“It’s good to
be back at” . . . . How many annual race events in the USA,
or anywhere, can make drivers, owners, mechanics, sponsors,
vendors . . . and FANS, say that year after year? Let’s see
. . . for the 90th time at Indy (yeah, it’s still a big
deal) . . . . the 71st 24-hours of Leman (yeah, it’s in
France) . . . . the 47th Daytona 500 (hey, there’s Kasey,
Dave, Jeff) . . . . and the 46th Annual Knoxville Nationals.
And not necessarily in that order.
As the credit card ads say, 4-days at the Knoxville
Nationals – “priceless”. Some say the track makes the event,
others say the event makes the track. It’s some of all
three! Let’s not forget the drivers. Let’s see, A.J. Foyt
raced at Indy, Daytona, Lemans . . . and Knoxville Raceway.
But he never made the Knoxville Nationals! Bet he would’ve
if he tried.
The Knoxville Nationals attracts drivers from throughout the
USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand every year. The fans
come from the same places. Even Europe. It’s a happening.
The purse; over $909,000 this year – permanent seating for
over 25,000, with seat backs, wide isles – 52 luxury suites
with closed circuit TV – the 4-story National Sprint Car
Hall of Fame & Museum outside of turn 2 – free Fan & Trade
show on the grounds featuring everything you’d ever want to
bring home as a souvenir (and some things you never thought
of) – a town of about 7500 that becomes Race USA Town for
4-days; parking lots full of souvenirs, food, gimmicks &
gadgets, parking “everywhere”.
Talking about food, if you can’t find it in or around the
track, you’re still on formula in a bottle. And there are
some neat restaurants in town. Great Mexican, Chinese,
Italian . . great pork sandwiches.
But . . . what really makes the Knoxville Nationals
“priceless" is the flat out racing for 4-days. From the
veterans to the rookies, this place brings out the best in
every driver. To just make the main event using Knoxville
Raceways unique qualifying points system means your “elbows
up” from time trials to the heats to the mains. When the “A”
Main pushes off on Saturday night before a sold out crowd
and a live TV audience on Speed Channel, there are 24
Survivors out of over 120 of the best sprint car drivers in
the world.
Just making the show has brought veteran racers to tears! To
win a qualifying main event will do the same. But when the
green flag is out the moves made to get through the field,
or keep someone behind you is just not something you plan!
In fact some drivers don’t watch the videos of the race
“cause you just don’t do those moves and get away with’em”.
If you can’t get here, mark Saturday night, August 11th at 9
PM CDT on your must-see Speed TV calendar. Some friends, a
beverage or two of choice and 3-hours of live non-stop
excitement and drama. Delivered by Ralph Sheheen, Brad Doty,
Dave Argabright, Tony Bokhoven and 9 or 10 cameras inside
and outside the track.
“It’s good to be back at the Knoxville Nationals”.
Priceless!
Whats On
Tuesday
47th Annual Super Clean Knoxville Nationals Queen Contest
8:00 pm Queen Contest Dance - Steve McClain and the
Jefferson County Green Band
Wednesday
11am - 2:30 pm - Outlaw Dirt Kart Racing, English Creek
Speedway
7:15 pm - Super Clean Knoxville Nationals
After Races - Free Dance
Thursday
11am - 2:30 pm - Outlaw Dirt Kart Racing, English Creek
Speedway
Noon - Promoters' Luncheon, Dyer-Hudson Hall, Fairgrounds
7:15 pm - Super Clean Knoxville Nationals
After Races - Free Dance
Friday
8:30 am - United Trailers National Sprint Car hall of Fame &
Museum
Golf Classic, Bos Landen Golf Club, Pella
11am - 2:30 pm - Outlaw Dirt Kart Racing, English Creek
Speedway
Noon - Press Luncheon, Dyer-Hudson Hall, Fairgrounds
7:15 pm - Super Clean Knoxville Nationals
After Races - Free Dance
Saturday
8 am - 4 pm - Bizzre Bizzare, Downtown on the Square
10 am - Knoxville Nationals Race Parade, Downtown Knoxville
11 am - 2 pm - Firemen's Lunch, Fire Station, 1 block south
of square
12:30 pm - Annual Hall of Fame & Museum Racing Auction,
National
Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum, 2nd Floor
7:15 pm - Super Clean Knoxville Nationals
Format
The Knoxville Nationals encompasses a four-day format
unmatched
in all of dirt track racing. The prestige of winning the
event far
outweighs the generous purse that approaches $900,000 in
2006. With points meaning everything, and every wheel turned
on the track meaning
points, there is no time for a break at the "Granddaddy of
them all".
Steve Kinser has stood atop the podium an unprecedented
twelve
times, and owner Karl Kinser has graced victory lane an
amazing
fourteen times with three different drivers.
Wednesday and Thursday
Order of Events: Hot laps, Qualifications, Last Chance
Heats,
5 Heats, C feature, B feature, A feature.
Qualifications - 200 points are awarded for quick timer, 198
for
second quick, 196 for third, etc.
Only the top 50 qualifiers make the heats, the rest are put
in the
last chance heats in which the first eight finishers will
fill the back
of that night's C feature (starting in the sixth row).
Last Chance Heats (for drivers out of the top 50 in Qual.) –
50 points
awarded to the winner, 47 for 2nd, etc.
Heats - 100 points are awarded for the heat winner, points
go down
by three: 97, 94, 91, 88, etc.
Heats are totally inverted (10). This sets up the best
racing of the
week. Top four finishers go to A, next four to B, last two
to C.
C feature – Top two finishers go to back of the B. Third
place is
worth 96 pts., 2nd is 94, etc.
B feature – The top four finishers transfer to the tail of
the A. The
B awards 142 points for fifth, 140 for sixth and so on by
twos.
A feature - The A feature points are the same as time
trials: 200,
198, 196 etc. This explains how a driver can not make the A,
but
if he timed well may have more points than someone who did
make
the A.
Ties in points go to the quicker timer.
A perfect score (quick time, heat win, feature win) is 500.
The top 50 in points from Wed. and Thurs. are locked in to
Saturday's program, however there is more racing to do on
Friday.
Friday:
Friday Events: Hot laps, Five Heats for Non-qualifiers, C
feature
for NQ, B feature for NQ, A feature for NQ, C Scramble, B
Scramble,
A Scramble, Factory Value Parts World Challenge.
Non-qualifier events: Non-qualifiers are simply positions
61-100 in
points from the qualifying nights and points mean little
once the
racing starts. They are lined heads up by points for their
heat races
and their features. Friday night's A feature winner starts
Saturday's
C in 11th position, and the rest fill down through the E
according to
their finish on Friday.
Scrambles - The top ten point-getters for Saturday's A, B
and C run
scrambles. The scrambles are totally inverted. Points
accrued from
the scrambles are added to your current point total, and
that is how
the lineup is set. First in the scramble awards 20 points,
second 18,
third 16 and so on. In addition you are awarded 1 point for
every car
you pass. So if a driver starts 10th and finishes third in
the scramble
he/she adds 23 points to their total (16 for third + 7 for
cars passed).
Factory Value Parts World Challenge - This is an
international invitational event.
The lineup is inverted according to points accrued on
Wednesday and
Thursday. It has no bearing on Saturday's lineups.
Saturday:
Saturday Events: E feature, D feature, C feature, B feature,
Knoxville
Nationals Championship feature.
With the exception of the B feature which takes the top four
finishers
to the tail of the Knoxville Nationals Championship, all
other features
transfer the top two finishers to the tail of the next event
(if there are
scratches, there may be more taken for a particular event).
Purse Breakdown for the 2007 47th Annual SuperClean
Knoxville Nationals
Wednesday and Thursday:
Quick time overall: $1,000
Top Point Getter: $3,000 x 2 nights = $6,000
Last Chance Heats: 1. $50.00 2. $50.00 3. $50.00 4. $50.00
5. $100.00 6. $100.00 7. $100.00 8. $100.00 9. $100.00 10.
$100.00
11. $100.00 12. $100.00
Total LC Heat Purse: $1,000 x 2 heats = $2,000 x 2 nights =
$4,000
Heats: 1. $150.00 2. $125.00 3. $100.00 4. $90.00 5. $80.00
6. $70.00 7. $60.00 8. $50.00 9. $50.00 10. $50.00
Total Heat Purse: $825 x 5 heats = $4,125 x 2 nights =
$8,250
C Feature: 1. $150.00 2. $150.00 3. $250.00 4. $200.00 5.
$175.00
6. $150.00 7. $140.00 8. $130.00 9. $120.00 10. $110.00
11. $110.00 12. $100.00 13. $100.00 14. $90.00 15. $80.00
16. $70.00 17. $60.00 18. $50.00 19. $45.00 20. $40.00
Total C Feature Purse: $2,320 x 2 nights = $4,640
B Feature: 1. $200.00 2. $200.00 3. $200.00 4. $200.00 5.
$600.00
6. $550.00 7. $500.00 8. $475.00 9. $450.00 10. $425.00
11. $400.00 12. $375.00 13. $350.00 14. $325.00 15. $300.00
16. $275.00 17. $260.00 18. $250.00 19. $240.00 20. $225.00
21. $200.00 22. $200.00
Total B Feature Purse: $7,600 x 2 nights = $15,200
A Feature: 1. $12,000.00 2. $10,000.00 3. $7,000.00 4.
$6,000.00
5. $5,000.00 6. $4,000.00 7. $3,500.00 8. $2,500.00 9.
$2,000.00
10. $1,750.00 11. $1,500.00 12. $1,400.00 13. $1,300.00
14. $1,250.00 15. $1,200.00 16. $1,150.00 17. $1,100.00 18.
$1,050.00
19. $1,000.00 20. $1,000.00 21. $1,000.00 22. $1,000.00 23.
$1,000.00
24. 1,000.00
Total A Feature Purse: $69,700 x 2 nights = $139,400
Total Wednesday and Thursday Purse: $178,490
Friday:
Heats: 1. $150.00 2. $125.00 3. $100.00 4. $90.00 5. $80.00
6. $70.00 7. $60.00 8. $50.00 9. $50.00 10. $50.00
Total Heat Purse: $825 x 5 heats = $4,125
C Feature: 1. $50.00 2. $50.00 3. $200.00 4. $175.00 5.
$150.00
6. $125.00 7. $100.00 8. $95.00 9. $90.00 10. $85.00 11.
$80.00
12. $75.00
Total C Feature Purse: $1,275
B Feature: 1. $300.00 2. $300.00 3. $600.00 4. $500.00
5. $475.00 6. $450.00 7. $425.00 8. $400.00 9. $375.00
10. $350.00 11. $325.00 12. $300.00 13. $285.00 14. $275.00
15. $265.00 16. $250.00 17. $235.00 18. $225.00 19. $215.00
20. $200.00 21. $175.00 22. $150.00 23. $125.00 24. $125.00
Total B Feature Purse: $7,325
A Feature: 1. $5,000.00 2. $4,000.00 3. $3,500.00 4.
$3,000.00
5. $2,500.00 6. $2,250.00 7. $2,000.00 8. $1,750.00 9.
$1,500.00
10. $1,250.00 11. $1,000.00 12. $900.00 13. $850.00 14.
$825.00
15. $800.00 16. $750.00 17. $700.00 18. $650.00 19. $625.00
20. $600.00 21. $575.00 22. $550.00 23. $525.00 24. $500.00
Total A Feature Purse: $36,600
Knoxville World Challenge: 1. $10,000.00 2. $5,000.00 3.
$3,000.00
4. $2,500.00 5. $2,000.00 6. $1,800.00 7. $1,700.00 8.
$1,600.00
9. $1,500.00 10. $1,400.00 11. $1,300.00 12. $1,200.00
13. $1,100.00 14. $1,000.00 15. $1,000.00 16. $1,000.00
17. $625.00 18. $600.00 19. $600.00 20. $600.00
Total International World Challenge Purse: $39,525
C Scramble: 1. $3,000.00 2. $2,000.00 3. $1,000.00 4.
$900.00
5. $800.00 6. $700.00 7. $600.00 8. $500.00 9. $400.00
10. $300.00
Total C Scramble Purse: $10,200
B Scramble: 1. $5,000.00 2. $4,000.00 3. $3,000.00 4.
$2,000.00
5. $1,000.00 6. $900.00 7. $800.00 8. $700.00 9. $600.00
10. $500.00
Total B Scramble Purse: $18,500
A Scramble: 1. $7,000.00 2. $6,000.00 3. $5,000.00 4.
$4,000.00
5. $3,000.00 6. $2,000.00 7. $1,500.00 8. $1,000.00 9.
$900.00
10. $800.00
Total A Scramble Purse: $31,200
Total Friday Purse: $148,750
Saturday:
Best Appearing Crew: 1. $1,000 2. $500 3. $300
Total Purse for Best Appearing Crew: $1,800
E Feature: 1. $600.00 2. $600.00 3. $800.00 4. $775.00 5.
$750.00
6. $725.00 7. $700.00 8. $675.00 9. $650.00 10. $625.00
11. $600.00 12. $575.00 13. $550.00 14. $475.00 15. $450.00
16. $425.00 17. $400.00 18. $375.00 19. $350.00 20. $325.00
21. $300.00 22. $300.00
E Feature Total Purse: $12,025
D Feature: 1. $800.00 2. $800.00 3. $1,200.00 4. $1,100.00
5. $1,000.00 6. $950.00 7. $900.00 8. $850.00 9. $825.00
10. $800.00 11. $775.00 12. $750.00 13. $725.00 14. $700.00
15. $675.00 16. $650.00 17. $625.00 18. $600.00 19. $575.00
20. $550.00 21. $525.00 22. $500.00
D Feature Total Purse: $16,875
C Feature: 1. $1,000.00 2. $1,000.00 3. $2,000.00 4.
$1,750.00
5. $1,500.00 6. $1,400.00 7. $1,300.00 8. $1,250.00 9.
$1,225.00
10. $1,200.00 11. $1,175.00 12. $1,150.00 13. $1,125.00 14.
$1,100.00
15. $1,050.00 16. $1,000.00 17. $950.00 18. $900.00 19.
$850.00
20. $825.00 21. $800.00 22. $775.00
C Feature Total Purse: $25,325
B Feature: 1. $1,000.00 2. $1,000.00 3. $1,000.00 4.
$1,000.00
5. $7,000.00 6. $6,000.00 7. $5,000.00 8. $4,000.00 9.
$3,500.00
10. $3,000.00 11. $2,500.00 12. $2,250.00 13. $2,000.00
14. $1,750.00 15. $1,500.00 16. $1,450.00 17. $1,400.00
18. $1,350.00 19. $1,300.00 20. $1,250.00 21. $1,200.00
22. $1,150.00 23. $1,100.00 24. $1,050.00
B Feature Total Purse: $53,750
A Feature: 1. $150,000.00 2. $75,000.00 3. $37,500.00
4. $26,000.00 5. $21,000.00 6. $15,000.00 7. $12,000.00
8. $10,000.00 9. $9,500.00 10. $9,000.00 11. $8,750.00
12. $8,500.00 13. $8,250.00 14. $8,000.00 15. $7,900.00
16. $7,800.00 17. $7,700.00 18. $7,600.00 19. $7,500.00
20. $7,400.00 21. $7,300.00 22. $7,200.00 23. $7,100.00
24. $7,000.00
Total A Feature Purse: $472,500
Total Saturday Purse: $582,275
Total 4-day Purse: $909,515
Past
Knoxville Nationals Winners
Year - Driver, Number, Owner
1961 - Roy Robbins, 37, O. J. Huffman
1962 - Jerry Richert Sr., 69, Ted Ready
1963 - Greg Weld, 92, Taylor “Pappy” Weld
1964 - Kenny Weld, 94, Taylor “Pappy” Weld
1965 - Kenny Weld, 94, Taylor “Pappy” Weld
1966 - Jay Woodside, 9, Ted Hall
1967 - Thad Dosher, 74, Jack Cunningham
1968 - Ray Lee Goodwin, 24, Swenson/Williams
1969 - Ken Gritz, 12, Larry Snyder
1970 - Joe Saldana, 2, C&L Racing
1971 - Jan Opperman, 6, Cahill Racing
1972 - Kenny Weld, 29, Bob Weikert
1973 - Kenny Weld, 29, Bob Weikert
1974 - Dick Gaines, 71, Karl Kinser
1975 - Eddie Leavitt, 40, Ricke/Hill
1976 - Eddie Leavitt, 4J, Galden Inc.
1977 - Doug Wolfgang, 20, Bob Trostle
1978 - Doug Wolfgang, 4x, Speedway Motors
1979 - Ron Shuman, 75A, Gary Stanton
1980 - Steve Kinser, 20, Bob Trostle/Karl Kinser
1981 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1982 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1983 - Sammy Swindell, 1, Raymond Beadle
1984 - Doug Wolfgang, 29, Bob Weikert
1985 - Doug Wolfgang, 29, Bob Weikert
1986 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1987 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1988 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1989 - Doug Wolfgang, 8D, D.P. Motorsports
1990 - Bobby Allen, 1a, Allen Enterprises
1991 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1992 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1993 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1994 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1995 - Steve Kinser, 11, Steve Kinser
1996 - Mark Kinser, 5m, Karl Kinser
1997 - Dave Blaney, 10, Blaney/Hylton
1998 - Danny Lasoski, 83, Dennis Roth
1999 - Mark Kinser, 5m, Karl Kinser
2000 - Mark Kinser, 5m, Karl Kinser
2001 - Danny Lasoski, 20L, Tony Stewart
2002 - Steve Kinser, 11, Steve Kinser
2003 - Danny Lasoski, 20, Tony Stewart
2004 - Danny Lasoski, 20, Tony Stewart
2005 - Kraig Kinser, 11K, Steve Kinser
2006 - Donny Schatz, 15, Schatz Motorsports
2007 - Donny Schatz, 15, Schatz Motorsports
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