Knoxville Raceway - Masters news 2009-05-29

SAMMY SWINDELL, GARY WRIGHT & OTHERS ENTER FRIDAY'S "KNOXVILLE MASTERS CLASSIC"

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (May 28, 2009) - "Wow, gang. Within the last 24 hours I've received Knoxville Masters Sprint Car Classic entries from past World of Outlaws (WoO) champion and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee Sammy Swindell of Tennessee, and former American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) champion and North American Sprint Car Poll 'Driver of the Year' Gary Wright of Texas. Now this makes things really interesting for tomorrow night's $3,000-to-win, 22-lap feature!" said Knoxville's director of racing and fellow Hall of Fame inductee Ralph Capitani today.

The Knoxville Masters Classic is a winged 360-cubic-inch sprint car race for drivers age 50 and over, and the official entry list for the seventeenth annual race continues to grow. Joining Sammy Swindell and Gary Wright in the last week as entrants are Randy Combs of Missouri, Mike Houseman, Sr., of Iowa, Roland Johnson of Florida, and Rick Montgomery of Colorado. Unfortunately, Reverand Mark Amenda of Illinois, John McDonald of Alaska, and Wayne Redmond of Iowa have been forced to withdraw from the event.

Joining the Knoxville Masters Sprint Car Classic tomorrow night at Knoxville Raceway will be a full program of United States Auto Club (USAC) midget cars as they compete in the Pepsi-sponsored King Doodlebug Classic, presented by Iowa Telecom. Said Ralph Capitani, "You can't go wrong when you have a field which includes such midget car stars as Cole Whitt, Darren Hagen, Bobby East, Brad Loyet, Jerry Coons, Jr., Brad Kuhn, Levi Jones, Tracy Hines, Chad Boat, Brad Sweet, Kevin Swindell, A.J. Fike and Davey Ray. Friday's 20-lap King Doodlebug Classic and Saturday's 25-lap Pepsi Knoxville Midget Nationals presented by Iowa Telecom should feature outstanding non-winged racing with cars mixing it up three-abreast on our wide half-mile dirt track."

Bob Wente of Missouri holds the one-lap qualifying record for midget cars at Knoxville Raceway with a time of 22.22 seconds, set on July 31, 1968. Mike Hess of Illinois holds the 25-lap record for midget cars at Knoxville Raceway with a time of 9 minutes, 25.0 seconds, set on June 2, 2002. There is no current 20-lap track record for midget cars on the Marion County Fairgrounds oval. Randy Smith holds the one-lap qualifying record for the Knoxville Masters Classic with a time of 16.004 seconds, set on May 20, 2008. National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Rick Ferkel holds the 22-lap feature record with a time of 7 minutes, 54.8 seconds, set on June 10, 1995.

Knoxville Raceway will host an open track practice for the Masters Classic competitors on Thursday, May 28, from 7 until 9 p.m. The Knoxville Masters Classic & the Iowa Telecom King Doodlebug Midget Classic will take place on Friday, May 29, starting at 6:45 p.m. The eighth annual Pepsi Knoxville Midget Nationals and the winged 410-cubic-inch sprinters will conclude the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction weekend of racing on Saturday, May 30, also starting at 6:45 p.m.

For information on the Friday and Saturday night races, individuals are urged to visit the track's web site at www.knoxvilleraceway.com. For tickets to the twentieth National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction banquet, to take place in the Dyer-Hudson Building on the Marion County Fairgrounds on Saturday afternoon, May 30, people are urged to call Lori DeMoss at 800-874-4488 or e-mail her at ldemoss@sprintcarhof.com. Tickets are just twenty dollars each, but they need to be reserved in advance.

-credit: Knoxville Raceway