Looking back at this weekend part I - Knoxville

I made the trip to Knoxville Raceway for the first time in 12 years last Friday and it brought back memories of the frequent visits during the '96 season. Of course, the grandstands are much larger now, and the lighting/scoreboard are improved but the track still retains much of its character.

It has become sprint car racing's Mecca, for a reason. There is one focus - sprint cars. The looming Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum should be testimony to that. Late Models, Modifieds, even Midgets are auxiliary events. This place lives and breathes sprint cars.

I would be the first to commit blasphemy and say the track is too big now for sprint cars. Half miles are outdated - winged racing can get lock-down, round and round, as I saw in the ASCS 360 division. But in this case, to try to take that away from the track is like asking the late George Carlin to remove the sarcasm from his act - it's essential to what they are.

The half-mile is an inherent part of the track's being. The size of the track is just as iconic as the black dirt, pork tenderloin sandwiches and towering layers of guardrail still meant to mimic the wooden ties of the past. You can't shake that.

Where a bull ring is the ideal venue for a midget, the half-mile hosted an entertaining contest with the top drivers from USAC and other sanctions.

The wingless wonders saw slidejobs-a-plenty (not to mention A feature red flags) but still yielded a terrific battle at the end where a young and diminutive Brad Sweet stole victory from an equally small in stature Cole Whitt in the final laps of Friday's contest. What these two lacked in height is made up for in cojones as they repeatedly leaped from the turn one rut to the cushion and out again as if it were the only way around the track.

The performance of the top two overshadowed excellent drives from Russ Harper, Michael Pickens and Aaron Fiscus who started deep in the field for top-ten finishes.

The ASCS show had one big event, Wayne Johnson’s motor expiring, giving the victory to Jason Johnson. Brian Brown settled for second, a straight’s length behind. Josh Higday was the exception to the mostly static field, finishing sixth after starting 24th.

It wasn’t a good night for Nebraska-based teams. The Lovegrove Racing, Larry Pinegar II –driven entry was felled by motor problems again while Billy Alley and Ryan Roberts also suffered mechanical problems. Eagle Raceway three-time champ Mike Boston just didn’t have it “there,” settling for eighth in the B feature (he was the first to admit to the bad night in his victory lane interview at Eagle Saturday). Jack Dover had the right tire mounted, but not on the car when his heat race victory was negated by having on an illegal tire. A fourth place B feature finish wasn’t enough for a place in the A main.

Sadly, for its place as arguably the world's most noteworthy dirt track, it is not immune from the influences of today's situations with economy and in Iowa, the weather. Light showers fell on the track around 5:30 and delayed racing until 9. The weather contributed to a scant crowd of maybe 1,000 fans (that's my estimate).

Credit the folks for not screwing around with long delays – something I remember USAC was notorious for back in the days they were at Eagle. Not only were over 100 cars in attendance (57 360’s and 44 midgets), they clicked off each race as quick as possible and I was told intermission was only 8 minutes long. No fault there. The show wrapped up around 1 AM and Joe Orth and I headed home for a 5AM arrival in Lincoln. I'm too old for that - next time, I'm staying overnight regardless.

It was great to see a big crowd of Lincoln area drivers and fans make the trip. Thanks to (or damn you) to Chris Moses for getting me hooked on Grape-flavored NOS energy drink. That and a handful of Goldfish powered my drive from Stuart, IA to Greenwood, NE (fumes carried me home).

It was all a wonderful experience.

I’ll have photos up from the show and some Eagle perspectives this week.