Opening night of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model
Nationals featured all of the great racing that I have come to expect from this
event that includes deeper inverted starts than you normally see at big shows,
but it also had three of the hardest Late Model accidents that I have ever seen
in person. Thankfully all three drivers walked away uninjured.
The night started on a low note for one the event’s
favorites as Billy Moyer broke during his first of two laps of qualifying. And,
rather than pulling out the backup car and starting from the rear of his heat
race, the native of nearby Des Moines chose to regroup and focus on Friday
night where he could still lock himself into Saturday’s big finale.
Knoxville is unlike any other in that you must race your way
in. A fast qualifying lap does not land you in the first or second row of your
heat race. It does give you a good start in the points that you must accumulate
throughout the night to get into the championship event on Saturday, but as the
fastest qualifier you will start eighth in your heat and you must “race” your
way into the top three to make the main event on the qualifying night. The fans
love it and the track pays the drivers nicely for their efforts.
Dale McDowell would be Thursday’s fastest qualifier and he
did so with one extra lap as it was ruled that he was impeded by the slower car
of Lyle Zanker as their group of four were on the clock. McDowell actually
dropped to ninth at the start of the first heat race before he started working
his way forward, and while he might have caught him anyway, the third and final
transfer spot fell into his grasp when Shannon Babb suffered mechanical issues
with four laps remaining.
The start of the second heat race was a wild one as when
Jimmy Mars poked his nose up a row through the middle as the green flag waved,
he made contact that sent Andy Eckrich sideways and then over into a wild
series of barrel rolls down the front stretch. Flagman Doug Clark scrambled to
the back of his perch as the tumbling car nearly joined him and wheels and
other parts were flung high into the air. It was fortunate that the catch fence
did its job and that the safety equipment did as well as Andy emerged uninjured
and walked back to the pit area. John Blankenship would go onto win this one
while Chase Junghans was able to keep his smoking car ahead of Dennis Erb Jr.
over the closing laps to finish third. Damage from the initial contact with
Eckrich forced Mars to the infield mid-race.
Brandon Overton made the trip up from Georgia for the first
time and he found the Knoxville Raceway to his liking as he dominated the third
heat race ahead of veterans Earl Pearson Jr. and Vic Coffey.
The fourth heat was a thriller from start to finish as
Jonathan Davenport hooked the cushion off turn four to drive around A.J. Diemel
on the final lap to take the win. Eddie Carrier Jr. came from the fourth row to
finish in third.
And if the finish of that heat wasn’t worth the price of
admission then the fifth heat should have taken care of you as Mike Marlar,
Frankie Heckenast and Brian Birkhofer went three-wide into turn three on the
final lap of the fifth heat. It was Marlar’s stumble on the cushion that
created the excitement, but he recovered nicely to fight off Birkhofer at the
checkers. This came shortly after Birkhofer was locked in a tight battle with Scott
James for fourth where James spun with three laps remaining.
The sixth heat saw two race cars destroyed in two separate
incidents. Early in the race Lucas Oil racing series Rookie-of-the-Year leader Jason Hughes got crossed up entering turn three and shot straight up the track head on into the guardrail. The accident was eerily similar to the one that took the life of sprint car driver Steve King here during the 2006 Nationals and I held my breath until Jason climbed out of the angled race car under his own power.
This heat was loaded with talent including Eckert, Lanigan, Bloomquist, Ziegler, Owens, Feger and more and once back to green the racing was intense. Jimmy Owens was holding down the third and final transfer spot when Jason Feger had a run on him coming off the topside of turn four. As Owens came up the track the two made contact and then one of two things happened. Either something broke on the steering of Feger's car or he took exception to the top line being closed off as his car turned to the left hooking Owen's car and turning him sideways at the fastest point on the speedway. Just like Andy Eckrich's car earlier, Owens' #20 tipped over and went for a series of barrel rolls before settling upside down near the turn one guardrail.
It took a few moments, but Jimmy crawled out of the car and then had a microphone in front of him asking what happened. The normally reserved Owens replied quickly "Freakin' Idiot"......or a much more colorful "F" word.....and the interviewer wisely pulled the microphone away.
Scott Bloomquist did what he could to get around Eckert over the closing laps but e could not get the job done and qualifying heats were in the books.
D, C and B-Main action had some drivers making big runs only to come up just short of making the transfer and the 25-lap A-Main lined up with Kent Robinson and Jonathan Davenport on the front row. Davenport was a rocket from the start and with only one caution to slow the pace he would not be seriously challenged going flag-to-flag for the victory. Darrell Lanigan started sixth and finished second ahead of Iowa favorite Brian Birkhofer, Earl Pearson Jr. shook off the announcement earlier this week that he would not be back with Bobby Labonte racing and finished fourth while Brandon Sheppard was the Hard Charger coming from 22nd to fifth at the checkers.
Action continues tonight and Saturday at what is quickly becoming the premier event in Late Model racing!
My schedule puts me in Memphis, Missouri, tonight for the "Grand Championships" and then on Saturday night I will be at the Season Championship for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway. Go the the races this weekend!!
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