Monday, July 30, 2012

Classic Modifieds at Slinger in The Dirt Days

The two tiny pictures below are mine and I took them way back when Slinger Wisconsin Speedway was still a flat ¼ mile dirt. Since the mid 1970s Slinger has been a well known super high banked ¼ mile asphalt. The recent version of the Slinger Nationals saw Matt Kenseth beating Kyle Busch and Ross Kenseth.

I apologize for the tiny size of those two images, but these digital files are all that remain from the original b&w prints/negatives and the original digital copy.

In its hay day, this style of mod had 13 tracks in the northern Illinois (1 track) Upper Peninsula of MI (2 tracks), and Wisconsin’s 10 tracks. All 13 were quarter miles with 3 asphalt and ten being dirt. The Milwaukee Stock Car Club at one time raced six nights a week, and they raced five for many years. Mondays were the only night that race tracks were dark in Wisconsin. Eventually several of these tracks switched to late model stock cars, while at others the modifeds morphed into roofless and winged super modifieds. Those “supers” usually became sprint cars in due time.

The first driver below is the legendary Billy “The Cat” Johnson. This was the first year that local mod tracks allowed the roof to be removed from their cars. I think it ruins the class of the car as can be witnessed by the second image of Wally Jorsmodifieds and 100 sportsman ( low buck stock car) on any given Saturday night.




Names (not official names) of those early mod tracks. They are dirt unless noted asphalt.

Waugegan, Illinois Speedway (now gone)

Wilmot Speedway, Kenosha, county, WI (now a 1/3rd mile sprint car track.)

Lake Geneva Raceway, WI asphalt (now gone)

Hales Corners Speedway, WI (now gone)

WI State Fair Park, WI ( now gone but this was a ¼ mile dirt inside the Milwaukee Mile)

Capital Speedway asphalt, WI( changed a long time ago to a ½ mile banked with late models )

Cedarburg Speedway, WI (now gone)

Slinger Speedway, WI ( now asphalt high banked ¼ mile with late models)

Beaver Dam Raceway, WI ( now a high banked 1/3rd mile racing sprints, midgets and IMCA mods)

141 Raceway, WI asphalt ( I believe this track is now dirt and racing stock cars)

Plymouth Raceway, WI ( now 1/3rd mile racing sprint cars)

Norway, Michigan ( now a 1/3rd mile asphalt with late models)

Escanaba, MI ( now a 1/3rd mile asphalt with late models)

There was also (14th track) Hayden, Ontario Canada. A ¼ mile dirt a short way from the U.S. border. I have no idea if this track still exists.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

All About The NASCAR Modified

Neither the article below (by Paula Thompson), or any of today’s photos came from The Outsider Blog (me).

The eastern U.S. asphalt modified, often called the NASCAR Modified due to its many years of sanction, is without a doubt one of the most exciting race cars in the world. It has also proven to be one of the most dangerous. I was never fortunate enough to photograph an eastern asphalt modified race, although I have made pictures of many, many different kinds of modifieds. I have however, spectated these cars at New Smyrna Beach, FL on multiple occasions. I have seen many greats including one of the very best, Richie Evans. Enjoy the article and photos.

The history of NASCAR modified racingBy
Paula Thompson, Yahoo! Contributor NetworkMonday, Jun 6, 2011

When I was growing up, part of the local racing scene in Western New York revolved around Modified race cars - an open-wheel car based on a tubular chassis, fabricated from sheet metal and featuring exposed front suspension. Most popular in the northeast and southeast United States, Modified racing is part of the roots of the early days of NASCAR - in fact, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is the oldest NASCAR touring division, formed at NASCAR's creation in December 1947.

The first NASCAR Modified race took place on February 15th, 1948 on the Daytona beach course. The first race winner,Red Byron, went on to win NASCAR's first sanctioned championship that year, and the following year he became the first NASCAR Strictly Stock champ - the predecessor to the Sprint Cup Series. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the title drivers were competing for was the National Modified Championship, with points earned not only in national championship races but also running weekly races at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks - it was not uncommon for drivers in the title hunt to run at least five nights a week, and often on dirt and asphalt tracks. The points system changed in 1984, focusing on a limited schedule of national races.

Richie Evans, a nine-time champ in the Modified ranks, won the very first title under the new points system posthumously: he actually clinched the title one week prior to his death in a practice accident at Martinsville Speedway on October 24th, 1985. The death of one of Modified racing's top ambassadors was unfortunately just the first of a number of deaths in the Modified ranks: in 1987 Charlie Jarzombek and Corky Cookman were both killed, followed by Tommy Druar and Don Pratt in 1989 and Tony Jankowiak - Druar's brother-in-law - in 1990. Safety modifications were made: straight frame rails were eliminated and new chassis were devised to take the impact off the driver in a hard hit. In 2004, Tommy Baldwin Sr., father of Sprint Cup team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr., was killed, leading to the implementation of the HANS device in the series, as well as left-side headrests; John Blewett III's death in 2007 led to the shortening of rear bumpers.

In 2003, NASCAR named Evans the top Modified driver of all time; five years earlier, he was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers of All Time. Other drivers of note who graduated from the Modified ranks include brothers Geoff and Brett Bodine, Jimmy Spencer, Mike McLaughlin and Steve Park. Six-time Modified champ Jerry Cook is currently the Administrative Director for NASCAR, and crew chief Greg Zipadelli made his way up NASCAR's ladder through the Modified ranks, as did Ray Evernham.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

From the HowStuffWorks website  1948 Fonty Flock

From Google Photos   #16 Bill Snowden  #22 Red Byron   #17 Swayne Pritchett

From Google Photos...#2 Gordon Mangum...#00 Buck Baker

From Phil Smith's..Looking Back   The legendary Ray Hendricks in 1969

From The Legends of NASCAR...the greatest of them all, Richie Evans in the late 1970s or early 1980s.


From Google Photos   Coming at ya  2000s

From Branch Motor Sports 2012 Jan Leaty


Thank You

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Thunder In The Night

I have writen before on this blog about the shear joy of night racing. Night time car action goes back to the first lights that were added to ½-1 mile horse tracks. Horse tracks were where most early oval track racing took place. Eventually it was NASCAR who took night racing away from the local short track and made it mainstream.

There have been NASCAR night races almost since the beginning, but when they “electrified” the 1½ mile Charlotte Motor Speedway, racing under the lights took on a whole new meaning. Soon many super speedways including Daytona had night racing. Not long after that the IRL (now Indy Car) and Champ Car (also known as CART) even took to screaming through the night. I witnessed (and photographed) a Champ Car race the Milwaukee Mile under the lights. This was when these cars were wide open as far as horsepower and chassis was concerned. Averaging over 180 mph on a flat mile under the lights was exciting.

Like many race fans my first car racing experiences took place when my parents took me to the local short tracks. ¼ to ½ mile dirt and asphalt tracks with modifieds, midgets and stock cars, all in the night time was an exciting way to view racing. Often the lighting was so bad that there were dark spots around the track. The cars would litterally disappear and reappear at different parts of the track.

In 1963 my parents took me to my first afternoon race. It was a 250 mile USAC Stock Car race at the Milwaukee Mile. I couldn’t sleep for days. Imagine, A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, Roger Ward, Norm Nelson, Don White, Curtis Turner, Paul Goldsmith and more. When the cars took to the track for their first practice it was like any weekly short track practice. They all begin in the daytime. When the race itself began I was initially disappointed. I was used to the feature race beginning under the lights. The cars seemed too slow in the daytime. 250 miles is a long ways, and by the time the race concluded I was used to the daytime action

In the mid 1980s I took my girl friend to a race. It was an ARTGO Late Model race with practice, qualifying, heat races, semi mains, and a 100 lap feature. The practice and qualifying took place in the daytime. It slowly got dark as they moved through the heats and of course by the time we got to that 100 lap feature the lights had long been turned on and the sky had become black. My friend began asking, how come they are going so much faster now? I explained that they are not faster and because the track had gotten slicker they were probably going slower. I further explained that it was an optical illusion. A beautiful one. As they raced under the lights everything seemed to happen faster, and the race itself actually became a little confusing. I mean that it a good way. The lights would sparkle off the cars. It was like a thunder and lightning storm.

I started serious racing photography in 1971. My first race was a night race but I did my share (several hundred) over the years in the day and in the night. Day racing is easier as you had no need for electronic flash equipment, and battery packs etc. to provide your own light. Still it was always exciting to stand in a turn, oh so close to the cars, with no barriers, and attempt to do your job in the middle of all that speed and confusion. I sometimes wonder how any of us survived.

Let’s celebrate some night racing with three images that I have not shown before. We have a midget, a late model, and a sprint car.






Thank you

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Truly The Greatest

In a previous post I showed two 1961 USAC Sprint Car photos (not mine) with AJ Foyt and Parnelli Jones competing in both. The nature of the tracks and the cars make them almost too scary to look at, if you understand racing. Below is a mid 1960s (1965?) photo that I borrowed from WoO Sprint Car chauffeur Joey Saldana’s Twitter post. I don’t know who took the photo. It shows a Championship Dirt Car (Silvercrown). Mario Andretti is in the lead (#2) car, and Parnelli Jones is in the #98 car. The saying on the photo originated with Mario. These cars only raced on 1 mile dirt tracks at that time. I believe this track is the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indy, or possibly the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. I photographed “dirt car” races at these venues in the mid 1980s. The cars had cages on them when I photographed those races.

I wonder how many young people that will view this picture understand how dangerous this is. It would not be permitted to happen today. An upright car with narrow tires. A small roll bar in back but no cage of any sort. No full face helmet. Just a pair of plastic goggles and a piece of cloth to keep the dirt out of their mouths. A stone on a dirt track has killed more than one racer in these earlier days. One ambulance with a non-medically trained crew. No helicopters for transport. No specialty hospitals. The drivers of the 1960s and before were amazing.

Another point about the racing you see in this picture is that these are Indy Cars. I mean the USAC circuit had rear engine Indy Cars that raced on paved ovals and road courses, and upright cars like this that raced on dirt tracks. The same series and the same points. The cars you see were legal on paved tracks (including road courses) and the rear engine cars were legal on dirt. I remember Bay Darnell racing a rear engine car on the mile dirt in Springfield. To this day Mario Andretti holds one particular USAC Indy Car championship above all his other championships. He won that title in rear engine cars on paved ovals and road courses, and won on dirt in the car you see below.

I have always proclaimed that the Indy Car Drivers of the 1950s-1970s were the greatest race drivers ever. They almost all came up through midgets and sprints and raced dirt and asphalt. They all drove stock cars many to championships. Foyt and Andretti won the Daytona 500. They all road raced. Jones was a road racing superstar. Foyt (with Dan Gurney) won the 24 Hours of LeMans. Andretti won CanAm races, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the World Driving Championship in Formula One. None of this was unusual for this group of drivers. Members of the group also won the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti and so on. Drag races, Andretti. The Bonneville Salt Flats, Andretti. Off road racing, Jones, A. Unser and others. Unlimited Hydroplanes, and Air Racing, Johnny Rutherford . There were many stock car, sprint car, and midget championships among this group.

I am not saying that stock car racing’s Richard Petty or David Pearson or F1’s Jimmy Clark or Jackie Stewart were not great. Only that you have to show the versatility of those Indy Cars guys to have been best. You have to show the courage to possibly fail and fall flat on your face. They took every challenge, and more often than not, they turned it into victory.

Truly the greatest ever

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

A Few Classics

The photos below are all mine but they are definitely not what I mean when I say classics. Not my best pictures but worth viewing.

The first two images are some more from that classic race car group. These are neither the original race cars, or are they show cars. They are intentionally built copies of classic stock cars, that actually race with each other. I do not know who the actual drivers are.

The first is a 1964 Ford copy of a Junior Johnson owned and driven car. He is competing with Vaughn Gerke. Vaughn was a local short track driver and the car is a 1957 Chevy. It’s hard to be more classic than a 1957 Chevy. The second shot shows a copy of a 1965 Ford that was a Holman & Moody owned and Fred Lorenzen driven car. It is competing with the 1970 Plymouth Superbird piloted by Roger McLuskey/Norm Nelson.


It is odd but fun to watch a 57 Chevy, 64 and 65 Fords, and a70 Plymouth compete on the same track at the same time. Sort of like an old episode of the Twilight Zone.

The last (terrible) image is another of my shots from Colorado’s Englewood Speedway. It is again from 1974 and this division was known alternately as Modifieds, Fully Modifieds or Super Modifieds.  There were modern roadsters and even on occasions, rear engine cars competing here.

Enjoy and hope to see you again

Sunday, July 8, 2012

2nd Banana...or 3rd...or 4th

I have just posted some shots (all mine) below of those second or third divisions that make up weekly short track racing in America. The fields (and the entertainment) would be small if it were not for these weekend warriors that race for almost nothing. In some cases they actually do race for no compensation.

The Sports Truck, Sportsman and the one (yellow) full Late Model images have been shown before but the rest are new to The Outsider Blog.

Sport Trucks are a low budget form of racing based on NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series. They run with almost stock 4 cylinder motors and are essentially a truck version of a mini stock, which is another 2nd or 3rd banana division. 


As an aside, most people know about NASCAR’s trucks but did you know that the southern base All Pro Racing Series had a truck division in the late 1970s and early 80s? They were short track late models with truck bodies. Bobby Allison was among those who raced in that series.

There are divisions called Sportsman all over America. That term can almost mean anything. They can “almost” be full late models. They can be a limited modified or even a limited sprint car. The asphalt Sportsman you see below was designed for 1970s and 80s full sized cars. They have big motors although they are primarily stock. They were fast and put on a great show.


There are also divisions called Limited Late Models running at many tracks. The three cars you see below were actually from a Midwestern touring “limited” series called MARS. They have a more basic engine with a two barrel carb and a low cylinder compression ratio. . They tend to weigh a bit more than the regular late model, and use a bargain race tire. In some cases they have a more stock appearing body. Look at the three limited cars below and compare them with the sleek late model below them


.
Full late model
The term modified covers a lot of ground but most people know what is meant by IMCA Modified. It is a relatively low buck open wheel car that was first created and sanctioned by IMCA. They are often a second banana division to sprint cars or late models, but they are just as often the top division at any given track. They also run asphalt just like these other divisions can also be found on dirt.

The last division is a 2nd or 3rd or 4th banana division and the photo is a classic car from the past. In 1974 I was the track photographer at the now gone Englewood Speedway in Colorado. This is Darrell Smith after winning the Figure Eight feature. The car is a 1954 Ford. All of the cars in this division were 1953-1957 models. Despite those old cars this was a “balls to the walls” top notch 2nd banana division. It was in the category of The Speedrome in Indiana and Islip Speedway in Long Island, NY for top Figure Eight racing.  Please excuse the poor quality of this photo, but it is a copy of a faded, pitted and wrinkled print that is almost 40 years old.


The point to today’s article, in addition to sharing some pix that I have not previously shared, is to pay homage to those secondary divisions that fill out short track racing programs, and give us the bang for our buck. In many cases it is these racers, crews and families, who via the “back gate” money they pay, give a track the purse to pay the top division.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Sprint Car History

The story below came fromcrucean.com and was written by Gene Crucean. It looks at sprint car racing in its Indy Car past but does not truly take you into the modern era of sprints. There is still a lot of great info in this piece.
My own beginnings were in the mid 1960s when my parents took me to Terra Haute Indiana for the USAC twin 30s. Bobby Unser SR. beat Greg Weld in both races. Jim Hurubise was also present. At that time sprint cars not only did not have wings, they did not have cages. I also managed to witness and IMCA Sprint Car race at the Wausau, Wisconsin half mile dirt in that same era.

I began photographing sprints cars in 1972. I covered races sanctioned by USAC, IMCA, CRA (California Racing Association) , All-star Sprints, BCRA (Big Car Racing Association) Sprints, The World of Outlaws and MSA Sprints. I covered sprints at WilmotWoO race at Colorado National Speedway in the late 1970s. It was the WoOs second season and the race was run without wings. Bobby Unser Jr. and a 16 year old Al Unser Jr. both raced that night with their daddies watching from a Lincoln Continental that was sitting right behind my photography position in the turn. A teenage Steve Kinser won the feature after a great battle with Rick Ferkel and Doug Wolfgang. I covered sprint cars on asphalt and dirt.

The first group of images you see are historic gems and came from the crucean.com website. I believe they belong to Gene. They and others can be purchased at a reasonable price from his website.

I managed to find a few more sprint car shots from those last years of my racing photography in the mid 2,000s. You will find them at the bottom of this page with the first three coming from Wilmot, and the final two coming from Sun Prairie Wisconsin.

The History of Sprint Car Racing — Mission Impossible

By Gene Crucean

Some say the commotion started in the dirt … with thunder and lightning, bent iron … with sweat and blood, screams of pain … and with shattered beer bottles. As legend has it, sprint car racing was born on that day.

While this fable is ripe with color, it is not very convenient for historians who have debated the genesis of sprint car racing for many years. Midget racing, the sibling of sprint car racing, neatly traces its origin to a single day, June 4, 1933. That’s when the first organized midget race was held in Sacramento, California. Even though experiments with smaller engines in smaller chassis had been undertaken for years prior to 1933, midget racing came together in a professional and organized way on that date.

For sprint car researchers, however, the genesis conundrum remains unresolved. The difficult task is complicated by the subjective nature of the term itself. Does “sprint car” refer to a specific machine, separate and apart from the Indianapolis 500 and championship cars of the day? Or, does it define a shorter distance, all-out, racing format? Let’s look back.

Auto racing came to America on Thanksgiving Day, 1895. On that blustery fall day, Frank Duryea, driving a gasoline powered machine of his own design, defeated five competitors in a 54 mile road course event over the snow covered streets of Chicagoland. Those of us who occasionally travel those same congested streets today can conck racing had come of age. And, with the inaugural 500 mile “Decoration Day” event in Indianapolis in 1911, oval track racing had its own national centerpiece.

In those early 20th century years, the prestigious 283 mile Vanderbilt and Indianapolis 500 mile events were the center of the nation’s attention. But, racing at the grass roots level in America was continuing to proliferate steadily on horse racing tracks and county fair ovals. Regional competition, although generally informal and unorganized, was being contested over much shorter distances and on tracks much shorter than the 2.5 mile oval in Indianapolis. Gradually sprint car racing, without any specific identity albeit, was slowly beginning to take the shape and form that we see today. Simultaneously, the term sprint began to take on significance as a defining factor in the media of the day. Sprint races, unlike the longer distance Vanderbilt and Indianapolis 500 events, were short distance, all-out races that rarely, if ever, required pit stops for fuel, wheel repairs or driver changes. In an advertising poster for a 1922 AAA (American Automobile Association) race at the two-mile Cotati, California board track a “50 mile sprint event” was promoted in addition to its 100 mile “National Championship Event”. And, in a press release announcing its 1937 schedule, the Readville, Massachusetts dirt oval reported “all programs to be of the sprint variety”.

During the same time, the AAA began to crown a national championship titlist. The AAA was then the premier early day sanctioning organization, much like NASCAR is today. The AAA’s first driving champion was Dario Resta in 1916. Resta earned his title by accumulating points at races which were over 100 miles in distance and on tracks of at least a mile in length, including the Indianapolis 500. Thirteen years later Louie Meyer used the same point format to earn the 1929 driving championship. That same year, the AAA also designated its initial non-championship titlist, Mel Kenealy, who was crowned the Pacific Coast champion. The AAA’s use of the confusing term non-championship was used to differentiate Kenealy’s title from their top-tier or championship circuit title which Meyer had won the same year. Unlike Meyer’s title, however, Kenealy’s was earned mostly by winning points in sprint races on shorter tracks like that glitzy and glorious five-eights mile oval near Los Angeles, California, the American Legion (Ascot) Speedway. He also earned points in races at other regional venues such as San Jose, Fresno and Banning in California and at Phoenix, Arizona. Although Fresno and Phoenix were one mile ovals, all of Kenealy’s point-paying races in 1929 were of distances shorter than the 100 miles generally required by AAA for their championship division. The important distinction here is that while Meyer won the AAA’s championship title, Kenealy won the non-championship crown. As an aside, the United States Auto Club (USAC), which has continued the tradition of crowning sprint car (nee non-championship) titlists, identifies Kenealy in their historic narrative as the nation’s first sprint car champion. Although it is comforting for those of us who harbor an affection for sprint car racing to think that by crowning Kenealy champion, the AAA sought to acknowledge and develop a popular and highly regarded form of regional, open wheel, short track competition. It is more likely, however, that they recognized the business value of generating streams of income from expanded sanctioning fees. And with so many of the west coast drivers moving on to Indianapolis and achieving national recognition, the ever autocratic AAA also sought to wrap their controlling fist around yet another form of American auto racing.

In any case, we can gather from our discussion thus far that in elder times the term sprint clearly referred to races of shorter distances than those of the of the AAA championship races of the day. Sprint did not yet define a specific type of racing car. In fact, with the exception of the engines the cars that raced in non-championship or sprint races were similar to, and often interchangeable with, those that competed at Indianapolis and on the AAA’s championship circuit. But defining equipment specifications were in the offing.

When Kenealy won his sprint title in 1929 the AAA had no chassis or engine displacement specifications for their non-championship circuit. Without a set of “specs” for non-championship cars, the cars involved in sprint racing were similar to most racing cars across the land. The AAA’s chief competition was then provided by the popular and ubiquitous International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) which also campaigned single seaters on dirt track ovals across much of the country. Like the Pacific Coast circuit (and also for that matter, the non-championship cars competing in the AAA’s eastern and midwestern states), the IMCA had no engine displacement formula. It did not adopt limits until 1948. Had Indianapolis not mandated tiny 91.5 cubic inch engines in 1926, both Pacific Coast and Indianapolis cars, which were also single seaters until 1930, would have been generally interchangeable.

Further, with no engine displacement limits in place for Kenealy’s Pacific Coast circuit, the 220 cubic inch Miller, which was the predecessor of the famous Offenhauser, was dominant. When Indy bumped their displacement limit from 91.5 cubic inches to 366 inches in 1930, many 220s ran successfully with the Indy cars in the 500. In fact, a four cylinder 220 powered Bill Cummings to victory in 1934. Later, the 220 gave way to the 255 inch Miller. At the same time, however, the AAA had no displacement cap published for those cars competing on the dirt tracks of the championship trail. While the cars racing at Indianapolis were limited to 91.5 cubic inches, the cars running the rest of the championship races on the circuit had no displacement limits.

With no engine displacement limits on the championship dirt tracks, concerns were growing over behemoth engines, costs, and the dangerous and ever increasing speeds. Even non-championship or sprint car drivers were dying all too frequently on Ascot’s treacherous oval. Reacting to the problem in 1933, the AAA Contest Board established a displacement cap of 366 inches for championship dirt cars, matching the limit at Indy. At the same time, the AAA set a limit of 220 cubic inches for its non-championship machines, that is, those cars racing in short distance or sprint races on the Pacific Coast circuit. The following year, 1934, the AAA further reduced Pacific Coast engines to 205 cubic inches. However, the non-championship cars competing on the AAA’s eastern and midwestern circuits were unaffected by these displacement limits and continued using engines that matched the 366 cubic inch cap at Indianapolis.

With the AAA’s engine displacement ruling in 1933, a sprint car as we might define it today, was effectively born. The cars that competed in short-track, Pacific Coast sprint races, became separate and apart from the championship cars that raced at Indianapolis and on the Championship Trail. Wheel bases had already begun to shorten in order to improve handling of the cars on tracks shorter than the miles. Now, with an engine displacement limit that differed from championship cars, sprint cars definitively emerged as a separate class of auto racing machinery. Indianapolis cars, along with those of the championship trail, now had a little brother.

At some uncertain time in the mid-1930s the term big car began to find its way into the mainstream media. Big car was, of course, used to identify cars bigger than midgets, which were growing in popularity nationally. The term also referred to a single seater during a time when Indy was again running two-man cars. In the early 1950s the term “sprint car” emerged as a media convenience, referring to cars with engines smaller than their Indy or championship brothers and which raced in shorter events, usually on half mile tracks. It was a generally understood that sprint cars would be found racing across the land on fairgrounds ovals. The AAA first referred to the term sprint in 1951. In a narrative discussion of their non-championship divisions in their 1951 annual, they explained: “Non-championship is the term applied to sprint racing; the class between midget and championship speedway cars.” It’s fair to say that at this point in its evolution, sprint car racing had achieved its current identity, i.e. a separate class of open cockpit, open wheel, racing machinery which raced in short distance racing events on oval tracks. The confusing and cumbersome terms non-championship and big car had finally and permanently morphed into sprint car.

When racing resumed after World War II, the displacement limit for sprint cars was bumped back to 220 inches. The eastern and midwestern circuits finally followed suit. It was a wondrous time when the legendary Offy reigned supreme until it was ultimately defeated by the stock block Chevy V-8 in the early 1960s. Many long time sprint car fans can recall the glorious battles between Offy stalwarts AJ Foyt and Don Branson and Chevy interlopers Parnelli Jones and Jim Hurtubise. Going forward, engine displacement limits continued to be adjusted while roll bars became roll cages. Ford, Mopar and wings eventually came along. Over time, these ingredients have blended harmoniously to produce the remarkable 410 cubic inch machines that we continue to appreciate today.

As we can see from this essay, fixing a date for the first sprint car race or identifying history’s first sprint car is an impossible mission. There was no singular birthing moment for that mythical commotion in the dirt or those screams of pain. What is clear, however, is that sprint car racing evolved in parallel with all other forms of domestic racing. In fact, sprint car racing’s DNA can be traced all the way back to that first oval track race on Cranston’s dirt mile in 1896. Perhaps one might wish to make the argument that all present forms of oval track racing are the offspring of sprint racing. In any event, the history and evolution of sprint car racing is clearly the history of American automobile racing.

The first of the four images from crucean.com is a 1952 sprint car from Jungle Park Speedway





A 1954 Offenhauser engine

1961 action between A.J. Foyt (outside) and Parnelli Jones at Terra Haute

Also in 1961 Foyt (inside this time) and Jones in a scary duel on the Salem Speedway asphalt high banks.

These shots are mine and are mainly shown to give you a feel for modern sprint cars.  The first three were made in 2004 at Wilmot, WI Speedway.



These final two were made at Sun Prairie Speedway in WI around 2007.



I think if you look at the 1952 sprint car along with the 1961 cars and finish with these 2,000 sprinters, you get a good view of the physical evolution of sprinters, minus those Indy Car years. 

Monday, July 2, 2012

33rd Annual Miller Lite Slinger Nationals 7/1/12

All of the infromation below comes from Dave Kallmann and The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online.  The photo of Matt Kenseth is from AP.  Slinger is a high (34 degrees) banked 1/4 mile asphalt track.



200 Lap Feature

1. (8) Matt Kenseth, Cambridge

2. (9) Kyle Busch, Las Vegas

3. (1) Ross Kenseth, Spring Lake, Ill.

4. (6) Michael Bilderback, South Beloit, Ill.

5. (18) Dennis Prunty, Knowles

6. (7) Rich Bickle, Edgerton

7. (13) Rich Loch, Muskego

8. (15) Josh Wallace, Genoa City

9. (11) Al Schill, Franklin

10. (17) Rob Braun, Wales

11. (14) Ryan Destefano, Hartland

12. (19) Jeff Holtz, Franklin

13. (23) Tommy Hromodka, Brookfield

14. (12) Rebecca Kasten, Mequon

15. (10) Brad Mueller, Random Lake

16. (5) Lowell Bennett, Neenah

17. (24) Jeremy Lepak, Wausau

18. (16) Steve Dorer, Coldwater, Mich.

19. (20) Mike Egan, Slinger

20. (2) James Swan, Genoa City

21. (4) Eric Fransen, West Bend

22. (22) Matt Kocurek, Franklin

23. (21) Dale Prunty, Allenton

24. (3) Steve Apel, West Bend


By Dave Kallmann Journal Sentinel Online

Slinger

- Yeah, it's still fun.

Matt Kenseth has won a NASCAR championship. He's won two Daytona 500s.

And now he's won a record six titles in the 33-year history of the Miller Lite Slinger Nationals. While that's not quite the same, it's not a bad accomplishment, either, for the old-school short-track racer from Cambridge.

"It's always fun to win, that's for sure," Kenseth said Sunday in Slinger Speedway's victory lane.

"The first one was pretty darn cool. It was at Madison (in 1994), and (Rich) Bickle and I were duking it out. . . . That one was pretty unforgettable, but yeah, this is pretty cool.

"It's always fun when you can beat Kyle. It's hard to beat him."

That's Kyle Busch, always a threat in NASCAR and the 2011 Nationals champ.

Kenseth beat him on a restart with 24 laps to go - after a caution flag he didn't want - and pulled away by nearly a second at the checkered flag.

"We were really good on a long run this last half," Kenseth said, referring to the break after 101 of 200 laps.
"I could see Kyle took off really fast on that longer run, and we were running him down."

Busch didn't look happy when he climbed from his car and did not talk to reporters.

Ross Kenseth, Matt's son and the pole-sitter, rallied and benefited from attrition to finish third, another second behind.

Michael Bilderback and Bickle filled out the top five.

An uprising in the stands was averted three-quarters of the way through the race when a ruling that would have sent Kenseth to the rear of the field was overturned

Kenseth spun Jeff Holtz's lapped car off the fourth turn. As word of the penalty came down, Kenseth threatened to park his car and his fans let their displeasure be known.

"I guess we would have gone to the back and obeyed them," Kenseth said. "But here's the thing. We caught a pack of lapped cars, they were shaking the blue flag. Lapped cars know they're supposed to get to the bottom, and this lapped car kept passing the other ones.

"Finally I had a big run and drove under into his left rear. He turned across to finally get out of the way. When we hooked, the best was to get him out of my way, so I had to just keep going."

After a discussion, the change came down: Because Holtz had been warned to stay out of the leaders' way, Kenseth wouldn't be penalized.

Busch chose the outside line for the restarts, as is the leader's prerogative, and it worked every time but the last.

"That's smart as long as you get to Turn 1 and have leverage to be a little ahead and hold the guy down there," Kenseth said. "On restarts I would be real tight, and he could see that weakness, and that was smart of him to run up there to keep me slow in the center
"But we got a good restart. I got through 1 and 2 fast enough to be even going into 3 and our strong suit was getting off 4."

Bickle beat Busch on a restart to lead Lap 105, but when Busch got around him he took off and quickly built a 2-second lead before catching lapped cars. Shortly thereafter, Bickle, a three-time Nationals winner, dropped back.

Becca Kasten dropped out while running third; she lost power with 24 laps to go.

The slow-going first half of the race included 11 cautions for a variety of spins, tangles and mechanical failures.

Big movers included Bickle and Kasten, who were sent to the back for contact early but raced their way back into the top six, and Dennis Prunty, who made the feature through a qualifying race and was into the top 10 within 50 laps.