Clint Garner won his third consecutive 360 track championship this past year in the Boyd and Glenda Fluth owned number 40 sprint car. He assembled 4 wins, 9 top fives, 12 top tens, 5 quick times, in 14 starts. Garner is one of two men at Knoxville to win a 410, 360, and 305 feature (Rim Ridin’ Randy Smith is the other). Powered by his Al Parker engine Garner seems content to compete in the 360 class, but when you’ve won it all and have won two 410 features in the past, why not move back to the 410 class? Garner is clearly the best driver in the 360 class, you can’t take that away from him… until someone beats him.
Chad Humston looked like he was going to be there til the end and kept the points race close until the end of the season. Car owner Mark Burch brought in hired gun Danny Lasoski after the Knoxville season to win some ASCS National Tour races. It’s unclear what the future holds for this team, but Humston has impressed me the past two seasons as one of the best drivers at Knoxville, he has just had horrible luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If a break goes his way in lapped traffic, he probably wins the 2010 360 Nationals as he wrecked while leading. Humston had 12 top tens, the same as Garner, but only one win and 7 top fives, and 2 quick times. Hope this team sticks together as they are the best bet to beat Garner, but will Burch stay with Knoxville 360’s or move to something else?
The 2008 360 track champion Matt Moro battled back this year to third in points after finishing a disappointing eighth last season. He accumulated 1 win, 8 top fives, 11 top tens, and made 13 of the 14 features. Moro is now a veteran at the track and owns his own equipment. He has 7 career 360 wins and 2 career wins in a 410 at Knoxville. Underrated as a driver who doesn’t get much hype.
Russ Hall was fourth in points, up from eleventh a year ago. He also got his first two career wins this year with 6 top fives, and 9 top tens. Hall’s stock is on the rise, looking forward to see what he can do next season.
Jon Agan is a owner/driver and a hometown favorite who finished fifth in points is down one spot from last season. Agan won 2 features, but only managed 3 top fives, 11 top tens in 13 features. He also won 4 heat races which is tied with Larry Ball Jr., and Nate Van Haafton for the most this season. Winning heat races is a indicator of poor qualifying putting you on the front row of heat races and that is where Agan lost the most points, as poor qualifying adds up to starting behind the invert most nights in the feature, and the lack of top fives shows he didn’t quite have the car to make the passes but was strong out front. Part of me wonders how good Agan might be if he wasn’t a owner/driver having to protect his equipment.
Nate Van Haafton comes home sixth and also got his first career win. Known as a kid who tore up a lot of equipment in past years, Van Haafton grew up before our own eyes this year and showed tons of improvement. He had 11 top tens in 13 starts and raced his way to the front in features after poor qualifying times. We’ll see if he can back it up next season.
Dennis Moore Jr. brought the D12 Doc Sloan car home seventh in points. 1 win, 7 top fives, 11 top tens, 13 starts. DMJ is a veteran driver who has yet to win a track championship, but has two 360 Nationals titles. He was ninth in points last season.
My personal awards:
360 Driver of the Year: Clint Garner
360 Most Improved Driver: Russ Hall (11th to 4nd in points, 2 wins)
Goody’s Headache Powder Award: Alan Zoutte. He is a better driver than he can show on the track. Very limited funds and he has been racing for a long time. I don’t know if it’s just horsepower or set-up’s but I think he is a better driver than the results show.
305 Recap
Carson McCarl started the season on opening night with a win (also becoming the youngest driver to ever win at Knoxville) and finished it with him on top of a season long point battle with Jamie Ball, Tasker Phillips, and Mitchell Alexander came on late in the season. The 305 class grew again this year with 15 cars qualifying for points as only 12 did a year ago. I’m still not quite sure why this class is growing, it’s still expensive to race a 305 car and it only pays $400 to win a race. But it’s also (hopefully) becoming a spring board for the future racers in the 410 class. The talent that kids like Tasker, Jamie, and Carson bring to the track, gave us some of the best races all season and I wish their features were longer than 12 laps. I’m very impressed with Carson McCarl. Racing is their blood and I sure hope the resources are there down the road to see Terry, Austin, and Carson all competing in the 410 class at some point.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
