Editor’s Note: In a nod to our 92 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 20, 40 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.
20 Years Ago — 2006
News: Ted Johnson and the World of Outlaws.
It’s pretty hard to say one without at least thinking of the other. That’s as much a tribute to the man as it is to the racing series he created.
Johnson dedicated his life to sprint car racing, taking the sport to heights not previously imagined. He assembled the greatest collection of sprint car drivers and helped them enjoy careers entertaining fans across the United States and around the world.
Through the World of Outlaws, Johnson impacted thousands of sprint car racers and created national heroes out of the best of the best during the past 30 years.
On Friday night in Texas, Johnson, 72, lost his hard-fought battle with cancer.
Born Feb. 5, 1934, in Beloit, Wis., Johnson developed a passion for motorsports early in his childhood as he watched his father race motorcycles.
Johnson, who briefly drove a midget before settling into a career as a china salesman, never could shake the racing bug, and in 1978 he unveiled the World of Outlaws, a collection of the biggest names in sprint car racing who traveled around the country challenging local racers.
The series drew huge crowds and attracted national television audiences and major sponsorship, all while competing nearly 100 times a year, with Johnson calling the shots every step of the way.
He continued to operate the series until selling it in the 2024 to DIRT Motorsports. Even then Johnson found himself involved with the World of Outlaws as a consultant.
Winners: A French revolution swept through Australia’s Gold Coast on Sunday as Nelson Philippe scored his first Champ Car victory and countryman Sebastien Bourdais locked up his third consecutive championship.
The Lexmark Indy 300 always features its share of surprises and the 2006 edition was no different.
In winning by .728 seconds over Mario Dominguez, Philippe was perhaps the only contender in the 17-car field who completed the 59-lap race without incident. He earned the first win for CTE Racing since Ryan Hunter-Reay claimed the laurels at Milwaukee in 2004, and 20 years and 3 months, Philippe became the youngest driver in history to win a Champ Car race, supplanting Scott Dixon.
“When I got out of the car, I literally had no words, and I didn’t know what to say,” said Philippe. “It was an amazing day, and the guys in the pits did a great job.”
40 Years Ago — 1986
News: Former Camel GT driving champion and present Indianapolis rookie of the year Randy Lanier has been charged along with 11 other people with conspiring to import more than 100,000 lbs. of marijuana into South Florida between September of 1983 and June of 1985.
Lanier was freed on a $100,000 bond when he appeared in U.S. District Court, Oct. 15, in the case which federal officials said netted the smuggling ring an estimated $30 million.
According to informed sources, the charges stem from an on-going investigation of illegal drug activity in South Florida; an investigation which saw Lanier’s teammate Bill Whittington, from his 1984 Camel title season, plead guilty to similar marijuana smuggling charges last spring.
That case, which also involved Whittington’s brother Don and another man, is scheduled to be resolved late next month.
The two Whittington brothers had negotiated a plea-bargain agreement which saw them pay a multi-million dollar fine and agree to serve pris-on terms (24 months for Don, five years minimum for Bill), but problems with the deal have led federal prosecutors to order them to trial.
However, the expectation Is that a modified arrangement will be worked out between the parties prior to their next court appearance.
A close Whittington associate and employee, Marty Hinze, who was named from the witness stand during the earlier Whittington proceedings as a go-between for the. brothers in their smuggling operation, also appeared in District Court here in Ft. Lauderdale on Oct. 14 and pleaded guilty to four counts of an eight count drug indictment. He will be sentenced Nov. 21.
Hinze pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to import marijuana, two counts of falsifying his tax returns, and one final count of conspiring to falsify a tax return. Like the Whittingtons and Lanier, Hinze has been an active driver on the Camel GT tour.
Winners: He’s won critical acclaim but little else the last three years for his minor role as “team player” in the high-speed production rehearsed in Ingle Hollow and acted in outdoor theatres across the country.
Neil Bonnett has spoken very few lines since he was made a member of the cast by Junior Johnson three years ago. The choice parts always seemed to fall to teammate Darrell Waltrip.
Both drivers will end their association with the Wilkes Country car owner at the completion of the Winston Cup season.
For a driver who had built a solid reputation, along with a career 15-win record dating back to 1972, Bonnett has taken a backseat to Waltrip.
Darrell this, Darrell that. Neil who? He’s best identified, with the Allison brothers, as a partner in the “Alabama Gang.” Bonnett may be known as one of Junior’s boys, but in public, Waltrip always appeared to be the favorite son.
Since Bonnett signed on in 1984, Waltrip has been to victory lane 13 times, won the 1985 championship and always seems to be in contention for another.
Prior to Sunday’s 500-mile race at North Carolina Motor Speedway, Bonnett had won just twice in that span-here and at North Wilkesboro, in the spring of 1985. The Hueytown, Ala. driver was in the midst of 46-race streak without a victory.
60 Years Ago— 1966
News: Veteran auto racing promoter J.C. Agajanian and Henry Banks, director of competition for USAC, suffered slight injuries Thursday night when Aggie’s 1966 Cadillac convertible turned over on his way to the USAC midget race at Reno (Nev.) Raceway.
Aggie had been to the track in the late afternoon, taking Ronnie Allyn, Bill Hill, Donald Davidson and Banks from the airport to the speedway.
He and Banks returned to Reno for dinner, and on the way back to the track, they missed the final tum on the gravel road leading to the speedway. They went off an embankment and rolled once, landing upside down.
Agajanian was trapped by his seat belt, upside down and had to have the belt cut off to escape.
Banks was jammed down in the seat by the top of the car.
Banks was taken to the hospital and underwent a five-hour checkup. His neck and back were put in a brace, but he was otherwise unhurt.
Winners: There was joy everywhere after Sunday’s “Golden State 100” at the California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento as Dick Atkins, driving a car owned by the race promoter won the first championship race of his career and Mario Andretti, though knocked out or what appeared to be sure victory by mechanical
troubles, clinched his second straight national championship, and promoter J.C. Agajanian,
nursing aches and pains from an auto rollover three days earlier, smiled as a sellout crowd jammed the grandstands at the state fairgrounds one-mile track for the event.
Atkins took his first championship car ride just one year ago in this race, and in the ensuing year the curly-haired ace made the transition from rookie to winner.
With the track in the best condition in memory, the fans saw one of the finest dirt-track events ever offered in the west. A four-way battle for the lead prevailed most of the way and a dramatic finish kep fans on hand to the very end.
Chuck Hulse took second with Larry Dickson third. Don Branson, who for the third time set fast time for the event, was fourth after a pit stop for a tire and Bobby Unser placed fifth after a visit for rubber.
