Knoxville Late Model Nationals to Provide Qualifying Provisional to 10 Series
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Knoxville, IA – July 8, 2005 – By Bruce Neimeth
Officials of Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, IA announced today the addition of the final three of ten dirt Late Model sanctioning organizations that will have a presence at the highly anticipated upcoming 2nd Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals in a unique program that will provide a high-impact promotional boost for each of the ten series. The 2nd Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals will provide the season point’s leader in each of ten of the top regional and national dirt Late Model series a provisional qualifying night starting spot in the preliminary A-mains. 120-plus drivers and teams expected from coast-to-coast and border-to-border will compete against the best in Late Model racing in North America on September 29 & 30 and October 1st when one of them will proudly add their name to the prestigious list of Knoxville Raceway Champions.
The ten series that are participating in the $220,000 blockbuster weekend include the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, World of Outlaws (WoO) Late Model Series, World Dirt Racing League (WDRL), National Championship Racing Association (NCRA), Mid-Atlantic Championship Series (MACS), Mid-America Racing Series (MARS), Northern All Star Late Model Series (NALMS), NARA Battle of the Bluegrass Series, Western Dirt Late Model Tour and Pacific Coast Xtreme DirtCar Series. The top ten points leaders will be divided up with half qualifying on Thursday night and half on Friday night. In order to earn the qualifying provisional spot, each driver must run all of the night’s events including Time Trials, Heats and C and/or B Mains. If the eligible series point’s leader is not in the top 24 in points, he or she will line up in the 25th through 29th starting spots based on provisional starters earned points. If an eligible provisional driver is in the top 24 in points, the provisional will not be used.
The 100-lap main event on Saturday, October 1st will start 30 cars with no provisional spots. Every driver and team will have earned their way in to the $152,000 feature.
“We targeted regional and nationals series that give our event and fans the most national coverage,” stated Ralph Capitani, Director of Racing for Knoxville Raceway. “We want to get back to the days when a Late Model race at Knoxville is really a national championship event”.
Bruce Neimeth, Event Developer, added, “We’ve been talking to all the series owners since the 2004 PRI Show in Indy. Our requirement was simple – don’t schedule against our three-day event and provide access to your drivers and teams. We expect the top officials from each of the series to be at the event, and are providing a Sky Box so they can all spend time with each other.”
Sandy Bainton, President of the Western Series, and Doug Walters, President of the Pacific Series were the first to agree. Between the two west coast based series they sent 24 drivers and teams in 2004. Spencer Wilson, representing both the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series and Battle of the Bluegrass Series has helped get a number of his top drivers pre-entered as has Jim Wilson with the WDRL. Jeff and Andy Geesey with MACS have provided support in forming our all-inclusive event rules package. C. Ray Hall joined early seeing this as an opportunity to reinforce the NCRA commitment to their Late Model series.
This week agreement was reached with Bill Nelson and the Northern All Star Late Model Series (NALMS). He felt that the addition of the recently announced Vermeer “Deuces Wild” $15,000 Bonus, paid if a driver and team win both the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals and the DTWC 100-Lap Main at KC Raceway two-weeks later, would be a draw for his top drivers and teams.
The final two sanctions to complete the list of ten were added today after discussions with Shane Carson, the recently appointed Vice President of Racing Operations for Dirt MotorSports, Inc., the owners of the WoO and MARS Late Model Series. “My long relationship with Knoxville Raceway and the ongoing interest by the operating management of Dirt MotorSports to be a part of Knoxville’s present and future events made this an easy decision,” commented Carson. “We know the drivers and teams want to be there and the event TV package on Speed Channel will be good for everyone.”
Advanced reserved tickets as well as information about the $220,000 2nd Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals are available online at www.knoxvilleraceway.com. For more information contact Bruce Neimeth at (641) 842-5431 or bruce-nre@charter.net
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