Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I don't think Sammy was beating everybody else because he had a nicer hauler. I'm not sure what rabbit hole you're trying to go down, but you may have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

There's been a few in dirt racing Danny Peace and Kenny Weld come to mind. The Batmobile modified Kenny brought to Syracuse was rumored to be financedby drug money considering both the builder Weld and driver Gary Balough both went to prison for drug distribution.

Do you remember Sammy's haulers pulling into the pits?  There was a lot of money there relative to everyone else hitting the track.  If this is the case, no one today is outspending anyone else either---which we know is not true.  (though almost all of them have access to, and buy much of the same equipment these days, the budgets are not equal today, just like they weren't yesterday)

That was no rumor. LOL Gary Balough's book is a fabulous read, if you have not done so yet.

I grew up around Northeast big block Modifieds, but I think the Weld/Balough Batmobile has to be the most famous dirt track car ever built. It ran one race, and the Northeast Modifieds never saw anything like coming. The DIRT rulebook at the time had numerous rules for minimum sizes, but nothing for maximum size because the thinking was why anyone ever want to build something large.

The full race from Super DIRT Week 1980 may still be on YouTube. Balough exited the car after the dominating win and was greeted by overwhelming boos. Victory Lane inteviewer Jack Burgess told Balough that it sounded like he had some fans up in the stands, and Balough's response was "I love it. Keep booing."

Kenny Weld's Victory Lane interview was great as well. "This has been happening to me all my life. I build something that is legal according to the rulebook, and they ban because it is too fast."

I was there that day also, that car changed modified racing forever. Let's not forget Billie Harvey and Pee Wee Griffin 's roles in all that stuff .

I di not realize you attended Super DIRT Week 1980. I am kind of surprised by how much Balough's image has improved in recent years and how he has been openly welcomed back into the racing community. He did a ton of appearances and autograph signings when his book came out and he loves to talk about the Batmobile.

He wrote in his book that the two things will get you dead in the smuggling business are snitching and stealing. He wrote that he is alive today because he never snitched and he never stole.

I did hear an interview a few years ago in which Balough still gets angry, even 40 years after the fact, when asked about Mario Rossi and what he knows about his disappearance. I talked to Balough briefly at Orange County (N.Y)'s Eastern States 200 a few years ago, and he was very friendly. Of course, I only talked to him about Syracuse 1980. 

I was there 77 to 81. Hell they were booing Balough long before 80 lol. The whole story on that car will always be legendary not only Kenny and Gary but guys like Don Brown who did the body to Pete Hamilton. But also that year the northeast found out that Steve was gonna be King Kinser.

I disagree with your take on this. Karl and Sammy weren't outspending the competition to win. They were out-engineering them and out-thinking them.

I don't think Sammy was beating everybody else because he had a nicer hauler. I'm not sure what rabbit hole you're trying to go down, but you may have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Holy crap, I know that!  I was responding to someone calling out the fact that costs have skyrocketed compared to the days of an open trailer.  Guys like Sammy were always one step ahead with their haulers, etc.  I know he wasn't beating everyone "because" of his nice hauler.  He had a nice hauler because he had money behind him---much more money than the majority of the field.  No he didn't win "because" of it.  Yes, there were guys back then that drove up the costs just like today.  Costs are relative.  

When Cappy hosted the 1200# Nationals was the beginning of trying to even the playing field. That was with out driver and eventually became 1425# with driver and quicker to weigh and the guys like Haud and other lighter drivers to make it more equal. Before power steering took a ittle tougher guy. OPM is the best way. More than one operation has been financed under questionable circumstances. I wont name any but there have been  few that were flying high until they got caught. Now there are many full time paid drivers. Doug Wolfgang worked for Bob Trostle when He first got going. There are a few that have never worked and seem to keep going. 

Whats "OPM"?

Other Peoples Money!

Did you watch when the WOO was on TNN in the late 90s?  I remember the first race of one year where they talked about the big offseason trend was weight savings.  If I remember correctly the three cars they featured talking about weight savings were the #1, #5m and #11, things like carbon fiber rotors which cost $1,000 vs $80, titanium bolt kits for their cars which cost about $800 vs $50.  Those are the biggest weight savings things I can remember.  So, yeah, they were outspending the competition.  Often throughout the years, I've rolled my eyes whenever I've heard Sammy Swindell or Steve or Karl Kinser talk about how expensive the sport got because, in my eyes, yeah they're right but they're responsible for it.  However, if they hadn't started it, I'm sure somebody else would have.  But I don't think there was too many races where these guys pulled into and somebody had them beat because another team had outspent them.

I really think that the lightening of the cars probably started a decade or two before the late 90's, with Wolfgang and Trostle figuring it out first.

If it was becoming a big issue by the late 90's, I give most of the blame to the WoO and Ol' Uncle Ted. He had the opportunity to institute rules like a minimum weight rule as far back as 1978, but didn't. Granted, he was trying make it as close to run-what-you-brung series as possible, but I feel he was short-sighted. 

In the 90's, I can tell you first hand of a couple examples of drivers choosing less weight over more protection. 

One of the top drivers called and asked me if I was going to the Tri City WoO and I said yes, and he said to bring him a couple sets of nerf bars. I said no problem. Got to the track and he said "I don't use those, they weigh too much I use the shorties." (which offered hardly any protection, IMO, but I caught up with him at the next race with the ones he wanted)

Another was at Eldora and I was pumping our new chassis safety kit, which helped keep objects from entering the driver cockpit on the left side. I went up to one of the top drivers and showed it to him and he thought it was an awesome idea. Then I said: "Well, I brought this one for you, it's all yours. (He was holding it at the time) And he said: "Oh, no, I don't want one (as he's weighing it in his hands) as it weighs about 4#."

So he handed it back to me...and shortly after that, the same driver took a tire in the cockpit on the driver side in a crash and was sidelined for a while from an arm or shoulder injury.

I guess that's one of the many reasons they're called the outlaws.

Wasn't it Karl Kinser that built an aluminum frame?

I remember he had built a lightweight car back in the 70's that Dick Gaines drove, but I don't know the particulars.

Wasn't it Karl Kinser that built an aluminum frame?