8/9/08
Knoxville Raceway
48th Annual Knoxville Nationals
87 cars
E main (started): 1. JJ Hickle 7A (2) 2. Bill Rose 6R (1) 3. John Lambertz 12L (4) 4. Greg Nikitenko 6N (6) / 5. Scott Uttech 3 (3) 6. Matt Wasmund 4w (7) 7. Marlon Jones 9mx (5) 8. Ty Bartz 46 (10) 9. Steve Dyer 9A (9) 10. Robert Bell 71 (8) DNS - Corey Haigh 45NZ, Tony Shilling 47T, Spud Gustin 80, Scott Winters 23w, Bruce White 96au, Troy Little 20AU, Jeremy Campbell 0x, Garry Lee Maier 11xx
Hickle led the distance in a mostly single-file affair on a typical E main heavy narrow track.
D main (started): 1. Rob Chaney 24H (1) 2. Josh Schneiderman 49 (4) 3. Cody Darrah 89 (8) / 4. Lance Dewease 30c (3) 5. Skip Jackson 2 (11) 6. Calvin Landis 70 (6) 7. Justin Zimmerman 7K (10) 8. Ricky Logan 10 (5) 9. Gregg Bakker 11x (7) 10. Billy Balog 17B (12) 11. Toni Lutar 4x (13) 12. Greg Wilson w20 (15) 13. Caleb Griffith 12c (16) 14. Chad Hillier 5c (17) 15. Lambertz (21) 16. Nikitenko (20) 17. Dion Hindi 11D (2) 18. Hickle (19) 19. Brian Ellenberger 20E (9) 20. John VanDenBerg 1 (14) 21. Rose (18) DNS - Bob Weuve 19, Natalie Sather 94s, Brian Leppo 71x
VanDenBerg flipped hard in turn four before a lap could be completed. He was unhurt. Chaney led from the outset under pressure from Hindi in the 12 lapper. Darrah climbed to fourth, but Schneiderman pulled away in the third and final transfer and then took second from Hindi. On the white flag lap, disaster struck for Hindi with a motor failure, handing the final transfer to Darrah.
C main (started): 1. Jesse Hockett 13J (2) 2. Lynton Jeffrey 12 (4) / 3. Danny Smith 18s (3) 4. Mark Dobmeier 13 (13) 5. Doug Esh 30 (5) 6. Brian Brown 21 (11) 7. Kerry Madsen 55 (12) 8. Fred Rahmer 51x (10) 9. Brian Paulus 28 (15) 10. Rager Phillips 9 (6) 11. Tim Shaffer 83A (19) 12. Brandon Wimmer 7TW (8) 13. Darrah (22) 14. Brock Mayes 11B (18) 15. Kaley Gharst 81 (17) 16. Dean Jacobs 17G (16) 17. Don Droud Jr. 47 (9) 18. Schneiderman (21) 19. Lee Sowell 51s (7) 20. Seth Brahmer 13v (14) 21. Lee Jacobs 59 (1) 22. Chaney (20) DNS - Blake Feese 14m
Hockett jumped out on the high side into the lead, but L. Jacobs grabbed it using the low side on lap two of 15. He pulled away from the field, as Hockett separated himself to secure a transfer as well. Brown was picking his way forward and was into sixth with three to go. Disaster struck for the leader on the 12th go-around when the motor went up in flames. He was unhurt, but visibly upset. Hockett led Jeffrey, D. Smith, Esh and Brown back to green flag racing, holding on for the win. Dobmeier made a late surge, gained fourth on the last lap, but fell two spots short. Esh's finish was the highest of any Rookie, giving him the Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the Year crown.
B main (started): 1. Daryn Pittman 21T (1) 2. Chad Kemenah 8K (2) 3. Terry McCarl 24 (6) 4. Gary Wright 9w (5) / 5. Greg Hodnett 22x (3) 6. Tim Kaeding 83JR (9) 7. Randy Hannagan 1x (8) 8. Jack Dover 53 (4) 9. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (10) 10. Kraig Kinser 20 (13) 11. Jonathan Allard 0 (11) 12. Stevie Smith 19s (7) 13. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (15) 14. Jason Johnson 19E (16) 15. Hockett (21) 16. Davey Heskin 56 (20) 17. Jeffrey (22) 18. Mike Moore 69 (19) 19. Sean Michael 6x (14) 20. Travis Whitney 1xx (17) 21. Travis Rilat 29 (18) 22. Roger Crockett 7N (12)
Crockett made contact with another car, jumped the cushion, hit the wall and did a series of flips. He was unhurt. Rilat suffered wing damage in the process. The 22-lap record (Doug Wolfgang in 1990 - 6:19.8) was broken by Pittman as he led start to finish in the non-stop event (6:12.5). Kemenah and McCarl exchanged second several times in a good battle. Wright used the low side to snooker under Hodnett into the final transfer spot.
A main (started): 1. Donny Schatz 15 (4) 2. Jason Meyers 14 (2) 3. Craig Dollansky 2x (5) 4. Danny Lasoski 33 (1) 5. Steve Kinser 11 (3) 6. Joey Saldana 9E (8) 7. Jac Haudenschild R19 (11) 8. McCarl (23) 9. Dusty Zomer 5z (10) 10. Justin Henderson D1 (9) 11. Sammy Swindell 5 (7) 12. Brooke Tatnell 11AU (17) 13. Paul McMahan 6 (6) 14. Billy Alley 22 (18) 15. Pittman (21) 16. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (14) 17. Jason Sides 7s (12) 18. Kemenah (22) 19. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (15) 20. Shane Stewart 83 (13) 21. Bronson Maeschen 96 (16) 22. Tyler Walker 24T (20) 23. Jason Solwold 39c (19) 24. Wright (24)
Walker was black-flagged to the back for jumping the initial start. Meyers shot to the fore in the 30 lapper, and Schatz moved by Lasoski for second on lap three. Meyers pulled away from Schatz and maneuvered well through traffic. Walker shot into the top twelve by the halfway point. Just when the race looked like it would go green to checker, with Meyers well out front, Walker blew a motor on lap 23, and stopped on the track without brakes. The restart order saw Meyers ahead of Schatz, Dollansky, S. Kinser and Lasoski. Two laps later, after a couple of attempts and some good racing, Schatz took the point for good. On lap 27, Stewart brought out the final caution of the night with power steering failure, setting up a three lap dash to the finish. Schatz would not be denied. Meyers and Dollansky completed the podium. McCarl was the hard-charger. Three Knoxville regulars finished in the top ten (Lasoski, Zomer, Henderson). Alley's crew won the Best Appearing Crew Award, while Chad Kemenah's was second, and Greg Hodnett's third. W. Johnson won the "Mr. Sprintcar" Award for the second year in a row.