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
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 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
Sammy Swindell has never shied away from a stage with thousands of eyes watching. Especially when it’s one of the biggest stages in motorsports: Bristol Motor Speedway. He put the thunder in “Thunder Valley” multiple times as a driver, but this weekend “Slammin’ Sammy” will be entertaining fans as the Grand Marshal of the World … Read more
One of the most anticipated events of the year is finally here. This weekend, after a 20-year absence, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is making its grand return to the iconic Bristol Motor Speedway. Transformed to a clay-filled colosseum, the 1/2-mile stadium offers up three intense, electrifying nights of The … 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
“Let’s never forget what happened September 11th. They’re trying to change our country but we’re not going to let them.” Two decades ago, in the rubble of the deadly airstrike on America, that quote could have been pinned on George W. Bush, U.S President for eight months by 9/11. Instead, that solemn promise came from … Read more
Ask any kid in a Quarter Midget where they dream to race. Most will answer Indianapolis or Daytona because 500-milers in those hallowed cathedrals are America’s most famous, most prestigious, most lucrative events. To win either is to be immortal. To win both is to be A.J Foyt or Mario Andretti. Foyt and Mario rose … Read more
Outlaws built the Chili Bowl. Sure it was Emmett Hahn’s brilliant idea to create the world’s greatest indoor track but he required Outlaws to fill his hometown oil expo. Hahn had no business with Sammy Swindell or Doug Wolfgang prior to the first Chili Bowl Midget Nationals but Lanny Edwards did. Lanny and Beverly Edwards … Read more
