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BACON, HAGEN, HESS, KUHN, STENHOUSE, SWEET & SWINDELL
ENTER PEPSI USAC KNOXVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS ON JUNE 20-21

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (June 11) - Two months after announcing the entries of such midget car racing stars as Chad Boat, Jerry Coons (Jr.), Dave Darland, Bobby East, Aaron Fike, Scott Hatton, Tracy Hines and Levi Jones for its seventh annual Pepsi USAC Knoxville Midget Nationals presented by Iowa Telecom on June 20-21 at the legendary Knoxville Raceway, comes word of the filing of official entries from Brady Bacon of Oklahoma, Darren Hagen of southern California, Mike Hess of Illinois, Brad Kuhn of Indiana, Ricky Stenhouse (Jr.) of Mississippi, Brad Sweet of northern California and Kevin Swindell of Tennessee.

The Friday-Saturday event will again be sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC), Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA), POWRi, and the Southern Midget Racing Series (SMRS) and will feature over forty of the nation’s top midgeteers, many of whom are seeking fame on their way to NASCAR stock car and Indy Racing League (IRL) Indy car fortunes. It was announced today by Ralph Capitani, Knoxville director of racing, that mufflers will be mandatory on the midget cars, although the specific brand and model of those mufflers will be open.

The two-day Pepsi Knoxville Midget Nationals presented by Iowa Telecom is one of the marquee events on USAC’s 2008 MOPAR National Midget Car Series schedule. An open track practice for midget cars is slated at Knoxville Raceway on Thursday, June 19. The Friday night King Doodlebug Classic is 20 laps and will pay $1,650 to win from a total purse of $11,845. Past winners of the King Doodlebug Classic are Darren Hagen (Riverside, CA; 2007), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Tucson, AZ; 2004, ’06), Danny Stratton (Fontana, CA; 2005), and Craig Carey (Riverton, IL; 2003). Joining the midget cars that night will be the O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour (ASCoT) winged 360-cubic-inch sprint cars, led by Gary Wright, Jason Johnson, Wayne Johnson, Zach Chappell, Travis Rilat, Garry Lee Maier, Brett Mather, Matt Moro, Gregg Bakker, Josh Higday, Jesse Giannetto and others.

The Saturday night Pepsi USAC Knoxville Midget Nationals is 25 laps and will pay $3,350 to win from a total purse of $21,785. Past winners of the Knoxville Midget Nationals are 2007 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Olive Branch, MS; 2007), Brandon “Bud” Kaeding (Campbell, CA; 2006), Mother Nature (2005), Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson, AZ; 2004), Chad DeSelle (Sun Prairie, WI; 2003), and Mike Hess (Petersburg, IL; 2002). Joining the midget cars that night will be the Knoxville Championship Cup Series winged 410-cubic-inch sprint cars, including Danny Lasoski, Justin Henderson, Billy Alley, Jake Peters, Dusty Zomer, Mark Dobmeier, A.J. “Skip” Jackson, Brian Brown, Calvin Landis and others.

The non-winged, open-wheeled midget car racing events at Knoxville again coincide with the Saturday-Sunday, June 21-22, appearance of the Indy Racing League (IRL) IndyCar Series events at the Iowa Speedway in nearby Newton. Historically in America, Indy Car racers came from the ranks of successful midget car and sprint car drivers. The Sunday afternoon Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer Seeds is a perfect conclusion to the Knoxville Midget Nationals weekend of dirt track midget and sprint car racing.

According to National Speed Sport News editor emeritus Chris Economaki, the term “doodlebug” was created by the “big car” gentry in the late 1930’s for the increasingly-popular “midget” car. Walter E. Bull, who founded the Illustrated Speedway News, then started a contest to crown “King Doodlebug”. According to past National Sprint Car Museum board members Larry Ball, Jr., and Bill Hill, the following six drivers were all crowned King Doodlebug: Cletus “Cowboy” O’Rourke (1938), Bill Holmes (1939), Al Bonnell (1946), Ed “Dutch” Schaefer (1947), Bill Schindler (1948), and Ralph Pratt (1949). The title was revived in 2003 at Knoxville Raceway as part of that year’s Knoxville Midget Nationals.

Those seeking more information on the Pepsi USAC Knoxville Midget Nationals presented by Iowa Telecom are urged to visit the legendary half-mile dirt track’s web site at www.knoxvilleraceway.com .