Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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6/7/08

Knoxville Raceway

WoO

55 410s

28 360s

410s

Craig Dollansky (18th car out to time) set fast time of the night on a quickly drying track at 15.525. Joey Saldana (38th car out) was second quick, followed by Steve Kinser (1st), Shane Stewart (46th), Donny Schatz (21st), Jason Meyers (17th), Daryn Pittman (3rd), Danny Lasoski (48th), Chad Kemenah (31st) and Jac Haudenschild (41st). Kaylene Verville, Stevie Smith and Paul Jeffrey failed to get times in. Stevie Smith broke a U-joint in hotlaps and scratched for the night. Lynton Jeffrey took over brother Paul's ride after something broke in the front suspension, sending him into the turn four wall in his primary sprinter. Brian Brown changed a rear-end after his failed in hotlaps.

Heat one (started): 1. Schatz 15 (3) 2. Kemenah 8K (2) 3. Dollansky 2 (4) 4. Brian Brown 21x (5) 5. Kraig Kinser 20 (1) / 6. Skip Jackson 2x (10) 7. Calvin Landis 70 (6) 8. Jason Johnson 19E (7) 9. Kaley Gharst 7K (11) 10. Ryan Anderson 71R (8) 11. Randy Anderson 81 (9) 12. Mike Moore 69 (13) 13. Bob Weuve 19w (12) DNS - Stevie Smith 19

Schatz ducked under the front row starters in turn one and never looked back in dusting the field in the 8-lapper. Kemenah won an early battle with K. Kinser to win second and a trip to the dash. K. Kinser continued, losing battles to Dollansky and Brown, but was able to stave off Jackson for the final transfer.

Heat two (started): 1. Terry McCarl 24 (1) 2. Saldana 9 (4) 3. Meyers 14 (3) 4. Haudenschild R19 (2) 5. Ricky Logan 10 (5) / 6. Tim Shaffer 6 (6) 7. Jake Peters 57x (7) 8. Dusty Zomer 5z (9) 9. Seth Brahmer 13v (11) 10. Dion Hindi 11D (8) 11. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (10) 12. Billy Alley 22 (12) 13. Brian Paulus 28 (13) DNS - Paul Jeffrey 12PJ

McCarl led flag to flag, while Saldana and Meyers put on a great show for second. The two exchanged sliders on several occasions in a battle for a dash transfer.

Heat three (started): 1. Lucas Wolfe 5w (1) 2. Randy Hannagan 1x (2) 3. S. Kinser 11 (4) 4. Pittman 21 (3) 5. Kerry Madsen 55 (10) / 6. Jeff Mitrisin 47 (6) 7. Jason Sides 7s (5) 8. Justin Henderson D1 (7) 9. Chad Hillier 5c (9) 10. Josh Schneiderman 49 (8) 11. Tony Shilling 47T (11) 12. Greg Nikitenko 6N (13) 13. Jon Agan 4 (12) DNS - Kaylene Verville 01

On the initial try at green, Schneiderman was black-flagged a row for jumping. The beneficiary was Madsen who was able to move up to a fourth row start. It ended up paying off, as he battled past Mitrisin for the final transfer. Wolfe led the distance.

Heat four (started): 1. Lasoski 5 (3) 2. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (2) 3. Stewart 83 (4) 4. Mark Dobmeier 13 (6) 5. Jack Dover 53 (5) / 6. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (8) 7. Rager Phillips 9P (7) 8. Davey Heskin 56 (10) 9. Toni Lutar 4x (9) 10. Derek Ingalls 91 (11) 11. Bronson Maeschen 96 (1) DNS - Lynton Jeffrey 12, Travis Cram 17G

Maeschen led briefly to complete lap one, before Lasoski took over and pulled away. On lap three, Maeschen would slow to a stop with rear-end troubles on lap three while running second. By that time, Lasoski led Hafertepe Jr., Dobmeier, Dover and Stewart, who was running third when Maeschen slowed directly in front of him. Unfortunately, for him a lap was completed after that. He stormed back to third, but couldn't run down Hafertepe.

C main (started): 1. Jackson (2) 2. Gharst (4) / 3. Brahmer (3) 4. Moore (10) 5. Paulus (11) 6. Lutar (1) 7. Weuve (8) 8. Nikitenko (12) 9. Heskin (9) 10. Ingalls (5) 11. Alley (7) 12. Shilling (6) DNS - Wimmer, Agan, Cram, S. Smith, P. Jeffrey, Verville, L. Jeffrey

Jackson and Gharst checked out on the rest from the outset of the 10-lapper. Shilling and Alley retired early.

Dash (started): 1. McCarl (2) 2. Saldana (4) 3. Schatz (6) 4. Lasoski (1) 5. Hafertepe Jr. (8) 6. S. Kinser (10) 7. Dollansky (9) 8. Kemenah (5) 9. Hannagan (3) 10. Wolfe (7)

McCarl got the jump on Lasoski and led flag to flag in the 6-lapper. Early moves got Schatz into third and moved S. Kinser up two rows for the A.

B main (started): 1. Landis (3) 2. Sides (2) 3. Shaffer (4) 4. Peters (7) / 5. Mitrisin (5) 6. Bruce Jr. (13) 7. Henderson (8) 8. Ry. Anderson (10) 9. Hindi (11) 10. Zomer (15) 11. Jackson (17) 12. Hillier (16) 13. Schneiderman (12) 14. Phillips (9) 15. J. Johnson (6) 16. Ra. Anderson (10) 17. Gharst (18) 18. Maeschen (1)

Maeschen was late to staging after repairs following the heat, started in back and retired quickly. Landis led the mostly single-file 12-lapper the whole way. Peters used an early move around Mitrisin to grab the final transfer.

A main (started): 1. Schatz (3) 2. Saldana (2) 3. McCarl (1) 4. Meyers (12) 5. Dollansky (7) 6. Lasoski (4) 7. Kemenah (8) 8. S. Kinser (6) 9. Haudenschild (14) 10. Wolfe (10) 11. K. Kinser (15) 12. Hafertepe Jr. (5) 13. Brown (16) 14. Pittman (13) 15. Madsen (24) 16. Stewart (11) 17. Dobmeier (22) 18. Shaffer (21) 19. Hillier (26, pr.) 20. Hannagan (9) 21. Sides (18) 22. Bruce Jr. (25, pr.) 23. Landis (20) 24. Dover (19) 25. Peters (23) 26. Logan (17)

The initial start of the 25-lapper was brought back after a three-wide battle for the point when Pittman spun in turn two. The next try stayed green and went non-stop the rest of the way. Saldana got the jump to take the lead from outside row one. He began to pull away from McCarl. Schatz passed McCarl for second on lap seven and set his sights on the leader in traffic on the dry-slick surface. On lap 13, Donny poked his nose in front of Saldana, was passed back and then took the lead at the stripe. On lap 14, it was Saldana's slidejob that put him back in front. He began to pull away again, before Schatz caught him in heavy traffic on lap 23. As the two went side by side down the front straight, it was a high speed game of chicken. Schatz had the low line and was crowded by Saldana. Both kept their lines, and Saldana was left to spin his tires through the middle, handing the lead and the eventual win to Schatz. It was his ninth career victory at Knoxville and 4th in his last five starts here. It was worth $10,000. Meyers came on late, and passed Dollansky on the last lap for fourth behind a steady McCarl. Madsen was the hard-charger, moving forward nine spots.

360s

Heat one (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Natalie Sather 94s (1*) 2. Wayne Johnson 94 (4*) 3. Gregg Bakker 11x (8*) 4. John Kearney 86 (10*) 5. Mike Houseman Jr. Y2 (3*) 6. Dustin Selvage 7 (6*) 7. Tyler Thompson 48 (9) 8. Joe Beaver 53 (7) 9. Rick Ideus 5 (2) 10. Danny Heskin 6 (5)

Thompson spun on the first try at green. Heskin spun on the second and retired after collecting Kearney, who restarted at the tail. Sather led the distance in the 7-lapper. Ideus went pitside on lap three with a broken oil line, and Beaver exited on lap six.

Heat two (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Eric Vanderploeg 10 (2*) 2. Russ Hall 29 (1*) 3. Jesse Giannetto D1 (4*) 4. Josh Higday 24 (9*) 5. Ricky Montgomery 9m (7*) 6. Nate Van Haaften 3 (5) 7. Cody Petersen 16P (3) 8. Pete Crall 1 (8) DQ (illegal tire) - Dave Hall 51 (6, crossed 5th)

Vanderploeg led the distance. Crall took a nasty spill for the second week in a row on lap two. The restart saw Vanderploeg leading R. Hall, Giannetto, D. Hall and Higday back to green. That's pretty much how they finished.

Heat three (started, *qualified for feature): 1. Brett Mather 54 (2*) 2. Matt Moro 2m (5*) 3. Nate Mosher 22N (6*) 4. John Hall 7H (8*) 5. Tom Lenz 8L (9*) 6. Bill Boles 05 (4) 7. RJ Johnson 71 (7) 8. Ryan Roberts 18 (3) 9. Rod Richards 12 (1)

The current points leader led flag to flag. Richards was running second on lap four, when he went up in smoke and stopped. On the restart, Mather led Roberts, Moro, Mosher and J. Hall. Roberts would slow to a stop on the white flag lap while running second, sending him to the B.

B main (started): 1. D. Hall (8) 2. Roberts (6) 3. RJ Johnson (5) 4. Van Haaften (2) / 5. Boles (3) 6. Petersen (4) 7. Heskin (9) 8. Thompson (1) 9. Ideus (7) DNS - Beaver, Cram, Richards

The 10-lapper took awhile to complete. Thompson grabbed an early lead on the dry-slicky. Ideus bowed out on lap three. The leader slowed to a stop on lap four, handing the lead to Boles, ahead of D. Hall up from the tail, Roberts, RJ Johnson and Van Haaften. D. Hall grabbed the lead for good on the restart, and on lap six, Petersen spun bringing another caution. The lead four was set for good by then, despite one more slowdown for a spun Van Haaften, who was battling with RJ Johnson for fourth. Both got by Boles the final three laps to secure transfers.

A main (started): 1. W. Johnson (1) 2. Moro (3) 3. Sather (2) 4. Mather (4) 5. Bakker (6) 6. Giannetto (12) 7. Higday (8) 8. Vanderploeg (5) 9. Kearney (7) 10. R. Hall (10) 11. Mosher (9) 12. Selvage (16) 13. D. Hall (17) 14. Lenz (13) 15. Montgomery (14) 16. Van Haaften (20) 17. J. Hall (11) 18. RJ Johnson (19) 19. Houseman Jr. (15) 20. Roberts (18)

The race was over as soon as it started. The non-stop 15-lapper was all W. Johnson from the get-go. His win was a full 1/2 lap ahead of Moro, and that was after he had some trouble in traffic on a few occasions. Moro and Sather ran strong races. Giannetto was the hard-charger, moving up six spots. The win was Wayne's fifth 360 tally and 10th overall at Knoxville.

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Why wasnt Tatnell there last night?

Thanks to Mother Nature for putting the wind at our backs all weekend so I don't have to listen to people whine about the dust. Even more, thanks for not only allowing us to get 2 nights of great racing in, but letting me get out ahead of you last night so I could get home before all hell broke loose. I'll miss that tree outside my bedroom window...

Kudos to Cappy and the entire Knoxville crew for getting that race in last night! I think it's a testament to your efforts that you were flexible enough to change the format when those 3 cars dropped out. Dropping that last chance race may have been part of the reason for such a successful night!

The Mermaid

Tatnell burnt a piston in his new engine Friday night.

The weather was excellent both nights. There were storms way north and east during the day and evening and it rained several hours after the races were done but it couldn't be more comfortable for outdoor activities at Knoxville. With that said, there were maybe 3,000 or so fans in the granstand Saturday to go with 1,500 (maybe) on Friday.

I must wonder...have we seen the last of the two day WoO shows at Knoxville?

Dunkins and crew did a very nice job with the track for Saturday. By far the best track of the season and the feature racing bore that out. A look at qualifying showed guys being competitive throughout the order, even though times were at least a half second slower. Which just goes to show that entertaining sprint car racing is really more about RACING than about pure speed.

Tough break for Saldana getting hung up in traffic. One little mistake cost him a much-needed win. Schatz kept the pressure on and was in the right place at the right time, taking advantage of his opportunity. He's the best in the game because, like Steve Kinser, he knows how to get it done at crunch time.

Overall, it was a really entertaining night of racing. The WoO feature was top-shelf and Friday's feature was really good the last 10 laps or so. It's just a shame more folks didn't see it.

I was there and i thought the grandstands were pretty decently filled. It's definitely not no Nationals but it had to be way more than 3000 fans. I was talking to Dollansky and he said that there probably won't be to many two days shows... but to me... i wouldn't have went to Knoxville this past weekend if it wasn't a two day show. It was a 6 hour drive one way!

The racing was awesome!! Friday the track was fast and it took a long time for them to widen it out enough, but i've never cheered so hard in my life for Shane Stewart to get around Schatz. I'm surprised Schatz didn't hear him going down the frontstretch and take his line away in 1 & 2. Awesome drive for Shane Stewart!

Saturday the track wasn't as fast but it widened out much sooner. Heat races looked like Nationals heats and drivers were dicing all over the place. If anybody else was there you would know what i mean when I talk about Jason Meyers and Joey Saldana going at it in their heat race, slide jobs in every corner! In the feature, it was awesome to see Joey use the cushion to clear Schatz and a lap car but when Schatz split three lap cars with about 4 laps left.. it was over. Tough lose for Saldana as he still hasn't found the victory podium in 08.

I'm not a big Schatz fan... but the two out of the last three years i've went to this June show it was rained out so i'm glad they got them in! Schatz always wins wherever i go tho... Knoxville, Princeton, Spencer, Husets.

IT's Damn pathetic when an average Sat night crowd of the past is all that attend an outlaw show today.... I'm guessing with the cost of sanctions fees etc there won't be many more 2 day shows at Knoxville...Lets hope that is not an indication of what is in store for the Nationals.... But, I'm sure it is... Fuel prices and live t.v just make it so easy to stay at home..

John Katich, not trying to start an argument or anything. However how did you figure only 1,500 fans for Friday night. I was not able to attend Saturday so I could not coment on how large the crowd was on Saturday. However Friday nights crowd definatly had more than 1,500 people.

Lets use some logic. Knoxville holds 25,000 front and back, therefore we will say 15,000 for the front strait. 10 % full should equal 1,500 fans. I personally feel that the grandstand was more than 10 % full. Knoxville is so large it can make a fairly decent crowd look very small.

I do agree though, 4 dollar gasoline prices do make it a lot easier to stay at home and listen to Hot Rod and Bill W (who do a wonderful job)

Again, not trying to argue or bash, or anything.

Ty

Great racing and I gotta agree way more than 3K in the stands Saturday night by my guess. Hells belles it took us almost 10 minutes to get thru the crowd after the checkers to the pits. Someone posted here last week "who do you think will win Knoxville this weekend?" I replied don't be surprised if Schatz doesn't win both of them. He was one "wiggle" in turn 2 Friday night from a weekend sweep. I have mentioned before I never gave him much credit before last years Front Row Challenge and the show he put on from last to like 7th in 8 laps before he broke on a rough narrow HIGH SPEED big ol half mile was nothing short of SPECTACULAR. He seems to have this calm stalking of his prey attitude every time I see him race. I know he can't be calm inside but his driving is just so smooth he fools you with his straightness and non cushion busting style. Kudos to all. DIRT, Knoxville, track prep crew and the WEATHERMAN. 2 great night of racing (other than the Dirt "bag" Trucks Friday night.) I would pay MORE for a ticket NOT to sit thru that crap. What a (small amount at least) group of wannabe racers.

R.A.

S.H.S.

The racin between Salldana and Shatz was a great show but how about Wayne Johnson. He was pickin' off cars like crazy in that 360 race. I thought that was the best racing of the night. Couldn't help but wonder there for a bit if may KKane thought he was getting Wayne Johnson when he put a Johnson in his car and somehow ended up with that other one - Jesse, I think that other one's name is or something like that - the 19E Remington car.

57chevy .... I am sorry I forgot to kudos Wayne Johnson. He absolutely decimated the 360 field. 9.5 seconds over 2nd !!! WOW. And the lady driver did pretty damn good job for a top 3. Sounded like a freakin law firm name on the p.a. system as they kept calling out ..... "Sather and Mather" !!!

R.A.

S.H.S.

just saw the footage on speed, looked like contact both nights for the lead pass.

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

Just too many entertainment options these days. The Barnstormers had a game in Des Moines Sat. night. I still think what has hurt Knoxville the most over the last few years is the boom of West Des Moines, Grimes, Ankeny, etc. With so many people moving further away from Knoxville it's tougher to justify driving that far for entertainment. Gas prices have some effect I'm sure.

Knoxville needs to look at the best entertainment option in Des Moines, the I-Cubs. Adults are $7, kids are $4 for general admission. And it's closer to home for DM'ers and gets over by 9:00 or 9:30 at night. You can be home in bed by 10 and not travel as far. Sure they kill you on concessions once you get through the gate. But I really think Knoxville has too high of a ticket price for a regular Saturday night. If it's not cheap on a regular night, how can you get more people interested in coming to an Outlaw show for a higher ticket price. Lower ticket prices, jack up the price of beer, pop, food, etc. That's been a winning combination for years for the I-Cubs and DM Buccaneers.

Eric Arnold
Social Media Manager & Track Historian
Knoxville Raceway

I think Knoxville gives all the concessions to the 4H club..........If there was 1500 people on friday half were fairboard members and there family's.........

Schatz proved he's the man to beat come August. Furthermore, I feel the fans in this part of the world are rather spoiled, and just don't know how good they got it. My local racetrack in Winnipeg Canada has ONE lone sprint car race per year. We get about 18-20 NOSA 360/410 sprints and the fans fill the 5000 seat grandstand every year. A few years ago they shut the doors and had to turn some fans away because they were over capacity. At the end of this month hundreds of us starving Canadian sprint car fans will make the 2-3 hour drive south to Grand Forks and Fargo for the WoO shows. The sprint car capital of the world is one of the greatest dirt tracks in the world, and has some of the best car counts anywhere in the country. So what gives here??? If I lived anywhere within a hundred miles of that place I'd be there on a regular basis, nevermind the fact the WoO guys are in town and there were nearly 90 cars in the pits. What more do fans in this area want!!! Is it the economy?? Gas prices?? Not enough bang for the buck?? Hope the fans make the trek come August, but I'm thinking more and more that we might see one of the smallest crowds in years.

Knoxville Natioanls attendee since '95
Favorite Tracks...River Cities, Knoxville, Cedar Lake
Favorite Drivers...S.Kinser, T.Kaeding, K.Madsen, S.Smith
Proud Canadian 

Eric

The price for a ticket to the Des Moines Buccaneer's Single game tickets are $13 for Ice Level, $11 for Arena level and $8 for a child under 12.

So I think the regular weekly ticket price for Knoxville fit right in line with the other major sports attractions in the area.

My hats off to Chris Duncan and crew for a great race track this weekend considering the wind and other weather conditions. Just saw the clips on Speed Report and they were racing all over the track.

Hell yeah Wayner put on a clinic. Chirpy's a genious. I hope he can get the 14aj dialed in before nationals.

Bucs game tickets may be in line, but how do you compete with travel expense and the time to travel if you live in Des Moines?

Eric Arnold
Social Media Manager & Track Historian
Knoxville Raceway

John Katich - You were overheard commenting in the stands Saturday night that the crowd looked to be about 5,000. Not sure why you're changing it to 3,000 now.

Have to agree it was a great night of racing. Quantity/quality of cars and quality of racing hard to beat...and all for $25.

Yes, from the stands it looked like 4-5000 but I've learned that perpective usually yeilds an over-estimate. From the infield, everyone told me that it looked to be about double the Friday crowd, which was widely guessed at 1200-1500.

Based on what I know the head count was on previous shows this season, including the May WoO show, I downsized my estimate. The view from the grandstand isn't neccessarily the most accurate and tends to be high. For instance, I thought there was a higher count for the WoO show in May than there actually was. Even the previous weekend, I was off about 1,000 or so on the high side from what was actually confirmed to me from someone associated with the track that knows the numbers.

I wish there were 5,000 there Saturday but upon further review I'd say it was in the 3,000 range.

It is indeed sad, but Knoxville is a Saturday night, Sprint Car only track.

In the 35 years that I have been going, it seems like NOTHING they do, including the Friday night Nationals show, seems to get a crowd.

We have had Outlaw shows, Masters Classics, Midgets, Stock Cars,Champ Cars ect.

I am thinking that the people will not come if the races were free on a Friday night with quarter draws and free food.

I don't know if this reflects on the track or the fans.

A challenge to Brian, maybe you can see about getting a sponsor like Husets, that give away free tickets to their customers and see if that would bolster the Friday night show.

I almost think that even Knoxville doesn't have enough money to do an ad campaign that would attract many people on Friday.

Racing, like anything else in life is a priority, if people have other priorities, you may not change that.

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