4/16/05
Knoxville Raceway
Practice Night
Nineteen 410 sprinters, twenty-five 360 sprints, two 305 sprints and a few others showed up on a beautiful night for racing to tune up for this season's action at the Knoxville raceway. New paint schemes, a good crowd and fast cars were on tap Friday night at Knoxville.
The 410 class was represented by local Kerry Madsen who is again in the Vermeer 55 this season. The car has a new look to say the least and is an early favorite for best paint scheme of the season. Ricky Logan was in attendance and has teamed up with car owner Mike VanderEcken. Their scheme has changed from its familiar black look, to red and white, gracing their Lucas Oil sponsorship. Tyler Swank is on board after a few years on the road with Donny Schatz as crew chief.
Larry Neighbors showed off Wayne Simmon's F5 chassis sprinter. Eric Vanderploeg and Lenard McCarl have teamed up in the 7x and were in attendance. Others to grace the pit area included Jerrol Slinkard, Skip Jackson, Ryan Anderson, Lynton Jeffrey, Calvin Landis, Wayne Johnson, Jesse Giannetto, Mike Moore, Tyler Houseman, Jon Agan and rookie contenders Michael Jones and Kaley Gharst. Travis Whitney made the trip down from Minnesota to get some practice time in as well. He will also be in action at Saturday night's Searsboro Telephone Spring Challenge for 410s at Oskaloosa.
Tim St. Arnold has joined forces with the Phillips' racing team for 2005. Ed Gifford reported Don Droud Jr. will driver the 17G this weekend at least, as Jeff Mitrisin recovers from back injuries suffered at last weekend's WoO show at Eldora.
The 360 class was also well represented. Heading the field were David Hesmer, John Kearney, Terry Alexander, Johnny Anderson, Brett Mather, Larry Ball Jr., Mitchell Alexander, Bronson Maeschen, Rager Phillips, Eric Jobe, Stevie Walsh, Dave Hall, Jon Agan, Jerod Smith, Nate Mosher, Mike Houseman Jr., John Hall and Pete Crall.
The Heskin family will tow three cars to Knoxville this year. Present at practice night were three generations, Dave Heskin, his son DJ Heskin, and grandson, Davey Heskin. Speaking of grandsons, many longtime Knoxville fans remember the contributions of Hall of Famer Ray Grimes. His grandson, Dustin Selvage, of Indianola is embarking on his sprint car career this season at Knoxville.
Eddie Leavitt Jr. will pilot the familiar blue F4 car in the 360 class this season. Gary Moyer returns after a five year absence in his 5m. The lone incident of the night involved newcomer Bob Carr of Stuart, who had his 9K drift and contact the mount of Rager Phillips causing some damage to both vehicles. Hopefully, both can make it back to action for next week's opener.
Mark Widmar and Dan Williams brought out their winged 305 sprints for action as well. Check the photo gallery for pit shots from practice night on www.knoxvilleraceway.com.