In the Groove
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
by Stacy Ervin – A couple of nights of racing with the World of Outlaws towing to the Knoxville Raceway proved to be an exciting weekend with much to talk about. Just as it was when the Sprint Car Capitol of the World opened its season last Saturday night, the weather was cold and windy. But at least the rain held off and allowed two nights of blistering hot action.
The buzz kicked off on Friday night, April 29, with the preliminary Outlaws show and continued on Saturday, April 30, with the Outlaws finale in the 410 division and a full program of 360 division racing.
Perhaps the biggest news to come out of the weekend was the breaking of a longtime one-lap track record. Don Droud Jr. set the mark in August of 1998 at 14.934. World of Outlaws announcer Johnny Gibson pointed out that it was the longest-held track record of any track the Outlaws visit. The mark changed on Saturday night when Brian Paulus came out fifth in the order and reset it at 14.931. Just over 30 qualifying runs later, Joey Saldana shocked the crowd with a lap of 14.908 and that was the one that would hold up. Sammy Swindell and Chad Kemenah were the only others to post a lap in the 14-second bracket. Those lap times are amazing, especially considering the old mark was set in an era before making weight was an issue. In 1998, teams were doing everything they could to make their mounts as lightweight as possible. In 2005, cars must weigh 1,375 pounds with the driver in the seat.
Aside from the track-record chatter, another big story of the weekend was the bad luck encountered by many drivers.
Randy Hannagan, who had run with Knoxville1s weekly show and had bad luck the week before, continued his bad-luck streak when he slowed to the flagstand in time trials on Friday night, clocking in a lap in the 19-second bracket. That put the Hurricane at the back of a "D-Main," an event run before the heat races on Friday night. In that race, he came from the tail in eight laps to win.
Donny Schatz, who is usually a heavy favorite at Knoxville come Nationals time, suffered through Friday night woes, missing a transfer through his heat race and finding himself slated to start in the C-Main. While on a warm-up lap for that event, Schatz pulled back to the work area, which relegated him to starting on the tail. After a lap under green, he pulled to the infield. A provisional allowed him into the A-Main field.
Another driver with a run of bad luck over the weekend was Knoxville regular Jesse Giannetto. On Friday night, he spun in his heat race and nearly tipped over in front of others in the field. On Saturday, he was a victim of that old "nowhere to go" routine in his heat race. Jason Meyers was leading that race when he lost the handle and turned sideways in turn four. Meyers was tagged by Kemenah, who subsequently tagged Skip Jackson. In the melee, Giannetto tagged Meyers and flipped over.
Brooke Tatnell certainly registered the biggest heartbreak of the Friday night show. Having led the entire feature event, Tatnell took the white flag with Danny Lasoski on his back bumper in heavy traffic. Going into turn two, Tatnell ran up over a lapped car and nearly took a ride that could have really hurt. Though he was spared from flipping over, this was an accident he’s not likely to forget anytime soon.
The scariest event of the weekend came in the 360 B-Main on Saturday when Eric Jobe and Jarod Smith were battling for the final transfer spot to the feature. The two got together on the backstretch and the contact was just right to send Jobe on a series of violent flips going into turn three.
Sticking with the 360s for a minute, it was great to see Larry Ball Jr. get the win in the feature event, despite not having much sponsorship money this season. Maybe the win will be the incentive for someone to step up and help out a guy who just loves to race.
It was good to see Stevie Smith back at Knoxville for his first run there since the 2003 Knoxville Nationals. His car sports a gorgeous lavender and yellow paint scheme, a far cry from the old Black Bandit, and has sponsorship from Race Against Abuse of Children Everywhere, a worthy cause. While he seemed a bit rusty behind the wheel, he did put on a good show in the B-Main on Saturday night, missing the final transfer to the feature by 11 one-thousandths of a second to Jason Sides.
One thing that was certainly cause for celebration among the Knoxville faithful was the performance of the "regulars" during Friday night1s heat races. Of the four heats, Knoxville drivers scored the victory in three, with Matt Moro, Wayne Johnson and Calvin Landis each crossing under the checkers in first in their respective races. Sammy Swindell took the other victory, making for what could be classified as an Outlaws "shutout."
Family connections played an interesting role in the weekend1s racing. On Friday night, Danny Lasoski, sporting a heavy trench coat over his driver’s uniform, took advantage of a yellow flag during his nephew Brian Brown’s heat race to stroll out to the frontstretch and give Brown a signal showing him where to run. Sammy Swindell also took a yellow-flag opportunity to try and show his teenage son, Kevin, which line was fast. That came in the Friday night feature after Sammy found himself behind Kevin on a restart. Kevin was making his racing debut at the speed plant this weekend and found himself inheriting some of his dad1s odd luck here. On Saturday night, Kevin timed in 11th quick at the time of his run, but was too light at the scales and the qualifying run was negated. Later on, he found himself looking at the business end of flagman Doug Clark’s black warning flag when it was determined he had gotten too anxious on a start. Perhaps the most interesting family battle was between Steve Kinser and his son, Kraig, during Friday1s feature. Running together just behind Tatnell and Lasoski, the two waged a torrid battle and at one point, the crowd was buzzing when Kraig gave Dad a pretty good shot in the behind.
There were a couple of World of Outlaws drivers who were mighty happy to be home at the Knoxville Raceway this weekend. Former multi-time track champions Danny Lasoski and Terry McCarl both had stellar weekends at the track where they honed their skills. Ironically, the old rivals both ran inconsistent to their typical style. Lasoski, who won
Friday night’s show and finished second Saturday, could be found running darn close to Knoxville’s big white fences. He earned his nickname of "Catfish" by being a bottom-feeder on the low groove, so to see him make the high line work for so long was interesting. McCarl, on the other hand, has never been afraid to get as close as possible to that fence. But on this weekend, a pair of fourth-place feature finishes saw him cruising around the bottom much of the time.
Speaking of McCarl, I’m obligated to correct a miscue from last week. Yes, I was still stuck in last year’s mode of thinking when I credited Terry for his five track championships. Apparently he hasn’t lost count, as he reminded me that he now has a sixth in his resume. I was just making sure that he hadn1t forgotten to read my column since he went out on the Outlaws tour. This week I want to propose a new nickname for T-MAC. Given his preferred line this weekend, I think we should consider calling him "Catfish." I almost cringe at the thought of checking my e-mail this week now.
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