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
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
Originally Posted by antidownforce:
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
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.
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.
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?
Originally Posted by Blackduce:
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
Because Richard Petty didn't like racing on dirt because it wasn't "professional" enough ????
