Indianapolis Racers MVRP write up

[yave1964]

  Picking off another WHA team in a continuing series of boring articles about players and teams that nobody ever heard of or even remembers.

  The Racers joined the WHA in 1974-75 as an expansion team and played like one, finishing dead last with only 18 wins and 39 points, led by Bob Whitlock with 31 goals scored, this faceless team stumbled thru the season.

  The second year in the league they had a huge turnaround, winning the division led by rookie netminder Michel Dion and veteran defenseman Pat Stapleton and Kim Clackson (351 PIMs) the team played sound defense, and lost in a tough seven game series to the Hartford Whalers.

  The third year under immortal coach Jacques Demers they made the playoffs, upsetting the Stingers in 4 games before falling to the Nordiques. led by veterans such as Rosaire Paiement, Blair Macdonald, Hugh Harris and Reg Thomas, a bunch of veteran WHA semi-stars the club looked to be set for several years.

  Not so. The following year financial constraints on the league and rumors of mergers with the NHL were causing chaos in the league, what was happening off the ice was more interesting than what happened on the ice, and the Racers stumbled out of the gate and never recovered. Veteran WHAer Claude sT. Sauveur came aboard and had the best season ever offensively for a Racer but it was not enough as the club with attendance averaging barely 5,000 a game finished with only 53 points.

  Enter Nelson Skalbania. The businessman with a reputation for buying low and selling high purchased the club for the WHA's final season with hopes of them making the NHL. He signed 17 year old Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier from juniors and was hoping to make the jump to the NHL, but when Indianapolis was informed that they were not on the list of organizations under consideration for the NHL he allowed Messier to go to Cincinnati and dealt Gretzky and young goalie prospect Eddie Mio to Edmonton for a sizable amount of cash and a few weeks later folded the club, coming into the league, buying low, selling high and winding up as one of the few owners of a team in this league to turn a sizable profit. The Racers were no more, and I hardly ever hear a rumor of Indianapolis even being considered for pro hockey anymore.

  notable players who played for the Racers

WAYNE GRETZKY AND MARK MESSIER Both began their careers with the Racers, Wayne playing 8 games and Messier 5 before being sold off. Messier was the final active WHAer to retire when he left hockey in 2004.  Both of course were elected to the Hall of Fame.

  The all time leader in games played was the forgettable KEN BLOCK who played all seven seasons in the WHA after a 1 game NHL career. REG THOMAS is the all time goal leader with 63  and managed a whopping 39 goal career in the NHL, All time leader in points was MICHEL PARIZEAU who managed a 58 game NHL career. Big nasty KIM CLACKSON led the club in career PIMS with an eye popping 508 mostly fighting people for teasing him about his parents naming him Kim. ANDY BROWN  is the franchise leader in games in goal with 86 after a few years stumbling thru the NHL as a third goalie. MICHEL DION went on to be a semi-star goalie for the Stingers but never developed as expected though he did manage a six year NHL career mostly with the Penguins.

   JACQUES DEMERS went on to a very successful coaching career with the Blues and Red Wings before winning a cup with the Canadiens and then being chosen for the Canadian Senate. He is an inspiration for telling his story of overcoming illiteracy.

  I believe my all time favorite Racer would have to be BOB WOYTOWICH, who had a solid 8 year NHL career before joining the WHA. I am a card and autograph collector, not for future resale but just because I want them for me. Anyway, Bob was among my first autographs I ever got, I wrote to him (Frankly I didn't know who the hell he was but somehow I got his address) and he signed his card and wrote me back a three page letter telling of his days in the NHL and WHA and a few funny stories. He died of a heart attack in the late eighties or early nineties, I still have the letter he wrote thanking me for requesting his autograph and remembering him, it is in my WHA binder and is a prized possession. BOB WOYTOWICH similarity score ranks him as a Robin Regher type, but to me the great letter he wrote, unsolicited when all I asked for was his autograph makes him a Bobby Orr in my eyes forever.