1988 USAC Sprint Cars at IRP

richie · 2/3/12, 11:36 AM

Today's Video of the Day is from July 28, 1988 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. This USAC Sprint Car Series event was contested during the nine-week ESPN summer series at IRP known as the "Hardee's Racing Series." It was the second USAC Sprint Car race on the pavement after they returned from a seven year hiatus. Lots of cars running loose and sliding through the turns like they were on the dirt, but that made it a lot of fun as some names that are more familiar with their prowess on the dirt make their way to the front of the pack.

Enjoy!!

racytraci1 · 2/3/12, 1:13 PM

I was about 16 when Greg won this race, we rented the upstaires in the house that he owned which was attached to the race shop. We watched on TV, and then promptly went to making a banner to hang on the garage to welcome the guys back home. You will never see a more excited driver and crew than that night when they got back home. Ahhhh the memories!! LOL

Poorboyjocko · 2/3/12, 1:46 PM

That was a tough night for the Stoops team. The rim was a steel. I borrowed it from Willie Boles who used it on his champ car. We did not know what to invest in when it came to pavement, but that was the start of the learning curve. I put on a soft 20 Hoosier and that let us get to the front in 10 laps. As I recall Greg was on BIg Macks and that was the only time they won on pavement. They were the tire for dirt at that time. At that time it was, run a dirt car and keep it simple in changes and keep the cost of pavement racing down. Our investment was four T-bars, three shocks, wider front axel with front and RR brakes. Mabey $500 at the most in 1987. Look where it ended today with the specialty cars and the cost of tires. No wounder the pavement went away. Thanks for the memory..Phil Poor

Charles Nungester · 2/3/12, 7:06 PM

Got off work at 430 Cincinnati Time, Made it to the track during hot laps. Seen the Dog win his first USAC Race and ended up in the Victory Lane photo. Bout the only thing I did was attempt to balance his used marble covered tires. He said it worked, Thats ll that mattered

---------- Post added at 6:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 6:03 PM ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poorboyjocko

That was a tough night for the Stoops team. The rim was a steel. I borrowed it from Willie Boles who used it on his champ car. We did not know what to invest in when it came to pavement, but that was the start of the learning curve. I put on a soft 20 Hoosier and that let us get to the front in 10 laps. As I recall Greg was on BIg Macks and that was the only time they won on pavement. They were the tire for dirt at that time. At that time it was, run a dirt car and keep it simple in changes and keep the cost of pavement racing down. Our investment was four T-bars, three shocks, wider front axel with front and RR brakes. Mabey $500 at the most in 1987. Look where it ended today with the specialty cars and the cost of tires. No wounder the pavement went away. Thanks for the memory..Phil Poor

Oh yeah, Local teams could run it, The Smiths and others were at a lot of those shows. It doesn't show it much but the reason Gregs hoppin on the cool down lap is the RR is going flat. LOL