Happenings
2023 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
DAILY EVENTS: AUGUST 9-12
8am Knoxville Raceway Ticket Office opens
8am National Sprint Car Hall of Fame opens
10am Trade Show in Skate Pit Building Opens
10am Vendors Open in Fan Zone
10am - 3pm Bryan Clauson Suite Tower Tours
10am, 12pm, 1:30pm Fan Forums at NSCHoF
11am, 1pm, 3pm Autograph Sessions at NSCHoF
Noon Food Vendors Open
2pm Pit Gate Opens
5:00 Grandstands Open
7:15 Hot Laps
MONDAY, AUGUST 7
6pm Outlaw Dirt Kart Nationals at English Creek Speedway
7pm Sage Fruit Front Row Challenge at Southern Iowa Speedway
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8
6pm Outlaw Dirt Kart Nationals at English Creek Speedway
6pm Knoxville Nationals Queen Contest in Dyer Hudson Hall
Kick-Off Party - Downtown Square
5pm Steve McLain & The Jefferson County Garage Band
9pm Steel Panther Concert on the NOS Energy Drink Stage
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9
BRANDT PROFESSIONAL AGRICULTURE QUALIFYING NIGHT
9am Rooftop Yoga - Bryan Clauson Suite Tower
1pm Racing Education in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion
2pm KRCO Trivia in Dyer Hudson Hall
3pm Great Southern Bank KidZone Opens-Casey’s Pizza Party 5pm:
4:30pm Donny Schatz 2022 Champion Pole Unveiling
5pm The Sage Fruit Knoxville Nationals Live pre-race show hosted by Tony Bokhoven on the Sage Fruit Stage
Opening Ceremonies - Donny Schatz Raises Champion’s Flag
Post Race
Drivers Press Conference in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion (open to public)
Live Music with THE BOYS on the Sage Fruit Entertainment Stage
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10
IOWA LOTTERY QUALIFYING NIGHT
8am-10am Breakfast @ CFC south window
9am NSCHoF General Membership Meeting
9am Rooftop Yoga - Bryan Clauson Suite Tower
10am Big Wheel Kids Races at Credentials Building
1pm Racing Education in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion
3pm Great Southern Bank KidZone Opens - Jersey Freeze Ice Cream Party 5pm
5pm The Sage Fruit Knoxville Nationals Live pre-race show hosted by Tony Bokhoven on the Sage Fruit Stage
Post Race
Drivers Press Conference in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion (open to public)
Live Music with THE PUNCHING PANDAS on the Sage Fruit Entertainment Stage
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11
FVP “HARD KNOX” PRELIMINARY NIGHT
8am-10am Breakfast @ CFC south window
9am Rooftop Yoga - Bryan Clauson Suite Tower
9am Breakfast w/ Champions Featuring Rocky Hodges, Van May, & Rico Abreu @ Celebrate Church
9am Jason Dietsch Custom Coach Nationals Golf Tournament @ Bos Landen Golf Course
11am Steve King Foundation Corn Hole Tournament in Credentials Building
1pm Racing Education in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion
3pm Great Southern Bank KidZone Opens - Face Painting
4pm Driver Autograph Session in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion
5pm The Sage Fruit Knoxville Nationals Live pre-race show hosted by Tony Bokhoven on the Sage Fruit Stage
Post Race
Drivers Press Conference in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion (open to public)
Live Music with AFTER SHOCK on the Sage Fruit Entertainment Stage
CHAMPIONHIP SATURDAY, AUGUST 12
NOS ENERGY DRINK KNOXVILLE NATIONALS PRESENTED BY CASEY’S
8am-10am Breakfast @ CFC south window
9 am Church Service - Living Word Fellowship in Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion
11am Parade - McKay Group Parade in downtown Knoxville
11:30am NSCHoF Auction
1pm Racing Education in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion
1pm Great Southern Bank KidZone Opens - Toby Balloon Dude
3pm A-Main Driver’s Meeting in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion (open to public)
5pm The Sage Fruit Knoxville Nationals Live pre-race show hosted by Tony Bokhoven on the Sage Fruit Stage
Post Race in the Premier Chevy Dealers Fan Pavilion
Drivers Press Conference
Winners Toast to the Fans
NOS ENERGY DRINK Post Race Party with Live Music by The Rick Monroe Band
Format
The Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Store encompasses a four-day format unmatched in all of dirt track racing. The prestige of winning the event far outweighs the generous nearly $1 million purse, With points meaning everything, and every lap turned on the track meaning points, there is no time for a break at the "Granddaddy Of Them All" the Knoxville Nationals!
Wednesday and Thursday Qualifying Nights
Order of Events: Hot laps, Qualifications, 5 Heats, C Main, B Main, 25 lap A Main.
Qualifications - 200 points are awarded for quick timer, 198 for second quick, 196 for third, etc.
Only the top 50 qualifiers each night make the heats, the rest are put in the last chance heats if needed in which the first eight finishers will fill the back of that night's C feature (starting in the sixth row). If there are ten or less cars not making the heats, they will line straight up by time starting in the sixth row. The quickest will be given 50 points, the next 47, etc.
Last Chance Heats (for drivers out of the top 50 in Qual.) – 50 points awarded to the winner, 47 for 2nd, etc.
Heats - 100 points are awarded for the heat race winner, points go down by three for each position: 97, 94, 91, 88, etc.
Heats are inverted by 8. This sets up the best racing of the
week. Only the top four finishers go to A Main, fifth through eighth go to the B Main, finishing positions 9-10 go to the C Main.
C Main
Top four finishers go to back of the B. Fifth place is worth 92 pts., 6th is 90, etc.
B Main
The top four finishers transfer to the tail of the A. The B awards 142 points for fifth, 140 for sixth and so on by twos.
A Main
The A Main points are the same as time trials: 200, 198, 196 etc. This explains how a driver can not make the A, but if he timed well may have more points than someone who did make the A. The invert for the A Main is eight.
First tie breaker is finish position in respective main event. Next tie breaker is rank in time trial. The third tie breaker is the second time trial lap. Other tie breaking criteria may be implemented if needed.
A perfect score (quick time, heat win, feature win) is 500.
The top 16 in combined points from Wednesday and Thursday are locked in to Saturday's Championship A Main, Teams 17th-26th in points are awarded the first 10 positions in the Saturday B Main. The rest of the field comes back for more racing on Friday.
Friday: FVP "HARD KNOX" QUALIFYING NIGHT
The top 4 finishers from the Hard Knox A-Main will earn the 21-24 starting spots in Saturday's A Main. Friday's event will consist of split field qualifying, 6 heats (invert 4), C Main, two B Main's and the Hard Knox 25 lap A Main.
*The Friday format may change if there are any weather related scheduling issues.
CHAMPIONSHIP Saturday: NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's
E Main, 10 Laps
D Main, 12 Laps
C Main, 15 Laps
B Main, 22 Laps
A Main, 50 Laps
The top four finishers of the B, C, D, and E Mains will transfer to the tail of the next event (if there are scratches, there may be more taken for a particular event). The top four finishers from the B Main will earn starting spots 17-20 in the A Main.
Purse
Knoxville Nationals Purse Breakdown
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY:
Heats:
1. $150 2. $125 3. $100 4. $90 5. $80 6. $70 7. $60 8. $50 9. $50 10. $50
C Main:
1 to 4. Transfer + $150 5. $250 6. $200 7. $175 8. $150 9. $140 10. $100 11. $100 12. $100 13. $100 14. $100 15. $100 16. $100 17. $100 18. $100 19. $100 20. $100
B Main:
1 to 4. Transfer + $200 5. $600 6. $550 7. $500 8. $475 9. $450 10. $425 11. $400 12. $375 13. $350 14. $325 15. $300 16. $275 17. $260 18. $250 19. $240 20. $225
21. $200 22. $200 23. $200 24. $200
A Main:
1. $12,000 2. $10,000 3. $7,000 4. $6,000
5. $5,000 6. $4,000 7. $3,500 8. $2,500
9. $2,000 10. $1,750 11. $1,500 12. $1,400
13. $1,300 14. $1,250 15. $1,200 16. $1,150
17. $1,100 18. $1,050 19. $1,000 20. $1,000
21. $1,000 22. $1,000 23. $1,000 24. $1,000
hard knox FRIDAY:
C Main:
1 to 8. Transfer + $200 9. $600 10. $550 11. $500
12. $475 13. $450 14. $425 15. $400 16. $375
17. $350 18. $325 19. $300 20. $200 21. $200
22. $200 23. $200 24. $200
B Mains 1 and 2:
1 to 3. Transfer + $400 4. $1,200 5. $1,100 6. $1,000
7. $950 8. $900 9. $850 10. $825 11. $800 12. $775 13. $750 14. $725 15. $700 16. $675 17. $650
18. $625 19. $600 20. $575 21. $550 22. $500
23. $500 24. $500
A Main:
1. $4,000 2. $4,000 3. $4,000 4. $4,000 5. $5,000
6. $4,000 7. $3,000 8. $3,000 9. $3,000 10. $3,000
11. $3,000 12. $2,500 13. $2,400 14. $2,300 15. $2,200 16. $2,100 17. $2,000 18. $1,900 19. $1,800 20. $1,700 21. $1,600 22. $1,500 23. $1,400 24. $1,300
CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY:
Team DGRD Best Appearing Car:
1. $1.500 2. $750 3. $400
Avanti Windows and Doors Best Appearing Crew:
1. $500 2. $250 3. $150
Best Appearing Helmet (Calvin & Janna Knapp):
1. $500 2. $300 3. $200
Beaver Drill & Tool Jesse Hockett Mr. Sprint Car Award:
1. $6,500 2. $2,500 3. $1,000
SprintCarUnlimited.com Pole Award Award:
$2,000
JETCO Rookie of the Year Award:
$1,000
Hard Charger Award: MPI Steering Wheel
E Main:
1. $600 2. $600 3. $600 4. $600 5. $1,000
6. $950 7. $900 8. $850 9. $800 10. $750
11. $700 12. $675 13. $650 14. $625 15. $600
16. $575 17. $550 18. $525 19. $500 20. $475
21. $450 22. $425 23. $400 24. $400
D Main:
1. $800 2. $800 3. $800 4. $800 5. $1,500
6. $1,400 7. $1,300 8. $1,200 9. $1,150 10. $1,100
11. $1,075 12. $1,050 13. $1,025 14. $1,000 15. $975
16. $950 17. $925 18. $900 19. $875 20. $850
21. $825 22. $800 23. $800 24. $800
C Main:
1. $1,000 2. $1,000 3. $1,000 4. $1,000 5. $2,500
6. $2,250 7. $2,000 8. $1,900 9. $1,800 10. $1,700 11. $1,600 12. $1,500 13. $1,400 14. $1,300 15. $1,200 16. $1,150 17. $1,125 18. $1,000 19. $975 20. $950
21. $925 22. $900 23. $900 24. $900
B Main:
1. $1,000 2. $1,000 3. $1,000 4. $1,000 5. $10,000
6. $8,000 7. $7,000 8. $6,000 9. $5,000 10. $3,750 11. $3,250 12. $2,750 13. $2,500 14. $2,250 15. $1,950 16. $1,900 17. $1,850 18. $1,800 19. $1,750 20. $1,700
21. $1,650 22. $1,600 23. $1,550 24. $1,500
Championship A Main:
1. $185,000 2. $85,000 3. $45,000 4. $30,000
5. $25,000 6. $24,000 7. $23,000 8. $22,000
9. $21,000 10. $20,000 11. $19,500 12. $19,250
13. $19,000 14. $18,750 15. $18,500 16. $18,250
17. $18,000 18. $17,500 19. $17,000 20. $16,500
21. $16,000 22. $15,500 23. $15,250 24. $15,000
SATURDAY PURSE: $866,625
TOTAL FOUR-DAY PURSE: $1,159,005
History
Past Knoxville Nationals Winners
Year - Driver, Number, Owner
1961 - Roy Robbins, 37, O. J. Huffman
1962 - Jerry Richert Sr., 69, Ted Ready
1963 - Greg Weld, 92, Taylor “Pappy” Weld
1964 - Kenny Weld, 94, Taylor “Pappy” Weld
1965 - Kenny Weld, 94, Taylor “Pappy” Weld
1966 - Jay Woodside, 9, Ted Hall
1967 - Thad Dosher, 74, Jack Cunningham
1968 - Ray Lee Goodwin, 24, Swenson/Williams
1969 - Ken Gritz, 12, Larry Snyder
1970 - Joe Saldana, 2, C&L Racing
1971 - Jan Opperman, 6, Cahill Racing
1972 - Kenny Weld, 29, Bob Weikert
1973 - Kenny Weld, 29, Bob Weikert
1974 - Dick Gaines, 71, Karl Kinser
1975 - Eddie Leavitt, 40, Ricke/Hill
1976 - Eddie Leavitt, 4J, Galden Inc.
1977 - Doug Wolfgang, 20, Bob Trostle
1978 - Doug Wolfgang, 4x, Speedway Motors
1979 - Ron Shuman, 75A, Gary Stanton
1980 - Steve Kinser, 20, Bob Trostle/Karl Kinser
1981 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1982 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1983 -
Sammy Swindell, 1, Raymond Beadle
1984 - Doug Wolfgang, 29, Bob Weikert
1985 - Doug Wolfgang, 29, Bob Weikert
1986 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1987 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1988 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1989 - Doug Wolfgang, 8D, D.P. Motorsports
1990 - Bobby Allen, 1a, Allen Enterprises
1991 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1992 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1993 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1994 - Steve Kinser, 11, Karl Kinser
1995 - Steve Kinser, 11, Steve Kinser
1996 - Mark Kinser, 5m, Karl Kinser
1997 - Dave Blaney, 10, Blaney/Hylton
1998 - Danny Lasoski, 83, Dennis Roth
1999 - Mark Kinser, 5m, Karl Kinser
2000 - Mark Kinser, 5m, Karl Kinser
2001 - Danny Lasoski, 20L, Tony Stewart
2002 - Steve Kinser, 11, Steve Kinser
2003 - Danny Lasoski, 20, Tony Stewart
2004 - Danny Lasoski, 20, Tony Stewart
2005 - Kraig Kinser, 11K, Steve Kinser
2006 - Donny Schatz, 15, Schatz Motorsports
2007 - Donny Schatz, 15, Schatz Motorsports
2008 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart
2009 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart
2010 - Tim Shaffer, 83, Call/Holbrook Motorsports
2011 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart
2012 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart
2013 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart
2014 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart
2015 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart
2016 - Jason Johnson 41, Jason Johnson Racing
2017 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart
2018 - Brad Sweet, 49, Kasey Kahne Racing
2019 - David Gravel, 41, Jason Johnson Racing
2021 - Kyle Larson, 57, Silva Motorsports
2022 - Donny Schatz, 15, Tony Stewart