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RetroSeasons

RetroSeasons recaps past sports seasons through stories, photos, videos, and stats from every team, league, and stadium in history. Coverage includes the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, as well as vintage media from defunct teams and leagues.

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Indianapolis Racers
Seasons 1975-1979 (5 seasons)

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Teams Indiana Indianapolis Racers History Seasons

Recap

The Indianapolis Racers were a major league hockey team in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1974 to 1978. They competed in four full seasons before folding 25 games into the 1978–79 season. They played at Market Square Arena. They are often best known for being the first professional team to secure the services of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.

The Racers were known in the WHA for their sometimes-fanatical fans. The franchise led the WHA in attendance for the 1976-77 season. The Racers won the 1975-76 WHA Eastern Division championship and swept the rival Cincinnati Stingers in the 1977 WHA playoffs. Notable players for the Racers include Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Pat Stapleton, Dave Keon, Michel Dion and Kim Clackson. The Racers' best-known coach, Jacques Demers, later led the Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup in 1992-93.

At the time of the Racers' founding, the only other major league competitor was the Indiana Pacers of the similarly-upstart American Basketball Association. As merger and expansion discussions heated up in both established leagues, the question of Indianapolis' inclusion proved a complicated one. Both the NBA and the NHL believed Indianapolis was far too small to support teams in both sports in the long term, and were reluctant to risk the embarrassment of placing a failed franchise there. For this reason among others, the Pacers were seen for a long time to have a slim chance to be included in the eventual ABA-NBA merger. Nevertheless, to the surprise of many sports fans and pundits of the time the Pacers were ultimately included in the merger, so that starting in 1976, the WHA would have to compete with the established NBA in Indiana. While the Racers continued to attract strong fan support for awhile, this turned out to be the beginning of the end for the team.

The Racers' demise came under the stewardship of Nelson Skalbania, a flamboyant Canadian real estate businessman. Skalbania, who regularly flipped real estate property and sports franchises for a profit, was repeatedly accused of mismanaging the promising Indianapolis hockey market and plotting to move the franchise to Canada, where it would presumably have had a much better chance of being included in an eventual merger the WHA was negotiating with the National Hockey League (NHL). Having taken the firm position that no surviving Canadian WHA teams would be excluded from a merger, and knowing the NHL was only willing to even consider taking in a small number of WHA teams, the WHA was not willing to risk upsetting delicate merger negotiations and rebuffed all proposals to add more teams in Canada.

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Year	Season	League	Team	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Pts%	GB	Standings	Playoffs	Coach	Attendance	Stadium	Berth	Champ
1979	1978-79	WHA	Indianapolis Racers	5	18	2	0	12	.240		7th	Missed Playoffs	Pat Stapleton		Market Square Arena
1978	1977-78	WHA	Indianapolis Racers	24	51	5	0	53	.331		8th	Missed Playoffs	Ron Ingram (16-31-4) Bill Goldsworthy (8-20-1)		Market Square Arena
1977	1976-77	WHA	Indianapolis Racers	36	37	8	0	80	.494		3rd	Lost Semifinals	Jacques Demers		Market Square Arena	3
1976	1975-76	WHA	Indianapolis Racers	35	39	6	0	76	.475		1st	Lost Quarterfinals	Gerry Moore (1-4-0) Jacques Demers (34-35-6)		Market Square Arena	1
1975	1974-75	WHA	Indianapolis Racers	18	57	3	0	39	.250		4th	Missed Playoffs	Gerry Moore		Market Square Arena

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