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

      Suppose in 1978, a former midget racer from Wisconsin named Ted Johnson had taken a different career path. If Ted had decided on a career as an insurance saleman, for example. Without the World of Outlaws changing everything in 1978, where would sprint car racing be today?

Great question.   Would we just have a bunch of regional series like the All-Stars?  I'm leaning that way-----with a series of "Nationals" all over the country.  

     Could be. I know in the 70's a lot of tracks were working the "Nationals" angle. If that continued, I suppose there might have been a lot of racers who continued to run an "outlaw" schedule.

     First time I saw Rick Ferkel race was at the 1978 Black Hills Speedway Nationals.

I too remember a lot of "Nationals" which were at the least big regional races.  In addtion to Knoxville, there was the Pacific Coast Nationals at Ascot, the Western World at Manzanita, and I think a Winternationals at Devils bowl.  Oh yeah, the National Open of course.  What others am I forgetting?   Not a complaint by any means, but I'm old so I remember before the interwebs and when NSSN came weekly in the mail, it was fun just seeing who showed up for a big race. 

Both Eldora and Sharon Speedways had "National" events.

From the original question, the logical extension is how would the erasing of the WoO from history have affected USAC?  At the time they were the premier sanctioning body in the country.  Would they still hold that position today?  Would wings on sprint cars have even gained the popularity that they did, thanks in part to the WoO mandating them in their 2nd or 3rd season?

Signature here.

Wings were popular well before '78.  Gordon Joncock won the first Grove national open in a winged car in '63. If a track had a race that allowed wings, you needed to have one.  Some people claimed winged racing is safer, so promoters and racers jumped into the winged thing. Wings were going to become more popular without Ted and the WoO.

     Wasn't there also a Jayhawk Nationals pre-WoO? 

     Knoxville had one too! And you usually had to wait unti NSSN or The Hawkeye Racing news came in order to find out who won.

      Good point. Something I've never quite understood about the WoO legend is how it is portayed that the big, bad, outlaw guys like Jan Opperman were too wild to race with straight-laced USAC, but he did race USAC, and won.

     Absent the forming of the WoO,  I think wings were going to become more popular in spite of USAC. The streak of drivers getting killed at non-WoO races is what pushed the issue.

Pre and Post 1978

I Crew Cheifed, Jimmy Sills at the 1983 Jayhawk nationals. And we won! That year it was unsantioned, and we was  on our way, to Knoxville for the Nationals. We had ran second at the Eldora nationals to Gary Lynch, That is back when it was a true Outlaw schedual. We raced 34 times and 45 days in July and August. Started that stretch off with Jack Hewitt in the car and Jimmy Sills finished and a mix of drivers in between. Jeff Swindell, Bill Baily, Max Dumsey, I think I missing one and maybe two.

Its a fun thing to think about for sure. As others have stated, the wings may have been coming one way or another so if a National series did not start in 1978, who knows how long before someone would have started up one. Not to mention, other series have tried to start up (although granted against the Outlaws which does add in another dynamic) but have not been successful.

My opinion on the matter is I don't think sprint car racing, specifically winged sprint car racing would be as big today it Ted Johnson did not start the World of Outlaws. It probably would exist but would probably be a fraction of the level it is today. The World of Outlaws have brought in people like myself to the sport because of the exposure they have given it. Without them, I do not think you would have seen a winged sprint car race on television to the scale that it was in the 90s. TNN broadcasted some races races and ESPN had shows such as RPM reported on them as well. They even had their yearly thrills & spills show that featured them. It was during this period of time that I was exposed to the sport & names like Kinser & Swindell. USAC had their Thursday Night Thunder show as well and ESPN showed a variety of midget races from what I remember as well. I am not sure if there would have been a person though that would have been able to get this form of motorsport the exposure that Ted was able to get for it.

I would imagine that if someone saw an opportunity to make some money there would be something similar but the name Outlaws might not have been used.  At the time the WoO started Wylon and Willie were at the height of their popularity and the Outlaw concept was popular.  If a series had not been created until the 80's, 90's or later it would likely have another name, hopefully NASCAR would not be involved.  They had a lot of interest for a while there before the economy tanked in 2008 so that could have happened if the WoO didn't already exist.  If Humpy had seen dollar signs he'd have been on it like a fly on shit.

Stan Meissner

Usac, had such a strangle hold over the drivers and owners. Usac would not let a driver race with in 24 hours of one of their shows. And at the time guys like Ferkle, Bobby Allen, Opperman, could make more money else where. Most people do not realize, but when the Outlaws first was formed. It was not going to be the way it is today.

They was calling any race that paid over $1500 was consider a outlaw show. After the the Devil Bowl show, Several racers went to Ted and he was willing to promote and sell the idea to the tracks. And what was a better slogan then outlaws. The tracks and Ted marketed this as if the were Bonnie and Clyde style of people. And they was going to storm into town and steal all the money.

USAC ran wings one (or 2?) years

Can't find anything quick on the Net, but there was an article about it in SC&M, as well as USAC book that came out last year

However, they really seem stuck on tradition

But I dig wingless cars on bullrings!!!!

     I recall the $1500 threshold being talked about when Ferkel was at the Black Hills Nationals in 1978. $1500 in 1978 is equal to about $6000 today.