It was their last year without wings. Four decades ago, the 1981 World of Outlaws season was 102 days and nights on 45 plots of dirt in 20 North American states and provinces. It was the first to crown a champion other than Steve Kinser. To dethrone “The King” after three years demanded diversity from … Read more
It is the Yankee Stadium or Soldier Field of Sprint Car Racing. To step into the 82-year-old Williams Grove Speedway is to step back in time. Anyone with any sense of history can feel the ghosts, aura and spirit of its early warriors. And as dirt ovals go, The Grove is as quirky as Fenway … Read more
It was Eldora Speedway’s first multi-night Sprint Car festival. It began six years before the Kings Royal and 17 seasons ahead of the Historical Big One. It was the Eldora Nationals and like everything by Earl Baltes, it was a big deal in 1978. Eldora had staged a trial run in 1976 when the first … Read more
Cedar Lake Speedway staged the greatest race that I ever saw. It was one manic Monday conclusion to the World of Outlaws visit of 1988. To read headlines, Cedar Lake looked like another case of Steve Kinser stomping everyone in the dust, something he did 27 times that season. But it was so much more. … Read more
The World of Outlaws has long served the bold. It needs drivers bold enough to aim at concrete walls without lifting. It requires mechanics willing to sacrifice time with family to barnstorm car washes and truck stops. And promoters bold enough to challenge Mother Nature every weekend. Then there are car owners, the sport’s most … Read more
Dave Blaney is 58 years young. He spent his first 35 years as a resident of Hartford, OH and the last 23 in High Point, NC. He’s been married to Lisa for 32 years and the couple are parents to Emma, Erin and Ryan Blaney, who signed a NASCAR contract with Roger Penske at age … Read more
They came from South Florida and West Texas. They established Central Pennsylvania as a professional honey pot, raided Ohio often and placed all of America behind the curve on Sprint Car technology. They launched the All Star Circuit of Champions in 1970 then pestered a Wisconsin salesman to start the World of Outlaws in 1978. … Read more
The World of Outlaws stamped it as “The World’s Fastest Dirt Track”. The rake was too steep to scale on foot. Water trucks would have toppled so the surface was sprayed from below. Chutes stood longer than a horseman’s half at 0.54 mile to enable heavy boots to carry corner speed greater than any marquee … Read more
“Dirt is for racing. Asphalt is for getting there.” A witty slogan to some but religion to others. Scour the Eldora camps and it may be a tattoo. Dirt is the Earth’s first surface obviously. When chariots conducted the original oval race, no gladiator pitted for fresh tires. Science created asphalt as “a thick, sticky, … Read more
April Fools’ Day is no holiday. No child is excused from school. No mail carriers hit the golf course. Auto racing does not circle the date as part of a three-day weekend. April Fools’ Day is basically a 24-hour moratorium on lying. The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series has raced nine … Read more
