The World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car Series was founded in 1978 by Ted Johnson, a former midget racer from Madison, Wisconsin. Before Johnson established the series, American sprint car racing lacked a true national touring framework — regional clubs ran independent events with inconsistent rules and no unified points championship. Johnson created the sanctioning body, set a national schedule, standardised the technical regulations, and introduced a points system to crown an annual champion.
In 2003, Johnson sold the organisation to Boundless Motor Sports Racing, which eventually became the World Racing Group (WRG). The series is currently branded as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, with NOS Energy Drink as title sponsor since 2019. Races air on CBS Sports Network and MAVTV.
The cars are 410-cubic-inch (6.7-litre) winged sprint cars producing over 900 horsepower running on methanol fuel. They must weigh at least 1,425 pounds (646 kg) including the driver. The defining visual feature is a large adjustable top-mounted wing — the primary aerodynamic device — plus smaller nose wings. These wings generate significant downforce on dirt surfaces and allow teams to tune handling balance by adjusting the wing angle during caution periods.
The combination of a light chassis, massive power, a locked rear axle, and zero traction control produces driving styles involving large sustained slides and near-constant throttle-steering corrections — one of the most technically demanding driving disciplines in American motorsport.
The series has produced some of the most decorated careers in American open-wheel racing:
Steve Kinser: 20-time World of Outlaws champion with 690 career victories — the most dominant driver in series history and widely considered the greatest sprint car racer of all time.
Donny Schatz: 10-time champion with 316 career wins, the dominant force from the mid-2000s through the 2010s.
Brad Sweet: 5-time champion, most recently in 2023.
David Gravel: 2025 series champion.
The World of Outlaws runs a national touring schedule of approximately 70–90 events per season at dirt ovals across the United States. Tracks vary from small quarter-mile bull-rings to larger half-mile and mile ovals. The series does not race at one fixed home circuit — its identity is built around continuous travel and competition at different venues each week throughout the season.
Dirt sprint car racing is represented in [[iracing|iRacing]] and other simulation platforms. The 410 winged sprint car's extreme throttle-oversteer handling, high-banked dirt oval dynamics, and side-by-side passing on loose surfaces have made it a distinctive and sought-after simulation discipline, distinct from the handling models of tarmac open-wheel or touring car racing.
[[iracing|iRacing]] — platform hosting dirt sprint car simulation including World of Outlaws content
[[dirt-oval-racing|Dirt Oval Racing]] — the broader discipline context for sprint car competition
[[nascar|NASCAR]] — major US motorsport series sharing some WoO venue overlaps
[[knoxville-raceway|Knoxville Raceway]] — Iowa half-mile and spiritual home of sprint car racing
[[sprint-car-racing|Sprint Car Racing]] — the vehicle category and discipline origin