If I can remember anything from my childhood while not being able to remember any one win in particular was Big ole Dick Gaines in that white driver suit and open face helmet, Working them big old arms, Looking to the left to see who was behind him.

That visual as a fan is very clear. 35 years later Cars that looked like OPEN WHEEL's name implies.
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/76534...503_AAFuW-A-LB

I thought Dicks suit was brown, must have been the first show of the season. "No sheetmetal above a drivers stiff upper lip excepting sunvisors". Get rid of "power steering" and your "full sized" racers will become the norm again.

ole dick could not get into one of these cars today

I have a newer Maxim in my shop right now that I'm going to run for a guy part time this summer. For those of you that haven't met me, I'm 6'2" and weigh in at about 235. Not as big as Dick Gaines, but no Brad Sweet either.
It has all the panels and the "sissy bar" on the side. I've got to admit, I was a little concerned if I could get in and out of it OK because (and I know this is hard to believe!) I been upside down a time or two and I know you can't count on getting out through the top.
I put my seat in it (full containment Kirkey) and was amazed on how easy it was to get in and out.
I'm not a big fan of the panels, but if I can get in and out, I believe any one can.

Tom Paterson

Bill.....It isn't because I said so; it's because it's the truth. If you don't believe me, do some research.

I'm sure If I look around enough I could find some documentation on exactly how many cars Solar,K and K, and Edmunds Built, but I would rather not. It's pretty obvious if you look around some.

At one time....not that long ago actually(until around '78-'84); there were basically TQ'S,Midgets, Modifieds/Sprints and Big Cars. Obviously I don't have an exact total of the cars produced and raced but that was basically the extent of it. Kids basically had Q.Midgets and Go-Karts

Today we have:Go-Karts,Quarter Midgets(Kids), Jr. Sprints(Kids),
270's, Restricted 600 Micro(Wing and Non-Wing),Open 600 Micro(Wing and Non-Wing), Upright 600 Mini, Upright 1000 Mini, Upright 1200 Mini, T.Q's, Speedst/r,(Out East and South) Jr. Focus,Focus, Ascs Chevy Midget Series, IRS(Restricted Midgets), Pavement Only Midgets, Pavement Only Sprints, Kenyon Cars, Dirt 410 Sprints,Dirt Midgets, 305 Sprints, 358 Sprints,360 Sprints,French Grimes Race Saver Sprints, Silver Crown Dirt and Pavement, and The new Generation Siver Crown Cars.

There are 100's of cars competing in many of the divisions each weekend night. In Indiana alone there is usually over 100 sprint cars running on Sat. Nights. The amount of cars competing over each weekend is just staggering.

I can think of at least 6 Chassis Manufactures that produce over 30 Sprint and Midget Chassis a year and some of them produce over two hundred sprint frames alone over the course of a year.

Obviously I am probably shorting some other series I don't know about.

Didn't Dick gaines run a car(Maybe a Doemelt) for the Briscoe's at the First DO Racing Fest?(I know it's not a car with the panels of today, just asking)

WOW! Looks like you need to go for Sat. & Sun drives in your grandmas station wagon instead of going racing! I'm sure the wagon would provide the same safety features, as well as plenty of room for sponsors and they even come w/ a flip down sun visor!

Heck, why stop at carsbfrom the 50's and 60's, lets go all the way back. Have them run Model A's and Model T's. they had open cockpits and they definatly had narrow tires for "digging" into the track.
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then way did we have 120 sprint cars at east bay in 1979?

I knew you wouldn't be able to produce actual numbers.......just speculation.

Cars in the pits does not equal butts in the stands.

Here is my speculation: It is totally possible that because the modern sprint car is considered 'safe' by many parents, that they are sticking their early teen boys in the cars, instead of watching grown men drive the race cars from the stands!

aussiemidgetfan: I seriously don't understand why you are trying to use the bodywork of an F1 car, as some kind of standard, as to what the bodywork of a sprint car looks/should look like.

With a small amount of effort here is what I came up with for a car count last year. There are many classes of cars that are not included in this count.

September 12, 2009
32 - USAC Sprints at Terre Haute
34 - All Star Sprints at Lawrenceburg
18 - AMSA Mini Sprints at Lawrenceburg
31 - Non wing sprints at Lincoln Park Speedway
31 - Non wing sprints at Paragon
25 - MTQRL TQ midgets at Shelby Co. Fairgrounds
21 - UMRA TQ midgets at Decatur County Fairgrounds
35 - POWRi midgets at Spoon River

227 total cars racing