Sprint Car Racing...Excitement on Dirt

Just about every city race track has seen major motor sports at one time. Stock car racing and demolition derbies have been major staples of county fairs across the country. Sprint car racing has also come to your town at some point in time. High-powered and designed to run on short oval or circular tracks - paved and dirt - sprint car racing is one of the most popular sports in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

Sprint cars are an open-wheel race car. They must weigh at least 1,375 pounds with the diver in the car. Methanol is what fuels these high speed racers, allowing them to reach their speeds of 140 miles per hour or more, depending on the type of track it is running on. They have a high power to weight ratio, meaning the larger the engine, the better the vehicle runs. 750 to 850 horsepower is very common for these cars which also makes them very dangerous to drive. Roll cages have been added to the cars, making them safer to drive and protecting the driver immensely. Other safety precautions, such as wings being added to the vehicle's frame, have also helped. Since they do not have a starter in them, the cars must be pushed in order to fire up the engine and allow the car to do in gear. It can only go in or out with the direct drive, and there is no reverse.

Non-Winged Sprint Cars

Sprint cars come in two styles: non-winged and winged. Non-winged sprint cars are actually rarer than their sibling winged cars, missing the trademark ‘wings' on the back that have becomes so common to see. Only a few sanctioning bodies can be found for non-winged cars, the United States Automobile Club being the premier series. Known know as the USAC/California Racing Association, non-winged cars are raced primarily on the west coast. The Silver Crown series based of Indiana has been hosted by the USAC since 1971. It started out as an off shoot of the National Championship Trial which includes the Indianapolis 500. If you should happen to go to a sprint car race that features ‘late model' cars, more than likely you will see non-winged cars.

Winged Sprint Cars

In an effort to help make sprint cars safer, drivers began to put ‘wings' on the front and top of their cars. This practice started in the early 1970's, all but pushing non-winged sprint cars to the background. The added ‘aluminum courage' as it is called by drivers, helped increase the down force (downward pressure) the car experienced. This allows the cars to get better traction and be able to take corners tighter as well improving the vehicles handling. It also helps keep the car from going airborne and flipping. If this should happen, the wing is usually one of the first pieces to break off as it absorbs the force of the impact. Drivers are thankful for their wings as they keep them from being thrown around and have their crews replace them during the race stoppage so they can get back on the track. It is not uncommon to even see wings on the vehicles nose!

World Of Outlaws

In 1978, Ted Johnson, a former midget racer, formed the World of Outlaws, the leading promotional force for winged sprint cars in the United States. Running on tracks in twenty-three different states, the series runs from March through November, visiting such famous speedways as Eldora Speedway in Ohio, Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania, and Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. The Knoxville Speedway is the home of the biggest sprint car race, the Knoxville Nationals. Racing for nearly $6 million in prize money, the season opens at the Volusia Speedway Park in Florida and ending at The Dirt Track located at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina. A complete schedule of races for the season can be found on the World of Outlaws website.

Do You Know These Names?

Sprint car racing has launched many careers in the motor sports world. It has been a major stepping stone for both IndyCar and NASCAR drivers. Some of the most famous racers who started out racing sprint cars include Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, P.J. Chasson, Sarah Fisher, and of course the current sprint car champion, Donny Schatz.