The fast track Sprint-car racing series pulls ahead on business savvy

PLANO - Tell Ted Johnson that he's the Bill France of his sport, and he'll take it as the sincerest form of flattery.<br><br>Since founding the Plano-based World of Outlaws in 1978, Mr. Johnson

Monday, April 3rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PLANO - Tell Ted Johnson that he's the Bill France of his sport, and he'll take it as the sincerest form of flattery.

Since founding the Plano-based World of Outlaws in 1978, Mr. Johnson has built it into the world's fourth-largest racing series, and attendance rose from 1.1 million in 1990 to almost 1.8 million last year.

In doing so, Mr. Johnson has imitated - on a smaller scale - the legendary France family. Mr. France took over NASCAR from his father in 1972 and turned it into America's fastest-growing spectator sport, commanding hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsor support and television money.

"I took some pages from NASCAR," Mr. Johnson said. "And why not? They're very successful."

For years, World of Outlaws sprint-car races were held on quarter- to half-mile dirt tracks such as the Devil's Bowl in Mesquite.

On Thursday and Friday, the series takes its biggest stage in North Texas. Fort Worth's Texas Motor Speedway hosts the World of Outlaws' Southern Bleachers Classic - the first event on its new dirt track.

The Pennzoil World of Outlaws features odd-looking contraptions with 25-square-foot wings that scoot around the oval at up to 160 mph.

The races are short, usually less than 40 laps, providing fans with bursts of intense action.

The World of Outlaws name traces back to the early days of sprint-car racing, when drivers were gypsies, with no rules governing where, when or how they competed. Thus they were dubbed "outlaws."

Mr. Johnson brought order to the sport, establishing a basic set of rules, a calendar of events and the sport's first corporate sponsorships.

"They're a 25-year overnight sensation," said Eddie Gossage, general manager at Texas Motor Speedway.

The World of Outlaws imitates the National Association for Stock Car Racing in another way: It's the private fiefdom of its creator. Mr. Johnson, a former midget-car racer from Madison, Wis., runs the World of Outlaws as he sees fit, wielding the kind of power that Mr. France had for decades.

"A lot of people call us dictators," Mr. Johnson said. "We don't have a board to answer to. We do what we feel is best for the sport."

Business boon

On the business side, the mid- to late 1990s have been the best of times for the World of Outlaws. Five years ago, Mr. Johnson gave the sport its biggest boost by establishing a television partnership with TNN, a subsidiary of CBS-TV.

"The World of Outlaws is an exciting form of motor sports, one that has the potential for tremendous growth," said TNN president David Hall.

Regular television exposure, including 15 live telecasts this year, helped Mr. Johnson recruit eight big-name corporate partners: from credit card company MBNA America to oil producer Pennzoil Products Co., title sponsor since 1997. Mr. Johnson says three new companies are coming on board this year: Circuit City, Fleetwood homes and Coca-Cola.

"My pitch is we have television, our fans are loyal, we're grass-roots and we race hard," Mr. Johnson said.

Yet the sport is still affordable for competitors. A NASCAR Winston Cup race team costs more than $10 million a year. By contrast, a World of Outlaws team can compete with $500,000.

"You can make money as an owner - if you run well," Mr. Johnson said.

And the series isn't a budget buster for World of Outlaws sponsors. "We're able to get our message out at a reasonable cost," said John Strizzi, marketing manager for Channel Lock Inc., a hand-tool company in Meadville, Pa., that sponsors a World of Outlaws race and driver Sammy Swindell.

If anyone in the sport resents Mr. Johnson's control, they're not saying. Track owners are getting bigger paydays from a growing fan base, and drivers are making more money than ever.

Last year's champion Mark Kinser, earned $499,775 in prize money - not counting bonuses provided by World of Outlaws and sponsors. This year, the payout will exceed $10 million, five times higher than a decade ago.

"Ted is a real bright guy who runs the sport like it's the old family business," Mr. Gossage said. "He pleases everybody: the sponsors, the competitors, the race tracks and the fans."

The Texas Motor Speedway, which is also hosting Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup event, carved its new 13,000-seat dirt track out of a parking lot.

"These types of facilities are what we need now," said Steve Kinser, Mark's brother and winner of $299,830 last year in World of Outlaws racing. "We outgrew some of the facilities we've been racing in."

Advance ticket sales prompted Texas Motor Speedway to add temporary grandstands, raising the seating capacity to 16,000 for the racetrack's first World of Outlaws race. "We're trying to find ways to handle the overflow crowd," Mr. Gossage said.

Tracking expenses

The two-night event at the speedway is part of the latest business coup for the World of Outlaws: a budding relationship with one of the biggest companies in the racing industry. Speedway Motorsports Inc., the Charlotte-based parent of the Fort Worth track, has added small dirt ovals at its facilities in Las Vegas, Bristol, Tenn., and Charlotte, N.C.

"Four of our tracks will run World of Outlaws events in 2000," Mr. Gossage said. "From our perspective, it's a relatively inexpensive show."

Mr. Johnson won't disclose the details of the World of Outlaws' finances, saying only that revenue is "in the mid-seven figures." Money comes in from sponsors, sanctioning fees from tracks and sales of concessions and souvenirs.

On the expense side of the ledger, the largest item is money paid out to the racers at the 65 World of Outlaws events that are held each year.

Other expenses include the Plano office, with a staff of seven, and the road crew that handles the races.

"We run it as a business," Mr. Johnson said. "We're here to make as much money as we can."

Expansion

Like many entrepreneurs, Mr. Johnson wants growth: larger crowds, new sponsors, better facilities and better competitors with more prize money. The World of Outlaws and its television partners are discussing moving a few races from TNN to CBS.

A second series of races, designed to develop younger drivers, will debut this year.

Mr. Johnson envisions a $1 million World of Outlaws event by 2002.

The series' headline event, held in August at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa, will pay out $700,000 this year.

The four Speedway Motorsports dirt tracks aren't the only new or upgraded facilities for World of Outlaws races. Houston Raceway Park will open this year. By 2002, there will be seven more new tracks, Mr. Johnson said.

At the same time, existing facilities are being refurbished. Eagle Raceway outside Lincoln, Neb., expanded seating capacity, paved the pit area and added luxury suites.

"As these new plants are being built, they're going to bring bigger crowds," Mr. Johnson said. "These new tracks have forced the older tracks to keep up. If they want to play the game, they have to do it. If they don't, they know I'll drop them."

It's not an idle threat. The World of Outlaws dropped a dozen tracks in the last year, including Battlegrounds Speedway in Houston and Dixie Speedway near Atlanta.

Mr. Johnson's big-stick approach produced results over the years, but Mr. Gossage, for one, wonders whether the World of Outlaws can continue to grow as a one-man show.

"You can't run it like that forever," he said. "The tough thing is finding good, tough, competent people. I've had to go outside the auto-racing industry. That's going to be a challenge for them."