Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
News and Notes from Knoxville’s Opening Night
Wayne Johnson is making a strong case as the preseason favorite to win the Knoxville title. After last week’s 10th to first romp at Southern Iowa Speedway, Johnson backed it up with an opening night victory at Knoxville. Johnson took advantage of a Skip Jackson bobble in lapped traffic to score his second win of the year… John Kearney kicked off his 360 title campaign with a commanding win that never, despite several challenges, seemed in jeopardy. Kearney greened in fifth and quickly found the front. Kearney has added a B to his 83 this season in memoriam of his father Bub, who passed away last August. The raceway also allowed Kearney a special victory lap for his father after the win. With cool, check that, COLD, temperatures and a racetrack made heavy with a week of rain, the track record seemed jeopardized for the first time in years. Calvin Landis got the closest with a 15.081. Don Droud Jr.’s sub-15 second lap, set in August of 1998 could go down this season. It’s hard to believe, in a horsepower era, that record is going on seven years… Most drivers felt the new dirt made little difference and said it made the track more consistent. After last year’s dirt debacle, it appears the transition will be seamless. Justin Henderson debuted the Dan Oswalt team, numbered 11 for this week, and was a top-five threat in the A-main before coming pitside. On track, Henderson figured he burned down a piston. After the race, the team believed that a mud clod hit a plug wire. Henderson will most likely have a different number next weekend…The only real controversy of the evening came when Joe Beaver’s slidejob on Jake Peters ended with Peters on his head. The two had staged a sterling duel for fifth before the turn three snafu. Beaver stayed quick and finished third. Mike Chadd looks to be on the cusp of a dominating season and put in his best Knoxville run in years with a runner-up finish. His brother Dean, who has returned to the seat this year, is now tied with John Kearney for second in all-time 360 wins with 18... Several other Nebraska cars took advantage of the Eagle freeze-out to tackle Knoxville. Jason Danley, unfortunately, lost an engine in his 82 but Chad Humston fared much better. Humston, in his Knoxville debut, charged to fifth in the B-main, missing the A by one spot. The youngster will chase ASCS Midwest points this season and make several starts at Knoxville. Toby Chapman also towed over for his Knoxville debut but ended his night in the C-main… That C-main may have been the toughest gig in racing. 20 cars scheduled for six laps and two transfers. Mike Houseman, in Mike Waddell’s Y2, and Tracy Nichols were the lucky gents. Eric Mason, running his brand new Maxim from Knoxville’s banquet, was the odd man out. .. Seth Brahmer was a 410 starter and won his heat over fellow number 13 Mark Dobmeier. Each of those two could make periodic starts at Knoxville in 2005. Dobmeier will not chase NOSA points as there are too many conflicts with Huset’s, where he hopes to finally get the championship he nearly had last year. Dobmeier had the title in sight when the engine let loose on the final night… Mike Pryzborksi gets the dedication award for this week, towing from Round Top, Texas for the opener. Pryzborski has raced at Knoxville in the past and would like to make it a weekly occasion again this year. He missed the transfer to the C-main. The allure of Knoxville remains as strong as ever… David Brown raced his first night at Knoxville. The 57-year-old Sprint Car rookie does most of his racing with the Winged Outlaw Warriors but decided to borrow his son Frank’s car for a night at Knoxville. Brown first began his racing career in the mid-1960s in Supermodifieds but was too young to race at Knoxville. Now, 40 years later, he made it to Knoxville. Look for David and Frank to grace WOW shows the rest of the season. Speaking of Knoxville debuts, how about Gregg Bakker. An accomplished but underrated racer took advantage of Jackson’s rainout and scored seventh at Knoxville. Bakker won two track titles in 2004, Jackson and Huset’s, and was the NMRA champion. Nice to see Bakker’s bright blue 11X in Knoxville… Josh Higday’s first night in his new ride, the Mike Trent 4T, was impressive before melting a motor with three laps to go. Higday was running third… I don’t want to gloat, well, okay, I do, but Dave Hall, who was praised as a darkhorse in this forum last week, ran fourth on opening night, was as high as second and won a heat. Johnny Anderson put in a nice 15th to fifth with Glenn Freeland in the pits swinging wrenches… Jon Corbin, the grandson of Tom Corbin, brought his Smith/Key/Corbin 33C in for his debut at Knoxville. The 19-year-old missed the A-main but looked good. He has one win at Sedalia in his burgeoning career. Rick Smith, former racer from the Kansas City area, is one of the owners on Corbin’s car… Troy Meyer just finished his racer the night before Knoxville and did not have the car lettered yet. He passed along that he’ll be a Sunday night competitor in the 410s, using a 360 engine, and will make three of four shows a month at Knoxville. The other night, work commitments will keep him grounded… Chad Meyer saved his night with a heroic A-main drive from 20th to fifth. Meyer was trailer bound in the B-main before Tim St. Arnold dropped out. Meyer nearly nipped Kerry Madsen at the line for fourth. Brett Mather hurt the Burnham team’s best Wesmar on practice night and is still waiting to get it back but he drove the backup to a sixth place finish… Randy Hannagan was hoping to go to Eldora with the All Stars, where he won twice in 2004, but Ohio snowfall sent the Hurricane westward. He was running third early in the going when the engine let loose. Hannagan will return to Knoxville next Friday before heading south to catch the All Stars in Farmington, Missouri on Saturday. Hannagan is chasing All Star points this season and when prodded if he’d stay if locked in for Saturday’s Outlaws show at Knoxville, he paused, thought hard and said, ‘that’s a tough question’… Knoxville Raceway is now doing live updates on the website every race night at knoxvilleraceway.com. Josh Schneiderman sat out the Saturday night show at Knoxville to attend his senior prom, leaving John Schulz as the team’s only representative. Schulz was a B-main transfer. Last Saturday, Schneiderman had a career night, scoring fourth against the Sprint Invaders in Burlington. The club returns there on Wednesday night, May 4… Larry Ball Jr. has confined his racing solely to Knoxville for this season but he made the most of it on Saturday. He won the B-main and came from 17th to eighth in the feature… Mike Reinke went out of the A-main in a haze of glory with smoke and fire shooting out of the Cowman 02. Turns out it was merely an oil filter problem but Reinke was finished for the night. Look for Reinke to return on Friday for the Outlaws before heading back to catch the IRA opener at Dodge County. Cowman passed on that the team will hit 90 percent of the Knoxville shows this season… Ryan Voss and the Hess Racing 2H team came down when Jackson canceled but Voss came up a little short in the B-main. He had a special fan in the stands as his four month old son made his first trip to the raceway. Congrats to the Voss family on their off-season addition… Dennis Moore Jr. was trolling the pit area on Saturday night, sporting the broken right arm that will keep him out all season. Moore has remained positive through his second-consecutive season-ending injury but you can see the heartache of missing another season.
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