Concord, NC —

Catching Up With…..Rick Ferkel (The Ohio Traveler)

Rick Ferkel was considered an Outlaw long before the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series was formed in 1978. Beginning in the late 1960’s, the native of Tiffin, Ohio hit the road and barnstormed from coast-to-coast chasing high paying events. This earned him the nickname “The Ohio Traveler” which stuck with him his entire career.

Ferkel, who usually piloted a car with the number 0 on it, won 18 A-Feature events with the World of Outlaws over the years and countless sprint car races from coast-to-coast. He won eight times with the series in the inaugural 1978 campaign, including his first series win at the famed Eldora Speedway in his home state of Ohio. He was also victorious in the Eldora Nationals in 1978, which paid a very healthy $5,000 to-win.

In addition, the 1978 season saw him earn wins with the World of Outlaws at: Limaland Motorsports Park in Ohio, Calistoga Speedway in California, West Capital Raceway in California, and Sedalia State Fair Speedway in Missouri. He finished the 1978 season, just 54 points behind Steve Kinser, who won the series inaugural title.

In 1979, Ferkel finished third in points with the series and followed that up with a seventh-place finish in 1980. The next two years, he was fifth in points, picking up wins along the way at 13 different tracks across the country.

Ferkel was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa in 1995.

Ferkel is still involved in sprint car racing, as a car owner and he currently fields a car with the All Star Circuit of Champions for multi-time World of Outlaws winner Paul McMahan.

Thoughts on the first World of Outlaws race at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in 1978: “The thing I remember most was the cars that were there from all over the United States. I couldn’t believe it. There were guys there from Pennsylvania and California and all over. It was amazing how word of mouth spread so fast. There was no publicity at that time. Lanny (Edwards) always had the Spring Nationals down there at Devil’s Bowl. Lanny wasn’t contacted and nobody was, that’s just the way it was. Ted (Johnson) was just going to keep track of who won and finishing position and the guys who won most money would be the “King of the Outlaws.” At that time, it didn’t even have a name.”

Thoughts on Sprint Car Racing Prior to the World of Outlaws formation: “It was dictated by who won the most money each year and that person was the “King of the Outlaws. There was always some controversy, as to was it Doug Wolfgang or Rick Ferkel or Bobby Allen. There needed to be a way to determine this, because we didn’t have points back then. A race would not “Count” unless it was a $2,000 or more to win race back then.”

Thoughts on Ted Johnson, Founder of the World of Outlaws: “Ted was a lot sharper than people thought. There wasn’t even a schedule at first. I think it was at the second race at Eldora that was $2,000 to win, that he had already copyrighted the name ‘World of Outlaws.’ There were a couple of other guys that were going to horn in on the deal and Ted had already copyrighted the name. There were a couple of pretty sharp promoters that realized this would be a good thing, but Ted already had the name World of Outlaws.”

Thoughts on Races from the 1978 season: “The ones that we didn’t win probably stick out the most. We were pretty quick at that time and we had an advantage, but we had a lot of mechanical problems. We were never really a high-buck team and we did most of the work ourselves. There were so many races when we would have a straightaway lead and break. At one time at Eldora, we lapped the field. I’m not bragging, but at that time we were pretty quick.”

Thoughts on racing for wins: “We never thought about points, because we never had raced for them. I never realized how tough it would be win the World of Outlaws title. Looking back, you think about how you could have done things different, but it doesn’t matter now, it’s just what it was.”

Thoughts on being an ‘Outlaw’ long before the World of Outlaws: “We probably ran close to 125 times a year. We would go coast-to-coast three times. We had station wagons and pick-up trucks and never thought anything of it. That was our job and we were young then, so it didn’t bother us. That was our jobs and we just wanted to race. Before the World of Outlaws started, we all subscribed to National Speed News and found the races that paid a lot of money and we went to those. Anything that paid a $1,000 or more, we would be there. At that time most of the place paid $500 or $300 to win, so a $1,000 was a big show. The big shows back then, probably about half of them were 100 laps, the ones that paid $1,000 or more. They were all at least 50 laps. Things were definitely different then. ”

Thoughts on the challenges of the inaugural 1978 World of Outlaws season: “I think Ted (Johnson) probably had the biggest challenge, scheduling the races and getting guys to accept it when he was going to form a series out of it. It was hard to get promoters to buy into. It was hard to get followers as well. Guys just didn’t think much about traveling at that time. It was hard to get a contingent of guys that you could say were going to be there at a race on such and such a date. The challenge was mostly on Ted. Racers are just racers and we go where there is a place to race.”

Thoughts on the differences in sprint car racing over the last 30 years: “The biggest thing is the money you have to spend. The motors and the tow rigs are the biggest thing. The tow rigs now are just unbelievable. Actually with the chassis and things like that, they really haven’t changed all that much. You hear about the weight, we had light cars back then. You talk about technology and you here some of the stuff the guys are experimenting with, I just kind of chuckle to myself, because we were trying stuff like that 20 years ago. It’s interesting to hear the kinds of things that drivers are trying.”