This message was edited on
June 08, 2010 at
01:43:16 AM by WFOB_0
I was debating whether or not to write up a recap from what is still remembered after 3 crazy, crazy nights in Knoxville. But my conscious was telling me I needed to, so here we go in a chronological order to the best of my memory:
Thursday
Overslept the 9am alarm to get out of bed after not getting to sleep until late in the middle of the night due to the excitement of the future 3 nights. Getting up 40 minutes late delayed my arrival in Albert Lea to pick up the Dude_Fan as he waited there for my late ass to show up.
We decided to keep the motorhome at home since the transmission wasn't quite ready (inside joke) for this trip so we would end up tenting outside turns 3 and 4 under the shade of a huge tree. Not having A/C in Knoxville is about as torturous as it comes and I would never make anyone do it for even one night.
I was already in a bitchin' mood since I had to take the 90/35 route instead of the usual cop-less 29/80 route out of Sioux Falls and after getting turned around in Des Moines we got the tent up and ready to crack the first BL around 4:30 or so.
And thats about where things begin to get blurry for the night as I thought it would be a great idea to bust out the Vodka/7's about 90 minutes later as we watched Boz get a motorhome stuck after coming in late to the track.
Then there is a pretty blank space from my memory until Pizza Hut came and probably saved my life as the belly had nothing in it, and wouldn't you know it that it was time for the first Intermission Bombs of the 2010 season.
Brooke Tatnell dominated the feature (at 10/1 odds nonetheless for me) while some of the Knoxville greats missed their chance for the lead with their sliders. Great to see Brooke grab a WoO win at Knoxville after being robbed of one a few years ago when his motor expired while out front. The track lacked a bottom and as everyone probably knows it was a huge advantage to go out early in time trials as the track faded big time throughout.
Dingus that night was fun, from what I was told. So if I met some of you reading this that night there, you may have to reintroduce yourself to me again in the near future. Not only that, but I missed the Welterweight Title bout that night, and I even managed to borrow a sweatshirt that I thought I would never see again. All in all I'll grade it as a A+ of course since I didn't fall off a non-moving golf cart.
Friday
Of course the sun had to come out nice and hot right away and we were sweated out of the tent nice and early at like 9:30 with a raging Knoxville-sized hangover (man how I missed those). Reid had a great idea of pulling out a mattress to chill on under the tree, and I gladly snatched that position ala a Winters slider at Huset's going into 3 as he went to get some food. Somehow got a few more hours of sleep much to the displeasure of my fellow camper as he got right back on that horse as I slept. Took me awhile to find that horse, but I would be ready to dominate a 2nd day of bags no matter who I played.
Lusker made his way down with a few of his buds that wish to remain nameless, but they brought some A/C to save us from the Nationals-like heat and humidity. Reid and I dominated some more bags, and it was race time out of nowhere. We were expecting a joke of a program until the A as hopefully the track would get better an a bottom would show.
The Masters race was a joke as Sammy put a new definition to 'domination' lapping everbody up to 3rd.
Then wouldn't you know it, it was a hammer-the-top kind of track again for the 2nd straight night in the WoO feature. Pretty boring race up front as Haud was out infront just enough while Brownie and Dobs tried to chase him through traffic, but there was some fun racing through midpack - namely Madsen and Sides coming to the front.
We got a caution to set up a GWC finish with the double file restart (the first at Knoxville in a feature). That crazy SOB Madsen peaked out to the cushion and looked like he didn't gas the throttle until the green was out and was up to 3rd from 6th as they went into turn one and he somehow put a slider to get by both Brownie and Haud to take the lead with that!.. Only to have the WoO call it back and push him back a row on the next restart. It looked good to all of us in about row 23 of Section K other than breaking line to get on the cushion, but I will wait for a replay in order to make a final decision. Haud ended up leading all 25 much to the delight of the crowd after Schatz blew a Goodyear.
Which brings me to my next thought and that is this Nationals finale going 50 laps on these POS Goodyears will make the Royal at Eldora a few years back with Sides winning it look like a thriller. Goodyears are junk, end of story. Get those 400's ready for the 50 lap finale...
The best moment I think I will ever see at the track was seeing Doug Wolfgang get in Jesse's 77 and pace the field and then having a Missing Man formation before the Master's started. Chills and goosebumps were an understatement, what a great moment for the Hockett family!
So it would be another long night at the Dingus since the checkers flew just after the went down. Got to talk to a lot of people in there that night (and actually remembered it this time around). Great night in there and lets just say "Bonzai" has a new fan. Also, the bar closed down to "Rocketman" as drinks were raised for Jesse - totally awesome.
The night ended early out at the campground since the rain drops started to come down a little after 2. The race wasn't worth $15, let alone the $30 they were charging and the crowd wasn't anything spectacular.
TSR better man up for the actions of a few of their employees at about this time as well after some of the dumbest crap I have ever heard someone do to one of my friends - enough on that topic. The grade for Friday night was about an A-.
Saturday
Onto getting to sleep in this morning since clouds still lingered after the overnight rain. A quick look at the radar shows Knoxville in the clear for the morning as there was rain to the north and south but not Central Iowa.
The sun finally peaked that afternoon and man did the humidity pour in after that - wow. A Tornado Watch was issued, and rain would be imminent after some bags were thrown that afternoon on the prettiest Coors Light/Steve Kinser #11 boards you'll ever see.
It rained pretty good for about a 10 minute period at 6:30, but we heard over the radio and through others in the campground that we would be racing even if it took until 4:30am so the extra curricular activities would begin again once it dried out a bit.... Only to have the races cancelled 2 1/2 hours later. Complete BS call as something that has 'never happened on the dirt at Knoxville' with the water draining from the top to the bottom was just too much to work the track in. The middle of the track got worked in when I went to look at it, but it looked like they didn't even want to take a shot at doing the same to the bottom. Plenty of people loaded up the campers and went home. We thought of doing the same, but went over to the Dingus like the other true race fans would do.
Another good night in the Dingus would occur as I got called the names of Nick Punto and Brendan Harris (inside joke). Little did they know that I would turn into true MVP form of Justin Morneau by the end of the night. Haters. Saturday night grade was a B-.
All in all it was another great weekend in Knoxville, but our behinds would feel a little sore Sunday morning after taking the business from the Raceway's decision to end the weekend. But what do you do? Just can't win 'em all I guess.
Sunday
Thee absolute worst drive home ever, but somehow got back at 2:35 and went straight to bed after a couple of hours of sleep after a late night after leaving the Dingus. The nap would put Huset's in jeopardy, as a Little J and myself wouldn't get out there until the intros of the 410 feature being announced.
Pretty boring race for the 14 410s at Huset's as there wasn't a bottom for the feature (the re-occurring theme of the weekend). Jake Peters checked out and held off the brother-in-law Chad Meyer to pick up his first win of the year and career #14 in the 410 class. Highlights include a crazy-as-hell Winters slider into three, Austin McCarl saving what would be a nasty ride in turn one, and then Robby Wolfgang doing the same thing in turn four. Other than that, not much of a race.
This-N-That
The Big Game Girls are comin' in hot, literally.
Got the shoutout from Hot Rod from victory lane at Huset's - it was almost like he knew I wasn't there for intermission. Sorry for the non-report after Monday's thriller but work, a lingering hangover after closing 212 down on Sunday, and getting ready for Knoxville just killed it from happening.
Knoxville on its worst day is 20 times better than the race I seen Sunday at Huset's.
This got kinda longer than I was betting it would be, but I had a great weekend with old friends, and newer friends so I just needed to share it. Some of the characters involved should re-hash some of the material I missed or some of their favorite moments. Next Report: Sunday at Huset's (maybe). Otherwise we'll see a few of you up in Grand Forks in a handful of days for the two night WoO double-dip up there!
BIG J
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
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