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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.
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