We are not worthy...
 

witnessing the greatest ever...

https://tjslideways.com/2023/08/13/l...tionals-title/

Re: We are not worthy...
 

Shocker…..someone from the front row won the race!:44:

Re: We are not worthy...
 

but someone came from the 11th row to finish 2nd, so there was plenty of action. Many battles thru the top 10 it sounds like.

Re: We are not worthy...
 

I am pretty impressed with Gravel's drive! Not a wing guy and don't have dirtvision but reading the accounts of the race on the 'net, starting that far back and finishing second is epic IMO.

I'm going to give wing racing a shot and start attending the events.

Re: We are not worthy...
 

I am Speed, KACHOW!.

Lyle Karson is the best of this era and among the elite all time

…

I guess you don’t understand the format of the Nationals??? :15:

The fast guys race from an inversion all week. There is a 40 car inversion each qualifying night. He passed cars on his qualifying to earn his starting slot on Saturday night.

Larson was the only driver all week to win his heat from the fourth row.

He raced just as the format made him race. He earned the pole spot.

The racing for 3-4-5 was intense. If you missed it, I’m sorry you were watching Larson wire the field. Too bad Rico had a flat and Gravel screwed up in his heat on Wednesday and screws up his shot to win.
That’s what makes this deal hard to win is you can’t have one bad race all week.

SMH.

[QUOTE=jdull99;567671]witnessing the greatest ever...

The move on the lapper out of 2 was breath taking and was a winning move or a catastrophic decision.

In reality this would be his 3rd but 2020 wasn’t recognized as the Nationals.

lol

Re: We are not worthy...
 

The winners of the 7 Indiana Sprintweek races this year started 2nd, 5th, 2nd, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd.

What? I thought all non-winged shows were won from 18th? This is shocking….

Shhh the non wingers don’t want to hear that. Best racing on the planet!

Re: We are not worthy...
 

So Larson won three features at Knoxville.
Wed's night and two 25's on Sat,

Way to go.

Re: We are not worthy...
 

Outlaws, Allstars, Posse, Late models, midgets etc. This guy is not a regular in any series, just runs now and then. Beat their ass, takes their money and his wife shotguns their beer. Race anywhere, win anywhere. A true outlaw in every sense. :22:

Re: We are not worthy...
 

Even though the battle for the lead was not very exciting, the racing behind Larson was pretty good. The charge by Gravel, and his battle with Macedo was real good. I think it would have been different if Rico hadn't had the flat. Knoxville makes guys race for the right to start up front, so I have no problem with the winner coming from row one. It beats a draw for a dash, where the winner can start up front and never pass a car all night. After timing first and starting up front for his heat.

Re: We are not worthy...
 

Was there and witnessed first hand some amazing races Thursday thru Saturday. Yeah Larson led all 50 laps, which only him and Schatz have ever done since they went to 50 laps. Gravel was amazing coming from the back and giving all he had to try to catch Kyle the last 5 or so. The battle between 3-5 was crazy. Lotta action throughout. Not sure what all they showed on DV, but was a great 3 nights. Got good news about Covington being ok, but haven’t heard about Cody Ihlen, who violently flipped taking the green on the opening lap of the E main. Both had to be cut out of the car. Just pray all is ok.

Re: We are not worthy...
 

2023 feature winner average starting position

USAC Sprint Cars 2.96

World of Outlaws Sprint Cars 3.37

:34:

Not taking anything away from Larson’s win, but it could be argued that Gravel’s run from 22nd was far superior to Larson’s run from the pole. And Gravel was closing fast at the end, so in my mind his was the performance of the race. Except... if you’ll replay the race to the restart following the halfway break, you can clearly see Gravel hit the cone with his left rear, knocking it towards the inside of the track. I thought I saw it live, so I replayed it this morning. I wonder why that wasn’t called. Any thoughts?

Re: We are not worthy...
 

Also for reference, Bobby Pierce won the North/South 100 last night after starting 13th. Ricky Thornton Jr finished 2nd after starting 23rd. As Charles said on his N/S 100 topic, it was an excellent race. 7 of the top 10 finishers started outside the top 10. The top 5 started 13th, 23rd, 3rd, 16th, and 15th.

I was at Knoxville last night. Just got home. The grandstands were completely sold out a week before Saturday’s race. I showed up without a ticket. I bought one from a scalper but even the scalpers themselves didn’t have many tickets. I took what I could get. A limited # of pit pass went on sale at 2 pm. People were lining up for those at noon. The pit passes were sold out within an hour. I’ve been to the Nationals 4x. I’ve never seen it like this.

People were spending $ like there was no tomorrow on t-shirts, food. There were long lines at all food vendors outside the track. Some vendors were sold out. I tried getting a hotel room at the Fairfield Inn in Oskaloosa, 20 miles away. $308 for Saturday night. It was sold out. I don’t want to hear any BS about the economy being bad.

Saw lots of young families with kids. Just a much younger crowd in general. Everyone was happy and excited to be there. Not quite as rowdy as I remember back 30 years ago, but everyone was having a good time.

As for the race itself, I actually thought Schatz had a shot at Larson during the first half, especially when they got into traffic. And yes, watching Gravel make that charge through the field made this year’s race memorable. If Gravel didn’t lose a couple laps trying to get by Schatz after that last restart, the finish would’ve been much closer. I think another lap and Gravel would’ve been on Larson’s bumper.

Back in the day, I never got upset when I saw Steve Kinser win all the time. I knew there’d come day where I’d look back and say, “I saw Kinser in his prime.” I’m the same way with Larson. I know I’m seeing something special right now.

Re: We are not worthy...
 

Plus Gravel had a few laps of battling Macedo that held him up also. I’m with you. Think he woulda got to Larson, but trying to pass him would’ve been fun to watch.

I was just waiting for Gibson to say, red flag, Gravel and Macedo upside down in turn 4.

The were racing each other pretty filthy. Fun to watch for sure. Be interesting to see how it goes the rest of the season with a tight points battle.

[QUOTE=Kart#51;567726]I was just waiting for Gibson to say, red flag, Gravel and Macedo upside down in turn 4.

I was thinking the same thing. I’m not a fan of the way Macedo races.

Re: We are not worthy...
 

[quote=RACrappieman;567729]
UPDATE: Cody Ihlen, who was involved in a frightening incident during the opening lap of last night’s E-Main, has been released from the hospital and is at home resting.

He left without serious issues and just a few minor injuries.