I have two answers:

The late 50's - early 60's Offy era in racing when Hennershitz, Larson, Branson, Sachs et al were doin' their thing.

The the late 60's - early 70's when we had the Gary and Larry show along with Bigelow, Walkup, Snider, Pancho, Opperman and all the rest.

Those were the days my friend.

Back when OUTLAWS was a way of life, not an "organization".

Current. I don't have any other time frame to compair to. Living in Pa. Posse land I've only had winged sprint until I started coming to Indiana about 10 years ago. Now I'm hooked!

ummm... i love it all.. anytime i get to go to a race track and see a race which i dont get to do enough as is I am one happy man.... but it i must say a time... I loved going in the mid 90's guys coming up like Kenny Irwin and Tony Stewart, living legends like Hewitt, and the guys in their later years like Ziggy and Bettenhausen... Coarse Im kinda partial to the Silver Crown cars too... But i am a little younger than most... only been at this gig for 21 years lol... but i do have fond memories of a guy that won 3 straight USAC Sprint Car championship at the first part of the 90's

I'm goin' with 70's,saw some of the legends in their prime and we just called 'em sprints!!!!!!!!!

My favorite era was the 1970s.

I attended my first race at just under 2 weeks old in May of 1972.

West Central OH was a hot bed for sprint cars. Tracks such as Limaland, Millstream, New Bremen, and Eldora were all my 'home' during the warm months :2: Plus we always went to Winchester whenever they ran the sprints and or midgets.

With me being a kid, and my Uncle Duke driving USAC cars, I had an 'in' with a lot of the USAC drivers. Plus, my dad, and my Grandma, knew seemingly everybody that owned or drove a car. It would be a major understatement to say that I have sat in MANY sprint cars in my day.

My Uncle Duke, Doc Dawson, and Jack Hewitt were my favorites....but I was just as good of 'buddies' with Don Hewitt, Fred Linder, Buck Boughan, Pancho Carter, Larry Cannon, and Dick Gaines.

I like the present days too (and every year in between), but the 70's is what made me a life long fan.

Started attending sprints in the late 50's, enjoyed the 60's thru the mid 80's, from Ascot to New York, but things change. Still attend a few races each year, but I enjoyed what I saw in the past more than I see today, I consider my self very lucky.

The 70;s saw races with guys like bubby jones bob kinser larry miller cliff cockrum butch wilkerson sheldon and the bad ass dick gaines hell think I just named off the first heat at Haubstadt lol But who couldn;t have been thrilled by those guys and a bunch I didn;t name but I also love this new group darland stanbrough coons hunter my god these guys stand on that pedal just as hard and I can feel that old feeling crepting in again I just thought of another one the blur from freeman spur chuck amati

STARTED GOING TO RACES IN THE MID 50s AT WARSAW & NEW PARIS INDIANA..
THAT WAS IN 1957, THE YEAR PAUL HAZEN STARTED RACING.
HE`STILL RACING, AND I`M STILL GOING ,AND ROOTING FOR #57.

I liked the mid to late 1960's IMCA races. My all time favorite races were the Hawkeye Futurity Races at the Iowa State Fairgrounds during that time period. Jerry Blundy and Jim Moughan were almost tied together nose to tail one afternoon the entire race and Moughan won at the wire in the Hector Honore Black Duece Bardahl Special(the cars all had names). Single roll bar, no cage. You had to have finesse to win then, just a fast car wasn't enough. Some were brave enough to ride the rim, but it was much more risky then.
You could see the driver working in the car. They usually pitted the cars
just off the front stretch so you could see the activity in the pits.
The tracks in the afternoon would be so hard slick you could see the reflection of the cars. It seemed they went more laps so tire wear and strategy were an element too. It seemed the races were much closer then. Not as fast but still exciting.
I also always liked the 1970's Tony Hulman Classic's at Terre Haute also.

---------- Post added at 10:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 PM ----------

Those you mentioned were always hard to beat...so was Deano Thompson (real hard to beat) in the Bromme car, Eddie Wirth, Buster Vernard. I was always super impressed with Billy Shuman at Manzanita, as he didn't seem to come to the midwest much as I remember.