Official
World of Outlaws Annual
1978
In 1977 Carl Hungness came up with the idea of an
annual book devoted to those traveling Sprint Car
drivers known only as Outlaws. They traversed the
nation from New York to California and ran in very
well attended although non-sanctioned races. Carl
noticed this unorganized group of journeymen was
attracting very significant crowds all across the
country and some of the events they attended were
among the most respected in all of Sprint Car racing.
Consequently, he published his first Outlaw Annual
in 1977 and it sold well. Soon thereafter one Ted
Johnson called and said, “Hey, you are stealing
my name. I own the “World of Outlaws”.
Carl informed Mr. Johnson of the copyright date
of the Outlaw book and Johnson agreed that yes,
in fact, Carl had actually come up with the book
and the idea long before Ted Johnson was on the
scene. Consequently, Hungness and Johnson struck
a deal whereby Carl was to publish an “Official”
World of Outlaws annual and did so for the 1978
season. This 48 page book takes you to Devil’s
Bowl, Eldora, Lima land, Ascot, West Capitol, Sedalia,
Kokomo, Bloomington, Knoxville, Oak shade, Warsaw,
Paragon, Colorado National, Lawton, Williams Grove,
Syracuse, Santa Clara, Manzanita, Sspeedway 117,
Mercer, Skagit, Lincoln. Of course it has dozens
of great photos from the era in addition to a race
report on every event. It is printed “landscape”
style, so it opens up to a full 17” wide.
Nowadays it is fun to look back at many of your
favorite Sprint Car stars and see what they looked
like with full heads of hair and skinny tummies.
Sorry, the original
Outlaw annual published in 1977 is sold out.
