Originally Posted by flagboy55:
Well folks time is flying. We’ve got the 50th running of the Hulman Classic and the 60th of the Knoxville Nationals. The thoughts of these two and their trajectory is an interesting juxtaposition. We know where they are in terms of popularity now but I was wondering back in the 70’s how the two races compared in prestige and importance? I remember as a child, thanks to Dads Speed Sport subscription, reading about Knoxville. I was at the 76 Hulman, my favorite race of all time by the way. I remember Terre Haute being on Wide World of Sports which was big time in those days. I’m hoping some of you veterans who were close observers of that era can add some insight to it and just how big of deals they were at the time. I don’t know if Richie has any perspective on it from his wealth of knowledge but I’m sure there’s a few of you that remember those days. Looking forward to reading your thoughts
I think it's comparing apples and oranges, at least for the first half or so of the decade. The Nationals started as a supermodified event, those eventually evolved to sprint cars. I'm sure the Nationals meant a lot to those who ran it, but if you didn't have Speed Sport I'm not sure the Nationals had the attention the Hulman Classic did.
The Hulman Classic kind of kicked off the month of May, had huge crowds and was on Wide World of Sports. National TV for a sprint car race was pretty much unheard of in 1971. Plus, that race drew not only the best of USAC's sprint division, but guys who were running the big track in Indy.
However, by the end of the 1970's USAC's sprint division wasn't what it had been, and the Nationals were rising in attention and popularity. Not surprisingly, I think you can trace, hand in hand, the rise of the popularity of the WoO and the rise in popularity of the Knoxville Nationals.