[openwheelfan1]

Winged Nation hosted hour long programs every day of the Knoxville Nationals with various guests. On Friday, two of the guests were Matt Wood and Tim Clauson. There were two very interesting comments made during their discussions. Tim Clauson was asked point blank why he would leave non-winged racing for winged racing. His answer (and I have to paraphrase because I didn’t think to record the answer on my phone) was that 1. They had achieved pretty much all they could in non-winged racing and 2. When they looked closely they felt that winged racing was growing in all areas: new drivers, new owners, new sponsors and new fans, while non-winged racing was “ stagnant”. He also stated that on Wed. and Thursday nights of the Nationals there were a lot of new potential owners and sponsors “just salivating to get involved in winged racing with the right opportunity”.

Matt Wood, who was one of the sponsors of Bryan Clauson’s efforts to race 200 times (Elk Grove Ford) and currently sponsors Shane Golobic, promotes the Hangtown 100 midget race and is promoting the USAC Nationals at Husets was asked how sales were going for the 3 day USAC Nationals. His response was “poorly”. He indicated that Husets is expected to sell out this weekends WoO race.

I absolutely LOVE non-winged sprint cars and have been around it since the mid 60’s, and I found their comments disappointing, but also, unfortunately accurate. I recognize the Nationals are a unique event and not completely representative of the status of the sport, but there was no denying the average age of the spectator attendees at Knoxville was considerably younger than I typically see at a non-wing event. Spectator and participant attendance were both up this year at Knoxville, with 98 cars participating over the first two qualifying nights and 71 cars signing in for “Hard Knox” Friday nights last chance session. Spectator seating Saturday night was a sellout.

[cornerthree]

I don't understand it either. non-wing is a better product in my opinion. But it need more exposure and that should be happening with FLO. Just need to get the right people involed to promote it. I bought tickets asap for the race at Huset and hopes it a money maker. It's important because it's not in Indiana. Needs to prove they can succeed out of there normal area. JMO

[Dirtfan]

Our tickets for Husets are purchased.

[Dick Monahan]

1978 was the critical year. USAC was in the process of updating itself from the old days of the AAA method of operating in which it attempted to control all important racing in the same manner it had existed for many decades, worrying only about sanctioning races, leaving all promotion up to individuals of widely varying competence, each of whom only worried about his own local track(s).

Then, the disaster of the 1978 plane crash killed some of the people who were the most forward looking of the USAC management, forcing those who remained to spend all their time recovering from that, leaving no time for planning any changes in their operation.

Meanwhile, Ted Johnson, a real salesman, came up with a new idea, managed to sell it to a group of some of the most independent people ever born, the racers called "outlaws", then traveled the country and sold the package to some more very independent folks, the smaller tracks who couldn't get a USAC race. Considering how good Ted Johnson was, it might have been a success in any event, but with USAC in no shape to defend itself, it ran off with the market.

Then, when a series of bad accidents, leading up the the twin fatals at Knoxville led the WoO to mandate wings, they also jumped on the opportunity to label their cars & drivers the "newer", "faster", "better" racers. USAC tried to follow, but the fans in USAC's limited area didn't like them (showing their superior judgement, in my not very humble opinion), so they took the wings off, leaving us with the current situation, where they have been just another class of racers in a local area.

There are some positive signs these days. In spite of the fact that one would think that Pennsylvania would have all the sprint cars it needs, USAC has really expanded there. They seem to be moving into the area just west of Indiana also. Unfortunately, the West Coast seems to be going downhill, but I think that's all racing, not just non-wings.

As a result of all these things, I'm not surprised at Tim Clauson's statements, but times do change, so I'm optimistic that USAC's recent trend can continue, and we'll see better days ahead.

[WinglessLovers]

Originally Posted by Dirtfan Our tickets for Husets are purchased.

We are going to Husets but buying general admission only.


Bruce and Pat Eckel

[ThrowbackRacingTeam]

I like non-wing much better but whatever I like always gets discontinued or goes out of business so that’s not good. I’ve been to enough winged races and honestly don’t understand the draw of it other than speed.

[BrentTFunk]

I think if the Outlaws and All Stars are the only way you measure it that is true. In other ways I think wing racing is not growing. Look at car counts in Ohio and PA. They are not terrible, but they are not growing. I saw where Circle City had 10 410 wing cars the other night. Last year I went to an Outlaw race at Plymouth. Both me and my buddy thought that crowd was much older than what we normally see. I think the graying race fan is in all kinds of sprint racing.

[PJ Wright]

When I saw the title of this thread, I kind
of rolled my eyes and thought here we go again. Glad I was wrong! Lots of accurate and insightful points made!

[chrismattlin]

Originally Posted by Dick Monahan 1978 was the critical year. USAC was in the process of updating itself from the old days of the AAA method of operating in which it attempted to control all important racing in the same manner it had existed for many decades, worrying only about sanctioning races, leaving all promotion up to individuals of widely varying competence, each of whom only worried about his own local track(s).

I've always wondered what might have happened with USAC had those officials not mucked up the Marlboro series title sponsorship.

https://www.vintagesprintcars.com/20...that-got-away/

[Hubie48]

The economics of non wing racing has never made any sense to me. Some truly outstanding talent in terms of drivers and teams have come thru Non Wing Sprint car racing, Clauson included.

If I were a young driver or car owner without insane personal wealth, I am afraid I would have to look at Wing racing.

USAC has some GREAT talent right now! Swanson, Bacon, Seavey, Grant, Windom, Thomas Jr. They hold up six thousand dollar checks and smile while sitting on a 100k dollar race car! You don't have to go to an Ivy League School to question the math!