You know....I am a huge sprint car fan (obviously because I married one), but putting a time limit on the sprints is asinine. The only time I believe you should cut a sprint feature short is if there are numerous wrecks due to track conditions and there is a chance someone's gonna get hurt badly or if there is only 1 car running because the others have wrecked or dropped out. I do believe in limiting the stock cars, modifieds, or cars with starters to be "politically correct" because you'll sit there, watch 8-10 yellows that a car spins out, stops on the track, sits there purposely WAITING on the yellow, only to start his car up and take off. The one track that does not do that is Kokomo, or didn't the last time I was there. They tell them that they run green to checkered, and only throw a yellow if the track is blocked or someone flips and is possibly hurt. Buddy, let me tell you, they spin out and their back started up and under way quickly. If a sprint feature goes green to checkered, 25 laps can only take minutes at the most. That is crazy that they put a time limit on the sprints. If my hubby would've been running when they did that....he probably wouldn't go back.
KM, thank you for your words. When I first posted, I thought I was coming across as a complaining fan (which I WAS - but that's not the point). When I see folks who have a vested interest in racing, like you and yours, it makes me feel like I'm not far off base with this topic.
Anyways, I went to Butler last night (7/30 - Part II):
I talked with one of the sprint drivers who has run regularly out there for years and years and asked him about the "timed" feature. He was quite forward about it. He said it has been a track policy for years. Every now and then the track enforces the rule.
The whole thing stems from complaints about Butler running too long into the night years back, was how he was told. Because of that, the track has put time limits on all of the classes to ensure the evening gets over before morning.
He also pointed out that he knows they have shortened the features before, because every time they HAVE, he was screwed over on the track.
Then I asked an official. I ambushed the guy I thought was more in charge out there than anyone else. Well.... I didn't really "ambush" him, I asked him if he had a few minutes pre-race and he gladly obliged:
The timed features, are, in fact, track policy, and have been so for quite a few years. He basically repeated what the driver I talked with said. I told him I didn't like it, and wished they'd just run the Sprint Feature first and "time" the rest of the features after that. He didn't comment too much on my format suggestion, but he somewhat "apologized" and thanked me for my input, but that was about all he could do.
When I asked him about last week's time shortened show, he pointed something out to me, too. He told me with the number of laps the sprints ran in the feature, and the condition of the track, by the time the "time limit" came into play, the RR tires on the sprints were just about shot. They were approaching blowout time. So for that, we would have been looking at red flag conditions and a longer delay. Then you get into an open red condition, refueling, etc..... The track does not want to go there.
I can see that point, but I cannot see it for the undercard (i.e. the Mods). Now, I failed to ask him about the Mod Feature getting cut short last week. Seems like the Mods had a better handle on the tires and the track - they ran first. Not only that, I have never seen a Modified Feature fall to blown RR tires, or the need to refuel. But I failed to pursue this point. I needed a good lawyer to represent me. Gavin Hunyady - where were you guys when I needed you?
So, that was that. It was now 7:30 p.m. - start time.
I went up into the grandstand, they played both the Canadian and American National Anthems, I took my seat, and the street stocks rolled out for their first heat. The track was overwatered and they had to run it in further. Green flag fell at 7:50 p.m. I just sat there in the sun, shaking my head, looking at my watch.
On a sidebar, Mod Feature was called on time again last night. Sprints went the distance. Kevin Atkins got the win.
