Big! - A Salute to Tom Bigelow

Posted by Dave Argabright on 25th Jun 2025

He was a badass racer, so it’s only fitting that they’re honoring Tom Bigelow this weekend at one of America’s great badass race tracks. The Tom Bigelow Shootout for the 500 Sprint Car Tour is set for this Sunday (June 29) at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway, an exciting return of sprint car racing to the world’s fastest half-mile.

Bigelow, long ago retired from racing but still actively involved at Winchester Speedway, is one of the greatest in sprint car history. He was equally adept on dirt and pavement and at his zenith was one of the most popular racers in America. The 1978 USAC National Sprint champion and ’84 USAC National midget champ, Tom is a member of both the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.

Big was living large in 1978. (John Mahoney photo from NSCHoF)

Honoring one of the sport’s greatest racers is a fine thing to do, especially at a challenging track where he once thrived.

Big’s legacy is about much more than winning races. What set him apart was his unique combination: in the race car he was a fierce and unrelenting competitor, but when he climbed out of the car he became one of the most engaging and friendly personalities the sport has ever known.

A lot of this, I think, was because Bigelow began life as a regular guy doing regular work among regular people. Born a Wisconsin farm boy, his early life was filled with work and worry. Will our farm survive the latest downturn? Can we get the milk to market in time? Among a family of nine children, having enough food on the table was not guaranteed.

Tom is a blue-collar guy supremely comfortable around blue-collar people, because that’s who he is and how he thinks.

Racing was an escape, perhaps. He began racing locally in Wisconsin at age 17 and steadily rose through the ranks, finally establishing himself within the tough USAC culture of the early 1970s. Eventually he became one of USAC’s biggest stars and had a steady run at the Indianapolis 500, making nine starts from 1974 to 1982 with a best finish of 6^th in 1977.

Historic run

In 1977 Bigelow joined the Armstrong Mould team with Paul Leffler on the wrenches. It was a historic committee of three.

Sherman Armstrong was an audacious man who loved the spotlight and loved ruffling the feathers of everyone around him. A successful Winchester businessman, Armstrong flashed his money and oversized personality at every opportunity. Leffler was an accomplished builder and mechanic with an intense nature who demanded perfection on every aspect of the race car, including people.

With Big behind the wheel, the trio turned USAC sprint car racing upside down. They approached racing as a spare-no-expense enterprise; Leffler built cars and engines with new, lightweight exotic parts and the team tested extensively.

Tom Bigelow and the Armstrong Mould sprinter lead the pack at Winchester in 1979. (Gene Marderness photo from NSCHoF)

Along the way they broke things. Bigelow once related that on one notable Winchester testing session they brought four cars and four different engines and blew up everything they had without making a lap. But they were learning; Leffler eventually figured out how to make his engines live at 8,000-rpm, leaving his competitors in the dust.

What happens when you have really fast cars and a great driver? You win.

The 1977 season remains the greatest in USAC sprint car history. Bigelow and the Armstrong team reeled off 14 USAC victories before their foes began to close the gap by mid-season.

When you win 14 of the first 28 races, people talk. They talk about cheater engines and cheater tires, in particular. That is true today and was most certainly true in 1977.

The team played it perfectly, living rent-free in the minds of their competitors in a big way. When people complained about cheater tires, Bigelow would smile in his victory interview and thank Goodyear for their special tires. They purchased their tires off the Goodyear truck just like everybody else, but why not feed the fire? Eventually both Goodyear and USAC pleaded with Bigelow to cut it out, because the heat was growing too intense.

Meanwhile, membership in the Tom Bigelow Fan Club zoomed.

Although they fell short in the title chase—Sheldon Kinser was the ’77 USAC National Sprint champ—Big’s 14 sprint car wins remain a USAC single-season record (Logan Seavey tied the mark in 2024). Bigelow and the Armstrong team prevailed for the title in 1978, and following the 1979 season Bigelow left the team.

Bigelow set the all-time USAC National Sprint win record at 52 in 1981, holding the record an amazing 33 years before Dave Darland surpassed it in 2014.

The Bus Trip

My first extensive interaction with Tom came in May 1994 when D.O. Laycock promoted a bus trip from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to a Thursday-night sprint car race at Winchester. D.O. invited me to interview Tom at the front of the bus on the trip to the track.

What was supposed to be a legitimate interview quickly devolved into a hilarious (and slightly off-color) exchange where Tom and I began using each other for punch lines in our favorite jokes. This went on and on until the passengers were howling with laughter, and Tom and I were in stitches. A good time was had by all (refreshments might have been served).

Unfortunately, the night was forever marred by the devastating loss of USAC champion Robbie Stanley in a crash during the feature. The bus ride back to Indy took place in utter silence.

TV colleague

From 2008 to 2013 Tom and I worked together on broadcasts of the MustSeeRacing sprint car tour. We spent a lot of road time together, and it was a great experience.

You’ve got to be careful with Tom; a promise that if you’ll buy lunch he’ll buy steaks tonight will take you to Steak ‘n Shake. I learned to clarify things at the time of the promise.

He is a delightful guy, truly a gem. In his early years he was quite a partier—there must be something in the genetic makeup of Wisconsin people that gives them an unmatched ability to drink beer. Big’s partying skills were greatly diminished many years ago when he married Judy, a local Winchester girl he met during his time with the Armstrong team. Judy and Tom are today two of the most beloved people in Randolph County.

Tom Bigelow with Dave Argabright in 2008. (Darrell Willrath photo from NSCHoF)

About 10 years ago Tom was a little bored in retirement and decided to help out at the track. Lots of people offer to “help out” but Tom really meant it. Stop by Winchester Speedway today and you’re liable to find him painting something, fixing a gate, cutting weeds, whatever.

That is just about the coolest thing ever. The guy who blitzed around this intimidating place and set track records years ago is now the guy who invests his time to help keep the place alive.

That’s what I mean when I say that honoring Tom this weekend is a wonderful thing to do. Why not salute and say thank you to somebody who gave so much of himself to our great sport?

If you go to Winchester this weekend—or any other weekend—find Tom Bigelow and shake his hand. You’ll be meeting a fine man and you’ll walk away from the interaction with a brand new friend.

Lots of people think they’re “big.” With Tom, it was legit. And with a capital letter.

Big!