6th Annual Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals Rolls Big 7 for 2007
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Orlando, FL,– by Bruce Neimeth
The 2007 version of the Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals brings together seven key Midget series that present events in 18 states from coast-to-coast and border-to-border annually. With the anticipated increase in teams due to five of the series awarding points, Knoxville Raceway has moved the dates to Friday and Saturday, June 22 and 23, 2007.
The United States Auto Club (USAC) national points event is co-sanctioned by the American Race Drivers Club in Pennsylvania (ARDC), Badger Midget Auto Racing Association in Wisconsin (BMARA), Midwest Auto Racing Association in Illinois (MARA), POWRi in Illinois (formerly Gateway), Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association in Colorado (RMMRA), and Southern Midget Racing Series in Oklahoma (SMRS). All sanctions will make this event a point event for their teams except ARDC and RMMRA, both of whom have agreed not to schedule races during this 2-day period and are encouraging their drivers and teams to participate.
According to Ralph Capitani, Director of Racing at Knoxville Raceway, “when we look at these seven groups, with a combined 270+ years of racing history, and consider the names that have come through their events – Schindler, Foyt, Andretti, Lehman, Schaefer, Coy, Hartman, Gordon, Hess, Pankratz, Nazareth, Fox, Olson and Doty – we appreciate and understand the importance of their support to us and our fans.” He went on to say, “As a result Knoxville has created a new segment on the homepage of www.knoxvilleraceway.com that will provide access to each of these series as well other racing series supporting our other types of key events including sprint cars and late models.”
“Knoxville’s commitment to provide a centrally located venue, with the national and international recognition they enjoy, has helped USAC and the other series to continue to work together to increase fan interest and awareness in what is great racing and entertainment,” stated Rollie Helmling, President and CEO of USAC. “Between now and the actual event in June, officials of all seven series will work closely to support the event, and ticket sales, in our markets to continue to build attendance.” he concluded.
For the 2006 racing season, Knoxville has reported audited web site activity of 106 million hits, just under 1 million unique annual visitors, 30+ million page-views and over 12 minutes average time online. In addition Knoxville produces over 18 hours of live and tape-delay event broadcasts on Speed Channel, as well as 21 1-hour syndicated racing new shows originating on Mediacom in Iowa.
Reserved seats for the 6th annual Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals will go on sale online at 12:00 am on January 15, 2007, and by phone at (641) 842-5431 or at the ticket office Monday – Friday from 9am to 5pm, and on Saturday from 10am to 2pm.
Knoxville Raceway hosts weekly events from April through September, including winged 305-, 360- and 410-cubic inch sprint cars, late models and midgets. Other special events include the 47th Annual Super Clean Knoxville Nationals, World of Outlaws Double Header, the 17th Annual 360 Nationals and the 4th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals.
For more information please contact:
• Knoxville Raceway – Bruce Neimeth at brucen@knoxvilleraceway.com or call (641) 842-5431.
• ARDC – Ron Lauer at offyron@yahoo.com
• BMARA – Bryan Gapinski at gapinski@wi.rr.com
• MARA – Stephanie Meents at meents05@yahoo.com
• POWRi – Jim Siner at jtsiner@consolidated.net
• RMMRA – Mike Heberling at mtheb@msn.com
• SMRS – John Stewart at john@smrsmidgets.com
• USAC – Rollie Helmling at rhelmling@usacracing.com
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