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

And yes, David Gravel was the best this week.  Their car was ready to win every time it hit the track, he made very few mistakes and drove a controlled, smart race Saturday night.  He got settled into a groove for the first 12-13 laps and then made his move.  He was very smooth after that.  A caution with 2-3 go would have made things interesting but I think Gravel had some in reserve if he needed it.

Kudos to Ruetzel - great car and solid driving this week.  DP was good and had the car to challenge Gravel if he could have gotten close.  Schuchart going 22nd to 2nd on Saturday was amazing, he drove very well.  TK - two years in a row putting the 7TK car in the top 5 is a great job.  Definitely overachieving in that ride.

Saldana - sorry to see him drop to 14th but putting it on the front row shows Joey can still get it done if given the chance.

Spot on both posts

I've been 19 years in a row.  It's hard to remember them all but I didn't think the racing was as good this year as the previous few years.  The track just didn't seem as racy.  Wed night only one top 10 qualifier actually drove his way into the A in the heat.  That was Reutzel.  McMahan did transfer but got help from a yellow.  Thurs only a couple more got through.  With all cars getting faster each year and how big a factor aero is with the tires now the invert is getting tougher and tougher.  

Friday night's A had such a tough cushion that the front guys looked to be just haning on that last several laps.  It was more trying not to wreck it than trying to gain ground.  . 

The A on Sat needed a yellow in the second half to really make things interesting.  Gravel was still likely to win as his car was better than most all week.  Logan came from a long way way back and was really good the last 10 laps.  Pittman looked to have something early in the 2nd half but eventually faded and was kind of haning on the last 10 or so.  Giving up 2nd on the last lap cost him $37K.  Ouch...

But it's still Knoxville and still a great event.  You're not going to have side by side racing for the win every year.  We've been spoiled the last few with close racing at the end.  Gravel was never really in doubt the second half except for avoiding getting into a wreck with a lap car.  Congrats to him and JJR for being the best car all week.  

As others have commented, the Friday night show is just an incredible night.  78 cars were going for the 4 lock in spots in a full show.  One other comment about the track.  Because the track prep is done ahead of time & doesn't need rework, they are able to run off a show in fairly quick fashion.  On the prelim nights, the show was done by 10:45 or so even with the heats not starting til close to 8:30.  Once they start, not a lot of down time.  A little more on Saturday to allow for the pomp & circumstance but the big race is worthy of that kind of buildup.  

I'm a late model guy also & have been to Eldora's big late model shows as well as a Kings Royal.  Eldora is special in it's own way, but nothing compares to the overall town atmosphere at Knoxville.  The whole town lives that race while it is going on.  The only thing I can compare the atmosphere to is that it is a small version of the atmosphere around Indy during the 500.  Just stuff to do everywhere.  

The Donny S. and Sweet duel never happened but very happy to see someone different to win.  Iwas in infield all 4 days so you do not see everything.  Saw alot of bad luck.  A few drivers had MSD ign, box fail when they were doing very well.  Then flat tire while leading race.Engine failure on newly rebuilt engines.  I guess this happens every year.How about replacing front axel on a yellow then go out and flip the car.  

The best part of that whole night was Sides watching those guys work on his car again and saying I don't know what their doing but I'm ready to have a beer..   

--Overall it was not as good (the racing) as some other years.   

--The racing on Wednesday and Thursday night was better than Friday & Saturday. 

--Saturday nights show took way too long to complete.  They announced best appearing car and best appearing team at 6:30 pm and then it was after 11:30 when the program was completed (only 5 races the whole night).

--Disclaimer:  I had been to 3 crown jewel dirt late model races the previous 3 weeks (the Silver Dollar Nationals @ I-80, the Prairie Dirt Track Classic @ Fairbury, IL, & the USA Nationals @ Cedar Lake Speedway) that provided awesome racing.

All in all not a bad week. 

Weather was good and not blazing hot and it didn't rain.

Racing - Wed was interesting due to the big names having trouble making transfers. After Thursday night I was pretty sure the winner was coming from that night. Gravel and Sweet had really good speed, especially Gravel.

I will say they need to work on moving Saturday along better. A race an hour is basically what it breaks down to and thats a lot of down time. 

Still its vacation with no real schedule, camping and racing, how can it be that bad really.

I watched the final night of the Knoxville Nationals from a recliner in my man cave for $50.  We have been there for two of them in 1999 & 2000 just for the four days and can't recall what I spent but I'm sure it was around $1,000.  I saved $950, saw the finale and the racing was pretty good, not the greatest I've seen down there but no complaints.  Not too many years ago I couldn't have watched it from home so I have absolutely no complaints and enjoyed watching.

Stan Meissner

I think everyone here just assumes that you know its great.....electric atmosphere as somebody commented, small town literally swarming with sprint car fans from all over the world. Then we start with the nit picking

Plus I'm sure lots of fans were happy to see somebody besides Schatz win it, although not as big a surprise after Jason Johnson & Sweet....

I've only been 3 times, Schatz  won all of 'em....but seeing him win from 22nd (or whatever) was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen in dirt track racing

As a local and being around the track a lot it's my families favorite week of the year. The crowd the last couple year has been awesome. Especially Friday and Saturday. Saturday was a complete sell out crowd. The infeild bleachers were as packed as I've ever seen. Just 25,000 friends there to have a good time. 

They had a different band on stage every night afterwards which drew great crowds. The food and T-shirt vendors were everywhere. Lot's of games, trivia and activities on the fairgrounds every day. Many autograph sessions. The mecca no doubt!

Go out and join the activities and you're sure to run into many former and current drivers. Tony Stewart just strolling the midway, Steve Kinser at the golf course, Jeff Swindell at the hardware store..... You never know who you'll see.

Make the trip. You'll love it!

I've been there a few times and had a blast.  I assume I still would if I were to go back.  It seems like a trend these days where if someone isn't upset about something, you weren't paying attention or something.  There is far more negative posts than positive ones, which bugs me sometimes and it's not just about Knoxville or hoseheads, it seems to be a pattern with social media. 

For me, if I ever go back, it won't be for a while.  But it has nothing to do with the racing or the town or anything else.  I love sprint car racing but the rest of my family could care less, they enjoy going to the races but it's not like they have a favorite driver or anything.  The other thing is the lodging, I have no desire to stay in Des Moines or any other town for a few reasons, every year I've been there it's been hot as hell and I would like a place to go cool off throughout the day and possibly take a nap, the party under the grandstand was fun which would still be fun to go to, also there was a ton of traffic which gets old so I would prefer to walk where ever.  Also the older I get the less I like big crowds of people, I can tolerate it for a day but 4 days in a row might just kill me lol.  Again none of this is the fault of anybody involved with Knoxville or anything it just has less appeal to me today but I would love to see the racing.

There’s been a few threads mentioning the increase in people over the last few years and that may be true, but some point to the sellout on Saturday as evidence, forgetting that Knoxville removed 3000 seats when they widened the seats 2 years ago.

A sellout 3 years ago was 23,000+ and now its 20,000+

I agree it feels like a bigger deal when you don’t see hundreds of empty seats on the backstretch but that doesn’t mean there’s more people on Saturday. 

3000 tickets us a lot of lost revenue. Did they charge more for tickets after the change?

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

The prices may have gone up slightly I don’t recall, but it’s only lost revenue if you sold them in the past. Other than the 50th, i don’t remember a fully sold out Saturday in recent memory. 

Not necessarily. In some cases its addition by subtraction. I remember my parents stopped attending Nascar races around 2006 because they hated being packed into the grandstands shoulder to shoulder, and almost in the lap of the person next to you. It was not a pleasent experience especially with the different sizes people tend to be. 

From what I saw the row I was sitting in was full and I remember thinking that if there was just 1 additional person in the row it would not be very comfortable. As dsc1600 said, its only lost revenue if they sold them in the past. So in some cases if they were only selling 17000-19000 tickets but had 23000, then took out 3000 for a total of 20000, they would actually be gaining revenue. I know in other forms of motorsports & spectator sports this is a common complaint about feeling too crowded & why people do not attend live events

2018 was a sellout too. You forgot that the Bryan Clausen suite tower adds some of that 3k lost to widening the seats 

There is a massive improvement in seating room in the frontstretch bleachers from 2 years ago vs the last 2 years.  They did the seating change after the 2017 race.  In 2017 on Saturday, it was a "stuffed in like sardines" feeling on Saturday night.  It is comfortable now.  Our row was full but there was reasonable amount of room to be comfortable.  

YES!!

Biggest change for the better in the 30 + years I've been going!

Yep, we take things for granted

But there's a difference between "constructive criticism" & "negative". I criticize the format pretty often but that doesn't mean I wouldn't go every year if i could

Everybody's different. I stay in Des Moines near the airport & its an easy 35 minute drive, doesn't bother me at all

Plus I like to stop midway on the way back to Des Moines, stretch out on the hood in the country, no light or air pollution, & watch the Perseid meteor showers... perfect place for that...