The Capitani Classic was the best race all year up to this point at Knoxville Raceway. Ian Madsen led every lap of the A-Main, but there was plenty of racing behind him. Congrats to the KCP team on picking up win number three this season and grabbing the 410 points lead.
Ian drew 23rd in the qualifying order and timed 23rd overall which put him to in the second row of heat five and he would finish second to advance to the A-Main, where he would end up on the pole of with enough cars ahead of him in qualifying not being able to transfer out of their heat races with a stacked field of 71 cars.
The race for second through fifth was awesome with Kerry Madsen, Brian Brown, Davey Heskin, and Justin Henderson battling it out lap after lap.
Drivers that really impressed me were Dale Blaney (23rd to 16th) and Shane Stewart (16th to 9th). Brown went out 43rd and timed 10th. McCarl went out 35th and timed 8th, Saldana went out 32nd and timed 2nd, Pittman went out 54th and timed 15th.
Kevin Swindell had a really fast car in the A-Main but the steering broke and he ended up in the fence to end his race early.
I know some teams aren't happy with Capitani Classic format, and I get that. When you have 50 plus cars I’m not sure if there is a format that is going to be fair for everyone. But it's about entertainment. Race fans want to see racing, and inverts ensure that. That is why so many fans come to the Knoxville Nationals every year. And without fans there is no racing, for anyone.
If you want to see a race format where qualifying matters and fast cars always start up front, then go watch pavement or a World of Outlaws race. Knoxville formats always put on a show for the fans, and that is the bottom line, selling tickets. Qualifying matters at the Nationals for sure, but its as equally important as winning the A-Main as far as points go, so it balances out and is the most fair format there is that ensures entertaining racing. The biggest and most prestigious race of the year shouldn’t be easy to win.
With all that said, I would be in favor of top 8 redraw every week at Knoxville rather than a straight invert of 8 each week. Or maybe go back to drawing for the inverts after time trials and use a 4, 6, or 8 invert. Every 410 feature this season has been won from the front two rows this year. That tells me something doesn’t work. But if we draw, it’s random and the fastest driver in qualifying isn’t penalized every week.
In my opinion, the WoO format stinks. They invert 4 in the heat races and take 4 into the A-Main. The heat races mean almost nothing other than the heat winner is locked in the dash, which is good that there is some sort of reward to race for.
I ran a scenario with splitting the Capitani Classic field of 71 cars in half (36 and 35) and timing them in separate groups. There was certainly an advantage to time early with 9 of the top 10 qualifiers coming in the first half, the exception being Brian Brown who timed 9th overall and went out 43rd in the order.
14 cars in the first half of the field qualified for the A-Main, while 10 made it from the second half.
What is really interesting though is that when you split the field, 6 of the top 10 of the first group made it to the A-Main, and those six cars had an average finish of 20.1. The second half of the field, 9 of their top 10 made it into the A-Main and those 9 cars average finish was 10.6. So it paid off to go out later and time slower on this night.
Teams can’t complain about the track not being wide enough or good enough to pass in the heat races. The track was perfect for passing in the heats. The heats were 8 laps, but honestly 10 laps like some people want, wouldn’t matter much.
Terry McCarl was the benefactor of the Capitani Classic two years and it helped him win the track championship. This year the format bit him. But if we split the field and only use the first half of the cars in the first three heat races, he ends up starting fourth in a heat race instead of fifth with Joey Saldana and Dale Blaney behind him in row three, Cody Darrah to his inside in row two, then Rico Abreu and Davey Heskin on the front row. That lineup might have been tougher than the one he had, so it wouldn’t have been any easier that way in my opinion.
The best thing about the Capitani Classic, other than the car count and the intense racing on the track with points at stake, is that it is one more way Knoxville Raceway celebrates its history and heritage. As Terry McCarl says on the opening of Dirt Dreams, “Knoxville has something you can’t buy, and that is history.” I couldn’t agree more. Ralph Capitani did a lot for Knoxville Raceway and the community so it’s great to see him honored this way with a race named after him.
It’s Holy Week. I’ll be back each day with recap, stats, and stories the next few days. Look for my interviews with Justin Henderson and Brian Brown in the Race Talk newspaper, as well as my Steve Kinser tribute article in the Nationals program. Have a great week!
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