In the Groove
Sunday, August 21, 2005
by Stacy Ervin - It’s hard to believe another Knoxville Nationals is now over, and even harder to believe that we all managed to keep our sanity through what turned out to be a rough 2005 version of the event.
The hard pill to swallow was that it seemingly hasn’t rained all summer. And then the Nationals came and we were rained out an unbelievable three times. Amazingly, Knoxville Raceway has only seen two rainouts during its regular season this year. But though that is a good record by comparison to most, those two rainouts were big, one coming with a tornado warning and the other with an unpredicted monsoon.
As with all Nationals, there are many storylines to follow and many issues to debate long after the great week has passed. This one seems to have an abundance of both. Most stories and issues are traced right back to the crummy weather. It’s certainly easy to play the "what if" game and to wonder how many things might have been different if the weather had been cooperative.
The saddest thing, as far as I’m concerned, about the two qualifying nights was that the track has never been so equally prepared for two nights as it was on Wednesday night and Thursday night. If only the rain had held off Thursday night, I think everyone could have agreed that it would have been the most fair to all competitors.
Of course, the talk is that some of the Thursday qualifiers were unhappy with letting time trials stand as they were and that’s why we scrapped the whole thing, save for Terry McCarl’s new track record, and redid it on Friday night.
It’s too bad, really, that the days of picking up a show the next day right where it left off after a rainout are seemingly over. And it’s too bad the days of trying to start shows at 2 or 3 a.m. are over. But I guess that’s the nature of our sport now.
The bad part is that no matter what race officials chose, someone was bound to be unhappy, drivers and fans alike. Though we may disagree with some of the decisions made, we should all remember that Ralph Capitani and his crew were in a tough spot and not even the great Cappy can change the weather. Over 30 years, I’ve seen Knoxville track officials try to do everything in their power to be fair to everyone and I have to believe that’s what they were trying to do this year.
None of the controversy surrounding how the qualifying shows were run should take away from the accomplishments witnessed this year. Yes, track officials scrapped the set of time trials in which McCarl broke the track record. But their reasoning for allowing the record was this: It was turned in competitive laps wherein the track was the same for all competitors. Sound reasoning, but it would have made even more sense had those Thursday night time trials stood altogether.
If they had, that certainly might have changed the face of the Nationals championship lineup. But let it not detract from Kraig Kinser’s convincing victory. He may be young, but the kid has considerable talent. He may be the son of the "King," but he hasn’t been handed easy victories. He flat outclassed the field in the main and I’m willing to bet this isn’t his last Nationals championship, stock-car deals notwithstanding.
And I have to hand it to the youngster for giving us back the Nationals. With all the rain earlier in the week, it just didn’t feel like Nationals for a long time. But beautiful weather on Sunday and Kinser’s fairy-tale ending really brought the magic of the event alive again. Seeing Kraig and Steve meet on the frontstretch after the victory and seeing Steve take his own victory laps in honor of his boy really was a feel-good story for the week.
The question of whether Kraig Kinser is the youngest Nationals winner has come up more than once since the win and so for those who may not have gotten the answer yet, here it is: Kraig is not the youngest winner. Kenny Weld was 17 when he got his first and 18 when he got his second, although because of restrictions at that time, he signed in as being 21 both times. It’s interesting to imagine all of the "fudging" that would have to go on today if those restrictions were still in place, what with drivers seemingly getting younger and younger.
Speaking of youngsters, I was most impressed by the work of Kaley Gharst, a Knoxville regular this year who garnered the Rookie of the Nationals title, and by the work of Kevin Swindell, son of the 1983 Knoxville Nationals champion. While neither driver was "spectacular" during the Nationals, both found some success with steady drives. And both have shown improvement over the course of the year at the hallowed half-mile.
The most unfortunate thing the bad weather did was wash out Saturday night’s finale. On the one hand, I have never been a fan of having Friday’s non-qualifiers show after Saturday’s finale. It just doesn¹t seem right.
But I felt bad for those who couldn’t stay to witness half of the Nationals on Sunday. Some people dream their whole lives about coming to the Nationals and it’s a shame for those who had flights to catch and jobs and schools to get back to. Sometimes those of us who live relatively close, by racing standards anyway, forget to remember how lucky we are that the Sprint Car Capitol of the World is like a second home.
The other bad thing, of course, was the knocking out of the Speed Channel’s television coverage of the Nationals. Another great debate in sprint-car racing is the amount of interest garnered in the sport by those who see it on TV. Unfortunately, no one will get a chance to debate this year’s version since the TV people were forced to pull out of town before the final. Though Kraig Kinser dominated the 30-lap race, the fairy-tale ending alone might have generated some excitement. It¹s too bad those in TV-land won’t have that chance to be exposed to Knoxville.
But, there are other ways to be exposed to Knoxville and one of those is through the track's official Website at www.knoxvilleraceway.com. Once again, it’s been a total blast working with Track Historian Bob Wilson on updating the live results page. It’s wonderful reading the thanks from those who appreciate the track’s foresight in having such a page and it’s an honor to bring news from the greatest place on earth to those who clamor for it.
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