KVille Nationals (Saturday)
 

Just a heads up for anyone whose not at Knoxville or watching/monitoring it by other means I will try to update where I can tonight. If I slack anyone else feel free to fill in. #AnybodyButSchatz LOL

We're up here too.. Great atmosphere, great weather, and don't have to worry about a car count tonight! lol

I'd rather drive 400 miles and watch 21 @ the burg then drive 2 hr's to watch 80 billboards parade around in the dust.

Pre-race ceremonies going on right now. Shouldn't be too long before we get the party started. Knoxville is certainly different from the usual Kokomo or PVille but great fans/atmosphere and still cars on the track.

Finishing up a few rounds of hot laps for the first couple of races.

Someone was getting a ride in a two seater around the track and she lost the right rear. Anthem and what not then it's go time

E-Main time, Hunter % outside row 1. Taking 5 to the D. 10 laps

Car on its side, on the 2nd lap. Car was Polyak, she's done

Jimmy Light wins the E. Hunter % finished 2nd.

D-Main set to push. Brady Bacon starts P1, Sunshine is starting 5th. Hunter % mired back in 21st. Going 12 laps, 4 transfer.

Green flag

Caution for Hunter, looks like his evening is over.

Baughman wins over Bacon, Agan, Schilling. Those 4 transfer

I've been to a ton of non wing races this year and wing races. I like them both. But some of the best races I've seen this year were with the wings, at the Kings Royal and the Iron Man. I was at Bloomington last night and the nonwing heat races were terrible. Every winner of the heat came from the front row. Luckily the feature did turn out good last night

C Main notables, Kraig Kinser P1, King Kinser will start P6, PPM in 8th, Bacon towards the back. 4 transfer 15 laps

Balog wins over K Kinser, Reutzel and Hafertepe. The King was one spot short of a transfer

You Sir should really open your mind because you have no idea what you are missing. There is no race or event, and make no mistake Knoxville is more than a race it is most definitely an event. The whole entire town embraces this race people open their homes for race fans and drivers to stay in. Going to Knoxville is truly an experience, and by the way I've been three times and can't remember the dust being bad at all.

B-Main pushing. Crowd cheering for Sammy for once. Great to see people behind him tonight.

Green but back to the yellow as it was coming back. Car into the wall in 1

Green. Caution for the 40. Flat LR
Green again. Johnson, Swindell, Darrah
McFadden just blew stayin green
Hod now into a transfer spot

Leaders coming into lappers

Wayne Johnson, Swindell, Darrah, Hodnett top 4 and punch tickets to the A. Shaffer was 5th

Driver intros complete, drivers headed to their cars.

Lineup: Schatz, Madsen, Gravel, Saldana, Sweet, Lasoski, McMahon, McCarl, Johnson, Lil Haud, Blaney, Stewart, Wolfe, Brown, and so on

BC starts 16th I believe

Cars pushing off now

Re: KVille Nationals (Saturday)
 

The dust isn't any worse at the Knoxville Nationals than it's been at the 4 Crown at Eldora. I feel lucky to be able to go to either (or both)!

Green, Schatz, Madsen, Saldana early

Brownie already picking his way through

Schatz into lapped traffic

Lasoski into 3rd. Yellow on lap 15 41- Johnson blows a tire

Brian Brown up into the Top 10

Schatz, Madsen, Lasoski the top 3 as Johnson comes back out with a fresh Hoosier

Green again, Sweet into 4th. Lasoski pressuring Madsen

Caution out for the break. Schatz leads, Lasoski up to 2nd. Madsen 3rd. Sweet, Saldana round out the top 5

Gear change on Schatz's car.

BC running 13th, Swindell 20th

Cars pushing back off

Green back out Schatz away Lasoski right with him

Yellow, for a spin

Green, Schatz still out front Madsen to second Sweet trying to get around as well and he is into 3rd

BC is flying

Red flag for McMahon, he's ok

Clauson is coming on strong I think once they line back up he'll be 7th or 8th. It's Schatz, Madsen, Sweet, Lasoski up front

McMahon trying to restart

Coming back to restart 15 to go

Sweet and Madsen battling, Stewart into 4th

Caution

Green back out Schatz is gone

Schatz wins again.

Schatz
Madsen
Sweet
Stewart
Saldana
Brown

BC ended up 12th

Re: KVille Nationals (Saturday)
 

Schatz is a smart racer, great in traffic.

I would like to see the Nationals run a wing and Non-Wing A main's the same night. What an event.

Have a C-B-A feature for wing and Non Wing. Great track for it.

We had a good time. They did a lot of cool things for the fans. Lots of passing with cars from the back moving up through the field. Was good to see Clauson have a good run. He'll have a WoO win under his belt before too long. Johnny Gibson made a comment about Bacon being the USAC champ for 2014 so that was cool to hear. It's always nice to see nonwing guys in the nationals; Tyler Courtney, Brady bacon, hunter schuerenburg, Kevin Thomas.

Clauson looked good all week at Knoxville. He got up to 8th at one point last night before fading late. I don't know if his tires sealed over or they missed the setup for the latter stages, but he got visibly slower, either that or everyone else got faster. Either way, he had a good week and you could watch his confidence grow race by race. Pretty cool!

WOW four whole times! Let's see my first national was 72, 1st winged nationals was 73 saw Dick Gaines beat Opperman in the last turn in 74 I experienced the poker games in the barns in the 70's. Wet T- shirt contests @ Dingus in the 80's and been to about 90 races there since so I think I can safely say I am familiar with the event. Except for the dust, I stand by my previous statement. Why go to a race with little passing and basically a predetermined winner sans mechanical failure. So now I invite you to come to smack down in Kokomo in two weeks and open your mind to slide jobs an wheelies. Then tell me which is better.

A gear change in a sprint car race? That's a joke. I saw Donny's first one in 2006. Haven't missed much since.

Re: KVille Nationals (Saturday)
 

Just enjoy where ever you're at. If it was that great, you wouldn't be sitting up there taking shots at us, back here enjoying the local scene in Indiana. I'm getting where I don't even like you anymore.

Jerry

I've been to plenty of non wing races, was going to Kokomo long before they changed it, same with the burg, I prefer the the old versions in both cases. I would have loved to been at Knoxville for those days. The closest thing around here to that atmosphere is the Kings Royal and its a far cry form Knoxville. I'm not trying to get into pissing match on here but we need a marquee event that draws large numbers of cars from out of state, that involves the local community, that they can get behind and support. There's a reason we keep loosing drivers to winged cars, more money and more races.

I was just joking around, at the time I didn't even know of the car counts. I said that because the lineups were already made and you know exactly who was going to be there.

Smack down is a step in the right direction but it needs more fan support and more cars to grow into a huge happening. Until a new organization steps up to challenge USAC I don't see any major changes on the horizon.

Yes that 21st to 1st run in 2013 was boring. Ha!

I've been to every Smackdown, but you're comparing apples and oranges. Knoxville is not Kokomo, winged sprints are not nonwing sprints. There was plenty of passing going on and seen some great races there, 13 was wild when Schatz came from the back, last year's battle between him and Brown over the last 10 laps was wild.

I actually like nonwing better. But don't take shots at people because they're at one place and you're at another. Just enjoy the fact you're at a race at all with the way the weather has been this year.

We attend both winged sprint car events and non-winged sprint car events. Comparing the two is foolish. The only ways they are the same is in engine size and name. They require different set-ups, different driving styles, different gearing, etc. The two versions are just different! Both are exciting and fun to watch if you just watch the races and relish the beauty of the race cars at speed and appreciate the skill and talent it takes to do what you are watching.

We were at the Knoxville Nationals, and while no one passed Donny Schatz for the lead last night (seriously, how often this season has he been passed?!?) the race from 4th back to about 14th was amazing. There were 3-5 "hold your breath" slide jobs from that group about every lap.

We've been to non-winged races that have been dusty parades, and we've been to winged races that have been side by side slugfests and vice versa. Enjoy what you are watching when you are watching it!

If you want to bash, let's be objective. How many $150k to win non-wing races are there? How many $50k to win? Heck, how many $20k to win? and I enjoy the non-wing racing much better usually!

Re: KVille Nationals (Saturday)
 

I don't think you could pay me to go to knoxville and watch. Same for the Kings Royal, HBO which no longer exist Or Drunk Royal as someone pointed out to me. I used to love the atmosphere and the insanity of the competition. Yeah, You knew it was big. And then people who are there for anything but the racing go and ruin it by slobbering all over you saying your driver is S**T.

Last one for me was 92. Seen about five WoO shows since and quit going to winged shows when Bert and his wife sold All Stars.

Think this is critisism or bashing, It isn't I've just come to love the purity of NW racing. The faster the more unstable, Winged is opposite.

Wanna see bashing? Go over to that other board where theres six pages of Rico is SATAN post for not starting the A.

Re: KVille Nationals (Saturday)
 

I too have quit attending the Nationals and most any winged race. The reason being is the same for why I do not attend Indy Car, NASCAR or other so-called top tier racing series: the technology particularly in tires and aerodynamics have greatly increased speed to the detriment of actual competition. NASCAR is continually looking for ways to quote "make racing more entertaining", which is market speak for how do we get someone to pass another car without a double file restart, or any of their other gimmicks. IMHO when you combine the technology elephant in the room along with our penchant to value marketing hype over actual substance, and a growing number of fans who feel the event is more important than the actual competition you have a witch's brew that does not serve sprint car racing well. I long for the days when terms like "rubber down" and "disturbed air" were not a part of racing lexicon. I think I will be able to find this open wheel Nirvana at Smackdown!

Guys-Is it ok to like both wing and non/wing?

Do we need to "hug it out"?

This discussion is really meaningless compared to how many drivers were hurt or killed this past weekend.