Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

Could someone who is knowledgeable of USAC history explain the origin of the name "Silver Crown", Is it related to Gold Crown Nationals?
Thank you
Pete

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

The name Gold Crown Nationals came from a 8 year race at Tri City Speedway in Pontoon Beach IL which featured midgets for 3 or 4 nights of pretty good money

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

I think that Indy type cars were considered gold crown cars in USAC at one point and the dirt champ cars were labeled as silver crown cars/series and the label has stuck.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

The USAC National Championship used to count points from dirt and pavement races. To win the title, owners and drivers had to field two distinctly different cars (front engine "dirt champ" cars and rear engine pavement formula cars). In 1971, dirt races were separated from pavement and dirt was classified as "Silver Crown" and the pavement was classified as "Gold Crown". In 1979, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) was formed by USAC Gold Crown car owners who were unhappy with USAC. By 1981, all Indianapolis-style pavement racing was sanctioned by CART except for the Indianapolis 500.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

Awesome, appreciate the information.
Thank you

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

I think this came from usac having the IRL control for a while. Indy cars Gold Crown and dirt champ cars called Silver Crown cars?

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

None of the information above is 100 percent accurate.

When USAC took the dirt tracks off the national championship schedule for the 1971 season, it was known then as the Dirt Track Division and stayed that way for a number of years. The original IndyCar "split" in the winter of 1978 had little to do with renaming the Dirt Track Division for the champ dirt cars, the Silver Crown Series.

The Dirt Track Division was renamed Silver Crown Series prior to the 1981 season. It's along story but USAC and CART had been at war since the winter of 1978, and an attempt at reconciliation in 1980 failed. USAC tried to revitalize it's national championship schedule by adding the three dirt miles back to the national championship, along with Indy and Pocono. They also went to a weird calendar. The three dirt miles paid Gold and Silver Crown points at the time. So it was even more confusing.

In order to differentiate between the national championship and the Dirt Track Division, the terms Gold Crown (national championship) and Silver Crown (champ dirt cars) was used. It has been used in midget racing to differentiate between Offy and non-Offy midget racing.

The Gold Crown concept never caught on, the Silver Crown concept did. The dirt track promoters paid the hefty Gold Crown sanction fee for a year or two, then returned solely to the Silver Crown sanction.

And does any body know who organized the rift to get the
dirt cars thrown out of the USAC Indy Car series because they had the same points to help win the Championship. And they were the cheapest race cars we had. Six times cheaper than rear engine cars. And his reason was?

Lynn

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

Because Richard Petty didn't like racing on dirt because it wasn't "professional" enough ???? :5::14:

Tim Simmons

Removed so one posters panties could get unwound and out of their glutial cleft.

Correct, then many of those owners who complained about needing to have 2 different kinds of cars went out and bought Formula 5000 cars for that short lived series. In summary road racers took over. A great opportunity was lost to make the American series truly unique and a challenge like no other.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

I would actually welcome the Silver Crown cars being added into the Indy Car point chase. It would be super interesting to allow someone chasing points to take to the dirt tracks in an attempt to capture the Championship. It would also open some avenues to "climb the ladder" to some really deserving talent.

like Chase Brisco

or several other very talented daredevils!

It is extremely unfair to both the driver and car owner. The car owner has tons of money wrapped up in equipment and commitments to sponsors (to the tune of millions) now turn a Dave Darland or Tony Elliot (Rest in Peace) or Tracy Hines lose in a this machine and tell them "just keep it off the wall" while running against the likes of Castro Neves or some other hobo who has raced rear engine stuff since they were in short pants. Jacob Wilson had an Indy Light ride several years ago. Never ran one, qualified second (!) Stacked it up lap one, turn one. Cost him a ton of money. Steve Chassie put an Eagle on the outside front row at Phoenix one year. He crashed. Nobody is as brave as Steve. You have to have miles and miles of experience. Nobody is "developed".

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

With next year's Indycar schedule set with only 5 ovals, the time is right for them to add some Silver Crown races back on! (It will never happen tho, I know, but it's a fun idea...)

James Davison has become Mr Versatile, running Indycars, NASCAR (like qualifying on the same wknd, but I think he was black balled from the media...his Cup owner has made some waves) AND (most importantly/specific to this discussion) SILVER CROWN! I know he has finished at least like 7th at Salam or Winchester or smthn of the such...plus I think he ran tulsa last year too...so ya, guys like him would do ok in decent cars in any of the biggest series...I hope he continues with the Silver Crown exploits in 2021. Time will tell. Either way, he is the answer to a neat trivia question; who ran the Indy 500, Daytona cup race, Chili Bowl and Silver Crown races in 2020...

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

I believe Davidson was a test driver for the McLaren F1 team. They don't pass those opportunities out, even if your the boyfriend of some very rich and connected family.

I was at that Joe James/Pat O'Connor race. The bashing of Sebastian Bourdais by the track announcer pissed me off to know end. For some reason he tossed out Bourdais name, must have forgot this guy had a HUGE crash while qualifying at Indianapolis. A "See Jesus" moment and yet he was back in a car in a super short time. You want to call someone out for being a piker fine, but it ain't Bourdais.

Why in the world someone would run for such low bucks is beyond Me. Being around racing long enough I know they would race for ham sandwiches if need be.

We still have not named the king pin who started to get the dirt cars out. So the foreign drivers will take over the seats and stay here with the dirt cars removed.
And come they did with the factory teams foreign driver's at Indy. They just stayed here and the crowds just dwindling away.
So much confusing around there.
They even told us we had to put doors on the men's restroom stalls. That were there for decades. Rear engine cars were coming any way. But the choices management made did not see the big picture coming.

Lynn

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

That's some old school hate there, raggin' on "Mr. Monaco"!!!

Technology is hard to stop. I somewhat agree with the hobo's getting the Factory DOHC stuff, but then again they were mounted in factory efforts (Lotus and Lola) and Hansgen getting killed.... Hill wasn't even assigned until that happened. AAA/USAC had their own "caste system" and the car owners played in that arena as well. I'm a bit more modern!

I'm pretty sure we could "bench race" for hours!

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

& Sebas is like the only guy to win FOUR Indycar type champs in a row (CART tho, & they didn't race at Indy then; but he did once during that span and no one can dispute how badaz those CART cars woulda been to drive...)...he bested Ted Horn's three in a row (AJ and none of them ever did it even...)

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

I too, would like to know exactly who was the prime instigator of the total separation of dirt racing and pavement/road course racing way back in those days. Gurney's holy white papers have been mentioned and the Cooper Climax have shouldered some blame but no specific person or group has been identified.

The names traditionally most mentioned in this regard are Penske and Patrick who undoubtedly applied more than their share of pressure to abandon dirt racing as a viable part of championship auto racing.

It would be interesting to learn the real story in it's entirety.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

A few suspension tweeks and aero changes I see no reason for Indy Cars not to be racing on mile dirt :deadhorse: Ill take my fantasy one step further and add Terre Haute and Eldora. From my keyboard to Rogers eyes :23:

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

Marlboro sponsorship came aboard in 1971 for the USAC championship trail. Dirt tracks were subsequently dropped as an appeasement to the demands of the sponsorship. Dirt was taken off the National championship schedule and spun-off into its own "Dirt Championship" division, now known as Silver Crown.

Marlboro wanted exclusivity on their sponsorship of USAC as the only cigarette signage in the series. However, the Viceroy cars came along with the Vel's Parnelli Jones team the following year in 1972. Marlboro wasn't happy with that aspect and left USAC after just one year. However, the dirt tracks never came back on board the "IndyCar" schedule, more than likely due to the now "higher-end" sponsors in the sport who shied away from the dirt tracks, which did not have the amenities to cater to what the potential big time sponsors were looking for at the time in the early 1970s, as compared to say, Formula One.

Also, not ironically, Winston Cigarettes became the NASCAR Grand National Series title sponsor the same year as Marlboro went to USAC in 1971 - it was the very same year that NASCAR also took dirt tracks off the "Cup" schedule.

Cliff's note version. It was Marlboro who kickstarted this whole deal.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

So, the vitriol we've all seen and heard concerning Penske, Patrick, et al, being the culprit's to blame for the separation is misguided and misdirected?

All this took place just a smidgen before my time of over indulgence into the nuances and details of open wheel championship racing but the Marlboro aspect is a somewhat compelling explaination.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

IndyCar's Billion Dollar Mistake: How One Team Changed Racing Forever
https://youtu.be/OfylxWgAaXU

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

Gurney's White Paper was penned in early 1978 and had nothing to do with dirt versus asphalt and everything to do with the financial potential of the series. But, yeah, I know, the truth always gets in the way of a good Penske bashing and a story about how evil furriners and nancy boy road racers wanted to ruin the Indy 500.

Oh great one, thoust has bequeathed upon thyne little peasant thoust knowledge.

I bow to thee. ..l.. ..l..

All you had to do was present your post and not be a ******.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

Explain to us all how a document meant to rally other owners into coming together to push for greater financial success of the series was a catalyst for a decision made almost a decade prior to Gurney's penning it...............I might be an a**** for doing it, but you bet I'm going to call you out on that one, because it's absolutely absurd.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

Gurney's White Paper was penned in early 1978 and had nothing to do with dirt versus asphalt and everything to do with the financial potential of the series. But, yeah, I know, the truth always gets in the way of a good Penske bashing and a story about how evil furriners and nancy boy road racers wanted to ruin the Indy 500.

Happy now? It must take a seriously sad person to act like you did.

May you find peace in your life so you can stop protecting your rage onto others.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

No, what's sad is pointing out those very facts on here before only to be called a Penske shill or a angry former CART employee, something I've dealt with plenty of times before. It's not my fault the sarcasm of the furriner and Penske comment went over your head. Two seconds on Google would have brought you to a copy of the white paper on Gurney's AAR website and within in the first sentence of the write up on the paper it tells you when it was written which would have told you it had nothing to do with the 1971 schedule. I've lost count of how many times over the years someone affiliated with CART has been blamed for something USAC did because people would rather tell a tall tale based on emotion rather than actually research it. Case in point the 1994 Indy 500 and the Mercedes-Ilmor. No matter how many times you show well sourced info that USAC wrote the rule, admits the engine was well within the confines of the rule, and no one "exploited a loophole" it's still pushed by a segment of the racing fan community that Penske cheated his way to 500 glory, 'cause you know, those evil CART roady racers.

<eye roll>

You're only calling it sarcasm because someone called you out for your behavior. I'm done with this back and forth with you.

Re: Origin of "Silver Crown"
 

My behavior? I'm not the one filling my diaper or sending vitriolic IM's because someone set me straight with a sourced fact. That's OK, keep being you, and I'll keep being me, a person who's not holding some 50 year old grudge over the series no longer running the many great dirt tracks this great US of A has to offer.

That's funny 😂, you guys have any words before you fell out!

No. I was surprised they could read my posts considering it wasn't written in a crayon font.