In Lapped Traffic
Monday, April 25, 2005
By Kathy Bell, Knoxville, Iowa – The Knoxville Raceway opener was just as I
had hoped it would be, really exciting! The 410 A-Feature kept people on the
edge of their seats as they watched some of the best car control I’ve seen
in a long time between eventual winner, Wayne Johnson, Skip Jackson and
Brian Brown. Race fans saw some spectacular moves as the three exchanged the
lead and criss-crossed back and forth around the dirt oval. I know gas
prices are high but if you miss out this year, I think you’re going to
regret it.
I don’t want to say I told you so (well, actually I do) remember my telling
you to keep an eye on Wayne Johnson? Hmm, looks like Woody (Jeff Woodruff),
Jeremy (Rankin) and Curt (Brooks) have him hooked up. Oh yeah, he does have
some talent and Erin to keep him out of trouble too. Nice job Wayne!
One of Skip Jackson’s fans e-mailed me because I said I thought Skip was
under-rated. I said it as a compliment. Skip has a lot of respect from me,
and our Knoxville community where he makes his home and people love him
because he’s such a nice guy. At least I know people are reading my column
even if they misunderstand my intent.
I’ve heard several people say they’re happy that Terry McCarl’s out on the
road with the Outlaws this year so we can have a new champion in the 410
class. Nothing against Terry, but we may have had a new champion this year
anyway. Our pits are packed with talent (in both classes) and we have some
well equipped teams out there who have stepped up their programs and who are
hungry for a Knoxville title.
There were a slew of cars in the infield Saturday night. Thirty-four cars
presented in the 410 class and 52 in the 360 division. No, we’re not looking
for over 50 cars each week in the 360 class on a regular basis. Rain in
other areas sent us some extra cars which only added to the fun and
excitement.
If you want to help our racers this year, buying their fuel is one way to do
it. If you’re interested see Jim Darnell or Marcy Boyd at the fuel truck,
next to the concession stand. Tell them you want to take part in the
Fan/Driver fuel program.
It was good to see former Knoxville Raceway champion, Mike Chadd back at the
front. He and 360 Feature winner John Kearney, also a former champ, put on a
good show. And how touching was it when Kearney won and dedicated the win to
Bub. It has had to be tough for John and his crew to come back this year
missing one big, important link, Bub (John’s dad who passed away last year
at the race track). I know my heart swelled when he said, “this one’s for my
dad,” with emotion in his voice, in victory lane.
Did you know, for $20 a ticket you can view the races from the WARM, second
floor of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum. You have a decent
view and you can watch replay action on a huge screen. It’s certainly worth
the money during cold weather. After spending three hours in the pits with
an earache, I headed over there. Plus, you have Pizza Hut, Subway, Mr. C’s
and Godfather’s out the back door. For more information on how you can view
the races on the second floor (no I’m not talking about seats in the suites)
you can contact Tom Schmeh, HoF Director at 641-842-6177.
By the way, yes, I do know how to spell Lenard McCarl’s first name. He does
not have an O in Lenard. I love your e-mails, some are actually very
entertaining, but PLEASE, stop e-mailing me to correct me about this one. I
do try very hard to spell people’s names correctly. You can ask Bob Wilson
and Tom Schmeh about that as they get calls from me periodically, to
collaborate my spellings, home towns and do you remember whens. Plus, when
Lenard McCarl and Leonard Lee were working together, Lenard McCarl told me
to spell his name right, no O, so people wouldn’t get the two of them mixed
up. I had to laugh about that one.
What is really funny is when I talk to a driver and I try to include his
crew in my story or column but can’t because the driver not only doesn’t
know how to spell his crewmen’s last names, sometimes they don’t even know
what it is. Does that sound familiar guys? It’s early in the season so you’
ve still got time to learn their names.
I talked to Josh Higday about his new ride with Mike Trent. Here’s another
one for you. The Mike Trent who owns Higday’s #4T car did used to race a
sprint car but he’s not the same Mike Trent who raced the #41 car in the 360
class, Saturday night. I’m not afraid to ask questions and I did. When I
took the picture for my Trent/Higday story for this week’s Race Talk, I
asked Mike if he raced too? He said, “I used to but I’m not the Mike Trent
racing here tonight.”
Other members of the 4T Team are, Mike’s wife, co-car owner, Vicki, Josh’s
wife, Dawn, Toby Farver, Steve Green, Herb Sands, Shawn and Jesse Steelman
and Louie and Susie Plude. If you’ve ever been in the pits you’ll know
Susie. She’s one of the sweetest women you’ll ever meet and she makes killer
brownies too.
One racer who got my attention Saturday night was Johnny Anderson. Johnny
shot up to the front of the pack like a rocket in the 360 Main going from I
believe, 15th to 5th. Sounds to me like some of the credit for a good
showing goes to Johnny’s dad, Jack Anderson, crewman Tyler Derrickson and
mechanic on loan, Glenn Freeland. Glenn is working with the Anderson #7a
team until he finds a full-time sprint gig.
Everyone knows Glenn. You probably saw him Saturday night in short pants
during our 32 degrees cold spell. But you’ll really remember him from
wrenching for Terry McCarl for seven years. The two made an awesome team at
the race track.
I talked with Dennis Moore Jr. after the races. He and Heather were back in
Knoxville watching due to his injury earlier this season. Dennis has a
compound fracture of his left arm from a racing accident in Chico, Calif on
April 1. Heather said when Dennis called and said he’d broken his arm she
thought he was kidding because it was April Fool’s Day. If you know Dennis,
you know he likes to joke around.
Dennis flew home to have surgery which consisted of a steel rod insertion
and more than 40 staples. He also has some nasty burns on his forearm.
Another car flipped and came into Dennis’ cockpit. As the tire was spinning
it chewed up his drivers suit, hit him in the helmet and burnt and broke his
arm. I wish him luck with his recovery which could take anywhere from three
months to the rest of the season.
That’s all for now. Be safe and keep on turning left. I can be reached for
comments at kmbell@lisco.com.
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