The "King" Leads the WoO into Knoxville!!!
Friday, June 24, 2005
by Bill Wright - It will be a preview of the 45th Annual Knoxville Nationals in August this Friday and Saturday night as the best in the business visit the historic Knoxville Raceway for the Mediacom World of Outlaws shootout! General admission tickets will be $23 on Friday and $25 on Saturday. Add $2 for reserved seating, with children being half-price, and pre-schoolers free. The 360 Hard-chargers will join the action on Friday night, and look for some visitors in that class to be tuning up for their big August events as well. The last visit for the WoO often gives a good indication of who will be in the running for the big trophy come August!
The last time the WoO visited, we had a new track record turned by Brian Paulus, but Joey Saldana ended up quicker with a lap of 14.908 seconds later in qualifying. Danny Lasoski got a much needed win in the April prelim here, but it was Steve Kinser, who is stomping his competition this season (13 wins), who grabbed the finale, his 58th visit to victory lane here at Knoxville.
Steve holds a healthy 266 point lead over Craig Dollansky, who has captured three checkered flags thus far in 2005. Jason Meyers has been surging of late including his win Wednesday at Sedalia, and is one to watch this weekend, sitting third in points. Kraig Kinser has pulled off four wins and sits fourth in the points, while Lasoski runs fifth. Donny Schatz (3 wins), Daryn Pittman (1 win), Paul McMahan, Saldana (1 win) and Tim Shaffer (2 wins) round out the top ten in WoO points.
Joining the top ten will be Tim Kaeding (1 win), Shane Stewart, Brooke Tatnell (who came one lap from winning the spring prelim), Brian Paulus (1 win), Jason Sides, Jason Solwold and Brandon Wimmer. Of course, Terry McCarl will be joining the bunch. McCarl has been running well since scoring a couple of fourth place outings in his last WoO visit to town.
In all, fourteen different drivers have visited the winner’s circle in World of Outlaw competition. One of those is Knoxville regular, Kerry Madsen, who grabbed a preliminary feature win at Parramatta City Raceway near his home in Sydney, NSW, Australia back in January. Other regulars hoping to wrangle the outlaws include Wayne Johnson, Ricky Logan, Brian Brown, Skip Jackson, Billy Alley, Justin Henderson, Don Droud Jr., Matt Moro, Calvin Landis, and a cast of others.
Saldana suffered a concussion at last weekend’s Eagle Raceway stop, and it is reported he will take this weekend off. Those who have Knoxville on their schedule include the father-son duo of Sammy and Kevin Swindell. Sammy has registered three wins in WoO competition this year despite a limited schedule with owner, Guy Forbrook. Stevie Smith’s schedule also indicates he’ll be returning to Knoxville this weekend. Expect 410 car counts to be in the 50s this weekend.
The 360 race is getting very interesting. Larry Ball Jr.’s lead over the competition shrunk after last week’s events. Jake Peters is on the move and last week’s second place run moved him within 45 points of the leader. Brett Mather continued his recent surge, as winning two out of the last three features has put him in third at this juncture. Johnny Anderson, John Kearney, John Schulz, David Hall, Joe Beaver, Josh Higday and Dusty Zomer round out the top ten in the points.
Tom Lenz was the 1989 360 Rookie of the Year, but he picked last weekend to score his first win, a popular one for the fans. Lenz has towed to Knoxville every Saturday for almost twenty years, and it was great to see him stand in victory lane. Lenz makes it four first time winners in the 360 class for 2005. He joins Mather, Anderson and Schulz in breaking his maiden.
The prices this weekend are unmatched across the country when the World of Outlaws come to town. Throw in the 360s on Friday and a favorable forecast and you just can’t beat it!!! Don’t miss this “prelude to the Nationals”!!! We’ll see you Friday!
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