US Nats ? For You Older Guys

[Chuck Norton]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Another question. That is clearly a Wally in his hand, in that winners circle pic. Truman did not win Stock that year at the US Nats. So, in '77, did they also give a Wally to all the class winners, as well as the eliminator winners.

Earlier pics showed a completely different trophy for class winners.

In the first place, it should be recognized that there is a HUGE difference between a class win and an eliminator win and a corresponding difference between the sizes of the trophies for each. The eliminator trophy is at least twice as big as a class trophy and that doesn't begin to address the differences in payout as well as in earned prestige. In any given year, at any given event, there are literally dozens of class winners, each presented with a traditional small Wally. By contrast, there is only ONE eliminator winner trophy per category, per event and there is no mistaking the difference when they're placed side-by-side. Magazine write-ups and "For Sale" ads sometimes blur the distinction through the misleading usage of terminology such as "Indy Winner" to describe a class win at the U.S. Nationals even though some Class Winner trophies were presented to racers who were the only contestant in a given class. It should be remembered that there are usually seven rounds of sweat, blood, and tears between a class win and eliminator win.

The discussion regarding the timing of the change-over in trophies caused me to take another look at that issue. I have a picture of my car taken in 1975 following class eliminations in front of the "Winternationals" trophy backdrop that includes the car, me, and a "cup" trophy sitting on the ground beside the car. In spite of that, the trophy on my shelf with the tag identifying the 1975 Winternationals Class Winner is a small "Wally." The photography crew placed the "cup" beside the car for the picture but the trophy that I eventually received was the "new" design. It seems that I recall that there had been a late delivery of trophies following the change and they didn't appear for several days. That late delivery probably only occurred at the Winternationals that year but it demonstrates the point that things are not always as they seem.

c