been done by 9:30!!! As it was, we were done at 10:08... When I go to the races, I pretty much expect about three hours of action... At least FASCAR is giving a try at some different things... just give it a chance... Maybe one idea would be to run heats for any class with 14 or more cars....