1978–79 Indianapolis Racers season

1978–79 Indianapolis Racers
League7th WHA
1978–79 record5–18–2
Home record4–8–1
Road record1–10–1
Goals for78
Goals against130
Team information
CoachPat Stapleton
ArenaMarket Square Arena
Team leaders
GoalsBlaine Stoughton (9)
AssistsAl McLeod (11)
PointsDon Larway
Blaine Stoughton (18)
Penalty minutesGlen Irwin (124)
WinsGary Inness (3)
Goals against averageEddie Mio (3.22)

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

Offseason

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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.

Regular season

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This was the first season of Wayne Gretzky's professional career. 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 Edmonton 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

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Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

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 #-played limited schedule


Schedule and results

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1978–79 regular season[1]
October
Game Result 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
November
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
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
December
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
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

Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

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Regular season

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Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Blaine Stoughton RW 25 9 9 18 16 −18 3 0
Don Larway RW 25 8 10 18 39 −20 2 0
Rich LeDuc C 13 5 9 14 14 −2 2 0
Claude Larose LW 13 5 8 13 0 5 0 0
Michel Parizeau C 22 4 9 13 4 −1 0 0
Gary MacGregor C 17 8 4 12 0 −12 1 0
Rene Leclerc RW 22 5 7 12 12 2 1 0
Dave Morrow D/LW 10 2 10 12 29 −13 0 0
Larry Sacharuk D 15 2 9 11 25 −11 2 0
Al McLeod D 25 0 11 11 22 0 0 0
Bruce Greig LW 21 3 7 10 64 −5 0 0
Kevin Nugent RW 25 2 8 10 20 −2 0 0
Dave Inkpen D 25 1 8 9 22 −5 0 0
John Hughes D 22 3 4 7 48 −16 0 0
Wes George LW 9 4 2 6 23 −11 1 0
Claude St. Sauveur C 17 4 2 6 12 −6 2 0
Wayne Gretzky C 8 3 3 6 0 −3 0 0
Ken Block D 22 2 3 5 10 −11 0 0
Peter Driscoll LW 8 3 1 4 17 1 1 0
Angie Moretto C 18 3 1 4 2 −6 1 0
Gerry Leroux LW 10 0 3 3 2 −4 0 0
Bryon Baltimore D 2 1 1 2 2 −1 0 0
Don Burgess LW 3 1 1 2 0 −4 0 0
Kevin Morrison D 5 0 2 2 0 −10 0 0
Glen Irwin D 24 0 1 1 124 −10 0 0
Dean Magee LW 5 0 1 1 10 −2 0 0
Jerry Rollins D 7 0 1 1 7 −4 0 0
Gary Inness G 10 0 0 0 9 0 0 0
Mark Messier C 5 0 0 0 0 −4 0 0
Eddie Mio G 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Gary Smith G 11 0 0 0 8 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Gary Inness 609 10 3 6 1 51 5.02 0
Eddie Mio 242 5 2 2 0 13 3.22 1
Gary 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

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Transactions

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "1978-79 Indianapolis Racers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  2. ^ "1978-79 Indianapolis Racers Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 4, 2009.
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