Brian Brown Wins Third Straight!

Race #5 of the Knoxville Championship Cup Series

It was a chilly night on Saturday, the lowest temperature (63 degrees) and humidity (27%) we had seen all season. Thank goodness the wind was light. Two-time World of Outlaws champion Jason Meyers made his debut in the Call/Holbrook 83 sprint car on this night. Four time ASCS champion Jason Johnson was also entered. It was great to have Meyers entered, who told me he will be back at Knoxville on June 14 for the WoO show, but may come back one more time if needed to be prepared for the Nationals. Meyers’ night didn’t go as well as he hoped, so that extra night option might be a possibility. Next Saturday night we are expecting another invader, Rico Abreu.

Brian Brown and Wayne Johnson were both entered in the 410 and 360 class. The Nationals is more than two months away but it’s never too soon to prepare for August. Heck Brown has been preparing since August 11 of last year. Brown would own this night wining the 410 and 360 features.

410 Report
Top 10 Qualifying:  Brian Brown set quick time for the first time this season with a lap of 15.185 (118.5 mph), followed by McCarl, Heskin, Garner, Maeschen, Dollansky, Schneiderman, Dobmeier, Jeffrey, Meyers.

Heat winners were Wayne Johnson (started 2nd), Zomer (2nd), Heskin (6th), and Dobmeier (5th). In heat three Schneiderman and Kubli crashed in turn one hard. Miraculously the Schneiderman crew got their car back together in time to push off for the B-Main and even transferred to the A. Dobmeier and Heskin were impressive winning from the third row.

A-Main: Lynton Jeffrey was the leader and if it weren’t for a late caution he might have won the race. Bronson Maeschen was chasing Jeffrey most of the race and nearly had him in traffic at one time. Brian Brown was up to fourth at halfway from his eighth starting spot. Brown was on the move and up to third when the white flag came out, but Don Droud Jr. rolled to a stop in turn four before the lap was completed setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Just prior to this I noticed a bit of rubber being laid on the track in turn one about a car width below the cushion. At one point McCarl tried to slide job Brown, but Brown hit the rubber on the top of turn one and cleared McCarl easily. On the restart Jeffrey and Maeschen both went to the bottom leaving the top wide open, Brown was around Maeschen off of turn two, and had the lead going into turn 3 to win his third straight 410 feature at Knoxville. 

Brian Brown probably replays last year’s Nationals race in his mind every night before he goes to sleep, trying to think of how he is going to beat Donny Schatz this year. Brownie may have won three in a row, but his sights are set on August 6-9. Talking to him briefly after the race he critiqued himself, saying he was still too sloppy at times and needs to make better laps. He knows he can’t be off one corner in order to beat the master. Brown seems to be concentrating on his set-up for the last half of these features, maybe conserving his equipment for the end. He has won three features the past two weeks and led a total of six laps in those three races. I hope we see Brown here each week from here on out. He has a legitimate chance to catch up in points and make it interesting.

Clint Garner had his best finish of the season with a fifth. It appears their team found something in qualifying this week making their life easier with a starting spot in the eight invert.

Davey Heskin was the big mover in points this week jumping from seventh to fourth.

410 A Main Finish (started): 1. Brian Brown (8); 2. Lynton Jeffrey (1); 3. Bronson Maeschen (4); 4. Terry McCarl (7); 5. Clint Garner (5); 6. Mark Dobmeier (2); 7. Davey Heskin (6); 8. Ian Madsen (10); 9. Craig Dollansky (3); 10. Brooke Tatnell (11); 11. Dusty Zomer (15); 12. Brad Loyet (12); 13. Wayne Johnson (14); 14. Justin Henderson (16); 15. Dustin Selvage (24); 16. Cole Wood (21); 17. Scott Winters (17); 18. Tasker Phillips (22); 19. Jason Meyers (9); 20. Jason Johnson (20); 21. Dakota Hendrickson (13); 22. Don Droud Jr. (18); 23. Josh Schneiderman (23); 24. Larry Ball Jr. (19). Lap Leaders: Jeffrey 1-19, Brown 20-21. Hard-charger: Selvage.

 360 Report
Justin Henderson set quick time at 15.814 followed by Beaver, Hall, Ball, and Agan.  Heat winners were Wayne Johnson (3rd), Nate Van Haafetr (4th), and Brian Brown (4th).

Russ Hall was the leader most of the race but had a nice battle with Agan early. Jack Dover went by Agan for second about halfway and then Brown followed. Brown showed signs of another gear with six laps to go and went by Dover and started to gain on Hall. A caution with four laps to go restacked the field. Hall did a nice job of holding off Brown on the restart, but Brown was just too strong and before the white flag came out Brown went on by and won by half a straightaway. It was impressive and I think Brown will be the man to beat at the 360 Nationals. Agan and Beaver had a good race for fourth as well.

Agan leads the drivers points by 26 over Beaver, while the Sundby #1 and Justin Henderson lead the owners points.


360 A Main Finish (started): 1. Brian Brown (9); 2. Russ Hall (1); 3. Jack Dover (6); 4. Jon Agan (2); 5. Joe Beaver (3); 6. Justin Henderson (5); 7. Nate Van Haaften (7); 8. Jamie Ball (4); 9. Mike Houseman Jr. (14); 10. Jarrod Schneiderman (12); 11. Dylan Peterson (8); 12. Tony Shilling (15); 13. Matt Juhl (13); 14. Carson McCarl (19); 15. Casey Friedrichsen (16); 16. CJ Houseman (20); 17. Calvin Landis (17); 18. Tom Lenz (23); 19. Mike Van Haaften (22); 20. Cody Ledger (25); 21. Austin Alumbaugh (24); 22. Matt Moro (18); 23. Tyler Brooks (26); 24. Jonathan Cornell (10); 25. Jordan Boston (11); 26. Sawyer Phillips (21) DNS – Wayne Johnson. Lap Leaders: R. Hall 1-13, Brown 14-15. Hard-charger: Brown.

305 Report
Matthew Stelzer was quick time 17.057.  Heat winners were Kade Higday, Steve Breazeale, and McKenna Haase. Breazeale led the entire distance but had a good race with Keoni Texeira on the initial start. Mike Mayberry also battled with Breazeale for several laps but couldn’t complete the pass on the veteran Breazeale. Mike Philben had his career best finish with a second while Stelzer came from eighth to third.

305 A Main (started): 1. Steve Breazeale (1); 2. Mike Philben (4); 3. Matthew Stelzer (8); 4. Mike Mayberry (3); 5. J Kinder (6); 6. Kevin Hetrick (5); 7. Keoni Texeira (2); 8. Stacey Alexander (17); 9. Chris Walraven (7); 10. McKenna Haase (9); 11. Jeff Wilke (12); 12. Steve Palmer (14); 13. Mitchell Alexander (11); 14. Corey Kautz (18); 15. Lee Patterson (20); 16. Andee Beierle (15); 17. Kevin Hiemstra (19); 18. Christopher Scank (13); 19. Tanner Edwards (10); 20. Kade Higday (16). Lap Leader: Breazeale 1-12. Hard-charger: S. Alexander.

Historian Notes

Brian Brown… Wow.  Brown has never won four in a row at Knoxville, and we will see if he can do it this coming week. The last time a driver won four in a row at Knoxville, Danny Lasoski in 1996. The Dude also won six in a row to start the 1993 season. The longest winning streak in Knoxville Raceway history is Doug Wolfgang who won TEN in a row at the start of the 1977 season.

How many drivers have won both the 410 & 360 features on the same night at Knoxville? It's been done six times total. Terry McCarl has done this three times (7/27/1996, 6/16/2001, 8/8/2009), Dennis Moore Jr. did it once (6/12/1999), and Brian Brown has now done it twice (7/21/20012, 5/17/2013)

Do you know how many drivers have won 3 features in a row in Knoxville history? The list is longer than you think. Jerry Hayes, Earl Wagner, Greg Weld, Jay Woodside, Joe Saldana, Bob Williams, Dick Sutcliffe, Doug Wolfgang, Mike Brooks, Sammy Swindell, Randy Smith, Danny Lasoski, Jac Haudenschild, Brian Brown (he did it in 2007 also).

Chris Walraven recently asked Senior Track Historian, Bob Wilson, for a all-time list of the top time trial lap times. I have assembled a list of the top 25 all-time. Mr. Walraven, you are fifth.

	Lap Time	Driver	Date
1	14.407	Brooke Tatnell	5/6/2006
2	14.527	Jason Meyers	5/6/2006
3	14.547	Cody Darrah	8/12/2009
4	14.567	Jason Solwold	5/6/2006
5	14.593	Chris Walraven	5/6/2006
6	14.628	Cale Conley	8/12/2009
7	14.633	Stevie Smith	5/6/2006
8	14.634	Billy Alley	5/6/2006
9	14.649	Tyler Walker	5/6/2006
10	14.655	Bronson Maeschen	5/8/2010
11	14.659	Brian Brown	6/1/2013
12	14.666	Davey Heskin	6/8/2013
13	14.674	Donny Schatz	8/12/2009
14	14.678	Randy Hannagan	5/6/2006
15	14.681	Terry McCarl	5/6/2006
16	14.687	Paul McMahan	8/12/2009
17	14.696	Danny Lasoski	5/6/2006
18	14.699	Dusty Zomer	8/29/2009
19	14.699	Sammy Swindell	5/11/2013
20	14.713	Ian Madsen	6/1/2013
21	14.715	Joey Saldana	8/8/2012
22	14.718	Jonathan Allard	8/12/2009
23	14.718	Austin McCarl	5/8/2010
24	14.718	Garrett Dollansky	6/1/2013
25	14.719	Lucas Wolfe	6/1/2013

  

Debut of 54th FVP Knoxville Nationals Power Rankings
1. Schatz, 2. Brown, 3. Saldana, 4. Stewart, 5. Kerry Madsen, 6. McMahan, 7. Pittman, 8. McCarl, 9. Gravel, 10. Henderson, 11. Sweet, 12. Dollansky, 13. Stevie Smith, 14. Steve Kinser, 15. Ian Madsen, 16. Kraig Kinser, 17. Lasoski, 18. Hodnett, 19. Abreu, 20. Kevin Swindell, 21. Darrah, 22. Heskin, 23. Kemenah, 24. Blaney.

Top 5 out: Sammy Swindell, Maeschen, Jeffrey, Zomer, Sam Hafertepe Jr.   

If you own a race team, you need to enter the Knoxville Nationals by July 12 to receive the discounted pit passes, so enter early!!! Entry forms are on the track website.



I’ll be back next week with more tidbits.