National notebook
Notes: Lucas Oil Series lands Knoxville Nationals
Knoxville Raceway is among the nation's top dirt tracks. (thesportswire.net)
A major Dirt Late Model event sponsored six years by Lucas Oil Products is joining the national tour that shares the same sponsorship.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals will be sanctioned in 2011 by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, the series announced today, giving the tour's 2011 schedule an unprecedented six races paying at least $30,000 to the winner.
“Knoxville Raceway is proud to be affiliated with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series,” said long-time race director Ralph Capitani. “Their professionalism and dedication to the sport aligns perfectly with our efforts in Late Model racing.”
The $40,000-to-win event, which includes a pair of preliminary nights of racing with $7,000-to-win semifeatures, is scheduled for Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at the historic half-mile oval known as the Sprint Car Capital of the World. While sprint cars are a stronghold at Knoxville, the track's season-ending Late Model event that began in 2004 has grown in popularity, boasting a list of winners that includes Billy Moyer, Tim McCreadie, Brian Birkhofer and Scott Bloomquist, the event's only two-time winner.
The inaugural event was sanctioned by the Stacker 2 Xtreme DirtCar Series, but the three-day event picked up sponsorship from Lucas Oil in 2005 and has run unsanctioned the past six seasons.
Knoxville's dazzling facility has seating for more than 24,000 spectators, making it one of the nation's biggest dirt tracks. And the eighth annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals carries a purse of more than $260,000, making it Dirt Late Model racing's richest weekend.
“Everyone at Lucas Oil and the series is excited to sanction with Knoxville Raceway for this event,” said series director Ritchie Lewis. “Adding the largest paying dirt late model event of the year to our schedule is huge for our series and just strengthens what Lucas Oil is doing for our sport.”
The Knoxville event is the second crown jewel added to the Lucas Oil tour since the preliminary 2011 schedule was released last fall. In January the series added the Appliancezone.com Dirt Track World Championship, a $50,000-to-win event scheduled for Oct. 14-15 at Ohio's K-C Raceway.
The addition of the DTWC and Knoxville boosts the Lucas Oil Series total prize money in 2001 to a record $3.2 million. — From series and staff reports
WoO TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR COLUMBUS: Tickets are available online for the inaugural Cash Cow 100, a $20,000-to-win event March 18-19 that brings the World of Outlaws Late Model Series back to Columbus (Miss.) Speedway. General admission tickets are on sale at this site. Fans who purchase a two-day weekend pass in advance will receive special perks, including a discounted price and the opportunity to enter the grandstand area 15 minutes prior to gate-opening time. The Cash Cow 100 features time trials and qualifying heat races on March 18 followed by consolation races and the 100-lapper on March 19. It will mark the first WoO appearance at Columbus since March 2007, when Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., won an event that drew nearly 50 entrants. — Kevin Kovac
FORMER DRIVER BUYS WARTBURG SPEEDWAY: Former racer Mike Kittrell of Harriman, Tenn., has agreed to purchase the quarter-mile Wartburg (Tenn.) Speedway in a deal expected to close in March. Kittrell, who spent the last three years as car owner for Knoxville, Tenn., racer Billy Ogle Jr., has been negotiating with former Wartburg Speedway owner Scott Greene during the off-season. “Owning a racetrack is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Kittrell said. “Wartburg was one of the tracks I had in mind when I started looking into it. I love racing and I really enjoyed owning a race team. But it takes a lot of money to run a Super Late Model team and I thought I’d be better off investing that money into a racetrack to give the local racers somewhere to race.” Look for details about the 2011 season at Wartburg on the track website, www.wartburgspeedway.net. — Michael Moats
NORTHWEST LOSES KEY DIRT LATE MODEL FIGURE: Bill Workman Sr., a beloved Canby, Ore., racer, sponsor and official, died Feb. 2 after being briefly hospitalized. He was 52. Workman raced for many years at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., and was well-known for hosting postrace barbecues at his hauler at the conclusion of events. He was owner of Top O Hill RV in Aurora, Ore., which sponsored the Dirt Late Model racing team of his son, Billy Workman Jr. The younger Workman donated a kidney to his father a few years ago. Last season, the elder Workman served as the competition director on the DAA Extreme Northwest Crate Late Model Series. A celebration of Workman's life is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at the main pavilion of the Clackamas County Fairgrounds. — Steve Reeck
SERIES SCHEDULES: The O'Reilly SUPR tour has added an Aug. 27 event at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas. ... The Lucas Oil MLRA tour added two dates: May 23 at Outlaw Motor Speedway in Muskogee, Okla.; and June 18 at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo. It will be the 15th series trip to the Muskogee oval but first since 2006. ... The Deery Brothers Summer Series has pushed its finale back one day to Sept. 24-25 at Quad City Speedway in East Moline, Ill. ... The Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series has released its 2011 schedule with 14 dates at five tracks: Whynot Motorsports Park, Northwest Florida Speedway, Jackson Motor Speedway, Greenville Speedway and Hattiesburg Motorsports Park. The season opens March 5 at Whynot. ... The first-year STARS Midwest Dirt Racing League has added a $5,000-to-win event at Rocky Top Raceway in Coal Grove, Ohio, on April 29. — From series reports
CRATE LATE MODEL NOTES: Old Man's Garage has picked up sponsorship of the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series East Region for 2011. ... NEA Speedway in Harrisburg, Ark., plans to run Crate Late Models in 2011 sanctioned by the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series. ... Delta Bowl Speedway in Tunica, Miss., has joined the NeSmith Chevrolet Crate Late Model touring series with a $5,000-to-win event on April 22-23. — From series reports
ODDS AND ENDS: CenturyLink has returned as the title sponsor of the Appalachian Mountain Speedweek; the sponsorship helps with a points fund that pays eight drivers, including $4,000 to the champion of the seven-race miniseries. ... Clint Bowyer Racing has picked up sponsorship from Crawford Supply for the Dirt Late Model teams of Dale McDowell and Jared Landers.
