What is the typical Outlaw 10.5 purse with ORSCA, and what will the points race pay?

Fenn: The typical Outlaw purse is $7,500 to $10,000 to win, and the total purse is about $24,000 to $26,000. Now, you take another $8,000 to $10,000 to run a track for a weekend, and there’s your $40,000 pretty quick. For the championship, we’ve got $20,000 that comes from a fee that if ORSCA did a race, the track pays in a thousand and we pay in a thousand. Or if we rented a track on our own, whether we made money or not, we had to pay $2,000 to the points fund. And with 10 races, there’s your $20,000, and we’re actively seeking sponsorship to help with the trophies and the awards banquet. But I made a commitment to myself this year that we are going to do all this, even if I have to take out a second mortgage to make it.

Has ORSCA attracted attention from other tracks or promoters around the country?

Fenn: Oh yeah, I can give you a perfect example. Out in Texas I talk to a lot of the guys that race out there and track owners, and the King of the Hill there, they used to be a big tire and a 10-inch class, but this year they voted to go strictly to a 10-inch tire class and conform more to what we’re doing here. I don’t think it was real popular at the start, but at their races out there, car counts have come up and spectator counts have come up, so that proves it’s a successful idea. Track owners call me from all over the country. I had one call me last Friday from Jacksonville, and I had another one call me from West Virginia, and that was just last week. They want to know, how can we get these Outlaw cars to our tracks and eventually the path leads back to ORSCA. We’ve got an organized deal and if we tell you, “On May the 15th we’re going to bring an Outlaw race there,” you can count on it. We can bring the cars, set it up, run the tower, run the starting line, I mean, we come with a whole package deal. We can hand 10 grand to a track owner and let him enjoy the day if he wants us to.

Is that something you’d prefer, renting the track instead of co-promoting with the track operator?

Fenn: Yeah, I think that’s the future for our organization. Now, there are tracks like Carolina Dragway, Huntsville, and a couple others, where I’m perfectly happy with our situation. Those guys allow me to come in and do it the way I think is the right way. And the reason for that is it just takes away any confusion of, “Well, that’s not the way we normally do things at our track.” It goes back to the idea that creatures of habit work a lot quicker, faster, and better than people who are someplace new and wondering what to do next. It’s the same principle that NHRA and IHRA work on when they visit a track with one of their national events. They can come in and run all those cars on a Sunday and the only way it works is because all of their racers know what to expect.

What do you think ORSCA’s greatest impact will be after its first year?

Fenn: When I started this, I wanted to do the biggest Outlaw race in history, and I did that. And the next thing I wanted to see was a points championship, to truly crown a champion. Whoever wins the championship this year, in all our classes, is the best in the world as far as I’m concerned. Every record that’s ever been run on 10-inch tires is held right here and I may be a little biased, but I think everybody else is running for second place against our Outlaw guys.