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 KNOXVILLE,
IA (August 16) -- The 43rd annual Knoxville Nationals were contested
over the weekend in the O'Reilly World of Outlaws Series with Danny
Lasoski coming away the big individual winner claiming $125,000 for
winning Saturday's 30-lap feature, while Hoosier-shod drivers claimed
$392,500 in the night's final race. The annual four-day event is
considered the Super Bowl of Sprint Car racing attracting drivers from
across the globe. This year, 114 drivers descended upon beautiful
Knoxville Raceway in hopes of making Saturday's elite 24-car field. Of
the 114 hopefuls, 101 of them elected to ride on USA-made Hoosier
tires. When it was all over, Danny Lasoski had won with Donny Schatz
and Kenny Jacobs following him to the finish line to notch
Team-Hoosier's 56th podium sweep of the season in 65 nights of racing.
Hoosier Open Wheel Dirt Product Manager Neil Cowman was also in Iowa
attending the event.
The final night of competition in the Nationals
consisted of a series of four preliminary features in which drivers
fought for their chance to gain entry into the night's A-feature.
First was the E feature, then the D, then the C, and finally the B
feature which transferred the final four drivers into the 24-car A
feature field.
When it was finally time for the A feature, the
114-car field had been whittled down to 24 of the world's best sprint
car drivers--23 of them on Hoosiers. Pole-sitter Donny Schatz, using a
pair of D12's, took the lead from the outset. Schatz led through lap
seven before being passed by fourth starting Danny Lasoski who also
was running a pair of D12's. Lasoski led the remainder of the way to
take his third Knoxville Nationals title. The former Knoxville track
champion pocketed $125,000 for the win in front of 30,000 fans.
Donny Schatz settled for second place, while
collecting $62,500. Kenny Jacobs, who charged from fifth place, took
the final podium spot for Team-Hoosier and earning a tidy $32,500. All
told, the first nine drivers to cross the finish line rode on Hoosier
tires. Completing the list of Hoosier-shod top ten finishers were
Sammy Swindell (4th-$22,500), Greg Hodnett (5th-$15,000), Steve Kinser
(6th-$12,000), Shane Stewart (7th-$10,000), Paul McMahan (8th-$9,000),
and Jason Meyers (9th-$8,500).
Rounding out the complete list of Hoosier-shod
finishers were Tim Shaffer (11th-$8,000), Joey Saldana (12th-$7,750),
Terry McCarl (13th-$7,500), Chad Kemenah (14th-$8,250), Daryn Pittman
(15th-$7,000), Mark Kinser (16th-$6,750), Kerry Madsen (17th-$6,500),
Jeff Shepard (18th-$7,250), Lance Dewease (19th-$7,000), Wayne Johnson
(20th-$5,900), Kraig Kinser (21st-$6,800), Erin Crocker (22nd-$5,700),
Ed Lynch, Jr. (23rd-$5,600), and Brooke Tatnell (24th-$5,500).
Also of note, Erin Crocker became the first female
driver to ever compete in the main event in the Knoxville Nationals.
Steve Kinser holds a slim 21 point lead over Danny
Lasoski in the season-long standings. The two are followed by Joey
Saldana, Daryn Pittman, Donny Schatz and Jason Sides to round out the
top six drivers in the World of Outlaws Series standings. All six
drivers compete on Hoosier tires.
The series will next race on Monday, August 18th, at
the Jetmore Motorplex in Jetmore, KS.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp extends its congratulations
to Danny Lasoski on his big win, while offering its appreciation to
all 101 competitors who trusted the Hoosier brand during the 43rd
annual Knoxville Nationals.
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