(photo by Dave Hill)
On August 12th the 2009 Knoxville Nationals, the single largest Sprint Car races in the U. S. begins. For four days this little sleepy ruraltown of 8,000 people southeast of Des Moines, Iowa evolves into the mecca of sprint car racing! At this time Knoxville transforms into a population of 25,000, the capacity of the race track , plus the population of the citizens of the town!
The atmosphere of this tiny hamlet is that of a country, county fair. The citizens of this community join together and produce this fun, fan friendly, “Woodstock” type event for Sprint Car racing! The people of Knoxville, IA all come together and produce this great “community affair”! They make this such a memorable extravaganza. It is the single largest revenue event in this city each year. Fans come from all over the U.S. to enjoy the absolute best Sprint Car racing for four nights in August.
This year celebrates the 49th annual staging of this racing classic. The winners of this event reflect the Who is Who in Sprint Car racing history. With the names like Steve Kinser (12 time winner), Doug Wolfgang ( 3 time winner), Danny Lasoski (3 time winner), Sammy Swindell, Jan Operman, and Kenny Weld reflect the history of this event. It also reflects the importance of The Knoxville Nationals. The winner of the four day event will pocket a cool $150,000.00!!! Nor a bad paycheck for four days of work!
This will be my sixth trip to Knoxville, and I might add, I am extremely excited and waiting with great anticipation for the event to get rolling! There is just something about the smell of alcohol in the air when those big 410 cubic inch, fuel injected, dirt slinging racing machines fire up and get running 2, 3, and 4 wide sliding into the turns!
REMEMBER, I LOOKED IT UP SO THAT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO!