Thirty-three sprint cars recorded qualifying times during opening night of the Spring Nationals on Thursday, March 16. Since the 20-lap feature, which was won by local racer Norman Martin, paid only $350 to win, it did not meet the criteria for scoring World of Outlaws points.
This was also the case with the 20-lap prelim on Friday, March 17, in which Doug Wolfgang beat Steve Kinser to the checkered flag. Fifty-seven cars faced the clock in time trails that night, putting the total number of qualifiers for the weekend at 90.
With lineups determined by the results of the two preliminary programs, Saturday night’s racing action started with an E main and concluded with a 50-lap finale on the half-mile dirt track.
Here’s how veteran publicist Bill Hill started his race report that appeared in the March 22, 1978, issue of NSSN: “California’s Jimmy Boyd is at least $2,000 richer now as a result of his stunning victory Saturday night in the 50-lap closer of the Spring Nationals at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
“The pre-race talk centered around previous weekend winners Doug Wolfgang and Norman Martin as well as fastest qualifier Sammy Swindell, but when it was all over, it was Boyd and the Kenny Woodruff No. 21 firmly ensconced in victory circle.”
Boyd started third, passed Martin for the lead on lap 24 and beat Wolfgang to the checkered flag. Tom Corbin finished third.
Rounding out the feature finish were Swindell, Martin, Don Mack, Johnny Beaber, Mike Shaw, Leonard McCarl, Bob East, Lee Osborne, Gary Howard, Johnny Suggs, Charlie Swartz, Bob Hop, Hoyette Hodnett, Rickey Hood, Rick Ferkel, Gary Scott, Terry Gray, Steve Perry, Hooker Hood, Chuck Amati and Steve Kinser.
It’s interesting that Hill’s race report never mentioned the World of Outlaws. However, there was a short story alongside the results in NSSN confirming Boyd had taken the lead in the World of Outlaws point standings.
With virtually no fanfare, the first World of Outlaws race had been run.
While Johnson’s original concept seemed simple, his business model had multiple issues that were eventually resolved.
“They started out that any race that paid this much to win was an Outlaws show and that idea didn’t exactly work,” noted Swindell, who has 394 WoO victories and three series championships. “It went on like that for a little while, then it changed to a series of races.”
“Initially, I don’t think Ted was thinking ahead,” said Carson, whose Saturday night at Devil’s Bowl ended with a sixth-place finish in the B main. “When I put on my first Outlaws race in 1980, that was a sanctioned event at Oklahoma City. By then he had a contract, he had a sanction fee that we had to pay and he had a minimum purse that was going to have to be paid at your event.”
“Ted’s first year, if you go back and look at the records, there were a couple times when he ran two races on the same day, because his only requirement was that it paid $2,000 to win,” Guehler explained. “At that point, you had no way of knowing who was going to show up. The T-shirt caught on fairly quick, and Ted was a marketer. He sold the stink out of the series.
“The i’s weren’t always dotted and the t’s weren’t always crossed, but he got through the thing.
“There was more of a schedule for the second season, but with Ted schedules were always subject to change,” Guehler continued. “It is remarkable that it grew to what it did — almost in spite of itself at times.”
This story appeared in the March 22, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
