This is what made the early Outlaws truly great! It was simply 'run whatya brung'. You can see how every car was somewhat unique. So many different wings, chassis, engines, etc. The guys who had it figured out were the big shots. Now, the specs are so exacting and the cars and parts are almost all identical. The unique nature of the sport is gone forever. RIP Ted Johnson...and thank you for your WoO concept!
The guys who figured it out THEN did it with brains. NOW, it's done with truckloads of money. They have to save the sport from egomaniacs with bottomless wallets.
Man, this makes me even feel older than I am. I remember in early March of 1978 getting ready to go to Dallas for the spring nationals. I lived in Tulsa and we ran 100 inch cars then. At that time, they were kind of like a Silver Crown car except USAC didn't call them that then. Also, we ran a small displacement engine similar to the 305's of today and with carbs. Every year the first race of the year was in Dallas with the sprints running a companion race. Actually, nobody knew exactly what we were getting to see when we got there. Nobody, not even Lanny Edwards or Ted Johnson actually knew what was going on. I think if you could have asked anyone what they thought they would accomplish, all they probably would have said was they were trying to figure away where they could guarantee having a good car count. I remeber seeing the first rule book,l It was typed on a page of typing paper. The basic rules were you had to have a roll cage and it couldn't be aluminum. They allowed bolt on cages, though. In a way, the lack of rules made it good but with no rules, money takes over. With too many rules, money does the same.
