[shadow=red,left]You might want to give Dave Silverthorn a call. We ran into (no pun intended) the exact same situation a few weeks back - wrecked by someone with an enduro attitude, we ended up needing straightening front and rear. While not perfect (we still need a front clip) he got things to the point that the car is raceable for a very reasonable cost[/shadow]
Agreed we took our Modified to Dave once a few years back.... believe or not the car was faster after Dave worked his magic on it. We were pitted beside Rick and were just glad to see he was OK. The truck can be fixed sometimes the driver cannot.
They go by money earned in the last 3 races. With the 77 finishing 20th in the 140 lapper that pays alot more than an average Friday night, that puts him up front.
We've been racing at Delaware a long time now and have tried to figure out their handicap system and have never been able to do so. Alot of time it doesn't seem to make sense...roll with the punches I say. I talked with Hooker after the races, he was pretty frustrated with the lineups lately. I hope we dont lose another car over it. The field seems to be dwindling quickly.
As far as the big crowd Friday. The management did a great job promoting the night, with the help of the Freeps and the A channel. All be it the King of the Hill always draws in extra butts in the seats. Then its our job ( teams and track staff ) to put on a good show and hopefully some of them will return on a regular night.
Last Friday I'm sure they made
a lot of money due to the large crowd so they should in turn return that money to the people
putting on the show. (Never mind the King of the Hill)
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Ever heard the saying "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth"? I doubt the track would have told Throne Kings/CANUSA "Sorry, but we're going to use your money other than where you want it", as that probably would've been the last time they got money for that. Sometimes you have to work with what you have, and sometimes it can't be converted into something else...As far as purses/payouts go, I'd be curious to the idea of a points-fund sponsor and a race purse sponsor for each division to help things out. Mind you, I'm not sure how strong or not the London & area economy really is to make something like that viable, but to me it'd be worth looking into...
This night seems to be getting a sour note put on it by the destruction of one truck. I feel bad for Verberne, I do - great driver, fast truck. He got caught in someone elses move... That is a risk everytime a driver takes to the track.
In racing what goes around comes around - - you make your own luck out there... And nobody ever won a race by not coming back... That just lets the other driver win.
The truck class benefitted from rick being there not only through his driving but by having a different vehicle instead of the almost spec appearing chev pickup. As for the money thing we can say it all we want it ain't happenin and I couldn't help but notice that I heard more delaware advertising in the week leading up than in the whole year.
Hopefully they keep those levels of advertising up for the rest of the season and beyond. If the "in your face" approach can work for Humpy Wheeler/Lowes Motor Speedway and Eddie Gossage/Texas Motor Speedway, there's no reason (short of a lack of manpower) it can't work here...