[Spridgets] mileage vs. age

[Larry Daniels]

John, you sound as though you don't have an especially large appreciation 
for F440s (now F500s).  ;-)  Trust me, that ran both ways.

I do recall Vee drivers complaining about the slower 440s, but my gripe was 
with the Vees getting in the way because they were so slow.  Even the 
fastest Vees were no match for a decent 440 and by 8 or 9 laps we were 
running into the back markers and lapping them.  The big problem was that 
they always ran in a train so you had to pass a bunch of them at once or 
dive back into the middle of the train and pass the rest on the next 
straight.  They may consider that as messing up their race, but if they 
weren't so damn slow it wouldn't have been a problem.  I guess that's the 
price we pay when they have to combine classes to complete the field.  I do 
have an appreciation for the way the Vees ran, but it didn't mix well at all 
with the style of driving a 440.  Two totally different cars on the same 
track at the same time.

Larry



-----Original Message----- 
From: fastvee
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2011 7:03 PM
To: Spridgets net
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] mileage vs. age

Larry,
As long as you have some suspension Nelson is a lot of fun. We would catch 
the
440's in the corners and they had enough power to beat us down the straights
and park it, and screwed up many a good vee race. Only the best 440 drivers
stayed ahead of the fast vees, and those drivers weren't a problem for us.
Running with 440's at Watkins Glen wasn't much of a problem with all the
straights, unless it rained. I'll never forget the sensation of catching up 
to
them driving up through the esses with visibility measured in yards, and
identifying them by smell before you could see them. I started road racing 
in
1975 and enjoyed several years of 30 car car F/V fields before the
introduction of the F440's, and I'm happy to have experience the heyday of 
F/V
racing.
John

--- On Sun, 3/6/11, Larry Daniels <ladaniels at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
John, I heard all about Nelson Ledges and stayed away for that reason.  The
guy I bought my car from was a pro test driver for Goodyear and even he said
he didn't like that track.  It sounded like a terrible track -- especially
for a 440.  I only raced at Road America, Blackhawk, Brainerd, Indianapolis
and Grattan.  IRP was bad enough.

Yep, they are fast and a handful to drive, but that makes them fun -- if you
are a masochist!  They will sharpen your driving skills!  Going through The
Kink at Elkhart flat out at north of 125 mph in one of those things will
test your cojones.

BTW, how did you pass a 440 with a Vee?  The 440s are considerably faster.
Unless, I suppose, the 440 driver was pretty incompetent or scared.  The new
ones with the 500 motor are outrunning Formula Fords now.
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