\u201cBut you also need everything to go right on the night. It\u2019s a single-night deal, one race final, you don\u2019t get a second chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
One night, no safety net<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Sprintcar Championship format is unforgiving: Five qualifying heats determine grid positions for a single final.<\/p>\n
There are no averages, no carry-overs, no redemption races.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to be at the front in every heat. Score as many points as you can,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
He finished level on points with American visitor Joey Myers Jr, but a faster time-trial lap earned Thomas first choice on the front row.<\/p>\n
He chose the outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith sprintcars it\u2019s all about momentum. The faster you go, the more the wings work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more wind speed you get on them, the harder they push into the track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas ended up launching cleanly and stayed in front for 25 laps to win the title.<\/p>\n
Why slow is worse<\/p>\n
Sprintcars punish hesitation – driving them gently rarely produces control.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe slower you go, the worse they are to drive,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like Formula One. If you\u2019re not driving them at their maximum potential, they won\u2019t turn or handle properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite commanding machinery producing close to 900 horsepower, Thomas races with a very low margin of error, something rarely seen at this level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably drive [the car] at 90 per cent [capacity, just below its maximum],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Daniel Thomas in the 900 horsepower sprintcar.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can always push to 110 or 120, but that\u2019s when you stop finishing races.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday night doubts<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes, the championship was nearly lost before it was won.<\/p>\n
Friday night produced points, but not confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car was on top of the track,\u201d said car owner Jason McIndoe.<\/p>\n
\u201cRPMs weren\u2019t controllable, temperatures were higher than we like. Something wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came an unexpected lifeline: hot laps on Saturday night, a rarity for New Zealand title meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a free session for us,\u201d McIndoe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we took the new rear shocks off and put the tried-and-true ones back on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was watching from the infield. Daniel went P3 in hot laps. I could see straight away the car was back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back on track<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the car\u2019s right, everything gets easier,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think about where you want to go and the car actually does it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Until then, Thomas admits he had been questioning himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it might\u2019ve been me. I hadn\u2019t driven Cromwell much. The last thing I ever want to do is blame the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sprintcar Thomas drives is effectively identical to those racing in the United States and Australia: massive wings, no clutch, enormous power.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost guys are 860 to 900 horsepower, some are over 920,\u201d McIndoe said.<\/p>\n
Every component is imported. Every meeting is expensive.<\/p>\n
Retirement?<\/p>\n
Thomas balances racing with work and family, including raising twins, while MacIndoe runs a large Hamilton-based business.<\/p>\n
Racing fits around their life, not the other way around.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur families have really come together. We\u2019re enjoying it … and the results are showing,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
Originally, McIndoe had planned to retire after last weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the idea. But now there\u2019s a number one on the car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The only one retiring now is the championship-winning engine.<\/p>\n
Another motor goes in this weekend as Waikaraka Park awaits – the North Island Championship is only weeks away.<\/p>\n
And next season, the New Zealand title returns to Baypark, the team\u2019s favourite circuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a very good handle on that place,\u201d McIndoe said.<\/p>\n
Graeme \u201cMintie\u201d Mead is a sports commentator, the host of the radio show Waikato All Sports Breakfast and a Newstalk ZB overnight host. He is also a Hamilton City Councillor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cBut you also need everything to go right on the night. It\u2019s a single-night deal, one race final,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18239,10808,18829,8609,17438,6288,13631,117,111,139,69,20296,8205,37525,213,142085,113,18457,6202,80],"class_list":["post-241707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-championship","tag-crown","tag-daniel","tag-double","tag-easy","tag-hamilton","tag-never","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-racer","tag-rare","tag-speedway","tag-sports","tag-sprintcar","tag-thomas","tag-winning","tag-wins","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}