Longhorn Factory Team Struggles

[EvelB7]

Another reason is no one in the Longhorn building has a %%%%ing clue how to make a Racecar fast. Rumley designed a great car in 2015, and they’ve been basically producing the same exact car since. A lot of the top runners, Pierce, rtj, Davenport, etc have dialed them in to their driving style. But every experimental longhorn they’ve made has been slower. Steve arpin couldn’t design or fabricate a bracket much less a faster Racecar.. only thing he’s good at is hitting the “increase price” button and sneaking into the corner of victory lane pics

Now that is funny. Arpin's job is to hire the people to build successful race cars, doesn't need to know how to make them fast. I will agree not much has really changed on the cars, but by the same token no one else has come along and produced a better widget. As for the price increase, price is set by the demand in the market. Would I like to see everything cheaper, yes; is it Longhorn's fault that so many people want cars they can demand a premium price-yes it is (by being successful). It's their 'day in the sun', they realize it will not be forever and are making the most of it. Time for someone else to build a better mousetrap and put Longhorn back to work.

[jog49]

Longhorns have always been reasonably fast. Justin Labonte, I think, was the first test dummy and when he actually learned to drive on dirt, he was fast.

[KTMLew]

It's NASCAR's fault. They put bunch of people out-of-work. Those guys found work building dirt cars. Go toilet paper the Frances house.

[Josh Bayko]

Longhorns have always been reasonably fast. Justin Labonte, I think, was the first test dummy and when he actually learned to drive on dirt, he was fast.

The very early Longhorns were overly complicated and not particularly fast. It wasn’t till the Rumley’s got one and started tweaking it did they really find speed.

[EvelB7]

The very early Longhorns were overly complicated and not particularly fast. It wasn’t till the Rumley’s got one and started tweaking it did they really find speed.

Very true, Bobby Labonte told me he remembers when Justin called Terry and told him he sold three cars- he said 'what, over the last several months?' and Justin replied 'no, today!'.

[84wedge]

Did anyone notice the autograph scenes they showed over and over last night with Overton refusing to sign that kids helmet?

[AJMcCool]

Longhorns have always been reasonably fast. Justin Labonte, I think, was the first test dummy and when he actually learned to drive on dirt, he was fast.

That’s not even remotely close to true

[Morgs153]

"It's NASCAR's fault. They put bunch of people out-of-work. Those guys found work building dirt cars."

KTMLew, you're onto something. It isn't only in dirt car racing. It has trickled down to all kinds of pavement and other regional racing. A bunch of engineer and fabricator trained people did get moved out of NASCAR teams when they went to cookie cutter cars and were able to downsize their major operations. Engineering is engineering and physics is physics and having the people who understand that as it applies to racing technology can be a benefit, especially if it is in the neighborhood of someplace like Mooresville NC.

For people who think WoO and Lucas are getting substandard car counts, go look at what the ASA Stars national tour gets for their premier races.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

"It's NASCAR's fault. They put bunch of people out-of-work. Those guys found work building dirt cars."

KTMLew, you're onto something. It isn't only in dirt car racing. It has trickled down to all kinds of pavement and other regional racing. A bunch of engineer and fabricator trained people did get moved out of NASCAR teams when they went to cookie cutter cars and were able to downsize their major operations. Engineering is engineering and physics is physics and having the people who understand that as it applies to racing technology can be a benefit, especially if it is in the neighborhood of someplace like Mooresville NC.

For people who think WoO and Lucas are getting substandard car counts, go look at what the ASA Stars national tour gets for their premier races.

I grew up in a town of 700 people and there were 10 late models. I'm not sure ASA is much of a comparison.

[Morgs153]

WoO and Lucas are the national tours of dirt racing, ASA Stars is the national tour of pavement super late model racing. They are only getting around 20 cars for some of their premier racing dates. It's the costs. Across the board it's the costs. More high end engineering just adds to the costs. That was the point of the comparison.

[84wedge]

Don't those pavement tours only have the touring cars in the races though? If dirt did the same thing you'd have 10 cars at every race.

[Henry Every]

The very early Longhorns were overly complicated and not particularly fast. It wasn’t till the Rumley’s got one and started tweaking it did they really find speed.

Rumley redesigned the entire car, the jigs and the manufacturing process... I think that is a bit more than a tweak. They literally trashed everything from the original car, no carry over.

[dirthawk]

I like Overton, but he has not been the same since the Eldora wreck. Has not done great with the NLMT tires either.

[Highside Hustler25]

Who will be in this ride next year? Surely they will be making a change.

[Pennsboro32]

I don’t think the performance is all Overton. He’s good but I also don’t think he’ll be in that ride next season. But we talked about this last night around a campfire after the race, some interesting names popped up.