In the Groove
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
by Stacy Ervin - It’s hard to believe another Knoxville Nationals has come and gone. I know we say that every year, but it always seems to sneak up on me and before I know it, it’s gone.
I can safely say that I had another good Nationals for my 31st visit to the event. I truly enjoyed writing the official track stories each night and assisting my mentor, Bob Wilson, with the live-results page on the track Website.
The latter was not without issues, however, as those who tried to log on probably discovered. There was so much traffic on the site Wednesday night that Bob and I had trouble getting in to actually do the updates. Thanks to Kyle McCullough, our Web guru at HostIowa.net, a special secret server for just us worked much smoother for the rest of the week.
Naturally, it goes without saying that the unfortunate death of Steve King cast a bad pall over the rest of the week. If not for his accident, I could call this Nationals week a stellar one. However, because of that, I will just have to label it as a good Nats.
It never fails to amaze me how sorry I am when racers die at the track. Death in racing is inevitable and we all know that whether we talk about it or not. We all know how to grieve, cope with the grief and continue to pour our hearts and souls into what can be a cruel sport because it’s also our source of salvation. But what always amazes me is how sorry I am that I never knew these racers better.
Having read extensively about Steve King on his Website, which I never knew existed before he died, I’m truly sorry I didn’t get to know more about him while he was alive and racing. His work in promoting ethanol was tremendous for the Midwest and for our sport. And I remember remarking to Bob during the previous week’s 360 Nationals that I thought his car was the best looking. I loved that teal and black scheme.
What really intrigues me now is the realization that Steve and I shared a birthday. And what’s really hard for me to fathom is that he was exactly one year younger than me. Even though in the past 10 years I’ve been able to really grow up in this sport professionally, I sometimes still see these racers as giants, invincible, tough people to look up to. I’m still reeling from Joe Beaver, Brent Antill and Matt Moro being called veterans. I’m not sure when we all got old, and for sure, no one younger than me is supposed to die. I hope nobody breaks that 10-lap track record King set in his heat race for a long time to come.
On the race track, all the buzz swirled around the antics and actions of Danny Lasoski in Saturday’s B-Main, from his dumping of Kerry Madsen, accidental or intentional, and then his chicken-playing with his own nephew, Brian Brown.
I don’t have much to say about that, really, other than I thought it was too bad Brownie didn’t make the main event being that he is one of Knoxville’s favorite locals. I’m always for the local guys to do well. After all, I come to see them every Saturday night and I appreciate the show they give us.
I also thought it was too bad the "Lasoski Family Circus," as a noted track official called it afterwards, seemed to overshadow the real story of the Nationals, that being the long-time-coming first win of Donny Schatz. I’ve been a Schatz fan for a number of years, since I got a real kick start in racing journalism by writing for his fan-club newsletter. After having been second for what seems like an eternity, it was great to see him finally capture that dream. And it was great to see him show such emotion afterward, something he’s not really known for otherwise. What a relief that must have been when he cleared the scales.
The other big story of the Nationals was Knoxville Race Director Ralph Capitani’s statement that the greatest sprint-car track in the world would not be committing to either the World of Outlaws or the National Sprint Tour next season unless things changed drastically in the political arena. Some have criticized this decision, but it seems like most think it is the greatest thing to do. Cappy’s decision was backed up by the owner of the second greatest sprint-car track in the world just after the announcement. Let’s hope Cappy and Tony Stewart of Eldora Speedway stick with that idea.
I also hope regardless of whether the premiere sanctioning bodies kiss and make up this winter that Cappy sticks to his guns when it comes to a non-sanction on the Nationals. I feel like it was scary territory before because track officials might not have really believed all the top drivers would come to the Nationals. Now I hope they’ve seen what the rest of us knew all along. This is the Nationals. If a top driver doesn’t come to compete because the biggest race of the year is not endorsed by their favorite sanctioning body, then maybe we should rethink our reverence of that particular driver. I, for one, certainly prefer to have the extra money that Knoxville would have paid to the sanctioning body going back into the purse to pay the drivers who put their lives on the line to do what they love and to entertain the rest of us.
Speaking of the track, it was just not right this year to have Arleta Voyce, longtime office manager at Knoxville, missing out on the fun. She’s just an institution at Knoxville and I missed her wit in the pressbox every night.
So now that the Nationals are over, withdrawal begins to set in. There are only two more regular shows to be had before the three-day late-model Nationals and the one-night makeup World of Outlaws show. Another season will be over before we know it. Sigh.
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