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Historian Blog: Late Models

Historian Blog: Late Models
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
by Eric Arnold, Track Historian

Late Model racing starting officially here at Knoxville Raceway in 1954 with Don Rosenburger winning the first event on August 22 that year. Weekly sprint car racing also began in 1954 so the Late Models have been around this track since the beginning of regular competitive racing. Don White, Butch Hartman, Ramo Stott, Steve Kosiski, were all winners here in the beginning. But oh how the times have evolved here for Late Models.

One of the things I love about the Late Model Knoxville Nationals is how appreciative everyone is that they have the opportunity to race here at Knoxville. They only have one chance per year so that is one reason. The dirt track community is much larger than people think and although they don’t all follow sprint car racing here, they all know about Knoxville Raceway and its history and significance. The ultimate compliment came from Steve Francis after he won here in 2012 and said in victory lane, “No disrespect to the World 100, but this is the biggest win of my career.” Those words meant a lot to this Historian.

I always thought this event would work from the beginning. I can remembering exchanging e-mails with Ralph Capitani (through Arleta Voyce because Cappy didn’t e-mail) about creating such an event. Billy Moyer swept a couple of events in 2000 here and then the Late Models disappeared for a few years. I knew there was a large following for these types of cars that could attract a crowd if there was a premiere event to draw them here. Most Late Model shows here were scheduled on a weeknight in the past and the crowds were average but not great. How about a big event scheduled on a weekend that paid at least $20,000 to win and you attach the word “Nationals” to it, now that would be a big deal! My points were that Knoxville has history and prestige on its side, along with an awesome facility, so why not use it rather than letting it sit empty every weekend in the fall. Cappy and the Fair Board tried it and it worked. Now the purse has increased to $270,000 over the three days paying $40,000 to win, $20,000 for second, $10,000 for third, and $2,500 to start.

Since the inception of this event we have a lot of new moments in Knoxville history to celebrate. Tim McCreadie’s last lap pass to win over Josh Richards in 2008. Earl Pearson Jr. setting the track record in 2008 with a lap of 16.631. The dominant performance of Billy Moyer in 2010 sweeping all three nights. Don O’Neal passing Jimmy Owens with five laps to go in 2011. Darrell Lanigan passing Josh Richards with five laps remaining to win in 2013. Brian Birkhofer winning last year on a last corner pass to beat Scott Bloomquist and then hanging up the helmet to go out a winner. Great memories, great racing, and emotional winners in victory lane.

Reviewing the Knoxville track records; Billy Moyer is the all-time career wins leader with 8 feature wins at Knoxville. Birkhofer has 7 wins. Bloomquist, Richards, and Lanigan all have 3. Bloomquist has led the most championship feature laps at 153 while Darren Miller is second at 125, Moyer 115, Brady Smith 110. The youngest winner was Brian Shirley in 2006 at 25 years of age, while the oldest winner was Billy Moyer at age 52 in 2010. Scott Bloomquist and Dale McDowell have both set quick time 3 times. Record car count is 98 at the inaugural event in 2004, last year was 79 cars.

The format used for the Late Model Nationals is similar to our sprint car Knoxville Nationals format using a point system that rewards points for time trials, heat finish, and feature finish. A perfect score is 500 points (200 for quick time, 100 heat win, 200 feature win). This point structure was created by former promoter Ray Grimes and his wife Naomi for the 1977 Nationals and it’s been used ever since here for our Nationals with no tweaks at all to the point system since. Since then this point system, or a version of it, has been used for a lot of events across the country and it works. The championship feature lineups are created with the point system and field is aligned with the top point earners starting up front. But the qualifying nights use an invert in the heat and features that always help shakeup the field. If you start up front on Saturday night, you earn it.

It should be another great event at the 12th annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals this year! Please join us as another chapter is written in the history books of Knoxville Raceway!

Late Model Knoxville Nationals Past Champions
2004 Brian Birkhofer
2005 Scott Bloomquist
2006 Brian Shirley
2007 Brady Smith
2008 Tim McCreadie
2009 Scott Bloomquist
2010 Billy Moyer
2011 Don O’Neal
2012 Steve Francis
2013 Darrell Lanigan
2014 Brian Birkhofer