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

(Why not? It's the slow season.)

Is Sammy the last real outlaw left in sprint car racing?
-Racing since 1972 
-Racing with the WoO since 1978
-3 WoO championships
-4 WoO championship runner-up
-394 WoO wins (so far)
-25 Allstars wins (so far)
-41 (?) Knoxville Raceway feature wins (so far)
-Probably 350-400 career wins overall
-1 Knoxville Nationals win
-1 Knoxville Nationals 360 win
-3 King Royal wins
- Chilli Bowl championships (so far)
-Etc.

Is any sprint car from here on out going to be able to live up to that record? Or is Sammy the last living legend out there still racing as a true outlaw?

You forgot on stat.  Add how many cars he has punted during his career!!

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

Slow season isn't that slow!

So far ! Is that the same as saying If only.  Strawser you get my feathers ruffled when you yak about port and razor steve. But, I gotta tell you. You hit it right on the nail when sammy  ran me over and I got to take home a pile of scrap. 

To be honest, I chuckled evily when I wrote "so far".

So.. was Sammy lapping you the second or third time before you got in his way. One of these days you must let us know which posse superstar driver you were, I'm on pins and needles waiting to find out.

Never said I was a superstar asshole. I played the game for 7 yrs. Do I have a feature win no. Heat race victories, yes. Big deal.  I've lead under the white flag but my nuts got so big I couldn't get the throttle pedal down all the way. Happy new year to you. 

The definition of "Outlaw" as I always understood it was a driver who didn't mess with running for points or mess with sanctioning bodies.   Then the WoO was formed and people started using and abusing the word in racing.   I even remember "Outlaw" mini sprints in the eighties.  IMO the "true Outlaw" guys raced in the days just before Sammy started racing.  

If the question is "will we ever see another true 'outlaw' be as dominate?"-----then yes, we just witnessed it in 2020 with some kid from CA.  If the question is "will anyone match the career stats of Sammy as an 'outlaw'?"----then I would say many of Sammy's stats came when he wasn't a true outlaw as he was running the full-time WoO tour for many years.  As someone else stated, there haven't been a lot of true outlaws out there.  I know Sammy spent many years not chasing points so I guess with that in mind, he is likely the most successful driver in the last 20 years who was not chasing points----when taken as a whole.  Kyle just had the most successful 'outlaw' season in decades----IMO

I respect that He can still race and be competive.His accomplishments are many.He had a chance to be a Nascar star just didnt work out.Not many better as a mechanic driver and his son was every bit as good just had the misfortune that can happen racing.He will be one to watch at the Chili Bowl but the Kunz and Clausen teams will be favorites.In all sports that require more physical demands such as boxing .football,and all stick and ball games there comes a time when the legendary lose what made them legends and retire.Steve Kinser was the best but last few years better than 3/4 of field.Jac can still wheel one and in WOO late models Billy Moyer and a few others can still get it done.Different in staright line sports where you just basically put the throttle down.John Force is over 60+, But racing with aggresive people inches apart and the physical demands especially the Chili bowl are more suited for the younger crowd.I hope Sammy wins and shows us older boys that there is still hope

YOU forgot the "e" on "one"

Some other drivers that come to mind would be Danny Smith and Jac maybe. I'm not comparing resumes here to say which one is the most successful, but as far as is Sammy the last original Outlaw it would depend on how some other would be classified. I am not sure when Danny & Jac started, or if they were originals on the WoO tour, just two guys I know that have been racing for decades. Again, not comparing resumes just throwing two names that have had measures of success throughout 40+years of racing.

Same here.  I think of the last real outlaws as pre 1978 drivers who traveled the country pulling cars on open trailers looking for races to drop in on and steal the loot.  Ted organized them and many of those vagabonds ran the new deal because it paid well.  Drivers like Steve, Sammy and Wolfgang were already chasing the money races.  Once the Outlaws came along and they got some commitments they could include the drivers in advertising races, something they couldnt do when it was hit or miss who was going to show up.

Today pretty much every big race runs under some sanctions rules.  Some drivers run locally and don't chase points so they might run WoO one week, All Stars the next and a weekly show on their way to the next race.  I don't think of that as the same as it was in the 70's pre WoO.  Today everything costs so much that the antics those characters pulled in the 70's would cost them their rides In today's world.  Racers of the pre Outlaws 70's were notorious for their rock star like antics.

This concept of true Outlaws is kind of a stretch for those of us who were around before that term became popular.  Racers were just racers trying make a living just like they are today before imaginative writers romanticized what in reality was a tough way to make a living.  

Stan Meissner

Sammy who?

Those who "can"..."do"...

Those who "can't"..."critique"...

Member of this message board since 1997

Depends on your definition of "outlaw"

Larson ran all sorts of different cars & sanctions & kicked ass, right?

Seems to me that qualifies him with flying colors....

Christopher Bell is the new outlaw, ran the Tulsa shoot out, will be a favorite next week at the chilli bowl, on occassion he gets in a all star or WoO race. I think he will be a favorite at bristol this year. Kid can get it done on dirt.

In 2020 Larson was the freaking outlaw of outlaws and there's no one else even close.

midgets

All Stars

late models

WoO

USAC SILVER CROWN

it was ridiculous 

My definition is historically accurate.  Kyle Larson's "please let me back in NASCAR" tour was a far cry from pre 1978 barnstormers.  If we want to redefine the term and apply it to today where traveling racers can order cookie cutter parts, haul portable shops around in 18 wheelers, stay in the best motels and wake up sober and ready to put on their corporate images for the next interview then we are talking about two different things.  

Stan Meissner

I find it amusing that the Sammy haters are so quick to comment on anything about him.