19th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals This Weekend

Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (August 3, 2009) – A blockbuster field of well over 100 entries is set to converge upon Iowa's Knoxville Raceway for this weekend's running of the 19th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals featuring the Lucas Oil Sprint Cars, with a $10,000 payday awaiting the winner of Saturday night's championship main event.

The three-night Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters event, including full preliminary cards on Thursday and Friday followed by Saturday night's championship feature events, has already attracted 116 entries from 22 different states as well as Australia and Canada.

With nearly $100,000 in purse money to be doled out over the weekend, Saturday's $10,000 to win main event will be third of five Lucas Oil Sprint Car features to pony up $10K or more for the winner over the course of the 2009 season.

Jack Dover pocketed $10,000 at the Jetmore Motorplex' Steve King Memorial on May 24, while Travis Rilat collected $10,092 in the Third Annual Fred Brownfield Memorial at Washington's Grays Harbor Raceway on July 18.

After Saturday night's $10,000-to-win tilt at Knoxville, a season-high $15,000 awaits the winner of I-30 Speedway's 22nd Annual Short Track Nationals in Little Rock, AR, on October 31, with another $10,000 winner's share to complete the season at USA Raceway's 42nd Annual Western World Championships on November 21.

Among the current 116 entries for the 19th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals are all 17 drivers that have competed in each Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series event thus far in 2009, including current points leader and reigning champion Jason Johnson of Eunice, LA. The lone representative from Louisiana, an ASCS Knoxville Nationals title is about the only premier event missing from the "Ragin' Cajun's" resume.

Oklahoma's Shane Stewart, an ASCS Knoxville Nationals winner in 2007, is just 26 points off Johnson's lead pace in the $60,000 championship chase, with 1998 Knoxville winner Gary Wright of Hooks, TX, 54 points out of the lead in third.

Other Lucas Oil Sprint Car title contenders include Travis Rilat (Forney, TX), Tim Crawley (Benton, AR), Paul McMahan (Hendersonville, TN), Tony Bruce, Jr. (Liberal, KS), Danny Wood (Norman, OK), Jack Dover (Springfield, NE), Jesse Hockett (Warsaw, MO), Sean McClelland (Tulsa, OK), Gary Taylor (Snohomish, WA), Kenneth Walker (Sapulpa, OK), Darren Long (Elida, OH), Chad Corken (Highlands Ranch, CO), Seth Bergman (Snohomish, WA) and Gavin Punch (Collinsville, OK).

A half-dozen past ASCS Knoxville Nationals winners are among the current entries, including two-time winners Wayne Johnson, Billy Alley, Dennis Moore, Jr., Terry McCarl and Garry Lee Maier along with Shane Stewart.

Wayne Johnson captured his second ASCS Knoxville Nationals title last year by besting a field of 111 competitors.

All three nights of the 19th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals competition will be taped for later broadcast on the VERSUS Network.

The Series :

Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters

When & Where :

19th Annual ASCS Knoxville Nationals:

Thursday, August 6 at 7:15 p.m. – Qualifying Night #1
Friday, August 7 at 7:15 p.m. – Qualifying Night #2
Saturday, August 8 at 7:15 p.m. – ASCS Knoxville Nationals Championship Features

Track Information :

Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, IA) – ½-mile, semi-banked dirt oval located at the north edge of Knoxville, IA on SR 14 at the Marion County Fairgrounds. Track phone: 641-842-5431.

Past ASCS Knoxville Nationals Champions :

2008 Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK)
2007 Shane Stewart (Bixby, OK)
2006 Jesse Giannetto (Palo, IA)
2005 Billy Alley (Lincoln, NE)
2004 Billy Alley (Lincoln, NE)
2003 Dennis Moore, Jr. (Grinnell, IA)
2002 Jeff Swindell (Bartlett, TN)
2001 Terry McCarl (Altoona, IA)
2000 Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK)
1999 Dennis Moore, Jr. (Grinnell, IA)
1998 Gary Wright (Hooks, TX)
1997 David Hesmer (Marshalltown, IA)
1996 Terry McCarl (Altoona, IA)
1995 Danny Lasoski (Dover, MO)
1994 Lee Nelson (Ames, IA)
1993 Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS)
1992 Garry Lee Maier (Cimarron, KS)
1991 David Hesmer (Marshalltown, IA)