Barberville, FL—Feb. 10, 2007--By: Tony Veneziano, WoO Sprint Series PR Director
In an effort to provide even more exciting racing for the fans, the World of Outlaws recently announced procedural changes for the 2007 season. Highlighted among these are: race night format, restarts, realignments, work area allotted time, and push lane staging.
One of the most noticeable changes will be that the heat races will be inverted by four as opposed to six in the past. The first and second place finishers in each heat will qualify for the dash, followed by the next two fastest transferring qualifiers, during a standard four heat race program to comprise the 10 car field, which will continue to set the Top-10 starting spots for the A-Feature. A pill draw will be used to create the dash line-up.
“It absolutely puts more importance on winning a heat race,” said Carlton Reimers, Series Director. “Here again we believe this simplifies the program for the viewing audience as well as the live audience. They know when that heat race crosses the finish line that the first and second place cars are going to the dash. It absolutely makes being in first or second place in the heat more important.”
Looking to curb confusion among fans, especially those new to the sport, lapped cars will now go to the tail of the field for realignment on a restart, thus making it easier for the fans to identify which car are battling for positions on the track. Also, cars that are one or more laps down will receive one of their laps back when they restart at the tail end of the field.
“We wanted to make the race format was simpler for new fans and for casual fan to be able to follow our racing,” said Carlton Reimers, Series Director. “We feel like it will look better on television, and someone watching will know that the first, second, and third cars in line, are in first, second, and third place. We feel it will lead to more exciting finishes, without the lapped car being in there. We believe it will make the whole program look better, especially on television.”
Also new for 2007, when a car visits the work area this season, they will have two minutes to fix whatever problem them have encountered and then must be ready to be pushed off.
“This again simplifies things” Reimers stated. “Every track is different, there are no true quarter or half-miles. It varied from track to track how far the work area was, and how fast the pace car was going and clicking off the laps. We felt it was better to go with a time limit. When one car goes to the work area and gets off the wrecker and in a position to be worked on, he will go on a two minute clock. If we have multiple cars going there, it will not start until the last car gets there.”
Another amendment in 2007 is that most two-day events will become two one-day events with no second night “locked in” cars. These events will be conducted and pointed as such, with full championship points available..
“The main reason for doing it that way was for the fans,” Remiers said. “We are making a conscious effort to listen to our fans, and our promoters and what they want to see is more of our racing. With the four cars locked in to the feature from the preliminary night, they actually did not start racing until the dash. Someone pays a feature night price for a ticket and comes in to see one of their stars, and all of a sudden they don’t see them until the dash, and they feel like they want to see them all night long. If you come on Friday night or Saturday night, you will see everyone race. You will see everyone qualify, and everybody heat race through the entire program.”
In regards to staging in the push lane, a prescribed amount of time will be allotted in preparation for the first heat, C-Main, Dash, and A-Feature. Any car not in the staging lane once the allotted time has expired will be penalized two starting positions in the event they are taking part in.
These changes were implemented in conjunction with the season opening events at Volusia Speedway Park , and will be in effect for the entire 2007 season.
In an effort to provide even more exciting racing for the fans, the World of Outlaws recently announced procedural changes for the 2007 season. Highlighted among these are: race night format, restarts, realignments, work area allotted time, and push lane staging.
One of the most noticeable changes will be that the heat races will be inverted by four as opposed to six in the past. The first and second place finishers in each heat will qualify for the dash, followed by the next two fastest transferring qualifiers, during a standard four heat race program to comprise the 10 car field, which will continue to set the Top-10 starting spots for the A-Feature. A pill draw will be used to create the dash line-up.
“It absolutely puts more importance on winning a heat race,” said Carlton Reimers, Series Director. “Here again we believe this simplifies the program for the viewing audience as well as the live audience. They know when that heat race crosses the finish line that the first and second place cars are going to the dash. It absolutely makes being in first or second place in the heat more important.”
Looking to curb confusion among fans, especially those new to the sport, lapped cars will now go to the tail of the field for realignment on a restart, thus making it easier for the fans to identify which car are battling for positions on the track. Also, cars that are one or more laps down will receive one of their laps back when they restart at the tail end of the field.
“We wanted to make the race format was simpler for new fans and for casual fan to be able to follow our racing,” said Carlton Reimers, Series Director. “We feel like it will look better on television, and someone watching will know that the first, second, and third cars in line, are in first, second, and third place. We feel it will lead to more exciting finishes, without the lapped car being in there. We believe it will make the whole program look better, especially on television.”
Also new for 2007, when a car visits the work area this season, they will have two minutes to fix whatever problem them have encountered and then must be ready to be pushed off.
“This again simplifies things” Reimers stated. “Every track is different, there are no true quarter or half-miles. It varied from track to track how far the work area was, and how fast the pace car was going and clicking off the laps. We felt it was better to go with a time limit. When one car goes to the work area and gets off the wrecker and in a position to be worked on, he will go on a two minute clock. If we have multiple cars going there, it will not start until the last car gets there.”
Another amendment in 2007 is that most two-day events will become two one-day events with no second night “locked in” cars. These events will be conducted and pointed as such, with full championship points available..
“The main reason for doing it that way was for the fans,” Remiers said. “We are making a conscious effort to listen to our fans, and our promoters and what they want to see is more of our racing. With the four cars locked in to the feature from the preliminary night, they actually did not start racing until the dash. Someone pays a feature night price for a ticket and comes in to see one of their stars, and all of a sudden they don’t see them until the dash, and they feel like they want to see them all night long. If you come on Friday night or Saturday night, you will see everyone race. You will see everyone qualify, and everybody heat race through the entire program.”
In regards to staging in the push lane, a prescribed amount of time will be allotted in preparation for the first heat, C-Main, Dash, and A-Feature. Any car not in the staging lane once the allotted time has expired will be penalized two starting positions in the event they are taking part in.
These changes were implemented in conjunction with the season opening events at Volusia Speedway Park , and will be in effect for the entire 2007 season.
