Shhh...This best kept secret in motorsport

The World of Outlaws sprint car racing on a banked dirt oval. WOW! Totally impressive! I have attended just about every type of racing there is to see but there is nothing quite like seeing a World of Outlaws driver herd a savage 800hp beast up into a banked corner flat out. I have seem these guys race on a flat half-mile oval and they put on a great show but it didn't compare to seeing them race on the new 3/8th mile banked oval at Heartland Park, Topeka. Needless to say, I'll be back every year.

For those who are curious, I found a site that has a couple of video clips of this race I attended. Go to: http://www.hpt.com/multi-media/movies/061701/

For some reason, I had better luck viewing them through WindowsMedia player (56k) than RealPlayer.

What sort of lap times do these guys manage on a 1/4 mile dirt oval?

I am not sure about 1/4-mile tracks but the lap record for a 1/4-mile track appears to be 10.489 seconds from the World of Outlaws track directory. Not sure if the track was 1/4 mile when the record was established but I am reasonably sure since I see another 1/4mile track with a record at 10.949 seconds.

For 1/2-mile tracks like Eldora Speedway or the 0.533-mile Bristol track converted to a dirt track, these guys do lap times that average close to 140mph. Sammy Swindell did an unofficial practice lap at the Bristol track of 13.60 seconds which averaged out to 141.088mph. :eek: (See: http://www.channellock.com/archives/052500woo.html) This was a second and half faster than the Winston Cup stock car qualifying record. However, the official lap record at the 0.533-mile Bristol dirt track is 13.860 seconds. Either way, these cars are simply flying. They probably have the best power-to-weight ratio of any race car (800hp/1200 pounds).

In Australia we only have the 1/4 mile dirt ovals and the fans of this type of racing go on and on about how fast and exciting it is. Yet when I go to see them, they just don't look very fast to me, (coming from a circuit racer).

10 1/2 seconds to cover a quarter of a mile is an average speed of 85 mph, that's only a fraction faster than my little Datsun 1600.

The power to weight figure you quote is slightly less than a F1 car. I'm sure a GP or Superbike however would be even better.

David, these sprint cars have to run on a track larger than 3/8ths of a mile or bigger to really show their true quickness. I can't imagine seeing them on a track less than the 3/8th-mile Heartland Park Topeka track. A half mile track seems to be where they are best at. One mile tracks are too big for them because they have too much straightaway to work with. These cars can get up to a top speed of 160mph in a flash so the 145mph qualifying record set by Sammy Swindell on a one mile track was probably a situation where he topped out for a large portion of the straights.

I know the few times I went to the sprintcars during the summer they were fantastic. Some of the tracks around here are pretty darn short, and the cars dont look all that quick, but I guess the speed is a relative thing- I'm pretty sure the Datto couldn't do that sort of speed on dirt, and sideways ...:)

Been to a rally lately?

We don't have any Rally racing in my area that I know of. It is not real popular in the U.S. for the same reasons why road racing isn't as very popular here, limited views of the track for the spectator.

One thing I always wondered, where else is sprint car racing popular in the world besides the U.S. and Australia? And why do you think it is popular in Australia? I think there are a couple of Aussies or Kiwis trying to make it in the WoO: Brooke Tatnell and Skip Jackson.

David: Haven't been to a rally in a while :(

I think the dirt stuff really appeals to a different audience to most of the mainstream stuff here in Oz. Plus it is run on the off season, so a fair few people wind up tagging along.

Plus one another thing, I got to know a few of the drivers over the summer, and deadset, they are the nicest blokes you will ever meet. I think that helps to give the spectators (or maybe just me personally) more of an interest in the goings on. Skip is a top guy, and both are very good racers....but they seem to go through a few rough patches here and there. I think they've shown they have the talent to match it with the best.

Sprintcars are hardly a well kept secret in Australia, they are well promoted and very popular. The concpet of a 350 Chev and more grunt than grip is somewhat alien to Europeans and Asians, that's probably why they're only popular in Australia and America. Or maybe the other countries just don't have enough rednecks. :)

So sprint car racing has kind of a redneck image in Austalia too? ;) If don't care, it is still very entertaining. This white-collar guy is perfectly happy to sit amongst a bunch of rednecks for anything that is good. Money isn't a big issue to me but I don't think there is a better value in motorsports here in the U.S. Tickets for myself, my wife and my daughter came to a total of under $60. And after the race, they will let you in the pit area and all the drivers sit out by their haulers and sign autograph and chat with the fans.

oh baby ..oh baby..i love sprintcar racing ..the smell the speed the sheer violence of it all ..it really gets my blood pumping.

down south of david and crash test we have quite a few speedways but again they are reasonably small compared to the US..i have seen the WOO on Tv and the speeds they get are increddible.

my fave driver is brooke tatnell..very nice bloke and a great driver..I met him at wagga speedway once ..shook hands talk for a minute or two and then I wished him good luck and told him to go and kick some arse..he just smilled and said..thats the plan...to wich he managed a tripple rollover right infront of me in the first heat race and ended his evening :(

I used to own a car that is very similar to a sprint car..it was called a super modified..it had a 360 hemi motor in it and had the same chassis as a sprinter but was alot heavier and a fair bit slower..unfortunately i never got to race the car as i lost my job before i finished building it and had to sell it to pay the bills.

but i managed to have a test drive of a friens super mod..with a 350 chev inti it...and wooowwweee.it had some go at a little track that was an L shape of all things top speed at the end of the longest straight was about 160 kph (100 mph) and then you chucked it in sideways..that soon got your attention when you miss your turn in point by about 5 metres :)

another interesting thing was going flat out down the back straight when farmer jones (the guy who owned the land) decided to let his cows into the paddock who then wandered onto the track...well i can tell you that the brakes worked very well :)

bring on the dirtrack cowboys and go the Aussies in the US !!!!!!!

Brooke Tatnell showed a lot of promise last year but got injured pretty bad and missed most of the season. This year he started off slow and then was replaced by Johnny Herrera in the #6 ride. Herrera is one of the best the sport has had (top 15 in all-time A feature wins) so I wouldn't hang my head in shame if I were Brooke. Hopefully, he will catch on with somebody soon. Skip Jackson I think is a regular at the Knoxville Speedway in the state of Iowa. Knoxville in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for sprint cars and the competition at Knoxville is the best in the country. So, the local Knoxville series when compared to WoO is like F3000 is to F1 or Busch Grand National to Winston Cup. When the WoO comes to Knoxville, these track regualrs make up the contingent in the WoO B main and if they are fast enough, they compete in the A feature with the WoO's best.

Back to WoO sprint car racing, I think its main problem is that it suffers from its dirt image. The racing is some of the most entertaining in the world in my opinion. It is hard to communicate unless you have witnessed it in person. It really shocks you when the first car goes out to qualify. You see them do some hot laps in practice which is all cool but when they first come out to qualify, it is like "Holy Cow!" You are shocked to see how fast they dive into those corners and then you get that uncontrollable grin that they couldn'tt pry off your face. You know then you are in for something really good because there isn't anything quite like this type of racing.

Joe fan
brooke is back in the saddle and has landed a ride with Bill Stroud's team driving the #1s car at Knoxville a few weeks back.

according to the article that I am reading about this at the moment he will stay with the team for regular weekly knoxville drives and the occasional World of outlaw event.

good luck brooke !!!!

I've always preferred Super Sedans to Sprint Cars.
1. They actually look like something.
2. You don't get showered in mud every time they go by.
3. There's a much smaller crowd, so you don't have to queue up for everything and you can sit where you like.

About 25 years ago, Greg Carr, one of Australia's top rally drivers, took his RWD 2-litre 240hp 900kg (2000 pound) Ford Escort Rally Car to a sprint car meeting and did a few demo laps on the clay oval. His lap times were well below those of the V8 Sprint Cars. The drivers of which were not well pleased. :)

Hello mates! I am back from Knoxville and I will give you are report of the Woo sprinters from down under. I didn't see Brooke Tatnell at Knoxville but I did see Skip "Action" Jackson and Kerry Madsen race. Both qualified pretty well, Skip qualified 10th and Kerry 21st. Skip won the 2nd heat over Steve Kinser and finished 11th in the feature race. Kerry didn't run well enough to make the feature in his heat but made it by finishing in the last transfer spot in the B main. Kerry ended up finishing 14th in the feature race. Overall I'd say that Skip Jackson is probably the best Aussie sprint car driver of the three.

Thanks Joe..yep even though Im a Tatnell fan I would have to say Skip Jackson is the best and his brother is a decent steerer as well (Bob)

as for Kerry Madsen ..that guy is a maniac..he is well out of control when running here in Oz..but definately good value and one to keep an eye on if he can get good equipment.

Ive just got home from work and turned on ESPN to see some racing from Eldora..unfortunately i only saw the last 3 laps of the race but it has raised a question i thought I would ask you.

why in the states do they run sprintcars without the wings on them ????

besides the cars looking pretty terrible without them im guessing they are a tad slower due to lack of downforce..but is there any reason they do this ???

Im pretty sure we dont do it anywhere here in Oz ?? are the engines the same or are they just say a class below the WOO ??

dont know just thought I would ask.

you also mentioned Steve Kinser in your post.

well i can proudly say i have seen him race ..he did a tour of Oz a few years ago and came to my local track and totally flogged everyone ..even Skip who was also running that night ..i think he lapped just about everyone that night...but despite this it was in no way boring ..to see the master at work was one of the more memorible things in racing that ive seen..and the crowd loved it ....there was hardly a sound from them during the race (nopt that you could hear it anyway) but every single person was just following every turn kinser took ..it was trully amazing..and the reception he got afterwards was great to see..and im sure he is welcome back here at any time ..even if he is leagues ahead.

CHEERS
Marcus

Marcus, sprint car racing has a long history here in the U.S. and USAC is the main sanctioning body for sprints cars other than the World of Outlaws which is sort of its own league/sanctioning body. Sprint car without wings is how the sport started out way back so I guess USAC has felt the need to retain tradition. It is believed that wingless sprinters are harder to drive but Steve Kinser supposedly ran a car wingless one year at Eldora in a World of Outlaws race just to prove that he didn't need the aid of downforce in the corners. And he won that race too. The main reason why the WoO went to wings was that it provided plenty of space for a sponsor's logo and we all know how important sponsors are in any form of motorsport, especially those that run on dirt.

As far as Steve Kinser, he is truly a living legend. He has won 448 A features and 16 championships in the WoO. Anyone who can dominate a form of motorsport in that manner has to be a great driver. Kinser proved his talent in the IROC series, winning the Taladega race in his first and only start there. He also dabbled a bit in NASCAR without much success. However, I feel that if Dave Blaney (who is a former WoO driver who won the 1995 WoO championship) can do as well as he has in Winston Cup, Steve could do even better since he was far better than Dave in the WoO series. Steve also was running in the to ten in the 1997 Indy 500 until he got caught up in someone else's crash.

Did you by chance get to see Sammy Swindell in Oz? Slammin Sammy is the second greatest World of Outlaws driver, having won the second most A features as well as three WoO championships. Steve's cousin Mark is probably the third greatest WoO driver so if you seen these three, you have seen the trifecta of WoO greats.

BTW, I noticed that Skip got quite a few cheers during driver's introductions so he seems to be pretty popular there in Knoxville. I guess this has to do with him being a regular at the track because Danny Lasoski ran primarily at Knoxville in 1994 or 1995 like Skip has been doing and consequently Danny "The Dude" is probably the most popular driver at Knoxville now.

thanks for the info on the wings Joe..I still think they look better with them.

as for americans over here I didnt see Swindell live but did see him on TV racing here and he did very well..we usually get a few americans coming out for our summer series called world series sprintcars ..Kinser being the best one of course but others like Donny Schatz,Terry mcCarl,Randy hannigan among others have all ventured out here at some point..its great to see them out here and once here and in our local equipment they find it just as hard as back home in the states..now out guys are heading over there and starting to get good machinery as well they are starting to be noticed which is great and can only do wonders for the sports profile out here anyway...but i think they struggle a bit on the big tracks but on a small track they go pretty well

Marcus, the wing issue also probably closely mirrors the use of wings on open wheel cars which started around 1968-69 in F1. USAC was and probably still is the main sanctioning body for open wheel in the U.S. so CART/IRL series back during the 50's, 60's and 70's was a USAC sanctioned series. There was a national series that included events like the Indy 500 as well as dirt track races. Then there was a sprint car series that was separate which many of the top drivers like A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, the Unser brothers all competed in on off weekends.

As far as I know, none of the USAC sprint car divisions ever adopted wings but the World of Outlaws, which was created in 1978, was more than likely created for this reason because wings gave them room to display a sponsors logo. These winged sprints are consequently faster due to the downforce that they create in the corners and the WoO is noted for being bucking the establishment kind of series. If I remember correctly, their rule book is 18 pages long.

For more info on the USAC sprint cars series, go to: www.usacracing.com

Also, I found a Australian diecast distributor that custom builds 1/18th scale winged sprint cars that raced in Australia. Check out: http://www.speedwaymodels.com/Default.asp?CategoryId=2

There are plenty of pictures of Australian sprint cars of Brooke Tatnell, Skip Jackson, Kerry Madsen and Gary Brazier. There are even some of American WoO stars like Donny Shatz and Danny "The Dude" Lasoski. I am assuming that these sprint cars shown for Shatz and Lasoski were ones that they drove over in Australia. Lasoski's 1999 Beef Packers car shown has different sponsor markings on his wing than the car he drove in the WoO. Maybe you can recognize them.