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 – 19th Annual Mini Nationals at Slideways Karting Center
10am – Trade Show in Skate Pit at Knoxville Raceway Opens
10am – Driver Apparel + Merchandise Village Opens
2pm – Pit Gates Open
5:30pm – Grandstand Gates Open
7:15pm – Hot Laps
Monday:
7pm – Front Row Challenge at Southern Iowa Speedway
7pm – Outlaw Dirt Kart Nationals at English Creek Speedway
Tuesday:
4pm – KRCO Bus Ride “Bar Crawl” Departs Outside Ticket Office
7pm – Knoxville Nationals Queen’s Contest in Dyer Hudson Hall
7pm – Outlaw Dirt Kart Nationals at English Creek Speedway
9pm - "Welcome to NOSville" Official Kick-Off Party at Dingus Lounge, featuring live music by country singer Andy Velo
Wednesday, BRANDT Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night:
9am – Rooftop Yoga at Bryan Clauson Suite Tower
3pm – Great Southern Bank Kid Zone Opens featuring a Casey’s Pizza Party
5:45pm – David Gravel Champion Pole Unveil on Midway
6pm – VFW Winged Nation presented by Sage Fruit on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage
Post-Race: "The Boys" live music on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage
Thursday, Qualifying Night:
9am – Rooftop Yoga at Bryan Clauson Suite Tower
10am – National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Members Only VIP Reception
3pm – Great Southern Bank Kid Zone Opens featuring a Jersey Freeze Ice Cream Party
6pm –VFW Winged Nation presented by Sage Fruit on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage
Post – Races: Damon Dotson Band live music on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage
Post – Races: 52nd Chicken Feed at West End of Grandstands
Friday, FVP Preliminary Night:
9am -- Rooftop Yoga at Bryan Clauson Suite Tower
9am - National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Golf Classic in Pella
11am – Steve King Foundation Cornhole Tournament in Main Showbarn (far west end of midway)
3pm – Great Southern Bank Kid Zone Opens in Fan Zone
Area featuring free face painting from 3-6pm
4pm – Driver Autograph Session in Main Showbarn
6pm – VFW Winged Nation presented by Sage Fruit on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage
Post – Races: After Shock Rock Tribute Band on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage
Saturday, NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s Finale:
8:45am – 4.10 Dash – Turn 4 Pit Gate
11am – NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s Parade – Downtown Knoxville
12pm – National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Charity Auction
1pm – Great Southern Bank Kid Zone Opens with free ballloon twisting from 3-6pm
3pm – NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s Driver’s Meeting in Main Showbarn - Open to the Public
4pm - SPEED SPORT Pre-Race Show on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage
6pm – VFW Winged Nation presented by Sage Fruit on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage
1:30am – NOS Energy Drink Fan Finale Party in Turns 3&4 Barn
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 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- FVP "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 finishers 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 Main:
1. $150 2. $150 3. $150 4. $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. $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 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. $200 2. $200 3. $200 4. $200 5. $200
6. $200 7. $200 8. $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. $400 2. $400 3. $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. $525 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:
Best Appearing Crew:
1. $500 2. $250 3. $150
Best Appearing Car:
1. $500 2. $250 3. $150
Horsepower Inc Throwback Award:
1. $2,000 2. $1,000 3. $500
Mr. Sprint Award:
1. $2,000 2. $1,250 3. $750
Pole Award Award:
$2,000
Rookie of the Year Award:
$1,000
E Main:
1. $600 2. $600 3. $600 4. $600 5. $600
6. $600 7. $800 8. $775 9. $750 10. $725
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. $1,200
6. $1,100 7. $1,000 8. $950 9. $900 10. $850
11. $825 12. $800 13. $800 14. $800 15. $800
16. $800 17. $800 18. $800 19. $800 20. $800
21. $800 22. $800 23. $800 24. $800
C Main:
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 23. $825 24. $825
B Main:
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
Championship A Main:
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. $10,000 24. $10,000
A Main Lap-Leader Bonus: $1,000 per lap.
TOTAL PURSE: $1,064,855
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