Ted Johnson ... Born ... He briefly drove a midget in his early years 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 that traveled around the country trying to swipe purses from local competitors. The series drew huge crowds, 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.
Harold Kite drove a 1949 Lincoln to victory in the 200-mile NASCAR Grand National race on the Daytona beach and road course. Kite, a former tank driver in the Army, took the lead when defending GN champ "Red" Byron pitted on lap 25 to repair gear shift problems. Kite was unchallenged for the remaining 23 laps, taking the checkered flag 53 seconds ahead of Byron's Olds 88. Byron had fallen to 7th after the pit stop and charged back to take 2nd from Lloyd Moore on the final lap. East Point, Georgia's Kite averaged 89.894 mph on the 4.1 mile beach & road course. Joe Littlejohn's Olds 88 won the pole at a speed of 98.84 mph.
Jan Opperman won the second event of the Winternational Sprint Car series at the Florida State Fairgrounds, Tampa, FL. Bob Kinser finished second followed by Billy Cassella, Jerry Blundy, Bill Utz, Roger Rager, Ralph Parkinson Jr. and Chuck Amati.
Cecil (Sam) Sommers won the 40-lap NASCAR Late Model Sportsman race over DeWayne (Tiny) Lund at the Jacksonville Speedway, Jacksonville, FL.
Ken Nichols won the 25-lap Bay Cities Racing Association indoor Midget race over Chuck Gurney at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa, CA.
Sammy Swindell won the 50-lap James McElreath Memorial race on the heavily oiled 1/2 mile Volusia County Speedway, Barberville, FL. George Harbour finished second followed by Ricky Hood, Barry Camp, Lee Osborne, Rick Ferkel, Allen Barr, Jack Crawford and Bobby Allen.
Doug Wolfgang won the 50-lap Southern Sprint Car Nationals afternoon race at the East Bay Speedway, Gibsonton, FL. Dick Tobias finished second followed by Tom Corbin, Leland McSpadden, Junior Parkinson, Bobby Allen, Mike Brooks, Bobby Kinser, Gary Scott and Cliff Cockrum.
Rocky Hodges won the All Star Preliminary feature for the 10th Annual Sprint Car Nationals race at the East Bay Speedway, Gibsonton, FL. ( Click here for the race report. )
Bobby Davis Jr. won the All Star Preliminary feature for the 11th Annual Sprint Car Nationals race at the Florida National Speedway, Tampa, FL. ( Click here for the race report. )
Mark Kinser won the World of Outlaws Sprint Car race at the Florida State Fairgrounds Speedway, Tampa, FL. Bobby Davis Jr. was second followed by Steve Kinser, Doug Wolfgang, Brad Doty, Dave Blaney, Danny Smith, Steve Stambaugh, Ron Shuman and Kenny Jacobs.
Jimmy Sills won the All Star Sprint Car race at the Volusia County Speedway, Barberville, FL. Rick Ungar was second followed by Rod George, Rodney Duncan, Danny Lasoski, Kevin Briscoe, Mark Keegan, Frankie Kerr, Johnny Mackison Jr. and Paul Lotier.
Frankie Kerr won the American Midget Racing feature race at the Volusia County Speedway, Barberville, FL. John Heydenreich was second followed by J.R. Booth, Kevin Olson and Sam Isenhower.
Ted Musgrave won the stock car portion race of the Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic at the Phoenix International Raceway, Phoenix, AZ.
Bob Wollek along with co-drivers Derek Bell and John Andretti won the SunBank Daytona 24-Hour race at the Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL.
Stevie Smith, driving the Zemco #1, won the O'Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car race at the Volusia Speedway Park, Barberville, FL. Craig Dollansky was second followed by Joey Saldana, Jason Meyers, Steve Kinser, Daryn Pittman, Greg Hodnett, Cody Darrah, Chad Kemenah and Jac Haudenschild.
Josh Richards won the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race at the East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, FL.
Austin Dillon, grandson of Richard Childress, won the UMP DIRTcar Modified race over Kenny Schrader at the Volusia Speedway Park, Barberville, FL.
Brad Sweet won the 2021 opening World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series 30-lap feature at the Volusia Speedway Park, Barberville, FL Logan Schuchart was second followed by Donny Schatz, David Gravel and Carson Macedo. Click to watch the video.
ONE DAY
To report wrong information, click here to send E-Mail to webmaster@wheelsofspeed.com 
Back to the Wheels of Speed home page