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78-79IndRac
1978–79 Indianapolis Racers
Division 7th WHA
1978–79 record 5–18–2
Goals for 78
Goals against 130
Team Information
General Manager Pat Stapleton
Coach Pat Stapleton
Arena Market Square Arena
Team Leaders
Goals Blaine Stoughton (8)
Assists Al McLeod (11)
Points Blaine Stoughton
Don Larway (18)
Penalties in minutes Glen Irwin (124)
Wins Gary Inness (3)
Goals against average Eddie Mio (3.22)
<1977–78

The 1978–79 Indianapolis Racers season was the Racers' 5th and final season in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The team ceased operations after only 25 games.

Off-season[]

Nelson Skalbania, the owner of Indianapolis Racers, signed the 17 year old future super-star, Wayne Gretzky to, at that time, a whopping personal contract worth between 1.125 and 1.75 million dollars over 4 to 7 years. Skalbania, knowing that the WHA was fading, felt owning the young star was more valuable than owning a WHA team.

The Racers jerseys were the same design as in the 1977-78 season.

Regular Season[]

This was the first season of Wayne Gretzky's professional career and he scored 3 goals and 3 assists in 8 games.

The Racers' management knew that the team was going to fold due to poor attendance, and sold Gretzky to the Edmonton Oilers after eight games. Skalbania needed cash and liquidated his greatest asset to his old friend and former partner, Peter Pocklington, owner of the Oilers. Pocklington purchased Gretzky and two other Indianapolis players, goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll paying $700,000 for the contracts of the three players, although the announced price was actually $850,000.

Final Standings[]

WHA Team GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Edmonton Oilers 80 48 30 2 98 340 266 1220
Quebec Nordiques 80 41 34 5 87 288 271 1399
Winnipeg Jets 80 39 35 6 84 307 306 1342
New England Whalers 80 37 34 9 83 298 287 1090
Cincinnati Stingers 80 33 41 6 72 274 284 1651
Birmingham Bulls 80 32 42 6 70 286 311 1661
xIndianapolis Racers 25 5 18 2 12 78 130 557
#Soviet All-Stars 6 4 1 1 9 27 20 77
#Czechoslovakia 6 1 4 1 3 14 33 107
#Finland 1 0 1 0 0 4 8 2

x-team folded during season
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties in Minutes
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.


Game Log[]

Regular Season Results
No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1 L October 14, 1978 3–6 Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 0–1–0
2 L October 15, 1978 3–9 Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) 0–2–0
3 W October 18, 1978 4–0 @ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79) 1–2–0
4 L October 20, 1978 3–4 Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) 1–3–0
5 L October 22, 1978 3–6 New England Whalers (1978–79) 1–4–0
6 L October 27, 1978 2–4 @ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) 1–5–0
7 W October 28, 1978 3–2 Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–5–0
8 T October 29, 1978 3–3 @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–5–1
9 L November 3, 1978 3–6 @ New England Whalers (1978–79) 2–6–1
10 T November 4, 1978 6–6 New England Whalers (1978–79) 2–6–2
11 L November 5, 1978 2–6 @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–7–2
12 L November 8, 1978 0–4 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) 2–8–2
13 L November 11, 1978 2–8 @ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79) 2–9–2
14 L November 17, 1978 1–6 @ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) 2–10–2
15 L November 19, 1978 2–5 @ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–11–2
16 L November 23, 1978 1–5 Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 2–12–2
17 L November 24, 1978 5–8 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) 2–13–2
18 W November 25, 1978 6–3 Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) 3–13–2
19 L November 28, 1978 2–8 @ Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) 3–14–2
20 W December 1, 1978 6–3 Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) 4–14–2
21 L December 2, 1978 2–4 @ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79) 4–15–2
22 L December 3, 1978 2–4 Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79) 4–16–2
23 L December 7, 1978 4–9 Winnipeg Jets (1978–79) 4–17–2
24 W December 10, 1978 6–4 Edmonton Oilers (1978–79) 5–17–2
25 L December 12, 1978 4–7 New England Whalers (1978–79) 5–18–2

[1]

Playoffs[]

  • The Racers ceased operations before the post season.

Player Stats[]

Regular Season[]

Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Stoughton, BlaineBlaine Stoughton RW 25 9 9 18 16 -18 3 0
Larway, DonDon Larway RW 25 8 10 18 39 -20 2 0
LeDuc, RichRich LeDuc C 13 5 9 14 14 -2 2 0
Larose, ClaudeClaude Larose LW 13 5 8 13 0 5 0 0
Parizeau, MichelMichel Parizeau C 22 4 9 13 4 -1 0 0
MacGregor, GaryGary MacGregor C 17 8 4 12 0 -12 1 0
Leclerc, ReneRene Leclerc RW 22 5 7 12 12 2 1 0
Morrow, DaveDave Morrow D/LW 10 2 10 12 29 -13 0 0
Sacharuk, LarryLarry Sacharuk D 15 2 9 11 25 -11 2 0
McLeod, AlAl McLeod D 25 0 11 11 22 0 0 0
Greig, BruceBruce Greig LW 21 3 7 10 64 -5 0 0
Nugent, KevinKevin Nugent RW 25 2 8 10 20 -2 0 0
Inkpen, DaveDave Inkpen D 25 1 8 9 22 -5 0 0
Hughes, JohnJohn Hughes D 22 3 4 7 48 -16 0 0
George, WesWes George LW 9 4 2 6 23 -11 1 0
St. Sauveur, ClaudeClaude St. Sauveur C 17 4 2 6 12 -6 2 0
Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky C 8 3 3 6 0 -3 0 0
Block, KenKen Block D 22 2 3 5 10 -11 0 0
Driscoll, PeterPeter Driscoll LW 8 3 1 4 17 1 1 0
Moretto, AngieAngie Moretto C 18 3 1 4 2 -6 1 0
Leroux, GerryGerry Leroux LW 10 0 3 3 2 -4 0 0
Baltimore, BryonBryon Baltimore D 2 1 1 2 2 -1 0 0
Burgess, DonDon Burgess LW 3 1 1 2 0 -4 0 0
Morrison, KevinKevin Morrison D 5 0 2 2 0 -10 0 0
Irwin, GlenGlen Irwin D 24 0 1 1 124 -10 0 0
Magee, DeanDean Magee LW 5 0 1 1 10 -2 0 0
Rollins, JerryJerry Rollins D 7 0 1 1 7 -4 0 0
Messier, MarkMark Messier C 5 0 0 0 0 -4 0 0
Mio, EddieEddie Mio G 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Inness, GaryGary Inness G 10 0 0 0 9 0 0 0
Smith, GaryGary Smith G 11 0 0 0 8 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Inness, GaryGary Inness 609 10 3 6 1 51 5.02 0
Mio, EddieEddie Mio 242 5 2 2 0 13 3.22 1
Smith, GaryGary Smith 664 11 0 10 1 61 5.51 0
Team: 1515 25 5 18 2 125 4.95 1

[2]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts

Awards and Records[]

  • The Racers did not win any awards this season.

Transactions[]

Draft Picks[]

Farm Teams[]

Gallery[]

Video[]

Wayne Gretzky scores the first two goals of his professional career, October 20, 1978.

See Also[]

References[]

  1. 1978–79 Indianapolis Racers Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
  2. 1978-79 Indianapolis Racers Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
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