History
The first weekly races were held at the Knoxville Raceway in 1954. After internal issues with the sanctioning body—the Southern Iowa Stock Car Racing Association—in 1956, Marion Robinson of Des Moines, Iowa was appointed as race promoter. During Robinson's tenure, the cars progressed from stock cars to modifieds to supermodifieds to sprint cars. Robinson created what would become the Knoxville Nationals in 1961. The event took place over two days and featured a $5,000 purse. P. Ray Grimes took over in 1974, but when he was unable to perform his duties following a snowmobile accident in 1977, Ralph Capitani became the new and current race director. On September 28, 2011 it was announced that Toby Kruse would be replacing retiring promoter Ralph Capitani, starting in the 2012 season. Kruse's Official title will be General Manager and Promoter.
In 1983, the 360 cubic inch sprint cars started racing at Knoxville. In 1987, TNN began tape-delayed coverage of the Nationals until 1994, when it began its live coverage. The infield was paved in 2002.
The current one-lap track record of 14.407 seconds was set by three-time Australian champion Brooke Tatnell on May 7, 2006. During that night, 31 cars timed in the 14-second range and 26 cars beat the old track record set by Terry McCarl during the 2005 Knoxville Nationals.
The driver with the most 410 feature wins at the Knoxville Raceway is Danny Lasoski of Dover, Missouri with 98 feature wins. The driver with the most 360 feature wins is David Hesmer of Marshalltown, Iowa with 65 feature wins.
The 50th running of the Knoxville Nationals took place place August 11 to 14, 2010. The total purse was $1,000,435 with $150,000 going to Saturday night's feature winner. Tim Shaffer won the A-main event.
The 51st Goodyear Knoxville Nationals saw Donny Schatz taking home his 5th title in this prestigious event.
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