Happenings
Wednesday - Saturday:
8am – Knoxville Raceway Ticket Office Opens
8am - National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Opens with special fan forums each day
9am – 16th Annual Mini Nationals at Slideways Karting Center
10am – Trade Show in Grand Show Barn at Knoxville Raceway Opens
10am – Driver Apparel + Merchandise Village Opens
2pm – Pit Gates Open
5:30pm – Grandstand Gates Open
7:15pm – Hot Laps
Sunday – Weld Racing Capitani Classic presented by Great Southern Bank
5pm – KRCO Racing Trivia and $10 Bottomless Bud Light Draft Party – Behind frontstretch grandstands
Monday:
Noon: Food Truck, World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series Show Car, and Knoxville Raceway iRacing Simulator at Peace Tree Brewing in downtown Knoxville
7pm – Front Row Challenge at Southern Iowa Speedway
7pm – Outlaw Dirt Kart Nationals at English Creek Speedway
Tuesday:
5pm – KRCO Bus Ride “Bar Crawl” Departs Outside Ticket Office
6pm – “Happy Hour” $1 off select craft beers at Peace Tree Brewing
7pm –Ultimate Challenge at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa
7pm – Knoxville Nationals Queen’s Contest in Mediacom Media Center/Dyer Hudson Hall
7pm – Outlaw Dirt Kart Nationals at English Creek Speedway
Wednesday, BRANDT Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night:
3pm – Great Southern Bank Kid Zone Opens in Fan Zone Area featuring a Casey’s General Store Pizza Party
3pm –Donny Schatz Defending Champion Pole Unveil, Photo Opp and Media Availability
6pm – Textron Off-Road Winged Nation presented by Sage Fruit at Fan Zone Stage
Thursday, Toyota Qualifying Night:
11am – National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Members Only VIP Reception with Bobby Allen, Jacob Allen and Logan Schuchart
3pm – Great Southern Bank Kid Zone Opens featuring a Kone Korner Ice Cream Party
4pm - Tony Stewart Foundation Weld Racing Go-Kart Spectacular with Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson at Slideways Karting Center
6pm – Texton Off-Road Winged Nation presented by Sage Fruit at Fan Zone Stage
Post – Races: Punching Pandas band on the Fan Zone Stage
Post – Races: 50th Annual Chicken Feed in the Fan Zone
Friday, FVP Preliminary Night and Speed Sport Challenge:
8:30am – United Trailers National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Golf Classic- Pella, IA
9am – Inaugural Knoxville 4.10 Dash. Starting Line outside Turn 4 Pit Gate
9am - Auction for the family of Jason Johnson in Mediacom Media Center
Noon – Steve King Foundation Cornhole Tournament – at FVP Tent
3pm – Great Southern Bank Kid Zone Opens in Fan Zone Area featuring free face painting (4-6) and a Q&A with Tony Stewart and Donny Schatz
3:30pm – Driver Autograph Session in FVP Tent
4:15pm – Tony Stewart Foundation Silent Auction Begins at FVP Tent
5:15 – Flip it for Good Charity Coin Toss Event with Tony Stewart in FVP Tent (registration at 4:15pm)
6pm – Textron Off-Road Winged Nation presented by Sage Fruit at Fan Zone Stage
7pm – Tony Stewart Foundation Live Auction at Fan Zone Stage
Post – Races: After Shock Rock Tribute Band on the Fan Zone Stage
Saturday, 5-hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores Finale:
10am – 5-hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores Parade – Downtown Knoxville
11:30am– National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Charity Auction
1pm – Great Southern Bank Kid Zone Opens featuring Balloon Twisting Artist
3pm – 5-hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Store Driver’s Meeting – West End of Mediacom Media Center/Dyer-Hudson Hall – Open to the Public
4pm -- Singer Jordan Beeman on the Fan Zone Stage
6pm – Textron Off-Road Winged Nation presented by Sage Fruit on the Fan Zone Stage
Sunday:
1:30am – Tim Dugger Finale Party and Concert in the Turns 3&4 Barn
Format
The Knoxville Nationals encompasses a four-day format unmatched in all of dirt track racing, and is presented by Casey's General Store. The prestige of winning the event far outweighs the generous purse that is nearly $1,000,000. 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 pill draw. 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
Friday Hard Knox Events:
The top 4 finishers from the Hard Knox A-Main will earn the 21-24 starting spots in Saturday's A Main. This is where the term making the A Main the Hard Knox way comes from. Friday's event will consist of split field qualifying, 6 heats, 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.
Saturday
Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Store Finals
Events:
10 lap E Main, 12 lap D Main, 15 lap C Main, 22 lap B Main, and the 50 lap Knoxville Nationals Championship A Main.
The B, C, D, and E Main will take the top four finishers to the tail of the next event (if there are scratches, there may be more taken for a particular event). The top four finidhers from the B Main will earn the 17-20 starting spots in the 50 lap 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 Feature:
1. $150 2. $150 3. $150 4. $150 5. $250
6. $200 7.$175 8. $150 9. $140 10. $130
11. $120 12. $110 13. $110 14. $100 15. $100
16. $90 17. $80 18. $70 19. $60 20. $50
B Feature:
1. $200 2. $200 3. $200 4. $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 Feature:
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
FRIDAY:
C Main:
1. $200 2. $200 3. $200 4. $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
B Mains:
1. $400 2. $400 3. $1,200 4. $1,100 5. $1,000
6. $950 7. $900 8. $850 9. $825 10. $800
11. $775 12. $750 13. $725 14. $700 15. $675
16. $650 17. $625 18. $600 19. $575 20. $550
21. $525 22. $500
A Main:
1. $4,000 2. $4,000 3. $4,000 4. $4,000 5. $3,000
6. $3,000 7. $3,000 8. $3,000 9. $5,000 10. $4,000
11. $3000 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
SATURDAY:
Best Appearing Crew:
1. $500 2. $250 3. $150
Best Appearing Car:
1. $500 2. $250 3. $150
Pole Award: $2,000
E Feature:
1. $600 2. $600 3. $600 4. $600 5. $800
6. $775 7. $750 8. $725 9. $700 10. $675
11. $650 12. $625 13. $600 14. $575 15. $550
16. $475 17. $450 18. $425 19. $400 20. $375
21. $350 22. $325
D Feature:
1. $800 2. $800 3. $800 4. $800 5. $1,200
6. $1,100 7. $1,000 8. $950 9. $900 10. $850
11. $825 12. $800 13. $775 14. $750 15. $725
16. $700 17. $675 18. $650 19. $625 20. $600
21. $575 22. $550
C Feature:
1. $1,000 2. $1,000 3. $1,000 4. $1,000 5. $2,000
6. $1,750 7. $1,500 8. $1,400 9. $1,300 10. $1,250 11. $1,225 12. $1,200 13. $1,175 14. $1,150 15. $1,125 16. $1,100 17. $1,050 18. $1,000 19. $950 20. $900
21. $850 22. $825
B Feature:
1. $1,000 2. $1,000 3. $1,000 4. $1,000 5. $8,000
6. $7,000 7. $6,000 8. $5,000 9. $4,000 10. $3,500 11. $3,000 12. $2,500 13. $2,250 14. $2,000 15. $1,750 16. $1,500 17. $1,450 18. $1,400 19. $1,350 20. $1,300
21. $1,250 22. $1,200 23. $1,150 24. $1,100
A Feature:
1. $150,000 2. $75,000 3. $37,500 4. $26,000
5. $21,000 6. $20,000 7. $19,000 8. $18,000
9. $17,000 10. $16,000 11. $15,000 12. $14,000
13. $13,000 14. $12,000 15. $11,000 16. $10,500
17. $10,000 18. $10,000 19. $10,000 20. $10,000
21. $10,000 22. $10,000 23. $9,500 24. $9,500
25. $9,500
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