World of Outlaws 2012 Review

Looking back at the 2012 World of Outlaws season I have some thoughts.

Donny Schatz is good….really good. I never thought we would see another Steve Kinser in sprint car racing, but Schatz is becoming the next closest thing to the King, maybe a Duke? At age 35 he still has a lot of time to catch and surpass the King’s records. He may never get to 20 championships or 600 career wins, but as far as the rest of the records I think he can break a lot of them. Schatz, the 1997 WoO rookie of the year didn’t win his first championship until 2006. That had to be nine LONG years of getting beat. He now has five World of Outlaws championships and 124 career WoO wins which is fourth all-time in the WoO.

Me being a statistician geek, I went and looked back at Schatz’ WoO season win totals, 1997-0, 1998-1, 1999-0, 2000-1, 2001-6, 2002-2, 2003-7, 2004-8, 2005-8, 2006-17, 2007-19, 2008-18, 2009-12, 2010-5, 2011-8, 2012-11. Yeah, the “Duke” won 17 races in 2006 during the NST split, but then he backed it up with 19 and 18 wins the following two seasons. I think he would have beaten the King and Lasoski in 2006 anyway if those guys were in the same series.

Of the five crown jewel or major events in winged sprint car racing (Knoxville, Kings Royal, Williams Grove National Open, Chico Gold Cup, and the Historical Big One) Schatz has accumulated 14 victories. That includes six Knoxville Nationals, two at the Kings Royal, one at the Gold Cup and HBO, and four at the Grove. 14 ranks Schatz second to the King with 37 wins by that measuring stick. 37 is a tall order to catch I think. The rest of that list is completed with Doug Wolfgang at 11 victories, followed by Sammy Swindell, Mark Kinser, Jac Haudenschild, and Kenny Weld who all have 7 victories. I think it’s safe to say Schatz is the second best sprint car driver of the WoO era.

The season started with the shocking announcement that two time defending champion Jason Meyers was not going to race full time and go on a 14 race farewell/tribute tour. I’m still not sold that Jason Meyers wanted to quit racing with the way the teams’ ownership structure fell apart, and there was talk of adding a second team, and then all of a sudden it was over? Maybe being closer to home and family was the reasoning, and I respect that. Making sure you are a better father and husband than a race car driver is certainly more important in my eyes. But my gut tells me he won’t stay out of racing forever. He is only 33 years old, at the peak of his career, and he still has a lot to accomplish. Meyers has won the Gold Cup and Williams Grove National Open but there are two big gaping holes on that resume that he hasn’t won yet, the Knoxville Nationals and the Kings Royal.

Sammy Swindell looked like the guy to beat at the beginning of the season, but after about halfway he seemed to lose his mojo. There is one trait over Sammy’s career that continues to haunt him to this day, his strive for perfection. Sammy is usually the fastest car, shown by setting quick time more than anyone this season with 14, which is five more than anyone else. He won 13 races which is also tops in the series for this season. But Sammy can’t consistently finish races because he is pushing the envelope for perfection which ends up costing him the title with 48 top ten finishes compared to Schatz with 60, Dollansky with 51, and Joey Saldana with 52. I love the all-out approach Sammy has. When he is on, he dominates and no one can touch him. But maybe if he didn’t always push the envelope to have the maximum output and maybe dialed it back a tick, he could get more top ten finishes and win another championship.

Craig Dollansky came up 114 points short of winning the championship. I’m sure it was disappointing for his team to a degree with having the point lead late into the season until Schatz made his late season charge after winning the Nationals. But I think Dollanksy is close to pulling it off within the next few years. His team has been building up to this and we will see if he has anything for Schatz in 2013.

Joey Saldana had a disappointing season with five wins and fourth in the standings. Joey is a good driver but the KKR combination wasn’t working anymore and it was time for a change. I hope the rebirth of the 71M Motter team is a better match for him. But I have a feeling Daryn Pittman won’t do much better in the KKR 9 machine.

Steve Kinser didn’t set quick time once all season, finished fifth in the standings with four wins, yet his son Kraig set quick time seven times with the same engine package and he also won four features. I honestly feel that the King just needs to add resources at the engine shop, or subcontract out the engines, because you can’t have your traveling crew chief pulling double duty as the engine builder as well, not when Scott Gerkin is on the road. There is just no way to pull that off today with teams having the resources they do. To me it’s amazing that Gerkin has been able to pull this off as long as he has so successfully, but the landscape has changed and they need to change to survive. The King is 58 so soak in every lap you can of him while you can, because he is the best there ever was, and ever will be. But Sammy is 57 and is as good as he ever was. I think the King has a few good years left in him.

Cody Darrah is steadily improving, but I think his back against the wall and he needs a breakout season in 2013.

Kerry Madsen had a good season with five wins and was the biggest surprise of the season to most people by showing he can win at the highest level. Hope his team has something build on next year.

Good to see Lucas Wolfe get his first win, had one quick time on the season. He seemed to show some improvement running up front more frequently at the end of the season.

Chad Kemenah won two races and is still trying to hang with the best. Give the guy credit he is out there on the road and is dedicated.

I think you could argue that Tim Kaeding might be the most talented shoe who isn’t on the full time WoO tour, and he is probably one of the top ten (or five) in the country over all. Four WoO wins, 17 top ten finishes, and he ran a limited schedule.

Sounds like Jason Sides will be back full time in 2013 with the legal issues put away.

Good to see guys like Brian Brown and David Gravel race with the Outlaws more frequently this past year.

Bottom line…. Schatz is good. But I would have loved to see the Schatz/Meyers rivalry continue.

World Nationals at Marshalltown Speedway

I was hoping for an IMCA Modified Nationals event at Knoxville, but I will settle for Marshalltown instead! Toby Kruse announced a couple of weeks ago that Marshalltown Speedway will be hosting an event labeled the 7th Annual World Nationals (formerly known as the Havoc on the Highbanks) and putting up $10,000 to win! To compare how big that number is, the Knoxville Harris Clash pays $2,000 to win, the sports “super bowl”, the Boone Super Nationals has a base winning payout of $2,000, the catch is the contingency money ($100 per sanctioned event competed in capped at 50 events) with the potential to win up to $7,000. Richie Gustin won $5,700 in 2011 and Jeff Taylor won $2,700 in 2012. So for a guaranteed $10,000 to win race in the IMCA Modified ranks is a big deal, and Marshalltown is a perfect site for it that will offer close short track racing.

The one rule that sticks out for this event is that teams with a Crate motor are ineligible to compete. From Marshalltown Speedway Press Release:
The 2013 “World Nationals” will be a Hawkeye Dirt Tour event. It is with great pride that Marshalltown Speedway is able to partner with PBM Performance/Erson Cam/World Products to become the title sponsor of this high profile event. With this new sponsorship package in place, during the 2013 “World Nationals”, the IMCA Modifieds will be running built motors only, this in appreciation for the support of local machine shops and high performance engine builders.

This is a big step for IMCA Modified racing. As the costs of racing continue to increase, the purses have held steady. IMCA historically hasn’t wanted to have big payouts thinking that would control the cost of racing and help the competitive balance. But in recent years teams have been building more expensive engines in the Modified class, and the days of teams claiming an engine seem to be gone. So if the environment is such that teams can spend more money, it makes sense that we have an upper tier event that pays more money. The car count will be interesting to see how it pans out with probably half the teams in Iowa racing a crate, but I have a feeling some of those teams will go find an engine somewhere for this event. Just to clarify, the crate engines will be allowed in the other classes that compete that weekend.

With Carl Moyer (Karl Chevrolet) being such a large marketing partner and presence for local IMCA dirt track racing in Iowa and a proponent of the crate engine program, I’m a little surprised about the crate rule. But I’m guessing there is enough support from PBM Performance/Erson and Cam/World Products to make all this happen.

I’m excited for this event and think it’s a great idea by promoter Toby Kruse to put on something like this. Toby tells me there will be more details announced in the coming weeks about this event, including how much the Modified race will pay for second, third, and so forth.

Brian Stickel named Knoxville Raceway GM

Knoxville Raceway announced today that Brian Stickel has been promoted to the General Manager position, replacing Toby Kruse who resigned in September. John McCoy stays put as the Director of Competition. Gary Schumacher will now take on the role of the Office Manager along with his accounting duties (Director of Accounting and Human Resources). Stickel has been the Director of Marketing and Sales at Knoxville since 2006 and he will continue to oversee those areas as the GM. So not much is changing at the raceway, basically one management position has been eliminated compared to last year.

Stickel is a familiar face at the track with a proven track record. His background is quite extensive within racing and business and I think he is a good choice by the Marion County Fair Board to represent the Knoxville Raceway and help to continue its traditions while also trying to help it grow in the future. I have had a good experience working with Brian the past few years with press credentials, stories for the Nationals programs, planning a company outing, and Twitter. I approached Brian two years ago about why the track should use Twitter, how it could be used, and the benefits. So he agreed to let me post the results and news and it’s worked out well. It’s amazing how when you talk to people face to face, or over the phone, how much more receptive they are to any idea you may have, and you are taken more seriously.

Looking over the resume for 52 year old Stickle is quite impressive. He is a native of nearby Pleasantville and now resides south of Knoxville not too far away from the English Creek Speedway. Here is a summary of Brian’s past work experience in chronological order (thanks to Brian for sharing his resume with me).

Owned his own company that promoted mountain biking events in Vermont.
Director of Competition: National Off-Road Bicycle Association.
Deputy Competition Manger: Mountain Biking 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Executive Director: Greater Des Moines Sport Authority.
Pacific Division Director: NHRA.
Drag Strip Director: Mid-America Motorplex (Pacific Junction, Iowa).
Executive Director: Knoxville Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development.

As you can see he has a background in a lot of other areas besides sprint car racing, and I think that is a good thing. But his heart is where his home is, and that is Knoxville Raceway. Brian has a passion for sprint car racing and he also understands the business side of things as well. I look forward to the 2013 season and what the new management team has in store for us race fans.

2012 Knoxville Raceway Season in Review (410)

This season at Knoxville was a good one. It was a season that saw the emergence of Davey Heskin as a serious contender, Terry McCarl proved he is the best driver there, Bronson Maeschen finally got his breakthrough win, it was a struggle for Dusty Zomer who was my pre-season pick to win it all, and it was heartbreaking for guys like Austin McCarl who didn’t have the resources to get onto the track until late in the season.

The upgrades to the restrooms were great. The concessions changed from fountain pop to bottles which made the lines move faster. The nachos were packaged a little different to make that line faster. The only thing that slows the lines down is the taco salad which is one of my favorites, but it takes 3-4 minutes sometimes to prepare. The only other complaint I have (for the fifth year in a row) is the sound system. Several high school football stadiums and other race tracks (Iowa Speedway) have a much clearer sound, music actually sounds good, and it's not as loud. Knoxville is loud, but it's so loud you can't understand the announcers at times. It's like a fast car that can't turn a corner.

Toby Kruse came and went, but he certainly injected a new energy and attitude with employees being more courteous and friendlier than in the past. And I think he handled the situation well with not trying to do too much and reinvent the wheel, but he made a difference at the same time. Sad to see him leave after one year.

There were eight different feature winners this year in thirteen features. Winning two races were Terry McCarl, Davey Heskin, Bronson Maeschen, Brian Brown, and Danny Lasoski. Winning one feature was Ian Madsen, Justin Henderson, and Wayne Johnson. Drivers with wins in previous seasons and not winning any features this year were Dusty Zomer, Mark Dobmeier, Don Droud Jr., and Lynton Jeffrey.

I keep track of stats of each driver throughout the season at Knoxville.

Top Ten in Qualifying Average: Maeschen 5.7, Heskin 8.4, Selvage 9.4. McCarl 9.5, Madsen 11.3, Bunton 12.2, Dobmeier 12.6, Wolfgang 12.9, Zomer 13.3, Rager Phillips 13.8.

Top Ten in Average Feature Finish: McCarl 4.9, Heskin 6.8, Maeschen 7.3, Dobmeier 7.8, Zomer 8.2, Madsen 9.9, Droud 11.9, Wolfgang 12.3, Jeffrey 12.9, Selvage 13.0.

One stat that is always interesting is the Qualifying Average to Feature Average finish ratio (Q/F as you will see below) where you can use that as an indicator who is passing the most cars in the features.

Looking at each driver in the top ten of points in finishing order:

1.) Terry McCarl
Stats: 2 wins, 9 top fives, 12 top tens, 4 heat wins, and 1 quick time. Qualifying average 9.5, Average Feature finish 4.9, Q/F +4.6, Nationals B-Main 14th, +3 improvement in points position.
T-Mac was the most consistent driver all season for sure, and one of only two drivers that started all 13 regular season shows. Despite being out qualified all season by Heskin, he stayed within striking distance in the points chase and at the Capitani Classic event T-Mac took the points lead after he made a daring pass around James McFadden in his heat race to get a feature transfer position. That pass was the defining moment in the championship and what put him over the top. He might not have had the fastest car every week, or the most funding, but he was up in the seat each night to drive and he proved he is the best driver in 2012. His Nationals effort of only making it up through the B-Main could be considered disappointing, but not terrible for trying to rebuild his own 24 team this year. He was fourth in points in 2011 in the Vermeer 55 so things are looking up for McCarl.

2.) Davey Heskin
Stats: 2 wins, 9 top fives, 11 top tens, 1 heat win, and 2 quick times. Qualifying average 8.4, Average Feature finish 6.8, Q/F +1.6, Nationals A-Main 10th, +6 improvement in points position.
Heskin had a chance to win the championship but fell just short. The team has to be proud of their season however after finishing fifth in 2011. They had a clear advantage in qualifying timing in the top five on eight nights. Only Bronson Maeschen had a better qualifying average. The Garrett Engines were killers this year. Heskin showed maturity by being patient at times, he found the rubber early on a couple of nights, and the nights he started further back with a ten or twelve invert draw he always made his way to the front. And his Nationals this year was a good one getting his third consecutive A-Main start and his second top ten finish. Heskin was eighth in points in 2011 so a big jump for him to second. He is young, popular with fans and kids as well. I look for Davey to only get better.

3.) Bronson Maeschen
Stats: 2 wins, 6 top fives, 11 top tens, 1 heat win, and 1 quick time. Qualifying average 5.7, Average Feature finish 7.3, Q/F -1.6, Nationals B-Main 11th, +8 improvement in points position.
Maeschen was a great underdog story this year. He left the Jordan 1 team at the end of 2011 after finishing eleventh in points last year and he restarted his own 96 team. That move paid off as he picked up his first two career feature wins, including the Capitani Classic over a stacked field of 67 cars. He had the best qualifying average this year and third in feature average finish. A really good season for Bronson and he answered the critics about not being able to race his way through the field as he was more aggressive this season. Hopefully Bronson can keep the momentum for 2013.

4.) Dusty Zomer
Stats: 0 wins, 6 top fives, 11 top tens, 5 heat wins, and 0 quick times. Qualifying average 13.3, Average Feature finish 8.2, Q/F +5.1, Nationals B-Main 24th, -2 spots in points position.
Zomer had a disappointing 2012 season. After winning four features and finishing second in points in 2011, most had Zomer picked to win the championship before the season started (including me). The Ingalls 91 car just didn’t have a good qualifying year and that never seemed to improve all season and it caused them to miss the feature invert a lot of nights. When you win five heat races that is an indicator that the car races well, but can’t qualify well. I wish I would have kept track of who the hard charger was each week because this guy won it several times I’m sure. And then they wrecked at the start of the Nationals B-Main to cap off the year. I hope they can turn it around in 2013.

5.) Mark Dobmeier
Stats: 0 wins, 7 top fives, 10 top tens, 2 heat wins, and 0 quick times. Qualifying average 12.6, Average Feature finish 7.8, Q/F +4.8, Nationals A-Main 12th, +0 improvement in points position.
The Lunstra/Dobmeier 13 team had a year that was good overall, winning a World of Outlaws feature at Huset’s, making the Nationals A-Main after winning the B-Main and advancing to twelfth, but their season at Knoxville other than the Nationals had no wins, poor qualifying, and they were much like Zomer always racing their way up from the back. They were fifth in points last year as well. It’s a head scratcher to make any sense out of, but this is a good team and a good driver. I look for them to improve in 2013 and be more consistent. But they do run a lot of races throughout the season and maybe they were running thin on engines or equipment compared to a lot of other teams.

6.) Ian Madsen
Stats: 1 win, 3 top fives, 8 top tens, 0 heat wins, and 2 quick times. Qualifying average 11.3, Average Feature finish 9.9, Q/F +1.4, +1 improvement in points position from 2010.
Madsen showed a lot of improvement this year compared to a couple of years ago when he was racing weekly at Knoxville. He is my vote for most improved driver although his points improvement doesn’t show as big of a number as Heskin or Maeschen. With a trained eye you can tell how much smoother he is on the track and he races in a much more controlled way. It’s difficult to explain, you had to be there. Hopefully the Vermeer/Barry Lewis 55 team can stay together for 2013. I’m excited to see how they can do with another year together.

7.) Don Droud Jr.
Stats: 0 wins, 2 top fives, 7 top tens, 2 heat wins, and 0 quick times. Qualifying average 14.3, Average Feature finish 11.9. Q/F +2.4, Nationals C-Main 12th, +0 improvement in points position.
Seventh in points again this year. Droud is getting the most out of the Gil Sonner 47 and he brings the car back to the trailer in one piece. They were second in points in 2010 to Brian Brown and they didn’t rebound after a disappointing 2011. Good driver, down on horsepower for sure.

8.) Lynton Jeffrey
Stats: 0 wins, 2 top fives, 6 top tens, 3 heat wins, and 0 quick times. Qualifying average 16.6, Average Feature finish 12.9, Q/F +3.7, Nationals C-Main 17th, +1 improvement in points position.
Jeffrey is getting the most out of the equipment he has. Hope he can get the #12 back into victory lane in 2013.

9.) Dustin Selvage
Stats: 0 wins, 1 top fives, 7 top tens, 0 heat wins, and 1 quick time. Qualifying average 9.4, Average Feature finish 15.6, Q/F -6.2, Nationals B-Main 22nd, +1 improvement in points position.
Selvage’s sophomore season in the 410 class was up and down. He qualified well in the heat of the summer months and on the nights he had mechanical problems he was running in the top ten usually. I think this kid has a lot of talent and his team will figure out how to be more consistent in 2013 and probably win a feature. He has the most potential of anyone for improvement next season.

10.) Josh Schneiderman
Stats: 0 wins, 4 top fives, 2 top tens, 7 heat wins, and 0 quick times. Qualifying average 17.3, Average Feature finish 14.2, Q/F +3.1, Nationals C-Main 14th, +2 improvement in points position.
The Deuce Motorsports team expanded to two teams in 2012 with brother Jarrod moving up to the 410 class. Schneiderman was eighth in points in 2010, dropped to twelfth in 2011, so tenth in 2012 is a slight improvement but not where this team probably wants to be. After making the 2010 Nationals A-Main and finishing thirteenth I was expecting this team to jump up the standings similar to Heskin but it hasn’t happened. The potential is there, and with being able to afford two teams they should have good equipment, maybe they have the wrong combination right now. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I hope we see improvement from Josh in 2013.

Brian Brown won two features in his seven appearances at Knoxville weekly shows. So proud of this guy for starting his own team and building it up to what he has. He is a good driver and I think he has the right attitude and business model to continue his success. If you’re looking to start a race team, this guy has set the benchmark in my opinion.

Danny Lasoski was at Knoxville for three of the first five races and won twice. He ran ninth at the Capitani Classic and now has a streak at Nationals of missing the A-Main three years in a row. If he would have stayed to run at Knoxville all year he likely would have won another track championship. He has 98 career wins and although some people are already celebrating 100 wins, he isn’t there yet and I think it’s wrong to even talk about it until he gets there. If he wins 100 great, I hope he does. But what if he doesn’t get to 100 for some reason? It’s bad karma.

Robby Wolfgang had a decent season going, but stepped away from the 7K. That car just doesn’t have the funding to be competitive, and I think Robby has become a good driver, but he needs a sponsor and funding like a lot of other teams out there. I would like to see what Robby can do in better equipment.

Ryan Bunton found a good bullet for under the hood of the 6R and was able to qualify well all season with a average of 12.2, but his feature finish average was 15.7. Another year of experience and I think he could be a contender.

Austin Johnson tore up a lot of equipment this year in the Marty Johnson 81 car, including one car over the turn three fence. He made it to six weekly shows and half of those he didn’t finish. And he tore up another car at the Nationals. He had some bad luck for sure, but he never qualified worse than ninth so the car is fast. Fast car, young driver, we will see if the 81 can improve in 2013, but I’m cheering for them.

The Knoxville Knockouts: Did anyone see them this year? I barely noticed them. Not sure that ambassador program worked well or not, but my vote is no.

My personal awards:
410 Driver of the Year: Davey Heskin. His Nationals performance and 2 wins did it for me.
410 Most Improved Driver: Ian Madsen
Goody’s Headache Powder Award: Austin Johnson
Race of the Year: Friday Night of Nationals. Hope you were there!
Mr. Congeniality: Davey Heskin. My kid’s vote has more weight than mine here, but Davey always has fist bumps for the kids.

Francis Wins Late Model Knoxville Nationals

The 9th Annual Late Model Knoxville Nationals was once again a success at the Knoxville Raceway. 80 cars entered this year as the field was “open” for entries instead of limited to invites and whose postmark date was earliest.

*Format: The traditional Knoxville Nationals point system is used both nights, with the exception being that all teams entered are allowed to race both qualifying nights and you are able to use the better of your two nights. In the sprint car nationals the field is split into two separate nights. The heats use a 10 invert and with 80 cars we had 16 cars in each heat, and only the top four transfer to the A-Main where the invert is 8. After each night is run the points are totaled up and the feature lineups are set for Saturday.
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*Thursday: Billy Moyer killed them in the Thursday night 25 lap feature after starting third and grabbing the lead on lap eight and pulled away. Moyer made a statement with this win and it looked like he was clearly the man to beat. However Moyer timed 19th, and that cost him valuable points. The heat races were awesome on this night with a lot of passing and optimum track conditions. Tim McCreadie put on a good show on this night after some bad luck sent him to the D-main where he finished third and transferred to the tail of the C-main where he raced up to 4th and tagged the tail of the B-Main where he climbed up to 9th.

Qualifying top ten: Scott Bloomquist (17.277), Rich Bell, Dennis Erb Jr., Kent Robinson, Mike Marlar, Jimmy Ownes, Brady Smith, Steve Francis, Chad Simpson, Terry Phillips.

Heat winners: Brian Birkhofer, Jesse Stoval, Jimmy Mars, Billy Moyer, Tyler Reddick.

A-Main top ten: Billy Moyer, Shannon Babb, Steve Francis, Brian Birkhofer, Jimmy Mars, Scott Bloomquist, Brady Smith, Brian Shirley, Denny Eckrich, Austin Hubbard.

Scott Bloomquist was the top point man over all setting quick time, finished third in his heat race, and sixth in the A-main to give him 484 points. That would end up being enough to give him the pole on Saturday night.
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*Friday: Mike Marlar started third and grabbed the lead coming off of turn four on the opening lap and led from the green to the checkered. Steve Francis and Brady Smith were there knocking on Marlar’s bumper a couple of times but they couldn’t around him and Marlar eventually broke away to win handily. Steve Francis had a good run from fifth to second and was the only driver to end up on the podium both nights. This race didn’t see a lot of passing after the opening laps. The 25 lap A-Main went non-stop in 9:03 minutes setting a new 25 lap track record for late models. The race track was really wide and slick on this night compared to the night before where the track held up better. Earl Pearson Jr. drove from 18th to eighth for hard charger honors.

Billy Moyer qualified sixth, but after having to start ninth in his heat he couldn’t advance his way in the field and finished where he started in ninth, which put him in the C-Main. He won the C-Main, but then he was light at the scales after he lost a 40 pound piece of lead off his car somehow. Apparently in the Lucas Oil Late Model Series there is a one pound per lap allowance for weight, he was 12 pounds light at the scales and the race was 15 laps. I’ve never heard of such a rule, but because Moyer was within the allowance he was able to advance to the B-Main. But that lead he lost apparently went through the radiator because they were not able to make repairs in time for the B-Main and they scratched for the night.

Qualifying top ten: Brian Shirley (17.480), Billy Moyer Jr., Jimmy Owens, Denny Eckrich, Pat Moore, Billy Moyer, Dave Eckrich, Brady Smith, Steve Francis, Kent Robinson.

Heat Winners: Donnie Moran, Earl Pearson Jr., Will Vaught, Tim McCReadie, Shannon Babb.

A-Main top ten: Mike Marlar, Steve Francis, Brady Smith, Jimmy Owens, Jonathan Davenport, Brian Shirley, Scott Bloomquist, Earl Pearson Jr., Tyler Reddick, Jason Feger.
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**Saturday: This night was only for the D, C, B, and A mains. I like this format for the Nationals type of events. Especially with a 100 lap A-Main you get to see plenty of racing and it’s for all the marbles. No sense in having a support class to eat up the track and slow things down. I’m glad Knoxville decided to not run a support class this year.

Jimmy Owens grabbed the lead on lap 1 but soon faded to sixth after Scott Bloomquist passed him on lap 3. On lap ten the order was Bloomquist, Smith, Francis, Shirley, Birkhofer, Owens, Babb, and Moyer. Brady Smith passed Bloomquist on lap 12 to take the point and a lap later Brian Shirley stopped to bring out the yellow while he was in third. Shirley lost a cylinder and was done for the night. Brian Birkhofer led one lap on lap 26 but Smith shot back by him a lap later. At the halfway mark the order was Smith, Birkhofer, and Francis lurking. Smith had a 2.5 second lead going into traffic and Francis started making his move by getting around Birkhofer and then reeling in Smith and made the pass for the lead on lap 71 and pulled away. Francis ran a smart race saving his tires on restarts and the first 50 laps so he was there at the end. The 100 lap championship race took almost an hour to run taking the green flag at 9:26pm and the checkered fell at 10:23.Will Vaught was the hard charger coming from 21st to 11th.

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Closing thoughts: The thing I enjoy the most about going to non sprint car events at Knoxville is how appreciative the fans and drivers are about having the opportunity to race on the historic half-mile. This goes for the Late Model Nationals, Harris Clash, all events that I have been to the past few years. Steve Francis said in victory lane, “No disrespect to the World 100, but this is the biggest win of my career.” That is a huge statement considering the man has won the granddaddy of all Late Model races, the World 100 in 1999. Kyle Strickler basically said the same thing this year when won the Modified Harris Clash event. And the past few years when the IMCA Late Models raced you heard it again from Ray Guss Jr. and Tommy Elston, those were the biggest wins of their career to win at Knoxville. I’m not knocking sprint car fans, but the weekly fans that like to complain about small things, go to any other dirt track in the state and see if you think it’s as nice as Knoxville. I don’t think you appreciate the gem in the facility and track that we have here in Iowa.
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Late Model Nationals finish: 1. Steve Francis (5), 2. Brady Smith (4), 3. Brian Birkhofer (7), 4. Scott Bloomquist (1), 6. Mike Marlar (6), 8. Billy Moyer (9), 10. Jonathan Davenport (15), 11. Will Vaught (21), 14. John Anderson (19), 15. Kent Robinson (10), 16. Bub McCool (23), 18. Tyler Reddick (11), 21. Frank Heckenast Jr. (20), 23. Jason Feger (18), 24. Terry Phillips (14), 25. Morgan Bagley (12), 26. Shannon Babb (8), 28. Earl Pearson Jr. (22), 29. Jimmy Mars (16), 30. Denny Eckrich (13), 31. Terry Casey (24), 32. Mark Burgtorf (17), 33. Brian Shirley (3).

The Torch Has Been Passed

After this year’s Knoxville Nationals on Saturday night in the press conference I asked Brian Brown if he felt that maybe a torch has been passed to a new generation of drivers with Steve, Sammy, and Danny not making the A-Main this year. Brian answered the question with a no, and that he was grateful for them helping make the sport what it is. When Schatz answered the question he said those drivers are still some of the best in the business, but the competition level is better than ever, almost eluding to the fact that they were victims of the tough format and bad breaks.

Doug Auld used this topic in his new editorial in Sprint Car & Midget Magazine this month (you're welcome for that topic of conversation). It seemed like Auld also defended that those drivers are some of the best and threw out some stats of how they’re all still winning races. I get that point. They are still some of the best drivers in the business, no doubt. The point I was eluding too is that the torch was passed "at Knoxville." I'm not looking at anything else other than previous events at Knoxville.

Maybe Steve and Sammy were victims of circumstances on their qualifying nights with narrow tracks and mechanical problems, but they are not victims of the Nationals format, and had their chances to race their way in and didn't. And with the trained eye I have in the stands, they just weren't fast enough is why.

What Auld fails to mention is that all drivers had a second chance to make it into the Saturday A-Main on Friday night. Sammy declined that opportunity and elected to start seventh in the B-main Saturday. And all drivers had a third shot on Saturday night to advance through the B-Main, but they didn’t.

On Friday night Steve Kinser qualified 10th and Lasoski timed 21st. Kinser finished third in his heat and won his B-Main while Lasoski won his heat. In the Friday A-Main Kinser started 15th and finished 9th in the A, while Lasoski started 10th and finished 15th.

On Saturday night in the B-Main Sammy started 6th and finished 5th. Kinser started 15th and finished 10th. Lasoski advanced from the C-Main, started 22nd in the B and finished 17th. Those guys just didn't get it done.

I’m going to argue that the torch has indeed been passed.

1.) Lasoski: He failed to qualify for the Nationals for the third consecutive year.

2.) Sammy: I was surprised Sammy didn’t race his way in Saturday in the B-Main. No disrespect to Brian Paulus or Jason Sides, they had great runs this year, but Sammy let them get by and missed out on the party. It was shocking considering a lot of people (including me) had Sammy pegged as the favorite to win the whole thing. Sammy should have been able to race his way in but didn’t.

3.) Kinser: He has been on a decline in recent years finishing outside the top ten the three previous years in 12th in 2009, 22nd in 2010, and 16th in 2011. The King hasn’t won a race at Knoxville since April of 2005. All signs were pointing south that his reign of dominance is over AT Knoxville and I had to force myself to put him in the top 24 of my pre-nationals power rankings.

This is all subjective to opinion as far as a torch being passed. I feel that it has been passed to Donny Schatz. Schatz won’t ever admit that, he is humble and smart enough to know he can't say that, but trust me it’s been passed.

Who will be Donny’s rival? That's the question I have. Opperman had Weld. Lasoski has McCarl. Kinser had Sammy. It was looing like it would be Jason Meyers. Will it be Saldana, Dollanksy, Madsen, Sides, Kraig, Darrah… who? Or is Schatz in a league of his own? He is after all on pace to win as many Nationals as the King as they both won their sixth Nationals at 34 years of age. Let the debate continue.

Toby Kruse content at Marshalltown Speedway

I spoke with Toby Kruse this morning on the phone. He was very gracious and professional as expected. He did not want to make a statement or comment about leaving the Knoxville Raceway. Toby resigned, he learned a lot, has no regrets, but only he knows what those reasons are.

Right now his plan is to continue growing the Marshalltown Speedway where he still has seven years left on his contract there and he intends to fulfill that contract to the best of his ability. Marshalltown is home for Toby Kruse and I look for that track and facility to grow, and over the past decade it has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to Toby and a few other racers in town that pitched in (I think Ken and David Hesmer helped tremendously to keep it open years ago.) And Marshalltown Speedway will host their last event of the season this Friday and Saturday, the 6th Annual Havoc on the Highbanks.

This conversation went as expected. Toby is always willing to communicate but he isn’t going to say anything negative or open the doors to speculate. He said he has heard a lot of rumors himself and we had a laugh about that. He has no plans of leaving for another job anywhere else, but he does help promote the IMCA Modified event at Las Vegas each year in November and this will be his twelfth year there. He is also looking to possibly add 305 sprints to the Marshalltown schedule in 2013 for just one or two shows.

I honestly think Toby is content with running Marshalltown and growing that facility and running his restaurant, Toby K’s Hideway in Boone which is his hometown. So sad to see him leave Knoxville. Looking forward I think Knoxville will be fine and now it’s time to turn the page and support the next person in those big shoes at Knoxville. And I will for sure continue to support the Marshalltown Speedway, which is the best little quarter-mile (high banked) dirt track in Iowa.

Toby Kruse resigns at Knoxville Raceway

I’m saddened and disappointed to hear the news about the resignation of Toby Kruse at Knoxville Raceway. I thought he was the perfect choice for the job, and he was my top candidate three or four years ago before Cappy decided to retire. When I first met Toby at Marshalltown Speedway in 2008 while covering racing for the Newton Daily News, I was impressed. He has this charismatic swagger, enthusiasm, professionalism, passion, and he is a polished speaker. He would make a great football coach. You don’t see people like that very often in our sport. Toby always answered his phone, e-mail, and texts. And over the last few days he hadn’t done that and I knew the rumors were true. I tried to call him again tonight but his voice mail picked up answering, “Thanks for calling Marshalltown Speedway.”

I worked well with Toby this season, and with John McCoy. They were both willing to listen to some of my ideas, like the Friday Nationals format, more transfers on Saturday of the Nationals, and I mentioned renaming the Sunday night race to something different than the Kickoff to the Nationals to the Capitani Classic. It was nice to have people hear your suggestions and appreciate them.

It’s widely known that Toby wasn’t the first pick of the fair board last fall. Chuck Spicer, VP at Iowa Speedway was their top pick, but they were not able to come to terms on a deal. That had the fair board scrambling.

Toby took the job with the understanding it was a one year contract and he could continue to operate the Marshalltown Speedway weekly and his other ventures, as the pay at Knoxville wasn’t enough to give up everything else and make a living.

Did you know Ralph Capitani retired in 1992 as a school teacher and collected his pension all those years on top of his pay from the track? And when he was teaching and working at the track, the race track was just a summer gig for him. Being the race director at Knoxville is a low paying job for a lot of work, and having to answer to 24 board members and 3 officers isn’t easy to deal with. Some folks refer to it as operating a track with one hand tied behind your back and I tend to agree with that statement.

The best thing Toby tried to implement this year was for the fair board members and employees to be polite, smile, and interact with fans better. The reputation of a grumpy cast of employees was well known and I think the track made significant improvements this year in that area.

What really sucks is that Toby leaves two weeks before the Late Model Nationals, which is the second largest attended event on the track schedule, and is by far and away growing quicker than any other event. What a PR mess that creates for the track and fair board.

So who is on the short list for the GM position? Looking back at my notes from a couple of years ago I have John McCoy, Tommie Estes Jr., Steve Beitler, Chuck Spicer, Craig Armstrong, Terry McCarl, Steve Sinclair, and Sam Hafertepe Sr.

Now I don’t see McCoy taking the job, and after talking to him about it on a couple of occasions, he is content where he is at not having to answer to the fair board and deal with politics. McCarl is still racing and politically I don’t think he fits the mold. You either love TMac or you hate him, and that isn’t a good fit in my opinion. Beitler is at Skagit and I don’t think he will move away from home. Spicer already said no once. Armstrong will ask for too much money. Sinclair runs the IRA and does well there, not sure if he would leave that post. I think it comes down to Hafertepe and Estes who were serious contenders last year and interviewed for the job. There could be someone else out of the box I’m not thinking of, but give me a few days to think.

The best possible solution, I hope there is time to rectify the situation and get Toby back.

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UPDATE 9/13/12 @ 8:10am CDT: Toby Kruse could be a candidate to be the VP of Operations at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Chris Blair vacating that post recently. Toby has promoted dirt track races at LVMS for several years, in particular the IMCA Modified "Duel in the Desert" show which is coming up Nov. 7-10 and is one of the premeire events for that class and it pays $7,777 to win.
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UPDATE 9/13/12 @ 8:53am CDT: Another name from last year that was up for the GM poistion is Andy Adamcik who is currently the Marketing Director at Boone Speedway. He was the short track manager at Texas Motor Speedway, LVMS, and worked for Gearheads in Indy before that. He has family in the Knoxville area and has a business in Knoxville called Design Speed Shop, which is a logo design, print design, web development, t-shirt design, vinyl graphics, signage, etc.
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UPDATE 9/13/12 @ 9:15am CDT: My contact at the Knoxville ticket office confirms that Toby has officially resigned.
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UPDATE 9/13/12 @ 12:59pm CDT: Toby texted me and he is out until Monday. Guessing he is at his vacation home for a few days, which is in Las Vegas. Also some other names for a replacement I saw in my notes were Bob Baker and Shane Carson. Not sure Bob Baker would leave the NSCHoF&M, he has a sweet job there already. Not sure Carson would be interested, he used to promote the Oklahoma State Fair races. I think someone younger who has new ideas and lots of energy is the way to go. Also hearing that Tommie Estes is a candidate for the USAC competition director opening along with Ron Shuman.
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UPDATE 9/13/12 @ 3:41PM CDT: Knoxville Journal Express reporter Steve Woodhouse was able to get these quotes.

“He just had different ventures he wanted to pursue,” Marion County Fair Association President Bob Riggen said. “He was a good guy to work with.” The board has not begun to discuss finding a replacement for Kruse. That will likely happen at the next board meeting. Marketing Director Brian Stickel said the resignation should have no effect on the track’s final races of the season, the Late Model Nationals scheduled for later this month. He said the Late Model event will be “the best ever.”
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UPDATE 9/13/12 @ 3:44PM CDT: The next Marion County Fair Board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening October 1.
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UPDATE 9/14/12 @ 8:57AM CDT: Another possibile candidate is Craig Agan. Craig has been a driver, owner, has been a fair board member, and his work with the NSCHoF&M is well known. He is also currently on the Marion County board of superivisors. His skills as a politician, and past experience with the fair board might be a good thing. Down side is that his son Jon races and some people might think that could show favortism. But it wouldn't be the first time a driver raced that was related to someone at the track or fair board.
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UPDATE 9/14/12 @ 1:33PM CDT: Another candidate could be Knoxville Raceway Marketing Director Brian Stickel. I've worked well with Brian the past couple of years and I have only positive things to say about him. His current position is harder than most people imagine.
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Marshalltown Speedway Season Recap

Marshalltown Speedway rarely disappoints putting on a good race. The short track and high banking produces close side by side racing that you don’t see at Oskaloosa, the State Fairgrounds, and it rivals Boone for sure. I’ll take a 1/4 mile bull ring over any 3/8 or 1/2 mile track. But it seemed this season the racing was better than usual on the six nights I was there in person. After talking to promoter Toby Kruse mid season about it he revealed that they found something while working with some tire companies and using some of their suggestions. For some reason the bottom held up later in the night than in past years staying tacky and that trick made the racing better. The one thing I can’t figure out is the attendance at Marshalltown. Most nights I don’t think you can count 500 people in the stands. For such a great show, there should be more fans. Is it location? The night of the week? There are plenty of cars to see, especially with the fairgrounds racing 60 miles away. The tickets are cheap, concessions are reasonable, I don’t understand and maybe someone can explain.
Breaking down each class….

Modified: Jimmy Gustin won his fifth track championship and grabbed five wins. He lapped up to sixth place in the season championship feature when he started on the pole and drove away. I think Jimmy has a shot at the Super Nationals. Luke Wanninger also won five races and I look for him to be toward the front this week in Boone. Jon Snyder won two features, and those winning one feature were Richie Gustin, Ronn Lauritzen, Adam Larson, and Chris Abelson. Kyle Brown did a nice job this year finishing fourth in points in his rookie campaign in this class. Modifieds put on a great show here and it’s nice to see 16-20 cars in this class each week.

SportMod: Racer Hulin won the championship thanks to three wins and a consistent top three finish a lot of weeks. Joel Rust was also very consistent all season and ended second in points, yet didn’t win a feature. Jenae Gustin won five features including three in a row at the end of the season. Gatlin Leytham and Jake Strayer both won two features, and Strayer is moving to 305 sprint cars next season it sounds like. Other drivers winning features were Brad Iverson, Clint Luellen, Sam Wieben, and Scott Davis. It seemed like SportMod car counts were down a bit this season. I think with this class quickly becoming very expensive to compete in, it’s easy to justify moving up to Modifieds where you can race for a little more money and there are typically less cars.

Stock Car: Steve Meyer won one feature on the season with only one feature win. What a good season for Meyer who was able to be up front every week. Trent Murphy won four features. Brian Irvine, Damon Murty, Jay Schmidt, and Tracy Greinger all won two features this season. Derek Reimer, Michael Murphy, and Sean Johnson won one feature. This class was very competitive and usually put on the best show every week (I said the same for Osky).

Hobby Stock: Scott Pippert dominated this class winning eight features (8 of last 9) on his way to winning the track championship. I don’t what Pippert figured out this year but he was on another level compared to everyone else. Kevin Fee and Eric Larson were the only other drivers to win multiple features with two each. Larson was second in points. Other winners were Don Nunnikhoven, Brandon Brinton, Eric Stanton, Eric Knutson, Austin Luellen. Gary Pfantz was third in points with Josh Saunders fourth.

Mod Lites: Mike Morrill and Josh May combined won 15 of the 16 features with Andy Hennigar upsetting the field with a win on season championship night. Morrill won the championship with eight wins and May was second with seven wins. I love this little cars, they put on a good show and are fast. Good car counts as well.

Sport Compact: Merv Chandler won 13 features and the championship. I won’t repeat what I said in my Osky season review on my thoughts for this class.

I think Marshalltown lost some momentum this year somehow. Car counts were a little smaller, crowds seemed smaller, Toby Kruse is promoting a good program it seems. Something just isn’t adding up for me. The racing on the track was the best I’ve seen there in the six years I have been covering races there. Shoot me an e-mail at arniebhg@yahoo.com if you want to share your thoughts.

Oskaloosa 2012 Season in Review

2012 was some of the better racing I have seen at Osky since I started covering weekly races there five years ago. With a change in promoters, Mike Van Genderen is turning things around for the fans, teams, the facility, and the fairboard. Car counts were up, racing was great, there was some fun entertainment at intermission, the races were over at 10:00 most nights, and the deal that Van Genderen had by working on a percentage of the gate, it allowed the fairboard to make a little more money than in past seasons. I just hope it was worth the blood and sweat Van Genderen put into it. Mike has signed a contract for 2013 and that is a good thing for everyone.

Breaking down the racing class by class…

Modifieds: Car counts were six or less most nights the prior years and this year they started around 10-12 and ended with 7-8 cars at the end of the season. The big half mile is hard on Modifieds under the hood, drive lines, we just won’t ever see 18-20 cars in this class on a weekly basis without some rule changes and higher purses. I’m still thankful to have the cars we did though. Cayden Carter moved up from SportMod to Modifieds this season and his four feature wins were enough to give him the rookie of the year and track championship. Jacob Murray won five features. Other winners in this class were Richie Gustin with two, Scott Dickey, Bill Davis Jr., Michael Long, Kyle Strickler, Todd Shute, Andrew Schroeder, and Dakota Hayden.

SportMods: Car counts in this class stayed in the 16-22 range all season. Jess Sobbing dominated winning 10 of 19 features and captured the point title. Curtis Van Der Wal was able to hold the point lead through mid season and stay close after Sobbing had a DNF in May, but Sobbing was just too good. He is a talented racer and has the best equipment. I hope he can win the Super Nationals to cap off a good year with over 50 wins over all across Iowa and Nebraska. But hope the guy moves up to Modifieds next year. Van Der Wal was able to get two wins on the season and seemed to get faster as the season went. Other drivers winning features were Jason McDaniel with two, Bryan Weyer won two, Bill Gibson, Bryan Lariviere won the Frostbuster. Carter VanDenBerg was third in points.

Stock Cars: This class by far stood out as the most competitive and best racing all season. Zack VanderBeek won five features but missed a few nights due to his USMTS schedule. It was good to see Zack, Colt Mather, and Brad Pinkerton compete in the Stock Car class most of the season since none of them had an IMCA Modified to race. (Maybe next year?) Matt Greiner took his two wins and consistent performance to the track championship. Nathan Wood also had two wins and finished second in points. Corey Stout was third in points. Other drivers getting wins were John Heinz, Damon Murty with four, Kyle Harwood, Brad Pinkerton, and Todd Reitzler.

Hobby Stock: Shannon Anderson dominated this class winning the track championship easily with eight wins. This class also had some good races and as long as Anderson started in the fifth or sixth or row it was a good show. Kevin Fee was second in points with one win, Donavan Nunnikhoven third with one win, Distin Griffiths was fourth with five wins. Other drivers winning features were Bobby Greene, Jamie Songer, and Mike Hughes. Hughes may have had the faster car at the end of the season but didn’t compete the first half at all as Ryan Humphrey didn’t get the car ready until mid season.

Sport Compact: This class only had 5-8 cars all season and it wasn’t really that much fun to watch for me. They might be faster than the eye gives you credit for when you look at lap times, but there just isn’t enough cars to make it interesting for me. We will see if this class grows next year. Merv Chandler won nine features and the track championship. There were a few good races with some side by side racing. The jury is still out on this class, but if it doesn’t grow in year two, I hope it’s gone and replaced with maybe a rotating schedule of 305 sprint cars, Mod Lites, Sportman Series, Compacts, Trucks… something anyway.

One of the nice tricks this year was the painting of the front stretch catch fence black. I can’t believe how much of a difference that made in how well you could see the cars. Hopefully they finish the job and paint it all the way down into turn four next year. Also on my wish list is a new sound system. That would be a huge upgrade to the facility. Tony Paris does a good job announcing, but it’s hard to hear most of the time. It’s loud enough, too loud, but not clear and sharp and I think that would be a huge upgrade so that the track can communicate better with the fans. I love how there is a points sheet available when you walk through the gate. That really helps fans be able to identify names with car numbers, and it’s cheap. I also like there is a spot right there available to the fans to donate money to a driver for pit passes. It allows the fans to give back, and it helps the driver. Great idea and I wish more tracks would do that.

It was a great season and I’m pumped for season number two of the Van Genderen era. Congratulations to all the track champions, Mike Van Genderern and his staff of officials, and the Southern Iowa Fair on a great season.

Season Winding Down, Drag Racing

Well after ten straight days of racing a couple of weeks ago I’m rested up and ready for a new column. I’m excited to read so many positive reviews of the new Friday Knoxville Nationals format in Speed Sport, Area Auto Racing News, and even Jeff Broeg’s Back Stretch. The only complaints I heard was that it ran a little late that night. When you start hot laps at 7:45pm, the track is heavy, builds up a ledge on the cushion, and it needs some work in the middle of the show that happens.

I made it to Marshalltown Speedway last Friday night and saw a good show as usual. It was nice to see the Mississippi Valley vintage cars there. I learned that Lenard McCarl built his own chassis back in the day. Not sure how I didn’t know that until last week, and that Terry McCarl won his first race in a McCarl chassis.

Jimmy Gustin won his eighth Modified race of the year at Marshalltown, but it was in a new 2013 Harris chassis. Nice looking car. The SportMod race was awesome with Janae Gustin getting the win, but it wasn’t easy as she raced up through the field. Nice to see Curtis Van Der Wal venture up to Mtown and run fourth. Tracy Geinger of Newton won the stock car feature holding off Damon Murty at the end. It’s been a long time since I saw my home town guy Geinger win a feature, so was happy for him. I just really enjoy the shows at Marshalltown and the whole experience there.

The Marshalltown point races are looking like Jimmy Gustin has the field covered in Modifieds, Scott Pippert has Hobby Stocks in hand, Steve Meyer has a good handle on the Stock Cars as well. The SportMod race is heated and will go to the end with Joel Rust and Racer Hulin tied for the lead and Jake Strayer is only four points behind them. Season Championship is August 31 so only two weeks to go.

Saturday I went to Eddyville Raceway Park to the Altered Fuel Nationals. I’ve only been to Eddyville once before when I was a kid so I haven’t been exposed to drag racing much at all. To me it’s not a lot of fun to watch from the stands, but I sure do appreciate this type of racing. To me drag racing is “racing” in its purest form. Let’s build a car and see how fast it can go… period. I had a great experience there all day and I have to say it’s something I look forward to do again next year, but I will remember my ear plugs for sure! I have a video on my YouTube channel if you want to see. www.youtube.com/arniebhg

This week at Knoxville is Season Championship and Terry McCarl has a slim eight point lead over Davey Heskin in the 410 class. Clint Garner has the 360 title clinched. Matthew Stelzer has a 52 point lead over Mike Van Haafton in the 305 class. With 165 points up for grabs in all classes it will come down to the features. TMac is going for his seventh track championship (aka the Lucas Oil Knoxville Championship Cup Series) while Heskin is trying for his first. Heskin has been the point leader most of the season, but the Sunday night Capitani Classic event was run as a full points race and his cushion was erased when he didn’t make the feature and McCarl did. Tough break, but he still has a good chance to win it.

Hoping to make it to the Boone Super Nationals finale on Sep 8th. I wish it wasn’t the same day as the Iowa-ISU football game though. Never understood the timing of that event in football season, but you have to have it after most tracks have their season in the books to build the car count.

I’ll be covering Oskaloosa tonight and next week for season championship. It’s looking like Cayden Carter has the Modified title wrapped up, same for Shannon Anderson in Hobby Stock. Stock Car leader is Matt Greiner but Nathan Wood is lurking 13 points behind. One bad night for Greiner and it could get close. Jesse Sobbing will likely win the SportMod title unless he has a DNF. Curtis Van Der Wal is six points behind and waiting to take advantage if the opportunity is there.

Schatz Completes the Six Pack

On paper Donny Schatz made it look easy winning his sixth Knoxville Nationals crown, until you see the margin of victory of 0.117 seconds over runner-up Brian Brown. Schatz started fifth in the main event Saturday night of the 52nd annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals and took the lead from pole sitter Stevie Smith on the 14th circuit and led the distance until Brown reeled him in at the end.

After 26 laps were complete the competition fuel stop was called and teams pitted for fuel and tires. With 24 laps remaining Schatz was leading Craig Dollansky, Brown, Stevie Smith, Kraig Kinser, Shane Stewart, and Jason Meyers to the restart. Schatz pulled away by half a straightaway in a matter of three laps, but the only unscheduled caution of the 50 lap event came out with 16 laps remaining when rookie of the Nationals Kyle Larson cut a left rear tire and rolled to a stop.

On the restart Brown made his move to second passing Dollansky, and stayed within a few car lengths of Schatz for several laps. Both Brown and Schatz were running the high groove on the cushion which was rough all night, and both drivers bobbled getting into the ledge building up on the cushion off of turn two in the waning laps. Coming to the white flag Brown was knocking on the door and with lapped cars of Paul McMahan and Cody Darrah in front of the leaders, Schatz slowed a bit and Brown made the corners of his life in three and four and pulled up along-side Schatz off the last corner and they drag raced to the line with Schatz winning by a nose wing in the closest finish in nationals history.

Finishing third was front row starter Craig Dollansky. Dollanksy has had an impressive Nationals career but the disappointment on his face afterword was obvious. This was his seventh top five, and 13th top ten finish. Pole sitter Stevie Smith finished a disappointing seventh, and it was his 14th career top ten. Smith and Dollansky are arguably the most successful drivers not to win a Nationals title.

Over shadowing the feature event was who didn’t race their way into Nationals Championship feature. 12 time champion Steve Kinser ended a 34 year consecutive run by ending his night tenth in the B-Main. Kinser hasn’t had good showings the previous past three years with finishes of 12th, 22nd, and 16th and that trend worsened. Kinser drew last in the Wednesday qualifying order and immediately his attitude was colorful in a negative manner to say the least. Although the King has three World of Outlaws wins this season and is in second place, only 17 points behind the leader Dollansky, it seems the King has lost his mojo at Knoxville.

Also not qualifying for the championship was four time champion Danny Lasoski who finished second in the C-Main, transferred to the B-Main, but only managed a 17th finish there, ending his night. Lasoski has failed to reach the championship race three years in a row. 2010 champion Tim Shaffer finished sixth in the B-Main two spots away from transferring. And one of the favorites to win the Nationals this year Sammy Swindell fell one spot short finishing fifth in the B-Main to end his night.

This night will be remembered as a night the torch was passed to a new generation of sprint car drivers.

The only Kinser in the championship race was 2005 champ Kraig Kinser, the son of Steve. Kraig had some fierce battles with Shane Stewart throughout most of the race and clawed his way to fourth, earning his second career top five Nationals finish. Shane Stewart started 13th and raced up to sixth at the halfway break, but couldn’t manage to go any further in the second half of the race.

The two time Outlaws champion Jason Meyers stepped back from racing full time in March this year and climbed in the Tarlton 21m car, who happened to purchase some of his old cars. Meyers stepped in his car and it fit like an old pair of shoes and was able to drive from seventh to fifth.

Winning the 22 lap B-Main was Mark Dobmeier and grabbing the other transfer positions was Davey Heskin second, Brian Paulus third, and Jason Sides fourth. Paulus had taken a three year hiatus from sprint car racing and last made the Nationals A-Main in 2006. Heskin who has been the point leader at Knoxville most of the season raced from 22nd to tenth earning hard charger honors and getting his second career top ten Nationals finish. Dobmeier raced up to 12th.

Joey Saldana started sixth in the championship, but Saldana pulled his car in after two laps in hot laps and his team had to change engines before the race started. Saldana ended in a disappointing eleventh place. Joey just seems snake bitten at Knoxville.

Rookie Kyle Larson, who won the Wednesday night preliminary feature,started 12th and seemingly had something wrong with his car from the start. After the blown tire he was able to finish 16th in his first career Nationals.

Closing thoughts…

The race track started out narrow and fast as most race nights do. But the Saturday night of the Nationals track endures more laps than any night all year with 2,466 laps completed under race conditions. A normal 410-360 weekly race is 1,544 laps and with the 305 cars some weeks the total goes up to 1,855 if there is a full field of cars. So track conditions change rapidly and drastically. The last 7-8 laps the A-Main saw rubber down on the top and middle grooves of turns one and two, and the bottom groove was never really there all night. The bottom held up great in three and four. Next year I would be in favor of spending 30 minutes to rework the track surface with the aerator and sprinkle a little water on it before the A-Main to ensure it holds up for all 50 laps. If the track would have had a bottom groove and more grip in general, I think we would have seen a better race the second half. I applaud John McCoy for changing the number of transfer positions from two to four in all races this week. That opens it up to more opportunity for someone to race the alphabet. But I wouldn't mind seeing 16 cars locked into all B, C, D, and E features instead of 20. And if we have to add a F and G main, so be it. Thinning out the heard wouldn't be a bad thing.

Winning the C-Main was Jac Haudenschild, his third career C-Main Nationals win. Jac had mechanical problems in the B-Main and finished 23rd. Tyler Walker won the D-Main, and Bill Rose won the E-Main.

52nd Annual Knoxville Nationals Championship: 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Brian Brown, 3. Craig Dollansky, 4. Kraig Kinser, 5. Jason Meyers, 6. Shane Stewart, 7. Stevie Smith, 8. Lance Dewease, 9. Tim Kaeding, 10. Davey Heskin, 11. Joey Saldana, 12. Mark Dobmeier, 13. Jonathan Allard, 14. Justin Henderson, 15. Daryn Pittman, 16. Kyle Larson, 17. Dale Blaney, 18. Ian Madsen, 19. Lucas Wolfe, 20. Jason Sides, 21. Cody Darrah, 22. David Gravel, 23. Paul McMahan, 24. Brian Paulus.

B-Main finish: 1. Dobmeier, 2. Heskin, 3. Brian Paulus, 4. Jason Sides, 5. Sammy Swindell, 6. Tim Shaffer, 7. Jason Johnson, 8. Kevin Swindell, 9. Kerry Madsen, 10. Steve Kinser, 11. Bronson Maeschen, 12. Brooke Tatnell, 13. Chad Kemenah, 14. Terry McCarl, 15. Wayne Johnson, 16. James McFadden 17. Danny Lasoski, 18. Scott Winters, 19. Danny Holtgraver, 20. Greg Hodnett, 21. Brad Sweet, 22. Dustin Selvage, 23. Jac Haudenschild, 24. Dusty Zomer.

C-Main finish: Jac Haudenschild, 2. Danny Lasoski, 3. Brad Sweet, 4. James McFadden, 5. Jamie Veal, 6. Jack Dover, 7. Cap Henry, 8. Randy Hannagan, 9. Greg Wilson, 10. Jeff Swindell,

Friday Hard Knox

Friday night of the Nationals worked out AWESOME!!! Being the mad scientist behind the general idea I would like to thank John McCoy for hearing out my thoughts. I told you it would work.

Dubbed Friday “Hard Knox” or “Mulligan Night”, the Friday format gave a second chance for anyone not in the top 16 in over-all points to come back and race on Friday for a shot to make it into the Nationals A-Main on Saturday. The top four would start in the Saturday finale in positions 17-20.

The A-Main was a fierce battle in the opening laps with Cody Darrah and David Gravel exchanging the lead while the crowd also kept an eye on Kerry Madsen and Steve Kinser in the middle of the field racing toward the front. Kinser started 15th and raced his way up to sixth or seventh at one time but faded to ninth in the end. After halfway Gravel built a solid lead but Justin Henderson’s car came to him the last half of the race. Henderson started sixth and on the 20th circuit he made the pass to get around Gravel and lead the remaining five laps to pick up the win.

A fierce battle for third sixth ensued most of the race as everyone was vying for one of the four transfer spots in the Saturday A-Main, after all fifth place would end up starting eleventh in the B-Main. It came down to Dale Blaney and Darrah beating a charging Madsen and Chad Kemenah the last few laps. Dale Blaney lost an engine on his qualifying night in hot laps and didn’t get it changed in time for his time trial spot, so his team elected to take the mulligan and park the car instead of starting at the back of a heat race or C-Main. That decision paid off.

Danny Lasoski gave up a guaranteed tenth starting position in the Saturday A-Main to requalify on Friday to have a better shot to win. That roll of the dice didn’t pay off as he timed 21st in qualifying which put him on the front row of his heat race, which he won. The Dude started tenth in the A-Main but had mechanical problems and finished 15th, putting him on the front row of the Saturday C-Main.

The heat races and B-Main’s were intense with only the top two finishers of all races earning spots in the A-Main. Heat two featured KKR teammates Brad Sweet and Cody Darrah, and Darrah cut off Sweet a couple of times to hold him off for a second place heat finish. Steve Kinser ended up in the toughest of the seven heats starting fourth with Blaney, Hafertepe, Gharst, and Hannagan. The King finished third to Blaney and Hafertepe.

Kinser won the first B-Main while Kevin Swindell drove from seventh to second to transfer. In the second B-Main Chad Kemenah led the distance but Cap Henry scrambled from seventh to second just like Kevin.

Friday heat winners: David Gravel, Wayne Johnson, Dale Blaney, Jac Haudenschild, Terry McCarl, Jeff Swindell, Danny Lasoski. Winning the three B-Main’s were Steve Kinser, Chad Kemenah, and Bronson Maeschen.

Friday A-Main results: 1. Justin Henderson, 2. David Gravel, 3. Dale Blaney, 4. Cody Darrah, 5. Kerry Madsen, 6. Chad Kemenah, 7. Terry McCarl, 8. Dusty Zomer, 9. Steve Kinser, 10. Danny Holtgraver, 11. Bronson Maeschen, 12. Kevin Swindell, 13. Wayne Johnson, 14. Scott Winters, 15. Danny Lasoski, 16. Jamie Veal, 17. Rager Phillips, 18. Jac Haudenschild, 19. Cap Henry, 20. James McFadden, 21. Greg Wilson, 22. Jeff Swindell, 23. Sam Hafertepe Jr., 24. Joey Moughan.

Jason Meyers wins KXV Nats Thursday Prelim

Jason Meyers may have disappeared into semi retirement from sprint car racing in March of this year, but the two time World of Outlaws champion showed no signs of losing his mojo after winning the Thursday preliminary feature. Meyers started the night by timing thirteenth, finishing third in his heat race. In the feature he chased down leader MarkDobmeir and took the lead on lap eight and then held off a late charge from Tim Shaffer to get the win. Meyers accumulated enough points to start seventh in the championship Saturday night.

Setting quick time on the evening was Australian native and Knoxville regular Ian Madsen with a lap of 15.491. Ian then finished third in his heat race but in the feature spun in turn two and had to restart at the tail, but still managed a sixteenth finish to earn enough points to be locked into the top 16 starting positions for Saturday night.

During the Madsen spin, four time champion Danny Lasoski tried to avoid Madsen by taking the inside lane, but ran out of room and tagged Madsen’s car sending Lasoski upside down and done for the night. Lasoski will have to race on Friday night to try to earn one of the four remaining spots in the Saturday championship.

Sammy Swindell wowed the crowd in the heat races recovering from contact with Wayne Johnson while racing for second and nearly stuffing the car into the fence. Swindell was able to regroup and beat Johnson for second on the last lap. Swindell however had mechanical issues with his drive line in the feature and had to pull in after five laps which will force him to start sixth in the Saturday B-main.

It was a good night for the Knoxville regular competitors with Madsen, Mark Dobmeier finishing sixth, Brian Brown ninth, Josh Schneiderman 17th, Dusty Zomer 21st. Zomer had to race in the B-main and was able to advance from fourth to second in the closing laps, but he had a left rear tire go down in the A-main ending his night.

California driver Tim Kaeding won the B-main and worked his way up to eighth in the A, which gave him enough to earn the eighth starting position on Saturday. Winning heat races were Tony Brice Jr., Tyler Walker, Josh Schneiderman, Johnny Herrera, and Joey Moughan.

Friday night is shaping up to be an exciting one with former National champions Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski in the lineup. The top four in the Friday race will earn starting positions 17-20 in the championship race on Saturday, while fifth place starts eleventh in the B-main. Other notable names racing Friday are Tyler Walker, Johnny Herrera, Kerry Madsen, Justin Henderson, Wayne Johnson, Dusty Zomer, Fred Rahmer, Chad Kemenah, Terry McCarl, Cody Darrah, Brad Sweet, Brady Bacon, Kevin Swindell, and Jac Haudenschild.

Knoxville Nationals Thursday preliminary feature finish: 1. Jason Meyers, 2. 83 Tim Shaffer, 3. Kraig Kinser, 4. Stevie Smith, 5. Lance DeWease, 6. Mark Dobmeier, 7. Jason Johnson, 8. Tim Kaeding, 9. Brian Brown, 10. Johnny Herrera, 11. Greg Hodnett, 12. Daryn Pittman, 13. Tim McFadden, 14. Tyler Walker, 15. Jamie Veal, 16. Ian Madsen, 17. Josh Schneiderman, 18. Tony Bruce Jr. 19. Wayne Johnson, 20. Joey Moughan, 21. Dusty Zomer, 22. Danny Lasoski, 23. Sammy Swindell, 24. Josh Hodges.

Top 16 in overall points: 1. Stevie Smith, 2. Craig Dollanksy, 3. Jonathan Allard, 4. Brian Brown, 5. Donny Schatz, 6. Joey Saldana, 7. Jason Meyers, 8. Tim Kaeding, 9. Kraig Kinser, 10. Lucas Wolfe, 11. Ian Madsen, 12. Kyle Larson, 13. Shane Stewart, 14. Daryn Pittman, 15. Lance DeWease, 16. Paul McMahan.

Super Kyle wins at KXV

Just when you thought the Kyle Larson story couldn’t get any better this week, it did! Larson, 20 years old, in his first Knoxville Nationals goes out and wins the opening night preliminary feature. No rookie at the Nationals has ever accomplished that feat, but this is no ordinary rookie driver. For as sweet of a win it was for Larson, there was plenty of heartbreak on the night.

Knoxville regular Davey Heskin led the first half of the race until a caution on lap 13 for Randy Hannagan slowing with mechanical problems, who was running second at the time. On the restart Jason Sides made a daring pass going into turn one to get by Heskin, slowing up Heskin enough to lose his momentum and Kyle Larson went by for second in the next corner. With six laps to go and the win in sight Jason Sides blew a left rear tire and tipped the car over in front of the entire field where luckily no one hit him. Larson inherited the lead and never looked back from there. With two laps to go Brian Paulus also slowed with mechanical problems and pulled in after he was running in second. Heskin and Donny Schatz had a fierce battle for second, exchanging the position a couple of times before Heskin won the position.

The night started with a two hour delay after a storm came through in the late afternoon. Once action was underway Joey Saldana set the pace with a lap of 14.715. The track was fast, heavy, and narrow making passing nearly impossible in the heat races. With the heat races inverted based on qualifying times only two cars in the top ten made it to the feature through their heat race. California driver Jonathan Allard surprised everyone with a third place qualifying run and then drove from eighth to second in his heat race. Allard has only qualified for the Nationals Saturday main event once previously, but will get in this year. Winning the heat races were Brooke Tatnell, AJ Moeller, Kerry Madsen, Ed Lynch Jr., and Lee Sowell. All five winners started on the front row of their heat.

The tough track conditions made for a stacked B-main as Joey Saldana won over Craig Dollansky, Shane Stewart, and Paul McMahan. Those four drivers would transfer to the tail of the A-main. The Nationals format is tough, but it sets up excitement and drama every year and the format delivered a good one again on Wednesday night in the feature with Dollansky racing up to fourth, Shane Stewart to seventh, and Joey Saldana to eighth. Notable drivers not advancing to the A-main were Steve Kinser, Fred Rahmer, and Chad Kemenah.

The Nationals is all about accumulating points and the top sixteen overall after Wednesday and Thursday are locked in for the Saturday night championship feature. So being in the top eight is the benchmark on night one.

With qualifying worth the same amount of points as the A-main, Joey Saldana earned the same amount of points as Larson for winning.

The highest finishing rookie at the Nationals was Stevie Smith finishing third in 1989. We will see if Larson can top that on Saturday night.

Night two of the Nationals on Thursday will feature former champions Kraig Kinser, Danny Lasoski, Tim Shaffer, and Sammy Swindell.

Knoxville Nationals Wednesday prelim feature results: 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Davey Heskin, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Craig Dollansky, 5. Lucas Wolfe, 6. Brooke Tatnell, 7. Shane Stewart, 8. Joey Saldana, 9. Dustin Selvage, 10. Jonathan Allard, 11. Jeff Swindell, 12. Austin McCarl, 13. Don Droud Jr., 14. Paul McMahan, 15. Ed Lynch Jr., 16. Glenn Saville, 17. AJ Moeller, 18. Brian Paulus, 19. Lee Sowell, 20. Jason Sides, 21. Casey Mack, 22. Randy Hannagan, 23. Kerry Madsen, 24. Mike Reinke.

Nationals Point totals (tie breaker is feature finishing position): 1. Craig Dollansky 477, 2. Jonathan Allard 475, 3. Donny Schatz 471, 4. Joey Saldana 471, 5. Lucas Wolfe 477, 6. Kyle Larson 458, 7. Shane Stewart 458, 8. Paul McMahan 453, 9. Davey Heskin 449, 10. Brian Paulus 440.

Larson sweeps Ultimate Challenge

California driver Kyle Larson is the story of the year in sprint car racing, and he proved why again on Tuesday night at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa by winning the USAC non-wing $15,000 to win Ultimate Challenge for the second year in a row. Larson is only 20 years old and has signed a driver development deal with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. This kid IS the next Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, or Jeff Gordon. If you want to say you were there when... you better come see him at Knoxville this week during the Knoxville Nationals when he races in the Wednesday night preliminary event.

Larson won the Monday night preliminary USAC feature easily and was locked in the eight car dash race on Tuesday but drew number eight and only made his way to seventh in that race with a fast narrow track. But in the feature when the race track widened out he was able to pass Justin Grant to grab the lead after seven laps to lead laps 8-30. Larson was chased by veteran Dave Darland the second half of the race in traffic, but Darland came up short in the end. Larson also becomes the first repeat winner of the Ultimate Challenge in its eleventh year.

I can’t put into words how impressed I am with Kyle Larson. I’ve never witnessed anything like this phenomenon in my life time. He wins in a non-win sprint car, with a wing, in a midget, or silver crown. In addition to winning the Ultimate Challenge in 2011 he won the Belleville Midget Nationals, swept the USAC four crown event at Eldora Speedway in Ohio, and he won one of the biggest World of Outlaws races last fall, the Gold Cup in Chico, CA. He finished fourth in his NASCAR Truck series debut last month at Kentucky, and he sits second in points in the NASCAR K&N Pro East Series with one win. Seeing him race a winged sprint car at Knoxville the past week has been impressive as well. It’s hard to fathom that a rookie has a chance to run up front at the Knoxville Nationals, but the car and talent is there to have a shot.

Winning Ultimate Challenge heat races was Chris Windom, Damion Gardner, and Justin Grant. Grant also won the dash to start on the pole of the feature where he finished third.

The winged 305 sprint cars were also on hand Yuesday night and it was Pella driver Mike Van Haafton grabbing the win.

The 52nd annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals stats tonight and ends on Saturday. The Saturday program will be recorded on Speed TV and broadcast at a later date.

Ultimate Challenge results: 1..Kyle Larson, 2. Dave Darland,3. Justin Grant, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Thomas Meserall, 7. Brian Clauson, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Levi Jones, 10. Jon Stanbrough.