Jennings, Oswalt & Rager Enter Hoosier Tire Masters Classic
Friday, May 27, 2005
KNOXVILLE, IOWA (May 27, 2005) - Earnest Jennings of Oklahoma, Dan Oswalt of Kansas, and Roger Rager of Minnesota are the three latest entrants for next Friday’s $3,000-to-win, $300-to-start Hoosier Tire Midwest Masters Classic at the legendary Knoxville Raceway. The event, staged during the sixteenth annual National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (NSCHoF) induction weekend, June 3-4, features veteran drivers age fifty-plus in winged 360-cubic-inch sprint cars. Two-time Masters Classic champion Roger Rager will wheel Kevin Frey’s Weseman-powered Schnee machine, which is sponsored by Donahue Harley-Davidson, Corigliano’s Pizza, Trone Outdoor and Sander Engineering. Rager, a former driver in the Indy 500, won the race in 1999 and 2001.
Dan Oswalt, the 2001 Hoosier Tire Midwest Masters Classic Rookie of the Race, will pilot his own Eagle sprinter, while Jennings will be aboard his own J&J machine, which is sponsored by Jenning’s Garage and Jenning’s Powder Coating. Two-time and defending champion Jimmy Sills of California is expected to compete in the race, as is Shane Carson of Oklahoma. 1998 Masters Classic champion Jerry Crabb of Iowa has already entered, as have Wally Pankratz of California, Carl "Midge" Miller of New Jersey, Randy Droescher of Iowa, Dave Heskin of Minnesota, French Grimes of Virginia, Bill Smith of Minnesota, Roy Jo Peltz of Missouri, and Dick Mahoney of Ontario, Canada. Talented drivers Gerry Robison of Pennsylvania, Rick England of Kansas, Jim Bevan of Kansas and Jerry Potter of Missouri are all looking for quality rides for the Hoosier Tire Midwest Masters Classic.
In addition to the Hoosier Tire Midwest Masters Classic, the Pepsi/Mt. Dew King Doodlebug Midget Classic will be held on Friday night, June 3. The Kin Folks 410 c.i. Sprint Car Shootout and the Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals, featuring the best midgeteers from the American (ARDC), Badger (BMARA), Gateway (GRI), Midwest (MARA), and Rocky Mountain (RMMRA) sanctions, will be staged on Saturday night, June 4. To date, fifty-six (56) midget teams have entered the event.
The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction banquet will be held on Saturday afternoon on the Marion County Fairgrounds. The dinner will again be emceed by Dave Argabright, an up-coming Little 500 Hall of Fame inductee, and veteran open-wheel racing writer Pat Sullivan, and will take place from 12 Noon until 3:15 p.m. in the Dyer-Hudson Building on the Marion County Fairgrounds. Tickets for the banquet are just $20 each. Those being inducted this year into the NSCHoF in Knoxville are:
Drivers: Steve Butler, Bob Carey, Elmer George, Bill Holland, Steve Kinser, Robbie Stanley, Ray Tilley.
Owners-Mechanics-Builders-Manufacturers-Car Sponsors: Don Brown, Dick Simonek, Kenny Woodruff.
Promoters-Officials-Media Members-Event/Series Sponsors: John Mahoney, Jim Raper, Norm Witte.
For more information on the midget and sprint car racing, visit the track’s web-site at www.knoxvilleraceway.com. For more info on the induction weekend, visit www.sprintcarhof.com.
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