In the Groove
Sunday, May 7, 2006
by Stacy Ervin - Knoxville Raceway Track Historian Bob Wilson made a big impression on me Saturday night from the pressbox chair next to mine.
"You're witnessing incredible history," he said as track record after track record was obliterated at the hallowed half-mile dirt oval.
And he was right. In 31 years of watching sprint cars traverse the Sprint Car Capitol of the World, I realized I, like many others, often recall the "good ol' days" of the past and don't necessarily take the time to soak in the historical significance of the present.
Saturday, May 6, was certainly a night for the history books, and as Bob has seen a couple of decades of racing more than me, I definitely took note when his head began to spin as sprinters sailed around the speedway.
Contributing to the excitement was a much more suitable track surface than was seen on opening night when the dry conditions won out. In fact, Saturday's surface could only be described as blistering fast.
And the extra time it took to work in the wet was well worth it for the $12 ticket price. The significance of the night began to show as the second car came out for time trials in the 410 division. Track regular Tim St. Arnold shattered the old one-lap track record with a jaw-dropping circuit of 14.791.
The old mark, 14.907 was set by fellow Des Moines native Terry McCarl at last year's Knoxville Nationals and was shrouded in controversy when the vening on which he set the mark was later rained out and scrapped for a complete restart. Many debates were overheard at the 2005 Nationals about whether the lap should have stood, but now, nine months later, we can put those to rest.
A handful of time-trialers later, St. Arnold¹s lap was busted by fellow track regular Chris Walraven, who turned a 14.593. But minutes later, Australian Brooke Tatnell, who was one of many World of Outlaws and National Sprint Tour travelers who dropped in on the event, turned a lightning-fast 14.407 at 125 miles per hour to set the bar.
It would not be broken, but an unprecedented 31 cars and drivers turned a lap in the 14-second bracket. Of those, 26 made a time under McCarl's previously set record. Prior to the evening, only eight drivers had ever turned a lap in the 14s at Knoxville.
Records continued to fall in the heat races. Mark Dobmeier in the first 410 heat race broke an eight-lap record with 2:03. Kerry Madsen in the second heat race broke that with 2:01.8. Joey Saldana in the third heat race then broke that with 2:00.6. Jason Meyers in the 410 B-Main set a new mark for 12
laps with 3:14.1.
The 410 A-Main was a familiar and classic battle between two drivers who have proven they know the way around the joint like no others in the modern era. Danny Lasoski, the winningest driver in the track's history, wasted little time getting to the top spot from his sixth starting spot on the grid. Outside front-row starter Shane Stewart jumped out to the early lead, but by the second go-around, Lasoski was on the point.
But it was not a run-away for the Missouri pilot. Six-time track champion McCarl, who was Lasoski¹s biggest rival when both were weekly competitors, came from his seventh starting spot to whittle away at Lasoski's lead. Just as McCarl was about to make the pass on the fast track, the yellow flag came
out when Tony Bruce Jr. stopped his machine with five laps to go.
Lasoski proved he hadn't forgotten any of McCarl¹s tricks over the years on the restart, when he successfully blocked McCarl's best effort at taking the lead. For Lasoski, it was a record-setting 87th win at this track.
Lasoski's nephew and weekly competitor Brian Brown did a masterful job for the regulars by taking the third spot. Behind him were several travelers from both the WoO, which had rained out a show in Kansas, and the NST, which had a scheduled night off.
As Bob Wilson also said, some will say Lasoski's victory over McCarl was an NST over WoO win. Others will just call it two old Knoxville boys racing each other like they used to.
The record-setting of the night was not limited to the 410 division, by any means. The 360s also showed their mettle.
Jake Peters in the first heat race broke the seven-lap mark with 1:51.5. And then Dustin Linquist in the third heat reset the mark with 1:50.6.
Incredibly, the fast track conditions did not lead to serious crashes. The first red flag of the night came in the 360 B-Main when the field bunched up at the start and Dave Hall took a relatively minor tumble. On the white-flag lap of that same event, Curtis Thorson, subbing for an ailing Stevie Walsh, and Troy Meyer took simultaneous flips in turns one and two, respectively. Unfortunately, they were running second and third, respectively, at the time and would have transferred on to the feature event.
Instead, South Dakota driver Chuck Swenson, who won his first feature at Knoxville on opening night and vowed to return, made the transfer to the feature. But his luck was not as good as it had been two weeks earlier.
In the 360 feature event, Des Moines driver Josh Higday benefited early when youngster Tyler Thompson, who was slated to start outside the front row, elected to start at the tail, it being only his second night in a sprinter. That gave Higday the outside front-row starting spot.
Swenson's luck ran out on the start when he got over the cushion in turn three and got hard into the fence.
After that, Higday held the lead until polesitter Dustin Selvage took it in turn one on the fifth lap. Alas, on the next go-around, Selvage got in too fast in turn one and jumped the cushion, letting Higday and Joe Beaver by. Higday led the rest of the way for his ninth career win at Knoxville.
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