Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

It sounds like most everyone agrees NASCAR on dirt was a success.  Congrats Tony Stewart, your name made it happen.  You broke a barrier noone thought could be broken and most doubted would be successful.  But there is no doubt Knoxville is THE Mecca of all dirt tracks.  Knoxville is the #1 venue in all of dirt racing.  It is the right size, surface, banking, seating capacity, and has the NASCAR quality facilities to truly host NASCAR the right way.  No offense to Eldora, Grove, or any other place but Knoxville is Knoxville.  Knoxville and Newton need to actually start working together and make a 3 day or 4 day show happen.  Thursday night Trucks at Knoxville, Friday night ARCA at Newton, Saturday night WoO at Knoxville, Sunday Nationwide at Newton on a summer weekend when Sprint Cup is off. Sell individual nights and crossover packages and share the revenue.  Both venues would absolutely sell out to capacity for all 4 nights.  

Obviously, there is no Tony Stewart driving Knoxville, but the track will attract more fans than Eldora ever could even with Tony's name.  And NASCAR would be smart enough to know that.  Not to mention, if you get 25,000 NASCAR fans packed into Knoxville one night then show them what sprints can do, the exposure to new fans could be huge for sprint cars.  

I would go to all four night's !!!! Get it scheduled !!!

SOLD!  Count me in for 8 tickets for all 4 event!

now THAT, was one hell of an idea!

It's a fantastic idea!!!!

Those silver crusties on the fairboard will never have the energy or the desire to make it happen.  Lots of smart business men could make Knoxville forefront in the racing stage but none of them are on the Marion County Fairboard.

More weight, more regulation, more similarity in the 
cars.... that will ensure plenty of thrills for years 
to come.  Only the most average talent behind the 
wheel will be needed with such awesome equipment on 
the track!
minthess 8.28.14

The closeness to Newton will keep it from happening, not even close to being an option...there will never be a Nascar event at Knoxville..it would kill the nonsense at Iowa Speedway, destroy it,  Nascar would not allow that to happen, too much corporate involved, way more than just Rusty Wallace  

Sorry, I disagree.  Outside of putting the dirt back on Bristol, I think Eldora was the best venue for this.  If you thought the truck race was slow at Eldora, think of how it would be at Knoxville.  With a track as dry as it was at Eldora, the trucks would just crawl around the bottom of Knoxville due to limited banking.  It would be a one-groove parade.  At least Eldora had it's high banks which helped the trucks maintain at least some speed and momentum.  And we can give up on ever hoping for a wet, tacky track for the trucks (or Nationwide or Cup, if they choose to do that).

Knoxville is a great track - not bashing it.  I think NASCAR is going to see big $$$ signs after the success of the truck race and put the dirt back on Bristol and run all three top divisions on the same weekend, within a few years.  Only Bristol could handle that.

I don't think this is even on NASCAR's radar.  They finally gave into Tony (after 4 YEARS), even adding a 2nd dirt track race will be at least another 5 years in my estimation (that's how slowly NASCAR reacts to the fans wants) and will more than likely be either Charlotte, Texas or Vegas (SMI owns them all and will be clamoring for a dirt track race that will put more fans in the stands than they do when they run the 1.5 mile track across the street).

As far as a truck race in Knoxville, I'd say it's a maybe at best. 

Here are some of the reasons why it's probably a no: 

Parking - Knoxville doesn't have the parking necessarry and REQUIRED by NASCAR to host a race (even though people that come for the Nationals always find parking, NASCAR wants lots to park vehicles, not city streets, and yards).-- and they expect the parking to be FREE.

Camping -- Knoxville has a lot of campling, problem for NASCAR is that it isn't all right beside the track (like it is at every other NASCAR track AND Eldora).

Track Conditions -- Chris Dunkin and his crew WILL NOT be satisfied with a rubber down surface (which is what NASCAR wants to make it more like pavement so their guys can run up front and not be embarrassed).

Ticket Prices -- not sure what Eldora charged, but unless Knoxville gets a big payment of TV$$$, the tickets will have to be overpriced to make sure the purse and expenses are covered (not sure what truck purses run currently, but I'd guess in the $500,000 + range)

Fencing -- the Armco railing will rip a truck to shreds if they get into it, a concrete barrier makes more sense and it won't totally tear up up the sheet metal and cause debris. -- I don't see Knoxville ever using concrete for any part of their fence (the Armco railing moves when it gets hit and guys still get hurt, concrete would make injuries to local drivers even worse).

Here's some of the reasons why I'd say it's a yes:

Seating -- Largest seating capacity of any dirt track in the United States, all have seatbacks

Safety crew - no need to elaborate

History of running large events with crowds this large

Ingress/Egress from the grandstands

VIP Suites and booth (much nicer than what Eldora had for their TV personnel)

Hall of Fame & Museum -- something where the museum can have a special display and find ties to sprint car racing with some of the teams running the truck race

IMO, it will never happen though.  Newton pledged before they opened that they would not compete against the local dirt tracks and it was less than a year before they were running Friday and Saturday Night races (I realize TV dictates some of this).  They hurt not only Knoxville, they hurt the State Fairgrounds, Marshalltown and any other short-track that would normally race on a Friday or Saturday night.

A dirt then pavement weekend would be awesome but there are way too many things to keep in from happening.  Lots of bad blood between those two tracks for one thing...  Also Knoxville's management group and fair board would drive the people at NASCAR crazy with their style of management or lack of it.....  

Plus NASCAR already has 3 tracks that have their own dirt tracks and they will go to those before even considering Knoxville even though those tracks are all terrible dirt....  Charlotte would be my guess for their 2nd race and it is the worst of the NASCAR Dirt Tracks as far as actual racing surface....  

Still, it would be great if it could happen....

Saw an article on Yahoo today.  Steve O'Donnell from NASCAR wouldn't even commit to Eldora having a race next year.  Said they'll have to talk to the teams, drivers and wait to see TV #'s before anything would be discussed.

That to me tells me that having more than one race on dirt is a PIPE DREAM for the immediate future.