World of Outlaws

Sprint car specifications

A World of Outlaws Sprint Car is a purpose-built, open-wheel race car that must weigh at least 1,400 pounds with the driver in the car. The 410-cubic inch engine produces over 900 horsepower and uses methanol fuel. All teams use tires from Hoosier, but unlike most series with specification tires, Hoosier and the World of Outlaws designate legal compounds for a circuit among different compounds available to competitors, as each circuit differs in which type of compound works for a circuit. Hoosier will reject certain compounds at certain circuits because of the nature of the surface each night. The series' cars have a large top wing with sideboards that face opposite direction to help produce a great amount of downforce to plant the car on the track and help the car turn and maximize grip, both in the corners and on the straightaways. All racecars must weigh a minimum of 1400 pounds with a driver fully prepared to compete in the car throughout an entire event. The cars also have smaller nose wings.^[6]

Sprint cars use quick change rear ends. This allows the teams to quickly change the gear ratio for different size tracks. Most cars use a torsion bar suspension system. Different size bars either soften or stiffen the suspension. Torsion bars, and specialty shock absorbers are the key ingredients in the handling of sprint cars. That coupled with the wings, tire stagger, light weight, and enormous horsepower make these cars one of the fastest race cars in the world using a horsepower-to-weight ratio. The monstrous power-to-weight ratios of Sprint Cars can exceed that of Formula 1 cars.

Sprint Cars have a very distinct stance since they have two very different sized rear tires. The right rear tire on a sprint car is 105 inches in circumference. In contrast, the left rear tire is only between 90 and 98 inches in circumference, depending on the track size and conditions. The difference in the tire sizes is called stagger and the more stagger the car has, the easier it turns into the corner, but at the expense of straight line speed.^[6]

Sprint Cars do not have starters in them, so push trucks are used to fire the engines. Sprint Cars only have an in/out direct drive, no reverse gear and no clutch. ^[6]

Typical race night program

1. Wheel pack

2. Hot laps (practice laps)

3. Time trials (time trials or qualifying, usually two laps with the fastest lap being the qualifying time)

4. Heat races (set based on qualifying time)

5. Craftsman Club Dash (sets the top three or four rows of the fastest cars for the A-main)

6. Last Chance Showdown (B-Main, C-Main or D-Main depending on car count)

7. Feature (A-Main, which can be anywhere from 25 to 55 laps)

Past champions

Source:^[3]

Top 25 all-time A-Feature winners

Note: Includes all full-field preliminary race wins. Those with a yellow background indicates Knoxville National winners. Updated September 22, 2018.^[10]

Popular events

Here is a list of top paying and more popular race events each year. Most are two days or more.

Final night features are usually based on points earned on the previous night's races.

An asterisk marks single-day events where the entire program is run on one day.

Notable drivers who have raced with the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Series