A Week Of Sprint Car Racing And Fun

Last week was a busy week for me. It was a blast though! I haven't been to Knoxville for the Nationals in a couple of years now cause I've been racing bikes. And even then I would just make it down for a night or two. I haven't gone for the entire thing for about 6-7 years. So this year I wanted to do the entire thing. Unfortunately I couldn't get vacation to go on Wed. or Thurs. but, I made the best of it and went to Oskaloosa on Mon. and Tues. and then hit Fri. and Sat. in Knoxville. It was a great time. I didn't take many photo's but I'll share what I did take.

Dad and I took off on Monday to go to the Front Row Challenge in Osky on Monday. We went through Knoxville to pick up Kraig as he was dropping his camper of at the campgrounds. This race is really cool. We got what they call a party pass and drove my car into the infield and parked. It was a huge party down there and you couldn't fit another vehicle down there if you wanted. The race was really cool as they tried to qualify to be in the fastest 8 cars and then they had two up run offs until 1 car was the winner. They gave away tons of parts and equipment to the drivers, which was cool.
The fastest guys lined up and had a running race down the front stretch. The winner took home a $5000 pair of cylinder heads.

This was the work area. You can see that there were tons of people in the infield on the left and you can barely see the grandstand on the right. It was full too.
Look out! It's the party police. We saw some very interesting outfits. Over sized hats, dresses made out of beer boxes, funny t-shirts, and much more.
Joey Saldana (9) and Tyler Walker (24T) lining up for their two up run off. I was trying to get a good pic of Tyler but this was the best I could get.
Saldana ended up in the final two and lost to Mark Dobmeyer. Mark had the option to stat on the pole and win $5000 to win the race or choose to go to the back of the field and if he came through the field and won, he would take home $50,000. Dobmeyer chose the front row so they offered it to Saldana and he took the challenge. Unfortunately neither would finish the A Main.
Dobmyer (15) was walking away from the field and then when he got into lapped traffic he was victim of someone else's slip up and got caught in this crash. Dobmeyers car is the one on it's side. Under this red flag Saldana would drop out of the race as well. He had started 30th and was up into 14th.

After the races, the party continued. They had dj's and dancing and all kinds of stuff going on. Everyone was having a good time.

Tuesday we went back to Osky for the Non winged sprint cars. This was the coolest racing I've seen in quite a while. We sat in the grandstands and it was full.

Saturday night at Knoxville. This was prior to hot laps as the push truck were packing the track.
Same shot but a little earlier.
After the races on Friday night. They had a band playing outside the track. We all hung out until they were done and had a good time. This pic is some of the gang we were with.

I could tell all kinds of stories but, I'm pressed for time. Ariel and I are off to the State Fair today. I'll post pic's and stuff later.

Thanks for reading and God Bless!