It’s that time of year again, and it gets the whole town buzzing. We, at LWOS, give anything and everything one should know about the greatest Sprint Car racing event in the world.
55th Annual FVP Knoxville Nationals
Event/Track Information
*Information courtesy of knoxvilleraceway.com
Dates: August 12-15, 2015
Defending Champion: Donny Schatz
Track Length: 1/2 mile
Track Banking Turns: 8 degrees
Track Surface: Black Iowa soil (zook clay)
Track Record: (410 winged sprints) 14.407 Brooke Tatnell
Track Capacity: 24,172
The Format
The biggest sprint car event in the world, obviously needs multiple days to complete, and Knoxville takes advantage of using four.
Wednesday and Thursday Qualifying Nights
On Wednesday and Thursday, drivers will partake in an extended racing night format – Hot Laps, Qualifying, Last Chance Heats, Five Heats, and a C, B, and A feature. Half the field competes Wednesday, the other half on Thursday.
Drivers will compete for points in each event as follows.
Qualifying: 1st – 200, 2nd – 198, etc.
The top 50 earn a spot in the five heat races, the rest go to a last chance heat. The rest compete to start in the back of the C-Main in the last chance heats.
Last Chance Heat: 1st – 50, 2nd – 47, etc.
Heat Races: 1st – 100, 2nd – 97, etc.
The top four heat race finishers will go to the A-Main, next for to the B-Main, and the final two to the C-Main. The top four finishers of the C-Main earn a spot in the B-Main.
C-Main: 5th – 92, 6th – 90, etc.
The top four finishers of the B- Main will then transfer to the A-Main.
B-Main: 5th – 142, 6th – 140, etc.
A-Main: 1st – 200, 2nd – 198, etc.
The top 16 in points earn a spot locked in to the Nationals final race on Saturday.
Friday Night
Friday’s events will consist of a regular racing night – Hot laps, qualifying, and as many feature races as needed. The top four finishers in Friday’s A-Main earn spots 17-20 for Saturday.
Friday also features the Speed Sport Knoxville World Challenge. The World Challenge is an International invitational event. The top points finishers that didn’t qualify will be inverted, then the highest finisher in the World Challenge advances to Saturday’s Main Event.
Saturday Night
Saturday features five main’s, “E” through “A.” Lap numbers will increase through each race.
Entry List
WEDNESDAY
0 Bud Kaeding – Campbell, CA
1a Jacob Allen – Hanover, PA
1D Justin Henderson – Sioux Falls, SD
2KS Craig Dollansky – Elk River, MN
2L Logan Forler – Boise, ID (R)
4 Dakota Hendrickson – Omaha, NE
4R Jon Agan – Knoxville, IA
4s Danny Smith – Chillicothe, OH
o5 Brad Loyet – Sunset Hills, MO
5v Colby Copeland – Roseville, CA
7 David Gravel – Watertown, CT
7D Dustin Selvage – Indianola, IA
7s Jason Sides – Bartlet, TN
7TAZ Tasker Phillips – Pleasantville, IA
7x Kaley Gharst – Decatur, IL
9 Daryn Pittman – Owasso, OK
11K Kraig Kinser – Bloomington, IN
12 Lynton Jeffrey – Sydney, NSW, Aust.
12x Wayne Johnson – Knoxville, IA
15 Donny Schatz – Fargo, ND
16 Shane Stewart – Bixby, OK
17 Josh Baughman – Odessa, TX (R)
17A Austin McCarl – Altoona, IA
17B Bill Balog – Brookfield, WI
17M Todd Mickelson – Minot, ND (R)
17w Bryan Clauson – Noblesville, IN
18 Ian Madsen – St Mary’s, NSW, Aust.
19 Bob Weuve – Newton, IA
19P Paige Polyak – Tiffin, OH
20 AJ Moeller – Sioux City, IA
21au Garry Brazier – Sydney, NSW, Aust.
22 Tony Shilling – Knoxville, IA
23 Jimmy Light – West Springfield, PA
23B Seth Bergman – Snohomish, WA
24R Rico Abreu – St. Helena, CA
27 Greg Hodnett – Spring Grove, PA
29c Willie Croft – Roseville, CA (R)
31c Justyn Cox – Sacramento, CA (R)
35AU Jamie Veal – Victoria, NSW, Aust.
40 Caleb Helms – Findlay, OH
45x Johnny Herrera – Albuquerque, NM
49J Josh Schneiderman – West Burlington, IA
51 Paul McMahon – Hendersonville, TN
55W Logan Wagner – Harrisonville, PA (R)
56 Davey Heskin – St. Michael, MN
60 Kory Crabtree – West Jefferson, OH
67 Christopher Bell – Norman, OK
69 Mike Moore – Des Moines, IA
71 TBA (Owner Bernie Stuebgen)
71x TBA (Owner – Bernie Stuebgen)
75 Glen Saville – Razorback, NSW, Aust.
81 Austin Johnson – Pleasant Hill, IA
81x Lee Jacobs – Dalton, OH
83 Aaron Reutzel – Clute, TX (R)
84 Scott Bogucki – McLaren Vale, SA, Aust. (R)
89 Cody Darrah – York, PA
93H Sheldon Haudenschild – Wooster, OH
95 Matt Covington – Glenpool, OK (R)
96 Bronson Maeschen – Pleasantville, IA
96AU Bruce White – Merrylands West, NSW, Aust.
99 Brady Bacon – Broken Arrow, OK
THURSDAY
01 TBA (Owner-Donnie Cooper)
1 Sammy Swindell – Bartlett, TN
1B Dale Blaney – Hartford, OH
1CB Jac Haudenschild – Wooster, OH
1P Curtis Evans – Norborne, MO
1s Logan Schuchart – Hanover, PA
1st Gary Taylor – Snohomish, WA
1x Don Droud Jr. – Lincoln, NE
1z Lucas Wolfe – Mechanicsburg, PA
2 Danny Lasoski – Dover, MO
2K Kevin Ingle – Huron, SD
2LX Ed Lynch Jr. – Apollo, PA
3 Tim Kaeding – San Jose, CA
3A Billy Alley – Bennet, NE
3G James McFadden – Brisbane, QLD, Aust.
7H Jojo Helberg – Rohnert Park, CA (R)
9K Kevin Thomas, Jr. – Cullman, AL (R)
9P Parker Price-Miller – Kokomo, IN (R)
10 Matt Moro – Polk City, IA
10H Chad Kemenah – Alvada, OH
11 Steve Kinser – Bloomington, IN
11N Randy Hannagan – Pittsboro, IN
13 Mark Dobmeier – Grand Forks ND
13v Seth Brahmer – Norfolk, NE
13x Kevin Swindell – Bartlett, TN
15m Bobby Mincer – Burlington, IA
19M Brent Marks – Jonestown, PA
19s Stevie Smith – Broken Arrow, OK
20N Hunter Schuerenberg – Sikeston, MO (R)
W20 Greg Wilson – Benton Ridge, OH
21 Brian Brown – Grain Valley, MO.
21c DJ Foos – Fremont, OH (R)
24 Terry McCarl – Altoona, IA
25 Dylan Peterson – Sioux Falls, SD (R)
28 Jonathan Cornell – Sedalia, MO
29 Kerry Madsen – St.Mary’s, NSW, Aust.
29w Danny Dietrich III – Gettysburg, PA
31b Shane Golobic – Fremont, CA (R)
35 Skylar Prochaska – Lakefield, MN
41 Jason Johnson – Eunice, LA
44 Chris Martin – Ankeny, IA
45 Tim Shaffer – Aliquippa, PA
47 Jeff Swindell – Bartlett, TN
49 Brad Sweet – Grass Valley, CA
55 Brooke Tatnell – Sans Souci, NSW, Aust.
55XM Brandon Wimmer – Fairmount, IN
56B Ryan Bernal – Hollister, CA
67H Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Sunnyvale, TX
70 Dean Jacobs – Wooster, OH
71A RJ Johnson – Tampa, FL
71M Joey Saldana – Brownsburg, IN
76 Davey Jones – Wexford, PA (R)
82 Dusty Zomer – Sioux Falls, SD
88N D.J. Netto – Hanford, CA (R)
93 Glenndon Forsythe – York, PA
Driver Storylines
Donny Schatz – Perhaps the most dominating driver in the sport right now, Donny Schatz heads into Knoxville searching four his ninth Nationals crown. The TSR driver has won eight of the last nine and each of the last four Knoxville Nationals.
Rico Abreu – A once unknown driver to NASCAR fans; Abreu has made a name for himself by winning multiple World of Outlaws races over the past two years, the Chilli Bowl Nationals, and earning a NASCAR K&N East Series ride which also resulted in a win.
Dale Blaney – Blaney has won five straight UNOH All Star circuit races leading into the Nationals this week. It’s a good time of year to get hot.
Steve Kinser – “The King” returns to Knoxville for another go around with the Nationals. During his farewell season, or at least his last full one, it was rumored that Kinser would have raced his last Nationals last year. Obviously, Kinser is back to try for yet another win.
Brian Brown – A local racer in Brown presented the best challenge to Donny Schatz in 2014, and has said he has some great equipment in the shop to go for a win once more this year.
Terry McCarl – The hometown hero in Terry McCarl has a strong presence during Nationals weekend. Their are multiple drivers in town from Iowa, however “TMAC” seems like to have the best odds at a win.
