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The Hulman Classic was really the first Sprint car race to be televised on a National network. The fact that it was a USAC race though made it to where only those with a USAC license could participate, at least early in the 70’s until USAC permitted TP’s, which excluded some awfully good sprint car drivers that wanted nothing to do with USAC.
In the same vein, USAC didn’t permit their drivers in the 60’s and early 70’s to race outside of USAC, so their drivers couldn’t race the Knoxville Nationals. Also, since the Knoxville Nationals were basically open competition, the cars were quite a bit different than USAC legal cars.
I will say this: in the mid 70’s, when I was attending school in Terre Haute, ALL the races at the THAT we’re a big deal, but especially the Hulman. The city really got behind the event and there were events in the days leading up to it. Now, you’d hardly know there was a race in town. Having been to the Knoxville Nationals the last several years, it is pretty cool to see the town of Knoxville, Iowa still get behind the races like they still do. It is part of what makes it a great event.
I would agree that trying to compare the two events is comparing apples to oranges.
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