[yeleyfan76]

Originally Posted by motorhead748 Exactly! You were way easier on him than I would’ve been but I just chalked it up to him being drunk

I’m guessing neither of you watched the documentary about dirt racing where he said racing without a wing isn’t worth it??? Then Sweet comes on and says the same thing. Please don’t turn this thread into another how great Larson is thread. Please.

[Charles Nungester]

Back when Smoke still had a non wing team, USAC raced Terre Haute and had a low car count. Smoke said get the backup out. I'll race it.
Afterwards he said it's the stupidest thing he's ever done.

I took it as he meant it. That to do it. You gotta be committed to it and now that he was beyond that (Nascar, Winged racing at that time) It was just not worth the risk.

Nevermind that Larson, Smoke, Sweet, Newman, Briscoe, Gordon etc honed their skill non winged for several years before getting the backing to move on. Not just on half miles. But Miles.

Nascar's been full of USAC Champions for decades now. Shame Indycar can't figure it out.

[openwheelfan1]

Originally Posted by jdull99 After further thought, I'll answer some of my own question...I remember reading that ISW was not part of the USAC schedule; maybe til later in those years posted? (or right after?). &, could it be said the CRA sprint car series was actually more popular in those years than it is now? Also, were there more weekly tracks running traditional sprints back then?

There were a LOT of factors in play in the middle 80’s. The WoO was growing at an extremely rapid rate…big fields, big money and big crowds. Many local tracks were switching from non-winged to winged sprint cars. USAC was struggling to attract new owners and drivers and they polled their owners, drivers and promoters to see what they wanted. It was ultimately decided that the track promoter could decide whether their race (dirt only) would be winged or non-winged.

ISW was INITIALLY (IF I remember correctly) 3 races, Bloomington, LPS and Kokomo. It was unsanctioned. Paragon was added shortly after, but it would be about 8 years or so before USAC would begin sanctioning ISW.

CRA was arguably NEARLY USAC’s equal, and in the middle 80’s maybe even more prominent than USAC. HOWEVER, they too began to struggle and the loss of Ascot in 1990 was a blow that they couldn’t recover from. The formation of the SCRA in 1993 extended their run, until they were merged with USAC. The races in the Midwest by the CRA/SCRA were some of the best races in history IMO. Some were co-sanctioned by USAC, some weren’t, but they almost all pulled huge fields.

During the 80’s, to the best of my recollection, the tracks running sprint cars weekly in IN were Bloomington, Warsaw (Friday’s) Paragon, LPS, Lawrenceburg(Saturday’s) Tri-State and Kokomo(Sundays). At various times through the 80’s they ran winged shows weekly and non winged.

Not sure if this answers you question jdull99, but hopefully it gives you some background

[jdull99]

Great answer! Good info. Thanks. I shoulda added SCRA too...I forgot about the CRA/SCRA "changeover". Interesting era with all that...thankfully, USAC Sprint car racing has been very strong in recent years. I kinda hated to see the pavement fall off for both the sprints and midgets, but it had to (with the differences in the cars). I am glad I got to grow up following it the way it was though (mid-90s...another of the golden ages, for many types of racing; in my mind).