Star Speedway SBM-II Mod race

[BigMac]

Star has posted on their homepage the SBM-II 125 will take place Saturday night June 9th 2012. Its never to early to start working on next years schedule.

[Jaws]

They announced it the night of this years race. 2 things 1, I hope there are more than the 16 cars from last year and 2. They need to figure out a way to get the regulars there.

[csg]

I was told the decision to go with a tire that wasnt the weekly tire caused many of the teams to skip that race. I guess they went with a Mod Tour tire and they run something else weekly. A shame you want your regulars to benefit from a high paying show on their home track.

[Jaws]

I was told the decision to go with a tire that wasnt the weekly tire caused many of the teams to skip that race. I guess they went with a Mod Tour tire and they run something else weekly. A shame you want your regulars to benefit from a high paying show on their home track.

They actually went with the same tire that THompson and a cpole of other open shows used. I think they will need more local guys next year to fill out the field. 16 cars for the money they paid was kind of sad.

[SUfan]

The race paid $7,225 to win, $3,215 for 5th place (more than most WMT races). The tires were the same ones used at Seekonk's Open, which was on a weekday, paid less, and was during a busy race stretch. It was the same tire used at the Thompson and Mahoning Open events as well.

Running American Racer tires would have meant losing at least 12 of the 16 Champion drivers who were in that field. Plans for the 2012 race should be announced within a month. Any ideas and suggestions before that time are greatly appreciated.

[Analyst]

The race paid $7,225 to win, $3,215 for 5th place (more than most WMT races). The tires were the same ones used at Seekonk's Open, which was on a weekday, paid less, and was during a busy race stretch. It was the same tire used at the Thompson and Mahoning Open events as well.
Running American Racer tires would have meant losing at least 12 of the 16 Champion drivers who were in that field. Plans for the 2012 race should be announced within a month. Any ideas and suggestions before that time are greatly appreciated.
Can you elaborate on why just switching to American Racers would cause 12 of 16 drivers to skip an otherwise high paying race? Seems to me that the better funded invading teams would buy two sets of tires regardless...

[csg]

why not go with an open tire rule? I dont think the race was sponsored by a tire brand. Are the hoosiers significantly better then the weekly tire. Can a weight break help even up the tires? though I have never heard a weight break for different tires. Maybe some show up points for the weekly guys will get them there. Just thinking out loud here.

[Mod Squad]

why not go with an open tire rule? I dont think the race was sponsored by a tire brand. Are the hoosiers significantly better then the weekly tire. Can a weight break help even up the tires? though I have never heard a weight break for different tires. Maybe some show up points for the weekly guys will get them there. Just thinking out loud here.

The regulars elected not to run because the Hoosier tire requires a different setup, not to mention if all you are running is Star it is not cost effective to buy Hoosiers for one race.

They are 2 completely different tires. The American Racer is designed for budget racing. The regulars can re-use those tires for 2 or 3 weeks. They are hard as hockey pucks and aren't effected by heat cycles as much as the Hoosiers.

Hoosiers against American Racer is no contest, the win goes to Hoosier. If you let both tires run I agree give some points to the regulars to make it worth the effort. Similar to a North South Combo. Award points in order to the regulars throughout the field.

[BigMac]

What about a bonus for the highest finishing regulars? I might also allow each of the Star regulars to run the Hoosiers for one additional Saturday night show during the season. If memory serves, Monadnock ran that night as well. If they are still running mods bi-weekly at Monadnock next year the two tracks might want to work together to line it up so it falls on a non modified weekend at Monadnock. Also, isn't the second Saturday of June usually the same weekend as the MRS race at Seekonk. This may have already been worked out by people in the know but I'll throw it out there.

[Teds Race Tours]

Twin 125's One For Each Tire.....Teams can run both by simply changing tires. Win Both, get a bonus. Obviously the purse would have to be adjusted....maybe $4000 to win each....just throwing out ideas.

[mattphoto]

I hope to be there next year had a lot of fun at Star

[SUfan]

Thanks to everyone for the input. The date will be adjusted if a conflict occurs. I spoke to Bob Sr. about this last night. It says in AARN this week that NASCAR is looking to spread the WMT schedule out, so I doubt the WMT would have a month off like in 2011.
ANALYST- Most of the teams there in 2011 simply wouldn't run on those tires, in part because it requires them to change their car setups to be competitive.
CSG- An open tire rule wouldn't work because the cars are close to one-half second per lap faster on the Hoosier Tires.
BIG MAC- There WAS a highest finishing regular bonus in 2011. Unfortunately it was won by default because only one weekly team showed up, even after at least three promised to attend. Maybe we could increase that payoff to include 3-5 teams.
TED- Nice idea. We would have to shorten the races I think to make sense financially though. Would teams run for less money per race to make this work? If not for setup differences we could take the top five from each race and run the "Dash for Cash" after instead of before feature racing.
MATT- I hope to see you there if this does become a big event again. The amount of work to make this event happen was immeasurable. As much as I love the "Open Show" format, it would be much easier to do something different. I thought the one tire change rule was a positive. I still wonder what would have happened if TC had gotten a better restart after the pit stop. It could have been an entirely different outcome.

[CynthiaTork]

A mere suggestion, as a lot of regulars understandably don't want to buy the six tires they will need for this one show. Take the lap money that was spread via random computer draw among the top 10 cars per lap and buy each car two tires that attempts to qualify. If you get 24 cars, that takes roughly $7,200 from the lap money, BUT it will be spread evenly.

[BigMac]

Along those lines, you could run a tire sponsorship deal. Allow fans or businesses to buy a tire for their favorite driver. The kicker would be nobody on the entry list could have 2 tires purchased for them until everyone has received 1 tire. For example, say you have 24 registered entries. I decided I want to support the race by buying(cash equivalent) a tire for the 70 team. Well, nobody else could buy another tire for that team until all of the remaining 23 entries have had a tire purchased for them. If you get to 24 tires purchased then no driver could receive 3 tires until all entries had received 2 tires and so on down the line. I know tires are expensive but Star raised a lot of money in lap sponsorship. If you reallocate those funds into tires it could be done. You could even set it up so 2 or 3 people could go in on 1 tire so it wouldn't cost a person anymore than they spent on a lap sponsorship last year. I would think it would promote early registration. Those that register late or on race day would be out of luck.

[Analyst]

ANALYST- Most of the teams there in 2011 simply wouldn't run on those tires, in part because it requires them to change their car setups to be competitive.

Thanks SUfan! That's a damn shame and if that is truly the case then send the whining teams cases of tissues because the smallest things make them cry... Would Richie Evans pass up a very good paying show just because it would require him to change the set up of his car? No he would take on the challenge. It seems to me some of these teams might have feared Jon McKennedy beating them. Memo: McKennedy did and did it on their tires.

[Mod Squad]

Thanks SUfan! That's a damn shame and if that is truly the case then send the whining teams cases of tissues because the smallest things make them cry... Would Richie Evans pass up a very good paying show just because it would require him to change the set up of his car? No he would take on the challenge. It seems to me some of these teams might have feared Jon McKennedy beating them. Memo: McKennedy did and did it on their tires.

Yes you do have to change your setup, but the tire cost and re-use was the MAIN issue.

Remember, the majority of the regulars that run at Star, do so for the hobby aspect, they run Star and Star alone. A good portion of these teams are all still in the learning phase when it comes to modified setups. None of them would even debate that point.

The "Open" show brings in drivers/crews with a lot more talent, knowledge and money. While some guys will take that challenge, others choose not to. If anyone wants more regulars to run maybe they should go buy a couple sets of Hoosier’s and sponsor a car for the race.

Yes Mckennedy did do it on the Hoosier’s. He also runs the VMRS regularly and the NWMT on occasion. Before anyone goes crazy about his accomplishments at Star make sure to remember the fact that he was Disqualified ( http://www.star-speedway.com/news091711.html) from a win in September race for tire violations.

Roughly 12-15 drivers and crews supported the track for the entire season. Having a little inside knowledge from one of those teams I know this, none of the regulars were “whining” they just took a week off.

Bring the open back next year, it’s a great track.

[Teds Race Tours]

just a question......what are the lap times of the AR Tire vs the Hoosier Tire? I'll assume the Hoosier being a faster tire would probably wear out much quicker, and the American Racer Tire would probably remain more consistant. I think the secret to true fairness is figuring out the perfect number of laps for the tires to end up pretty even at the end of the race. Be it 125, or 150, 175, 200 etc.....Is that a possibility?

[Mod Squad]

just a question......what are the lap times of the AR Tire vs the Hoosier Tire? I'll assume the Hoosier being a faster tire would probably wear out much quicker, and the American Racer Tire would probably remain more consistant. I think the secret to true fairness is figuring out the perfect number of laps for the tires to end up pretty even at the end of the race. Be it 125, or 150, 175, 200 etc.....Is that a possibility?

Ted, as stated by SUfan earlier in the thread the Hoosier's are at least half a second faster a lap. At Star that is significant. Track temps in June are decent so the A R's will warm up but they are still a lot harder. Yes they would go the distance but somebody on fresh Hoosier's would eat the field up. It would be interesting to watch. I don't know how both sets of rubber running on the track at the same time would affect the outcome. Could be interesting. I believe the Stafford Sk's run a similar version of American Racer. Maybe one of the weekly guys from Stafford could elaborate more on the tire.

[bud]

He didn't use a Troyer either!

[SUfan]

Star was hoping to make an announcement on this race today, but they are still waiting on other schedules to be finalized before deciding what to do. Hopefully it can be announced next week. There is a "Plan A", "Plan B", and a "Plan C" in place. Stay tuned and thanks for the interest and ideas.

[SUfan]

Thanks to no scheduling conflicts, "Plan A" is in effect for the Star SBM 125 Modified Open on June 16. The way the program is run could be changed (no time trials?), but the base purse will be the same, and early indications are that the lap money, car count and total purse will increase from the 2011 event.

[BigMac]

It sounds like Coby and the 52 team will be running this one.

[SUfan]

Pallai, Szegedy, Stefanik, Hirschman, McKennedy, Cantara, Pasteryak and Preece have already confirmed for the SBM 125 as well. I think it's safe to say that the second event will be bigger and better than the first, in part because of fewer overall races for teams to run this season. The purse payoff on racenight doesn't hurt either.