Bobby Santos III celebrates victory in the Whelen Modified Tour Eastern Propane & Oil 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday (Photo: Jim DuPont/RaceDayCT)
LOUDON, N.H. – As a racer Bobby Santos III has proved his mettle across the spectrum of asphalt oval racing and even dirt Sprint car competition.
Saturday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway the Franklin, Mass. driver showed that drag racing could be his next conquest.
In a side-by-side battle to the checkered flag off the final corner, Santos edged Chase Dowling to win the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Eastern Propane & Oil 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
It was the third consecutive victory in Whelen Modified Tour points events at NHMS for Santos. He swept both events for the division in Loudon in 2017.
Dowling, of Roxbury, was second. NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series start Ryan Newman was third. Whelen Modified Tour points leader Justin Bonsignore was fourth.
For Santos it was the perfect ending for a weekend that started off in dismay for his Tinio Motorsports team after they blew a motor in practice on Friday.
“It was honestly pretty depressing,” Santos said of the issues on Friday. “But just knowing that we run good here and knowing that I enjoy coming here just gave us hope going into this race. We were disappointed that we didn’t have our best [motor] in the car, but we just made a couple good calls in the pits on the adjustments and raced our butts off. We just keep fighting, you just can’t quit.
“The guys gave me a great race car. Put us in position when it mattered. This is really cool. I’ve just got great people behind me and I’m very happy.”
Most of the event played out with Dowling, Newman and Bonsignore battling at the front of the field for the lead.
After all the leaders pitted on lap 73, Santos found himself in fifth. He was up to fourth for a lap 95 restart and moved to second behind Bonsignore just after the green flag came back out. He then got by Bonsignore for the lead in turn three, with Dowling following him to second.
On lap 97 Dowling went by Santos to move to the lead through turns three and four. Santos answered back by going back to the front off turn two on lap 98. But as Santos got by Dowling, it was Newman diving low from third to lead. On lap 99 Santos went by Newman for the lead into turn one, but Newman went back to the front heading into turn three. Coming to the white flag Santos got by Newman for the lead with Dowling moving to second.
On the final lap it was Dowling looking to get low under Santos in turn three. Off turn four Dowling found the low lane under Santos and the two came to the frontstretch side-by-side. With Dowling carrying the better momentum off the corner, Santos pushed him down toward the inside pit wall, slowing his momentum enough to edge him by .014 of a second at the line.
“It’s a 100-lap race,” Santos said. “You race it like a 100-lap race. We weren’t as good as we needed to be in the beginning and we knew that. We got a little farther behind than we wanted to. … The yellows fell when we needed it and we made the right call on the pit stop. … The last couple laps there it was crazy.
“Chase had the momentum and made a great move on the bottom and I kind of just tried to squeeze him a little bit. But he had the momentum. It’s a lucky thing the start/finish line wasn’t closer to [turn] one because he probably would have won. But we won the race and that’s all that matters.”
Said Dowling: “He had to do that. He wasn’t going to put me into the wall. Obviously he knew where the wall was. But he was going to push me down for drafting reasons. … He had to do what he had to do. It wasn’t dirty. It was just he had to go win.
“That’s the best we could really do. Obviously you want to finish first, but with that situation with the tight racing that’s what we got.”
As Santos and Dowling raced to the line it was Newman and Bonsignore behind them rallying on the outside to fashion the breathtaking finish among the top four.
“I was hoping they were going to wad each other up coming to the checkered but nobody turned left hard enough and nobody turned right hard enough,” Newman said. “Just an awesome race. It helped to have it bunched up there at the end, had some cautions late. We were in good position pretty much the whole race. … Just good hard racing. I don’t know what much else to say. If you didn’t like that you need to find another hobby.”
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I have seen most of the modified races at Loudon since they opened the place and i have got to say that race for the win was the best I have EVER seen. I’m sure lfr is happy one of their cars won but it still must chap your ass a little when a team that runs once in a while beats you on the biggest stage you compete on.
You’re a realist. A realist that said it himself. Best EVER. And realist wants anyone to win in his’ equipment not to mention a STRONG second place with the house car. The house car driver said no worries, good racing move and he won so congrats. Now lets sell some more equipment. Win/win!
LFR is chapped? Really? They have won the past 3 races there, have a huge point lead with the 51 and the 15 is second by a ton, they were up front all day. Troyer puts Ryan Newman in a car a still can’t win at Loudon. That would be a bigger reason to be chapped I’m thinking. JMO
Scott m- i didn’t say that lfr themselves was chapped. Probably just Fuller and dowling themselves since they got beat by a part time team with a far superior driver
Doug what’s the difference between Fuller and Dowling and LFR themselves? They are LFR I thought. To call Tinio a part time team is rather weak. They have been running modified forever at a high level. Just because they are smart and don’t run the BS tracks like river head and myrtle beach Langley etc doesn’t mean they are any less prepared than the next team. It’s actually a advantage. They get all the extra time to prepare and have less laps on their equipment. Dowling’s wins will come. It was very apparent that the LFR teams worked together as well. That was cool to watch. Great race for sure.
It is to bad that Santos lost his best engine in practice Friday otherwise it may have been no contest for the competition. The car was stout with the back up engine, can’t imagine what it would have been like with his primary under the hood.
That whole Santos not being full time escapes me completely. I don’t see any need for chapstick anywhere.
Fuller has made it clear on more then one occasion it’s about business and selling the LFR brand. All stop, there is no other priority. He’s also said as a competitor he wants to win but the business comes first. He’s said he made it clear to Dowling he thinks his priority should be the business. Much to my chagrin I might add since Chase’s Stafford SK effort is on the wrong end of his employers priorities.
If I implied Fuller and Dowling were anything but together and LFR first that was not intended.
All that aside Fuller’s situation is interesting. An owner that wants to win. But it would be disastrous for him to be perceived as holding back. That by all accounts has never even been hinted at to his credit.
Rough start, but great finish. Pretty exciting. Always great seeing Bobby Santos III winning.
What’s with the LFR fanboys shilling all the time? Before LFR, there was never any discussion or debate about chassis. Now it drones on and on, like listening to Trump sell a time share, bottled water and steaks. So sad. Geez, I hope they don’t start debating lug nuts and blinker fluid.
How bout those lug nuts from car quest.
Those lug nut won that race..santos has been using them lately
Hats of to dareal..thanks for the check sir…we r now even steven
Dareal. Wake up man. Before LFR it was ALL Troyer. That’s the point man. Since LFR it’s been ALL LFR. That’s the buzz that’s going on. I think it’s great that someone rocked the sleeping giants bed and woke him up. Just a little late. The others have a lot of work and even more money to spend to play catch up now.
Yup, another win..
Sure wish the 3 wasn’t smudged by the 51 in the All Star race, it was indeed loaded for moose. Would have been a much bigger factor, perhaps won on Saturday.
The best part about Saturday was knowing that Sybil, RickyinMass, Doug, and WeldingWonders weren’t there. Very short concessions lines. Heck, all the concession booths weren’t even open.
Troyer, SPAFCO, CD, BRE, Raceworks. Quite few wins and championships there.
humphry, these SPEC engines dyno out within a couple HP of each other. They should. Quite remarkable actually. If not, the builder will be tearing into it to find the loss.
Good seeing you Jeffrey. See you Stafford? We’ll do a wings night. I bring a few of my latest secret lug nuts.
There is so much stupidity, nonsense and assumptions in Dareal the dummies comments it just defies common sense. The best I could do is put it in context. This is D-Bags thoughts on corner handling from 2016.
“Rolling the turns comes from handling, not power. These cars have far more power to overpower the handling capability in a turn.
they are coasting through a turn, foot is not in the throttle in a turn. The better the car turns, the faster it can coast. ”
Coasting and rolling through the turns. Never experienced it, never heard a driver or fan say that. And you’re going to believe this knucklehead on his nonsense about spec engine dyno sheets within 2 HP. That’s not 2% it’s 2 HP which is .33%. In all of American industry no tolerance outside of aircraft maybe has been that tight.
He’s said all chassis builders have “jigs” to build cars and therefore there is negligible difference in chassis design or architecture. That frame tube location and component mounting points are standardized for all manufacturers based on the rules. Forgetting of course fixtures are built from prototypes that are the result of R&D. R&D that Rob Fuller clearly has done. And that the rules have tolerances that allow for innovation.
There’s an endless supply of stupidity from this guy including his notion that the bump draft has been eliminated at NHMS because of spec engines and the change in the “torgue curve”.
It all boils down to one thing. The same idiot that said that Appalachia extends to Maine is the same guy advising the thread on sophisticated technical points.
I advise caution in accepting what he says on anything.
I have to tell you D-Bag RickyinMass who was a huge supporter of yours is losing faith.
Just a thought. You’ve had an amazing and productive weekend from Stafford to New Hampshire Mr. Courchesne. If you could provide a tight one paragraph or so on what it was like to cover so much ground I’m sure I’m not the only one that would be interested. It must have been exhausting.
Doug,
This is my 22nd consecutive year covering these overflowing with events Cup weekends at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I’m not going to say you go on auto-pilot after a while, but I’ve gotten used to the 12-15-hour days at the track for three days of the weekend. Monday’s after these weekends usually involve just turning off the brain for the day.
Thank you!
Well said Doug. The guy is a breed of his own thank GOD. I haven’t posted in a while. Just sitting back watching LFR make another team win races. I asked dareal a while ago for a list of what the 2 car did in 2014 vs 2015. Got nothing. Now I want to see the stats from the 51 in 2017 vs 2018. Probably won’t get those either. Now that Fuller is focused on mods best of luck to everyone else. Fact. LFR built the cars that are 1-2 in points. BTW this is LFR and Fullers first time running for points and the only team beating them is the team they helped build. It’s no secret. Look at the social media posts from the winter and it shows the 51 cars getting built. Justin is a man that appreciates what others do for him and is constantly crediting Fuller. They even raced the first few races out of the LFR shop. Dominant like no one else. Stone is no dummy either. He was cc on the 44 as well but the level that Fuller was involved was not what it is with the 51. The 44 brought their car to the LFR shop for a set up for Loudon and that seemed to pay off. Fuller was out to make a point with the 51. Point made sir. Dareal speaks of the other guys as if they are relevant. So now tell us how good the redskins are because they won a Super Bowl way back when. This is the real world man. You are only as good as the stats show TODAY. Why every team is not ordering a LFR and selling what they have now is beyond me. It’s only going to get worse guys. How are the Troyer DIRT cars running anyway? Heard that HBR went to Teo and Buzz Chew left as well. The writing is on the wall. They need to do something big and quick. Copying all the LFR stuff isn’t something big either. Every mod had a big bar at Loudon. Does Troyer offer a LFR bolt on horn now? Embarrassing to say the least. They need to hire a engineer with race experience and get to work.
Simon says that Fuller would get any car to run good and win races. The car or chassis isn’t everything guys. It’s the mind behind it. I’m not a fan but that’s the truth. Car is more important than the driver. I thought Todd Zegedy would be a threat for a championship in the 4 after he left the 15. Not so much. Woody Pickat was good in the 88. I didn’t even know he still raced now.
Maybe I’ve said this before but it’s bears repeating. Last winter I emailed Rob Fuller with questions about the spec vs built engines. I explained I was a geezer fan and of no consequence but was interested in his thoughts. Long story short we exchanged a couple emails. He gave me his opinions, said I was welcome to stop by his operation or trailer at the track and could not have been nicer. The guy is an open book, pure class,approachable and a winner. How you could say anything bad about him or LFR without technical backup is beyond me.
Simon,
I agree it is about the setup and brains of your team behind it. But, when Szegedy drove the 4 he was in underfunded equipment and an open/ 18 degree hutter motor, unlike the 2,6 and 88 in new chassis’s and spec motors. Szegedy still won New Hampshire and could have won the title but got wrecked at the worst times especially when the 2 started that wreck with the 6 in the fall New Hampshire race.
Can we all rewind the tape to a few years ago when Mr. Fuller was driving his own cars and crashing every opportunity he could? It was embarrassing watching it. What was his driving record when driving his own cars? And when he finally put hired drivers in, they didn’t do much better. Fuller was a joke driving his cars. If he was really good at it, he’d still be doing it. I mean, who would get out of a car? This went on for years folks. Now we are at today, and Fuller hands chassis over to the top talented teams on the Tour. doh. Szegedy didn’t help the cause when driving for Fuller. So in order to make the chassis look good, give them to the TOP TALENTED teams. The talent on those teams will make the chassis look good. Clearly, very smart owners see right through this and are not going to change chassis. Lots of teams are using the same chassis and parts, some are fast, some aren’t. The only difference is talent. Some teams have all the best parts money can buy, and they can’t buy a placing. It’s the talent. Fuller couldn’t get his own chassis to run, so he finally got smart and had the top talented teams run his chassis. Prior to the top teams running the chassis, the chassis was not making a name for itself. Somehow, Fuller convinced MSR to run the chassis and that talent made it work. Rumor has it that “free” is rather attractive. Makes everything look good, like beer goggles. As far as the Tinio operation goes, it would be a disaster if not for Bobby Santos III and his Dad. Santos Sr. has been the best thing happening to that team. Talent, not chassis. The 44 sucked with the LFR chassis until Santos Sr. came around. Talent, see how that works? The 44 changed CC earlier and that didn’t help. The right CC, with talent, matters.
And Sybil has no idea what she’s reading. Most of her questions are answered in the rules. Unreal she had no idea that RYR is the sole engine supplier.
A car makes the driver look good, if it can, not the other way around. The talent of the crew chief is a huge factor in making the car look good. There are very few top CC on the Tour. Fuller couldn’t get his own cars to run until he brought in good CC talent and put the chassis in the hands of top CCs. Things are looking much better since good CCs are tuning the chassis, no?
Did you folks really forget the early days of Fuller driving his cars? It wasn’t pretty at all. Went on for a long time too.
So you think the Tour team owners forgot the early days of the LFR cars when Fuller was driving and he didn’t have top CC talent helping out with the early hired drivers? No, they didn’t forget.
Tyler, when Szegedy won New Hampshire in the 4, that was the first race they had a SPEC engine in the car. That was all the big news on the Tour because the 4 was the last competitive car to change over to the SPEC. The 4 had horrible luck on the track that season.
Dareal. This is deep brotha. You are way mis informed. Fuller never drove a LFR car. Todd was the first one and finished second at Loudon. Now we are all talking about chassis and LFR and you want to talk about Fuller as a driver. That’s desperation right there. Someone here asked for before LFR and after LFR stats. Where are those in your book of knowledge. I love that you are this frustrated and desperate to bring someone or one company down. Shows how successful they really are. What owners see buddy is the year the 2 had before LFR and now the year the 51 is having after going to LFR. That’s all they need to see loser. Wow. Poor guy.
Oh yea. Santos praises Fuller in victory lane after they brought their car to LFR to him for help. Man you are lost. Poor guy. You know they might sell a medication that would help you.
I understand that the SPEC engine has dominated the NWMT since 2014/15. But, did Santos win a Tour event at Thompson last year with a built motor? Was Zachem competitive with a built motor?
All in all a great Friday and Saturday at NHMS. And with the Xfinity race, Saturday was exceptional. Santos has the place figured out. I think having the USAC Silver Crown experience on the big tracks is a plus in his column. Again a big paying race and no black #60. Come to find out he was in western N.Y. at the local circus. Finished second and only got a couple thousand bucks. Not “big money” in my book. Either afraid of the competition or maybe going fast. Again thanks to Shawn for putting so much information from different angles about a fantastic couple of days of racing in New England. Wish we had this kind in Pennsylvania. Miss the NASCAR modified tour races at Nazareth, Jennerstown, and Flemington in New Jersey.
ISNT THE MOST POPULAR DRIVER IN AN LFR CAR.. ???? WHY SHE NO RUN UP FRONT??..ITS NOT JUST THE CHASSIS.. ITS CHASSIS,ENGINE,DRIVER,SOME LUCK AND MAKING THE RIGHT CALLS AT THE RIGHT TIME… (CREW CHIEF) ..WHAT IS SAD IS PEOPLE ARE ASKING WHY NOT BUY AN LFR CAR…. I DONT KNOW I GUESS THEY AREN`T WORTH THE COST??.. MOD RACING AND LOCAL RACING IN GENERAL HAS GOTTEN SO OUT OF HAND MONEY WISE ITS A JOKE.. EVERYONE TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH THE JONES` WITH THE LATEST CAR ,MOTOR AND HAULER… FOR WHAT ?? A COUPLE GRAND?? .PS BONSOGNORE AND HIS TEAM DID PRETTY GOOD WITH OTHER BRANDS .. THE REAL STORY IS WHAT HAPPENED TO COBY AND PHIL MORAN?? MUST HAVE THAT FLUX CAPACITOR IN THE BONSIGNORE CAR THIS YEAR ..
You want the stats? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE STATS!!!!!
Here’s some info on Mr. R. Fuller, from Racing Reference, summarized for your short attention spans:
Trucks
In 4 races as driver/owner/sponsor (Draco Springs): best finish was a lap down in one race, engine failure in one race, and TWO crashes.
NWMT
2009: In 2 races as driver/owner/sponsor(Draco Springs), he crashed out (66/100 laps) of one race, and radiator failure in the other.
2010: In 3 races as driver/owner/sponsor (Draco Springs), he finished one race in 17th place, suspension failure in another, and crashed in the other (Loudon, 2 laps in). Finished only 243 of 454 laps.
2011: In 4 races as driver/owner/sponsor (Draco Springs), engine failure, DNS, 13th and 20th finishes. 298/518 laps.
2012: In 5 races as driver/owner/sponsor (Draco Springs), 3 crashes, 17th place and a 15th place, both down laps. 464/659 laps.
2013: In 6 races as driver/owner, 4 crashes, an oil leak and 21st place, lap down. 402/793 laps.
2014: In one race as driver/owner, 13th place.
NWSMT
2011: In one race as driver/owner/sponsor, 18th place, 107/125 laps.
2012: In one race as driver/owner/sponsor, 3rd place
Szegedy/Fuller/LFR 2014
In 5 races for owner Rob Fuller, 2 DNFs (engine, rear end), 2P, 8P, 130/151 laps. One race was sponsored by LFR Chassis.
Ron Silk/Fuller/LFR 2015
In 6 events for Fuller (listed as Monica or Rob), the 15-40 Connection / LFR Chassis sponsored car resulted in: 9P, 27P 92/125 laps (mechanical), 5P, 27P 136/150 laps (suspension), 4P, and a withdrawal
Szegedy/Fuller/LFR 2016
In 3 races for Owner Rob Fuller, 2P, 10P, 2P
All available on Racing Reference.
And you guys think Fuller is some sort of guru? Why? You think that is good?
Why did he do that? Why didn’t he just sponsor a car with an already established winning history?
Mark wrote, “Why every team is not ordering a LFR and selling what they have now is beyond me.” Hey Mark, see those stats? That’s why. Fuller demonstrated for years he had no idea what he was doing as etched in stone by those stats that will follow him forever. He wasn’t competitive as a driver/owner of his own cars/trucks, so there was no way he could possibly get near what was needed to set up a competitive car. Look at his record of running his own cars – his HOUSE CARS for promoting his product, DRACO Springs and LFR Chassis. He was the owner and SPONSOR. A monkey can drive a great car. He’d be running with Fifield today, Heagy and MacDonald on good days. You still have no idea why there aren’t more LFR cars running after all these years? You have any idea what you make yourself look like? 💩 Even when he had a hired gun driving for him, it was still ugly. The car was usually junk with glimmers of hope when Szegedy and Silk drove it.
And what about today? Well, when you have the top people on the Tour run your product, they can make it look good, and Fuller can learn from them how they made it work, and apply it to his own car. doh. Today, the 15 has a good CC and driver, and they will make the car look good. If Fuller were smart, he’d stay away and let those two do what they want to do. The more outside talent is applied to the chassis, the better it does. That is obvious. Troyer has true house support with decades of experience. LFR is just learning now, with the previous help of Silk and Szegedy, and Dowling and his CC, on what it takes to make the chassis work. If you were an owner, would you expect legit house support from LFR given that record? The 2, 15, 44, 51 and 01 has not really made a case for the chassis. The 2, 44, and 51 were already good. Somebody needs to explain what’s going on TODAY with the 2. Will the 2 go back to Troyer soon? The chassis is not working miracles for the 01. We’ll see how the 15 does. Given the competitive performance of the 15, clearly Fuller is not dictating the set up and calling the shots. Or what he is barking is not what is really being done.
Wow dareal. You really are dumb. We want stats on the cars that switched to LFR. Stats before and after. Still have nothing on that? And the 51 winning no races in 2017 is pretty good grapes? Huh. So tell us Kenny Barry and Billy Colton driving stats you freak.
This is some funny stuff! I just copied it and sent it to Fuller. The dude has always had one of the cars to beat. Period. This dareal Guy sounds like he’s gonna pop! I actually think the stats he posted were pretty good. I watched Fuller win a LM race down south and was at the NS race where he finished third. The dude don’t care. That’s the best part. I can’t wait to talk to him after he reads this space shots comments. Who is this clueless nut job anyway? It’s great entertainment from a dude who knows NOTHING about what’s going on!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
The more he writes, the bigger ass he makes of himself
Hey Dareal. That looks like it took a long time to type. You might have to run back to your neon and haul but back to seven eleven to finish your shift. Maybe you can call Fuller up. He might be able to hire you at one of his seven companies he owns. All of which were started with funds he generated in the racing industry. No clue what you could do. Oh wait…….. I know he was looking for a dog sitter. Loser. Kid is one of the sharpest people I’ve worked with.
Two things: Congrats to Bobby Santos & the #44 team! (That was my LFR pick on an earlier post by the way! 🙂 )
For the record, Fuller qualified on the pole for the North-South race at Thompson. They got bumped to starting last due to missing the drivers meeting, and Fuller DROVE to the front. If he had another ten laps that day, he would have won. I don’t know what kind of car that was, but it was awfully fast! I always wondered if it was not an “official” LFR car, maybe it was a Troyer that may have had a bunch of his ideas built in.
It would be real interesting to see how many wins the LFR brand would have specially at New Hampshire without the illegal coil bind set up they run. I guess will never no cause NASCRAP doesn’t do a damn thing about it. Must be a great feeling going to bed at night knowing you had to cheat to win. Congrats rob fuller I mean fury chassis ! 🤜🏻
Not to cloud personal issues with facts to all of you with agendas out there , but here are the win totals this year for the 4 NE modified series(NASCAR,ROC,MRS,Tri-track). I may be wrong on Stuart racing but it looks like:
Raceworks 2 wins
LFR 5wins
Troyer 16 wins
Again my numbers may be off, but I think I am close. I see one chassis way out front in wins in all series. I think the numbers speak for themselves. By the way, I am a die hard Raceworks supporter so don’t get any ideas that I am pro Troyer or anti LFR. Just trying to give all the experts out there something else to argue about.
Now, now Ed J, some people don’t let facts get in the way.
Hey John Davis,
If the coil bind setup is illegal, then why hasn’t anyone (Troyer or LFR chassis) who runs it been disqualified or told not to come back with it? Yes Fury bought the rights to the Gen I chassis, but where is Fury on upgrades, track support, etc.? Nowhere to be seen, but Fuller is updating and supporting those teams.
Ed J, Your not looking at apples to apples. LFR/Fuller concentrates its efforts on the Modified Tour so why bring in stats where he doesn’t promote his chassis. Maybe because of his focus on one division, that’s why they’re doing so well.
moonglum says
did mckennedy run a race works chassis at new hampshire
Just me,
I guess I didn’t make my point well. If LFR is such a great chassis, why wouldn’t he want to be selling them on all series to all modified competitors.I know that if I owned a chassis business I would want everyone in every modified type division running my car.That would be domination in an industry.That is what Troyer does. If LFR wants to concentrate on just the modified series that is great, but that does not make it a dominant chassis mfg. That is why I brought up the other series. Troyer has winning cars in all series. That makes them a dominant chassis builder.They have the most cars out there, that makes them a dominant chassis builder. They probably repair more cars in a month than LFR built last year,that makes them a dominant chassis builder. From what some people said earlier,LFR isn’t even selling all his cars. He is giving them away to certain teams. I personally wouldn’t want to buy a car from someone knowing that I am paying for for my car and someone else’s. At the end of the day, Troyer has been around over 40 years, their cars are winning on all series, and I would be willing to guess that they are making money. All that makes them a dominant chassis builder. When LFR has been around for 40 years and has the wins and cars out there that Troyer does, then you can tell me that they are a dominant chassis builder. Until then, they are a one trick pony running in the front of one series with only a few competitive cars and a bunch of field fillers.
To add to Ed J, I wonder how many LFR chassis are out there, and how many were sold at market pricing. Even a top, well funded team would not turn down free, they’d find a way to make it work. Where are the Mark Sypher LFR chassis? The 2 team replaced their LFR chassis, where are the old ones? That’s four cars right there. The simple fact is that the LFR chassis did not perform until it was in the hands of the top talent like Phil Moran, the 51 team, and Bobby Santos Sr. Those folks put the shine on. That’s all it’s got. That talent can make any chassis work. Without what Moran, Santos Sr, and the 51 team did, the only record of the LFR chassis are Fuller’s driving/owner record, and that isn’t going to convince owners to abandon their Troyers, CDs, SPAFCOs, and Raceworks, and flock to the LFR club. And everyone around the Tour knows this. And it also shows that the owners aren’t falling for it and that’s why they aren’t selling off their Troyers, CDs, SPAFCOs, etc. and buying LFRs. When the 2 was dominating, it was dominating with HORSEPOWER, not chassis. Now that it had the flux capacitor taken away and is merely mortal, it isn’t doing well at all. And although the 44 wins, it is far from consistent.
There has never been this kind of chassis discussion until recently. The folks of Troyer, Raceworks, CD, SPAFCO, etc. are not on these forums bashing each other. They all know each other and are friendly and cordial. But now we have the LFR fanboys talking trash. So sad.
Mark wrote, “Why every team is not ordering a LFR and selling what they have now is beyond me.”
Any ideas as to why every team is not selling what they have now and ordering LFR?
Mark? Care to explain?
Where was Matt Hirschman and Chris Pasteryak?
I WAS STILL WAITING FOR THE LFR FANS TO TELL ME WHY THE MOST POPULAR DRIVER ISNT UP FRONT IF ITS SUCH A GREAT CHASSIS… I GUESS THEY DONT HAVE AN ANSWER..ITS NOT JUST THE CHASSIS…. SORRY..PS WHAY ARE TEAMS NOT ORDERING LFR.. ITS CALLED PRICE POINT ..
So the 01 was black flagged pretty early for failing to maintain minimum speed. NASCAR is finally pulling the trigger on that. Surprisingly, she was less slow in previous Loudon races, in other chassis. I think Loudon is her best track, in that she finished the least laps down at Loudon. I think on the lead lap in one of the Loudon races. Cautions worked out just right.
I don’t know what chassis is best or if any are. More then a few teams have said the LFR gets better bite but that’s not quantifiable as far as I can see. They are doing great on the NWMT so that’s good. I like the LFR story. A guy with a national rep coming home and building on family tradition. Taking on the more established builders to breath new life into designs. Who is approachable and a super ambassador for the sport. What’s wrong with that?
No one has said the chassis is everything so any reference to the 01 is irrelevant. No one is going to correct you on your basic overview of the elements that go into a competitive car Sour because you were correct.
No one can say any one chassis is best beyond a shadow of a doubt. But they can have an opinion and root for their favorite. What’s wrong with that?
Where did the LFR fanboys go?
Mark? Are you going to explain why owners aren’t selling off their stuff to buy LFR?
How much can LFR afford to give away?
Ed J, the NWMT owners buy new chassis. When they replace a chassis, they sell the old chassis. That old chassis ends up in some other series, such as MRS, etc. So if you are a new chassis (re)seller, your target market will be the NWMT. The NWMT owners can be thought of as the chassis suppliers to the other series. It is very interesting watching the performance of a known chassis change in different hands.
Nice finish by Santos, given the rest of the season has been disappointing.
A withdrawal at Thompson (engine troubles), 9P at Thompson, 12P at Stafford, and blew up an engine at Loudon this past weekend.
Funny story about the Tinio operation. They wanted to go SK racing so they went out and bought an established operation. When they got home, they found out they bought a Tour car operation. doh. So they go Tour racing instead. No big deal, right? Yeah, and you wonder why they run so infrequently and when they do, expectations are non-existent. No miracles here. Only so much a driver can do with that.
I don’t think the 01 should enter this conversation.Nobody knows how well or not the 01 is setup.It never gets pushed to the edge.Listen on the scanner for a few minutes of practice and what I’m saying will become obvious.Not saying they should be banished but she isn’t yet competitive, she is the weak link.I wonder what a real shoe would do in that car even the way it is prepared currently.
art, this thread discusses the recent NHMS race which the 01 participated. After all these years, setup of the 01 is not a factor. She drives so slow, the setup does not matter. They tried every chassis, and you can bet they got plenty of manufacturer support. They run a shiny SPEC motor. What could go wrong? About 2-3 years ago, I heard Kenny Barry or one of the Roccos took the 01 out for laps and did quite a bit better than Ms. Fifield does. It ain’t the setup, that’s been obvious for years. As a driver, she went asymptotic years ago, it isn’t going to get any better. Watch her carefully, especially when entering… it’s as if she’s terrified of speed. She’s never been close to the edge. No scanner info needed. NASCAR hasn’t been putting up with it, and they have given her the black flag a couple times already. After all these years, and still getting black flagged so often for failing to make minimum speed? It ain’t the car. And the next time won’t be any better.