As the Racers’ season opened, it became apparent that young Gretzky’s presence wouldn’t move the dial for fans. Skalbania was frustrated that his gamble wasn’t paying off. He asked the City of Indianapolis to purchase half of the team, but his proposal was rejected. Skalbania decided to sell off pieces of the roster and fold. On November 2, 1978, Gretzky, Mio and Peter Driscoll—the team’s marquee player—were told they were no longer members of the Racers.

Nelson Skalbania: I called up Michael Gobuty and said, “I’m going to fold the team. If you want Gretzky, I promised him to you first. You can have Gretzky.” I was always going [to offer Gretzky to] Winnipeg because they had the first right. It was a verbal handshake. So he was going to Winnipeg no matter what.

Michael Gobuty: I’m at home. I get a phone call. [Skalbania] says, “Michael, I’m folding. It’ll be my last game in Indianapolis. I’m blowing my brains out. Why don’t you take Wayne?” I took my wife, Adrienne, and my oldest son, Marshall. I had my own jet in those days. We jumped on the plane, flew to Indianapolis and watched Wayne play. I think he scored two goals. After the game, we went for dinner. I had a drink and Nelson had a drink but Wayne couldn’t even have a beer he was so young. My GM at the time was one of the top two or three in the business, Rudy Pilous. He’d won Stanley Cups and everything. I called him after the meeting in Indianapolis. “No, Gretzky’s too skinny,” he said. “He’s too light. They’ll kill him.”

Wayne Gretzky: Bobby Hull desperately wanted me to go to Winnipeg. We played there a week prior to the trade. The stick boy came in after the game and said, “Mr. Hull wants to see you down the hallway.” So I went down the hallway and [Hull] said, “Come on, I want to take you to dinner.” So we went to dinner and he spent the whole night saying, “Tell them you want to come to Winnipeg.” He wanted me to be his centreman. “Okay, of course,” I said. I’d love to play with Bobby Hull. Who doesn’t want to play with Bobby Hull, right?

Michael Gobuty: Bobby said that if the opportunity arose that we should take Wayne Gretzky. He was very important to the team. Bobby made the Winnipeg Jets and Bobby made the WHA. There’s no Bobby Hull, there’s no WHA.

Nelson Skalbania: I flew to Winnipeg, landed at the airport, and Gobuty brings his GM [who] says, “Are you crazy paying that kid those kinds of dollars?”

Wayne Gretzky: Nelson called me and said, “I’m going to trade you. I’m going to give you the choice if you want to go to Winnipeg or Edmonton.” I’d never been to Winnipeg or Edmonton, so I had no idea. I called Gus Badali, who at the time was my manager and my agent, and asked what I should I do. “Edmonton has an 18,000-seat arena,” he said. “They have a better chance of getting into the NHL. Tell them you want to go to Edmonton.”

Michael Gobuty: Nelson was a backgammon expert. And my wife was a backgammon expert. I was just an average player. And he says, “Let’s play backgammon for Wayne.”

“Are you crazy?” I said. “No, no, I can’t do that. It’s impossible.”