The King...Knoxville Nationals 1978

Very jealous of people like you, that got to go to Knoxville in those days.

Same here. What I would give to return to those years @ Knoxville!

Hopefully we can get the Inaugural Corn Belt Nationals to turn into something at least reminiscent of what the Nationals were in the non wing days. It will take a lot of support. Disappointed that an Indiana non wing club is actually running against it.
Anyone have any suggestions on where to stay for this event

Pella, Iowa a short drive away is usually where I’ve stayed over the years. Usually several good options there.
As far as your disappointment for an Indiana club racing against this event. I believe USAC/CRA has a race scheduled for July 6th.
Not everybody is cut out to race a USAC show on a big half mile. I’m glad there are options. Maybe that Indiana club has always raced that weekend, IDK? It is what it is.

Thanks and I’ll take your advice. Occasionally people lament the fact that the Knoxville Nationals are wings, I know I do, but unless the World of Outlaws miraculously sheds airfoils, we’re never going back there. I listened to a podcast with Kendra Jacobs who’s in the management team of Knoxville and she said, and I paraphrase, that so far they have shown good support for the the real sprint cars and would hope it would grow even bigger. In my opinion, if you pay any attention at all, you can see what a marquee event like the Nationals can do for the wing cars. Logic would say an event like that for sprint cars without wings would also help the genre across the country, if we can build it into what we hope it could be.

Flagboy55, if Pella is full up, Newton Iowa is about 24 miles from Knoxville straight up Iowa 14. There are several motel/hotels there. We’ve stayed at the Best Western there before and it’s not bad.

In case you didnt know the Indiana non wing club that is racing "against" it is running a 2 night show in honor of the gentleman who created the board you are now reading. Also USAC decided to pull the sanction on the friday night portion without notice to race at knoxville. They had sanctioned that date for several years until this year. Why should LPS and MSCS step aside for Knoxville when they had been scheduling that race on that weekend for at least 3 years and had a crowd as big or bigger than their sprint week date.

John the show honoring Bill only paid a USAC sanction one night. They paid less money the next night,and tried to get all the USAC guys without paying the sanction. They paid a minimum purse on Friday and loaded the back gate with many support classes. It was by far the worst run show I attended last year. It was also the latest I left a track in 2018 that was not affected by rain. I will be at Knoxville. I want to support people who pay big money.

Brent I did say it was USAC on Friday night on my post and I dont remember leaving particularly late. They ran 3 support classes. There were more fans there than many of the sprintweek races last year. Frankly I'd rather honor my friend than drive all the way to Knoxville. They paid the usual USAC payout if you dont thonk thats enough then maybe you should ask USAC why they dont pay more for their shows. It was basically the same show that drew about a third of the crowd and a third of the cars as Bloomington ran last month at a USAC track. and oh by the way they paid the "minimum" purse too.