Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

This is just kind of a wide-ranging, random question...but I've always wondered if there's a story behind what numbers the drivers or car owners use.  

I was told, for instance, that Kevin Swindell uses "39" because it was on a video game he played as a kid, adn it just kind of stuck.

And, I'm assuming Smoke uses "14" in honor of AJ.  

Anyone have stories about other drivers or car owners, and why they chose the numbers they chose?

Thanks in advance!

Many numbers for a great deal of drivers has been a number that at one time a family member used. We used my father's number from when he was a car owner. You are correct about Tony stewart, he actually called  Foyt for his  ok to use the number 14.

One strange thing is that you will find many more cars use a number under 50 than over.   Sometimes at a big event like the Knoxville Nationals or Chili Bowl you will find nearly 2/3 of the cars with a number under 50.

Also noticed over they years that late model drivers tend to carry their number along as they change rides, where with sprint cars the numbers tend to more stay with the owner.

A favorite local racer of mine growing up used 62.  The first year he raced, he used 1.  He said that was "too much of a target" so he switched to 62 because his first car was as 1962 chevy.

I believe Sheldon Haudenschild chose 93 because if it was his birth year.

Schatz?  
Kinser?

Sammy?

Sweet? wasnt he 49 before he came to KKR?

and I am guessing Pittman is 9 because that was Kahne's first nascar number?

Any ideas on some of those others?

Was it Wiener??

A guy that used to race around the Sioux Falls, SD area raced number 42 , it represented the age at which he drove a sprint car for the first time.

     Was that Kevin Flowers? I think Gary Zitterich was #29 for the same reason.

     When I was a kid it seemed like all the double digits were popular- 11,22,33,44, etc

    It seems like *lucky* #7 used to be one of the more popular numbers used, right behind everyone wanting to be #1.

     The oddballs to me where "X",  "0",  "00"  and  "$1.98"

     A wider question- If you started racing tommorrow, what number would you pick and why?


     I'd go with 25d, the number of Daryl Dawley who was died in a crash at Knoxville in 1979

My all time favorite number......#25.....on the car of my all time favorite driver.....Daryl Dawley.  He had many fans who will never forget him! The chapter in Wolfgang's Lone Wolf about Daryl is my favorite chapter.

I know a guy who won $37.5 million playing the Illinois Lottery.  He didn't drive but funded (or owned?) a modified and it was number 37.5

Legend has it Ferkel ultimately chose  0 because it was the amount of money he won his first season in a sprint car.

My favorite would be #25 for Daryl Dawley. This guy worked a day job fixing transmissions and raced like hell on a limited budget, and did well. Not to mentioed he gave Wolfgang his start , and I'm pretty sure Wolfgang though Daryl was pretty cool..

Im not too famous of a racer but my brothers and i started with 50 cause dad and his freinds raced the five-oh as kids. Then we got a second car and it was 35 cause our business and of course main sponsor was hwy 35 machine shop. The 3rd car as 11 cause its the same number upside down. My bro was assigned 20 from the track in Lethbridge and he hates it so when he moved back to Sask he changed it to 02 in spite. Ya. Im syre there is a story behind every number.

Good question / thread

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

I can't remember exactly who it was, but they chose the number 4 because they knew that they'd probaly tear up a few wings and cars the first couple of years and it would be easy to tape a 4 on a new wing or tail tank.

As a kid growing up in PA, I always wondered the origins of the 77 Hamilton, 29 Weikert, 880 Morral, 461 Dyer.

Drock.

I don't know if we are talking about the same "Wiener" ... the Wiener i grew up watching was 98 or 77 I think!  EWSC racing.

Funny...I love the idea of using 11 "because it's the same number upside down" -- perfect logic for a sprint car!

      Yeah! That would be my all time favorite driver as well. I didn't get to see him race much before he was killed but he was an awesome racer. I lived in Rapid City, SD at the other end of the state from Sioux Falls where Daryl lived and raced. In 1978 the owners of Black Hills Speedway had a bonus points program for the spints that brough a lot of the Sioux Falls guys over on every other Friday night- a 360 mile one way road trip with 55 mph speed limits!

     When Daryl raced at BHS, the locals had to pick up their game as he was there to give lessons!