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Hawkeye Ovals
By Eric Arnold

|
2/2/10
The National Sprint Car Hall of
Fame and Museum in Knoxville is hallowed ground
for all sprint car fans. Bob Baker, Tom Schmeh,
and the legions of workers mostly made up of
volunteers do a great job preserving the history
of our sport. Now I don’t like throwing mud at
anyone, especially the Hall of Fame because
there was a time when we didn’t have a Hall of
Fame. So I want everyone to understand that I
appreciate what we have. I have a membership to
the Hall of Fame and as a group the Bus House
Gang has purchased a brick. And I will always
support the Hall of Fame financially and do what
I can to promote it. So I want the record to say
that I have no problems with the Hall of Fame
itself or its staff. But I do have a bone to
pick with those who are on the panel that votes
inductees into the Hall of Fame.
After this
year’s announcement of inductees, the message
boards produced an outcry of criticism. Some
people took it too far saying they wouldn’t
support the Hall of Fame with a membership this
year. I guess that’s their right to do that, but
I wouldn’t even dream of not supporting an
institution I love so much. But I do agree that
the election process of the Hall of Fame might
need some tweaks, and I’m not the only who
thinks so.
For names like Danny Lasoski and
Gary Wright not to get in is a shame. I
shouldn’t have to do much explaining for Dude
about his accomplishments. Gary Wright I believe
is one of the top five winningest drivers all
time. And yes a lot of his wins are in a 360,
but this is the sprint car hall of fame. It
doesn’t say the 410 hall of fame on the sign out
in front of the building. But GW won more than
his share of 410 races.
In this month’s Sprint Car &
Midget magazine writer Bruce Ellis wrote a very
nice article on the drivers of the decade and
number three on that list was Danny Lasoski.
Ellis wrote about Lasoski, “if he’s not a first
ballot Hall of Famer this spring, there should
be an investigation.” Well guess what…..let the
investigation begin Mr. Ellis.
A panel of 72 people makes up the voters for
induction into the Hall of Fame. The eligibility
requirements for induction are to be the age of
50, or retired for 5 years. While it shouldn’t
be a race to see who gets in first, public
perception is that the more deserving should get
in ahead of those who, for a lack of a better
term, are less deserving. And in recent years
Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Fred Rahmer, Jac
Haudenschild, and Kenny Jacobs were inducted in
their first year of eligibility. A precedent has
been set to honor current drivers who standout
and rightfully so.
The following names were eligible this year and
were not inducted: Danny Lasoski, Gary Wright,
Frankie Kerr (retired in 2001), Bobby Davis Jr.
(hasn’t raced since 2004), and Andy Hillenburg
(hasn’t raced since 2002), and denied once again
west coast driver Johnny Anderson. In 2011 Mark
Kinser will be eligible as his last race was in
April of 2005. In 2012 Jeff Swindell will be old
enough for eligibility. Now all of these men
will likely end up in the Hall of Fame at some
point. But how do superstars like Lasoski and
Wright get overlooked in their first year? I’m
not going to debate that the drivers who will be
inducted this year are not deserving of
induction. (Bobbie Adamson, Hank Arnold, Fred
Linder, Frank Riddle, Hal Robson, and Herman
Schurch) Obviously the voters thought they were
deserving of the honor for lifetime achievement
in sprint car racing, but are they more
deserving than two of the best to ever get
behind the wheel? To me it should be a
competition and to say that any of the inductees
this year had more career accomplishments than
Lasoski or Wright is wrong. Each year the
nominees should be looked at, reviewed, ranked
by who has the most accomplishments somehow, and
then a vote for the most deserving that year
should be elected. Now I’m sure the job of being
on the panel of 72 is more complicated than
anyone thinks. And those people surely do not
get the credit they deserve for their service,
which is greatly appreciated. But I don’t see
what’s wrong with holding them accountable for
the responsibility they have of inducting the
most deserving people of our sport.. This year
they got it wrong. Bruce Ellis I’m sure wrote
his article before the announcement of the
inductees, but his statement is right.
Even my good buddy Bill W. chimed in with a post
on the hoseheads message board saying that “I
know they have looked at the induction process,
but this may be the time to do something about
it.” And one other person who has brought fire
on the induction process is one of the biggest
sprint car historians in the country, Kevin
Eckert of Open Wheel Times who is one of the 72
voters. Eckert said, “…the induction process is
broken.” Well, he said a lot more than that, but
I’ll let you dig into that on your own.
I want to be able to defend the
Hall of Fame, and when people question their
credibility like this it rattles me right down
to my down tubes. The last thing I want is
people laughing at the Hall of Fame. But the
voters have unintentionally put the Hall of Fame
in an awkward situation. And with Knoxville
scheduling a three day WoO show during the Hall
of Fame weekend (that will hopefully attract big
names to the Masters Classic such as Steve
Kinser, Jac Haudenschild, Danny Lasoski, Sammy
Swindell, and Gary Wright.) I think it could be
a set up for the Lasoski fans to gather at his
home track and make a statement throughout the
weekend. Look for Lasoski supporters to be there
to let their case be known that he belongs in
the Hall of Fame.
In my opinion the Hall of Fame
needs to address something. Maybe it’s the set
of people on the 72 person panel that needs a
shakeup. Maybe the induction process somehow is
flawed. I’m not saying it’s been wrong the last
20 years, but when big names are not inducted on
the first ballot, after guys like Steve, Sammy,
Rahmer, Haud, and Jacobs were, something seems
wrong this year.
And for the record, I am not a
Danny Lasoski fan, not since the 80’s anyway.
And yes Danny has burned some bridges in his
career, but personal feelings should not be a
factor when looking at his career
accomplishments. What Lasoski and Wright have
done is more than worthy of being granted the
honor of induction into our sprint car hall of
fame. In fact they stand out as two of the best
ever. And if guys in the
coming years who will become eligible such as
Mark Kinser and Jeff Swindell get overlooked on
their first ballot, even more of an outcry will
ensue.
Hopefully the system is reviewed
or at least explained in greater detail for the
common sprint car fan that doesn’t understand
how the current system works. According to Kevin
Eckert some people have been inducted with as
little five votes. How does that happen? The
Hall of Fame board of directors has some
investigating to do. Hopefully the men who were
snubbed in 2010 will be elected in 2011. And no
matter what, please support our Hall of Fame.
It’s such a great place to walk around and
immerse yourself into what can only be the
closest thing on this side of sprint car heaven.
|
|
1/16/10
After coming up with my top 50
Knoxville Nationals drivers I looked into more
numbers to see who are the greatest sprint car
drivers of all time. How do you measure one era to
another? I tried to come up with
a way to do just that, by measuring who has won the
most “major” events of the modern era, or the last
40 years. Obviously I think you can say Foyt, Unser,
Andretti, Parnelli, and McCluskey were the best of
their era, but most major race events didn’t come on
the horizon until the 70’s and 80’s. Since major
race wins is something that defines a driver’s
career as well as championships, I thought this was
best way to measure since point championships don’t
always tell the whole story. To win point titles,
you have to win some races along the way.
In winged sprint car racing there are
five major events that the mainstream folks look at,
Knoxville, Kings Royal, National Open, Gold Cup, and
the Silver Cup. But there are also some other races
I would consider majors or mid-majors, the Skagit
Dirt Cup, Front Row Challenge, Western World, and
those no longer in existence, Pacific Coast
Nationals, Historical Big One, Eldora Nationals,
Fram Dash, Bristol, Syracuse Ground Round Nationals,
and the Eagle Nationals is still hanging in there.
In non-wing and midget racing you can throw in the
Oval Nationals, Ultimate Challenge, Hulman Classic,
Hoosier Hundred, Four Crown Nationals, Belleville,
and the Chili Bowl.
Looking at the five majors we know
today (Knoxville, Kings Royal, National Open, Gold
Cup, Silver Cup) here are the top drivers.
1.
Steve Kinser 36
(KXV 12, Royal 6, WG Open 4, Gold Cup 12, Silver Cup
2)
2.
Donny Schatz 13
(KXV 4, Royal 2, WG Open 4, Gold Cup 1, Silver Cup
2)
3.
Mark Kinser 11
(KXV 3, Royal 1, WG Open 1, Gold Cup 1, Silver Cup
5)
4.
Doug Wolfgang 11
(KXV 4, Royal 2, WG Open 3, Gold Cup 1, Silver Cup
0)
5.
Sammy Swindell 8
(KXV 1, Royal 2, WG Open1, Gold Cup 1, Silver Cup 3)
6
Danny Lasoski 6
(KXV 3, Royal 0, WG Open 0, Gold Cup 1, Silver Cup
1)
Jac Haudenschild 6
(KXV 0, Royal 3, WG Open 0, Gold Cup 3, Silver Cup
0)
Only four men have the full resume
here. The King, Schatz, Mark, and Sammy. But if I
expand this list to all of the mid major victories
it changes up a little.
1.
Steve Kinser 69
2.
Sammy Swindell 28
3.
Doug Wolfgang 21
4.
Mark Kinser 19
5.
Donny Schatz 15
6.
Danny Lasoski 10
7.
Jac Haudenschild 10
8.
Dave Blaney 8
9.
Jeff Swindell 6
10.
Joey Saldana 5
The Big Three won almost everything
in sight and sent home more drivers off the WoO
trail due to frustration than anyone ever will. Just
ask Aaron Berryhill, Craig Keel, Chris Eash, Joe
Gaerte and Lance Blevins. Other than names like
Haudenschild, Blaney, Jeff, Doty, Davis, Hillenburg,
and Scruffy getting the occasional victory, the big
three won it all from the late 70’s through the
early 90’s. The only races the King hasn’t won is
the Skagit Dirt Cup, Fram Dash, and Bristol. Sammy
won the only two Fram Dash’s at Memphis and both of
the Bristol on Dirt Channellock Challenge races.
Lasoski and Haud tied with ten each? Haud has won
the Mopar Million and the Front Row Challenge… from
the rear. Just think how Blaney’s numbers might have
ended up if he hadn’t left for a winless Nascar Cup
career.
Sprint Cars (non-wing)
1.
Jack Hewitt 22
2.
Dave Darland 16
3.
Ron Shuman 14
4.
Jimmy Sills 10
5.
Rich Vogler 8
6.
J.J. Yeley 8
6
Bud Kaeding 7
7.
Jerry Coons Jr. 6
8.
Tracy Hines 6
9.
Steve Butler 6
10.
Corey Kruseman 5
Jack Hewitt won a mind boggling 16
times at the four crown nationals at Eldora. He won
the Hulman Classic two times, Hoosier Hundred three
times, and Belleville once. Arguably the best there
ever was without a wing.
How about Double D in second with 16
major wins! He has seven wins at the four crown and
won everything except the Chili Bowl and the Hulman
Classic.
One driver over looked in history is
Jimmy Sills who has ten major wins. He has won the
Hoosier Hundred and at the Four Crown nationals
twice and has six wins at the Skagit Dirt Cup. How
many of those Dirt Cup wins was with or without a
wing I do not know for sure, but I would categorize
Sills and Shuman as non-wing drivers as that’s where
the majority of their success was in their careers.
Shuman may have won one of his seven Western Worlds
with a wing and he won the Eldora Nationals with a
wing as well.
The Hawkeye state is at all time high
after a Orange Bowl victory. The only thing that
could bring us down is a rain out on opening night
at Knoxville. Critics can fire away at
arniebhg@yahoo.com. |
|
12/30/09
So it’s the end of the year and with
no racing to see other than tow trucks racing to
pull cars out of the median on I-80, I had some time
look at some interesting statistics and decided to
come up with my top 50 Knoxville Nationals drivers
with the upcoming 50th annual race in
2010.
I decided to come up with a point
system to rank my drivers using stats such as wins,
podium finishes, top 5, A-Main starts, poles, quick
time, preliminary feature wins, and I threw in a
bonus point for those who have won special events
like the Race of States, Mystery Feature, and World
Challenge. I definitely wanted
to put an emphasis on performance by giving 10
points for a Nationals victory, 2 points for every
top 5, 1 point for every A-Main start, 2 points for
a preliminary feature win and quick time as those
are the biggest point events for the nationals
format. I gave 1.5 points for
earning the pole position, and ½ a point for
finishing in the top 3 podium.
My thought behind the bonus point for the states and
mystery features is nothing more than a way to
promote them a little in my hopes for a return of
these events. And I had to use 10 points for a win
otherwise there were a couple of Nationals champions
that wouldn’t make the top 50 like Kenny Gritz who
won his one and only start in the A-Main.
The cool thing is that I was able to
come up with a way that didn’t necessarily award
points for participation, even though the older you
are you have more chances to earn more stats in this
point system. The system also
shows you some pretty damn good racers that haven’t
won, like Jeff Swindell, Stevie Smith, and Joey
Saldana. It also pointed out
some guys I don’t know very well like Bob Williams
who ranked 33rd and Ray Lee Goodwin at 10th.
And when you look at Sammy Swindell with only
one nationals win his ranking is ahead of guys who
have won multiple times, that is a real testament to
the old guy for what his career has been to date..
And it’s strange how Joe and Joey Saldana are tied
in my points. First tie breaker is Nationals
champion, second tie breaker is top 10 finishes.
There is no perfect way to rank these
drivers, but I have to think this is as close as any
other system someone could come up with.
Obviously I don’t think Kraig Kinser is a
better racer than Earl Wagner was, but the numbers
are what they are when looking at the past 49
events. Here’s my countdown….
-
Steve Kinser 246
-
Danny Lasoski 113
-
Doug Wolfgang 106.5
-
Sammy Swindell 89
-
Donny Schatz 88.5
-
Mark Kinser 77.5
-
Kenny Weld 72.5
-
Dave Blaney 51
-
Eddie Leavitt 43
-
Ray Lee Goodwin 39
Obviously the King stands out here
with 12 wins, 17 top 5’s, 32 starts, 8 poles, 6
quick times, and 13 prelim wins. He has more than
double the score of Lasoski but would you expect
anything less? He is the King.
Schatz is only a year away from going around
Sammy here. And it was cool to see some of the old
timers like Weld, Leavitt, and Goodwin here. Unless
you’re 35-40 years of age you won’t know who these
guys are, but trust me they were tough.
-
Jan Opperman 35.5
-
Stevie Smith
35.5
-
Jeff Swindell 34.5
-
Ron Shuman 32.5
-
Bobby Allen 31.5
-
Joe Saldana 31
-
Joey Saldana 31
-
Craig Dollansky 29.5
-
Bobby Davis Jr. 29.5
-
Jac Hadenschild 29.5
Opperman had 1 win and finished
second three times. He lost to Dick Gaines in 1974
on the last corner to miss out on his second win.
Stevie Smith has not won the Nationals yet he
is 12th all time? The numbers don’t lie.
Joe gets the tie breaker over
Joey with his one win. Haud is obviously up to 20th
due to his 17 career starts in the big dance.
Scruffy winning in 1990 is still one of the great
stories of the Nationals.
Jeff Swindell never got the credit he
deserved and needs to be in the National Sprint Car
Hall of Fame. Although he never won the Nationals,
Kings Royal, National Open, or a WoO championship,
his resume is just as impressive as some others
already in the NSCHoF in my opinion. He won the 1993
Lernerville Silver Cup, 1993 Eagle Nationals, 1988
Skagit Dirt Cup, the Hoosier Hundred in 1991 and
1993, 2002 360 Knoxville Nationals, 1981 WoO Rookie
of the Year, WoO top 5 in points 7 times finishing
second in 1989. He has 30 WoO
wins which ranks 13th all time (ahead of
a handful current inductees). Jeff tends to get over
looked due to a trio of guys named Steve, Sammy, and
Doug. Jeff would have been one
of the best drivers of all time if he didn’t have to
race against those three guys every night in his
career. And the fact that he did as well as he did
in that era is impressive. I hope some of you
reading this are voters for the NSCHoF.
On with the countdown….
-
Terry McCarl 26
-
Roy Robbins 23.5
-
Jay Woodside 23
-
Dick Gaines 23
-
Greg Weld 21
-
Kenny Jacobs 21
-
Kraig Kinser 20
-
Johnny Herrera 20
-
Thad Dosher 19.5
-
Earl Wagner 19.5
A lot of the older generation racers
here who don’t get enough credit for how good they
really were. Roy Robbins brought
a wing to Knoxville before anyone knew what it was.
-
Andy Hillenburg 19
-
Tim Green 19
-
Bob William 18.5
-
Greg Hodnett 18.5
-
Dick Sutcliffe 18.5
-
Danny Smith 18
-
Jimmy Sills 18
-
Jerry Blundy 17
-
Shane Carson 17
-
Jerry Richert 15.5
Jerry Blundy was a great racer in the
60’s and 70’s. His 8 starts and 3 top 5’s still
don’t show just how good and smooth he was.
I only have a few memories of him racing his
red number 33 at Knoxville but I never heard a bad
word about this guy from my dad and his friends who
grew up watching him. Danny
Smith has 13 starts and has entered the nationals 32
times.
-
Jeff Shepard 15.5
-
Shane Stewart 15
-
Jerry Weld 14.5
-
Randy Smith 14.5
-
Brad Doty 14
-
Kenny Gritz 13.5
-
Jason Meyers 12.5
-
Rick Ferkel 12.5
-
Lloyd Beckman 12.4
-
Tim Shaffer 12
Brad Doty only had 6 starts and 2 top
5 finishes but it was enough to get him to 45th.
Randy Smith is the only Iowan to
finish second. Look for Tim Shaffer to climb up this
list in next couple of years.
And if you have to know who was 51st on
my list…. it was Bubby Jones.
It’s a long winter so I’m sure I’ll
come up with some more stats to debate over in the
coming months. If you feel sending me to the Orange
Bowl you can e-mail me at
arniebhg@yahoo.com.
Go Hawks! |
E-mail Eric Here
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