Quote:
Originally Posted by motorhead748
What happened first? Did Indiana tracks go non wing or did the drivers leave?
I had a car back in that era and I remember the tracks going non wing, with one reason & maybe the biggest one was they could have a lower purse. One promoter you & I both know personally told me that wings were killing him & the NW guys would run for less. Heck and that’s still the case a lot of times, many times it seems a show that pays less will have a fair amount more cars than a competing race that pays more.
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That's just it, I don't know. Staab told me when they went wing almost full time that in five years it would be gone, that most couldn't afford to do it. Some of the wing guys stayed running that way and either ran atomic or with the all stars. But by the all stars demise it seemed liek there was only a smattering of really good cars. Of course it was several years before that that Bloomington and burg went back to non wing. But we'd also gone from about 25-30 cars a show to sometimes only 9-10. When Staab took Burg back over we went back non wing. BAM in a year or two it was 35-40 cars again
It was so hot at one point under Mel that he's run against the Kings Royal for five or ten grand and have 35-40 cars how up. Wasn't a great crowd but we had great racing..
I may have seen the Golden Age of Both Wing and Non Wing. IDK. The top of both still put on excellent racing but fewer and fewer tracks are pulling big counts.
I know this, those who make it and last sacrificed a lot to get there. every extra penny, spare time etc is toward the racecar..
I Enjoy their talents. Many of the guys running at the rear worked just as hard to be there as the winners.