Norwalk this weekend

[megadeth]

So many thought Mike Salinas,when Alan Johnson left to Kallita’s camp, would struggle!
He sure shut those critics down!
How come some tracks have four qualifying sessions and others only three?

 

[Jer]

So many thought Mike Salinas,when Alan Johnson left to Kallita’s camp, would struggle!
He sure shut those critics down!
How come some tracks have four qualifying sessions and others only three?

Its an alan johnson tune up,so thats why no struggle

 

[Nunz]

Its an alan johnson tune up,so thats why no struggle

Hmmm, wonder when AJ will try that on the Kalitta cars...

Just playin'!!!

 

[mick]

rob's assistant CC, the guy with dark hair and beard, who sets idle on car as it stages......i'm thinking he's a significant component of salinas success this year.
i believe mike said at start of year that he promoted him along side rob.

 

[T.Smith]

Connect the Dots Top Fuel Tuning. F**k, let me at it.

 

[mikebcurve]

Connect the Dots Top Fuel Tuning. F**k, let me at it.

You’re always a ray of sunshine. Especially when it pertains to Mike Salinas and team for some reason….

 

[T.Smith]

You’re always a ray of sunshine. Especially when it pertains to Mike Salinas and team for some reason….

Somebody has to light this place up....However, that wasn't the point I was trying to make. There tends to be a narrative that one can just connect the dots if a certain prior crew chief has been involved. It's just not that simple folks. Mike Salinas, Rob Flynn and the rest of that crew deserve a tip of the cap. 4 wins this season and that final round run yesterday was a back breaker.

 

[mikebcurve]

Somebody has to light this place up....However, that wasn't the point I was trying to make. There tends to be a narrative that one can just connect the dots if a certain prior crew chief has been involved. It's just not that simple folks. Mike Salina, Rob Flynn and the rest of that crew deserve a tip of the cap. 4 wins this season and that final round run yesterday was a back breaker.

I can certainly agree with you on that.

 

[Butch]

It seems to me that it takes a couple yrs. of the AJ influence to fade away.
Myself I'm hoping it starts to show soon for the Kalitta camp

 

[qualified17th]

How come some tracks have four qualifying sessions and others only three?

Struggling to get the rhyme and reason behind which tracks get 4 sessions myself. The 4 wide races had 4, 1 run in each lane, that made sense. Norwalk usually has some of the bigger fields of the year, so giving everyone an extra chance to get in the show sounds right. But what's the reason behind giving Denver of all places 4 runs over all the others that got 3?

And on Charlotte Motor Speedway's website where you buy tickets for the Carolina Nationals in September, it says for Friday "Catch the first two rounds of nitro fueled qualifying". May just be an error, or maybe they decided to give the 2 wide Charlotte race 4 rounds for one reason or another

 

[Nunz]

Somebody has to light this place up....However, that wasn't the point I was trying to make. There tends to be a narrative that one can just connect the dots if a certain prior crew chief has been involved. It's just not that simple folks. Mike Salina, Rob Flynn and the rest of that crew deserve a tip of the cap. 4 wins this season and that final round run yesterday was a back breaker.

Agreed! I almost left out my disclaimer which would have gotten things stirred a bit, lol. I've said all along, as you always do as well Tony, throwing money at these things is only part of the equation. Buying the best tuner, parts, crew, etc. never guarantees success. BTW, during the race it was mentioned TJ has the car at DSR for a freshen up. Any idea which events you'll hit? Indy?

 

[Chili]

Struggling to get the rhyme and reason behind which tracks get 4 sessions myself. The 4 wide races had 4, 1 run in each lane, that made sense. Norwalk usually has some of the bigger fields of the year, so giving everyone an extra chance to get in the show sounds right. But what's the reason behind giving Denver of all places 4 runs over all the others that got 3?

And on Charlotte Motor Speedway's website where you buy tickets for the Carolina Nationals in September, it says for Friday "Catch the first two rounds of nitro fueled qualifying". May just be an error, or maybe they decided to give the 2 wide Charlotte race 4 rounds for one reason or another

For the four wide, as you mentioned, it was obvious. They even gave the Alky and Pro Mods four shots. I do believe the tracks had a say on how many seasions they get. Both the Bader and Bandimere families are old school promoters and want to give the fans what they want. Bandimere even gives the fans two 8pm pro sessions. Dallas should be another track with four sessions.

 

[qualified17th]

For the four wide, as you mentioned, it was obvious. They even gave the Alky and Pro Mods four shots. I do believe the tracks had a say on how many seasions they get. Both the Bader and Bandimere families are old school promoters and want to give the fans what they want. Bandimere even gives the fans two 8pm pro sessions. Dallas should be another track with four sessions.

If it were that simple, seems like if all the track owners were given the choice between 1 Friday session or 2, every one of them would have 2

 

[ZWeinstein]

It seems to me that it takes a couple yrs. of the AJ influence to fade away.
Myself I'm hoping it starts to show soon for the Kalitta camp

Remember, Steve Torrence had Alan for a year or two. I would say the Capco boys have not faded away.

 

[T.Smith]

Agreed! I almost left out my disclaimer which would have gotten things stirred a bit, lol. I've said all along, as you always do as well Tony, throwing money at these things is only part of the equation. Buying the best tuner, parts, crew, etc. never guarantees success. BTW, during the race it was mentioned TJ has the car at DSR for a freshen up. Any idea which events you'll hit? Indy?

We are changing over to a DSR chassis and making some other hardware upgrades. Right now it's looking like the end of the season or early 2023 when we hit the track again.

 

[mikebcurve]

It sure was good seeing Luigi Novelli looking so healthy in the pits after what he went through last year.

 

[Butch]

Remember, Steve Torrence had Alan for a year or two. I would say the Capco boys have not faded away.

And he's not dominating like he was the last couple yrs.

 

[J. S.]

And he's not dominating like he was the last couple yrs.

But there was an Interview with Steve earlier in the year where I recall he said they decided to try some new things the first part of the season and potentially sacrifice early season results in order to possibly be in better shape for the Countdown. We've seen that Countdown positioning is not that critical to winning the Championship as long the performance is there during the Countdown. These guys are not likely to go anywhere. They haven't forgotten how to win races.

I do wonder what's up with AJ over at the Kalitta camp, though. Maybe he has lost a little of his magic?

 

[MM]

I love this thread. AJ has gone to Kalitta and lost his magic, but Salinas is winning races because they just plug and play with AJ's "tuneup" (I'm curious what some of you think that word represents) and Torrence is struggling because AJ has been gone too long. This is magical.

 

[mikebcurve]

I think people read way too much into comments around here. I’ve mentioned the Alan Johnson effect on the Torrence team only to be berated because I didn’t mention the Laganas and Richard Hogan. My point was Johnson seemed to give them consistency. They were making monster runs before but seemingly more consistent after. Just because you are on the “inside” doesn’t mean you have to correct everything in the world you don’t agree with. Good luck getting anything else done!