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Big J Report Presented by DeBerg Concrete

I have had many people wondering where my Knoxville Recap was and when it was going to be written. I didn’t know I had to write one, but since I have so many fans I figured I’d put together a little something (in chronological order even!) for all those fans. No notes, all memory – so that means you are only going to get about 50% of what actually happened. And just a heads up, this baby is a little long. Drum roll please…

Friday of the 360s

Thanks to some d-bag at work who quit during the week I got stuck working a few overnights heading into the best nine days of the year. After getting off work at 8am and all ready on short sleep, the car was packed up and heading south on 29 at 9am for Marion County. After 2 stops for multiple energy drinks and relieving myself, we were able to find Casa Del DeBerg outside turns three and four at about 2:30pm. Overcast skies met us, but after a much needed two hour nap, it was off for food and on the drinking train.

And that was a big train for my first night in Knoxville in 2011. The track held up amazingly for two complete shows of the 360s, but the night was filled with booze, shots, and more shots. My stock of ingredients for Chuck’s were damn near gone by Saturday morning and that is when you know you had a great night!

Saturday 360s

It took awhile to drag out of couch (not bed), but it was back on that train come mid-afternoon and when you are around DeBerg that can only spell trouble by the end of the night. Those are words for the wise in the future. We were greeted to see 49 410s signed in for the All Star sanctioned event.

Brian Brown nearly took his second nasty ride in as many nights but somehow saved it after blowing a trusty Goodyear. Kevin Swindell had the bottom hooked up and smoked ‘em in the 410 show as the bottom was still pretty heavy. Mark Dobmeier put on one hell of a show from the back going 20^th to 5^th however, showing he had the speed for the upcoming week.

Shane Stewart snagged his 2^nd straight 360 Nationals (third overall) and also showed it would be another great week for the Rockstar/Makita Paul Silva #57. A yellow with Sammy right on his tail may have saved him though. Tim Shaffer put on a charge from the back along with Billy Alley. A great night of racing for the best valued ticket in all of motorsports.

The festivities spilled to Dingus after, but wouldn’t last for long as it was closing time. It was then time to cross the street, hop on a golf cart and head back to the Casa Del DeBerg. The problem with that is DeBerg decided he was driving. Now, DeBerg is a great sponsor of this here Report, and an even better friend, but let this be a warning for everyone to never step on a golf cart when he is driving. Ever. A concussion, shower, and a few Kodak moments later yours truly was back out in the turns three and four scene! I’m blaming my lack of memory on the night to the concussion caused by DeBerg. Thanks to my boy CubFan07 for all the help, or so I’ve been told!

Drunk/Entertainer of the Night: Has to go to me for flipping off a golf cart!

Sunday USAC Show

A day full of naps was in store, with a few of the gang heading home for a few days of work. The shakes went away after awhile, but a black eye and a few scratches also developed. It was off to the World Famous 3G Spot for the non-wing show. And it actually turned out to be a damn good show with a bunch of drama. Brady Bacon swept ‘em but had to hang off a Report favorite in Chris Windom the last eight laps or so.

While up in the 3G Spot, Double Down decides to start a pool with a $5 entry towards the $220 Million Powerball prize coming up on Wednesday. What started as a few of us turned into a huge pool with about $250 in the pot. The pool included your defending 410 Nationals Champion and now 2-time Defending 360 Nationals Champion. And it turned out to be the only thing Shane didn’t come close to winning all week – dammit!

Drama erupted after the races and it was an early night to catch some Z’s on the couch before Osky.

Drunk/Entertainer of the Night: The Champ Clay Eakin. Honorable Mention to Justin Boese Entertainment for calling dinosaurs randomly with me walking by at 4am earlier in the morning!

Monday Osky FRC

My favorite day of the entire friggin’ year! Bosma24 loads up the motorhome for the half hour jaunt to Osky, settles in on dry land, checks us all in, and the festivities began around 5pm. Gorgeous weather all day long met us, and the throttle was all the way to the floor for everyone. An awesome field of cars was assembled with the All Stars banner with 39 cars signed in.

What I remember from my fuzzy recollection was Brad Sweet being bad-fast as a sign of things to come for the upcoming week as he set a new track record. Sammy going 6^th to 1^st within a half of lap to win his heat going away was damn amazing. A bunch of people egging Tod on during intermission before he met with Sammy and their decision of going to the back or not. It was the smart choice to stay at the front as the track really never widened out. Sweet was catching Sammy in traffic a couple of times only to see a caution fly both times killing his momentum. That’s 3 belts in a row for Sammy. Hopefully he, or someone else, will go to the back in 2012! Shane Stewart was bad fast coming from the back (a sign of things to come) and Schatz blew up two Shavers on the night.

The after party was a little disappointing as it did not live up to the 2011 standard. But that standard was sky high, so no problems with that. The cops were out in full force after the races sources close to the Report said and busting people left and right. Great night nonetheless and is still my favorite event of the entire year!

Drunk/Entertainer of the Night: Everyone on the Infield

Tuesday

Recovery day for most of it, but that would turn into a night of playing bags on DudeFan’s beautiful Craig Dollansky #7 bean bag boards along with The Champ Clay Eakin (or was that on Sunday? – oh well). Made it over to the Dingus and had another great time there as word spread that Kyle Larson won the Ultimate Challenge in his first night in the Hoffman #69. The kid is a gasser and his future is taking him to Nascar so enjoy him while you can people!

There was a Kahne and Smoke sighting inside as well. Mostly everyone left them alone but there were a couple of tools who just had to take photos and/or video from about 10 feet away. It’s cool having both of them come hang out with the fans, but we as sprint car fans should know better to leave them alone and let them have a good night with us! Also, there was some Smoke PDA sightings both in the bar and outside of turns 3 and 4. Lastly, I have yet to see both Savage and Smoke in the same room together, so there is still a chance Savage is living a double life!

Drunk/Entertainer of the Night: DudeFan for later saying, “he was too drunk to dream” following Tuesday night!

Wednesday – Night #1 of the 410s

I have to thank Paul and Jenn Johnson of Aggressive Hydraulics along with Tod of Big Game Treestands for allowing myself and DudeFan up into their suite for this night and the next. Another great night of racing that sadly only saw 45 cars signed in. Horrible Verizon phone service left everyone pissed throughout the night.

Schatz was damn fast in his heat going 8^th to win it, but would blow up motor #3 on the week, but was still locked in for Saturday night. Shane Stewart missed it in qualifying and in the heat, but he made a week-saving move on the last lap of the B with a bonsai slider right in front of the HoF on Bronson Maeschen that somehow stuck for the last transfer spot. Onto the A, Davey Heskin erased whatever doubt that last year was a fluke as got out to a huge lead. If it wasn’t for a few late cautions I don’t think Sammy would have had anything for him, but Sammy capitalized and took home, yet, another win during Nationals week.

Drunk/Entertainer of the Night: Pank. If you saw him, you would know why. He handed his phone off to DudeFan, just like he did at the Royal, so he could do the worm, but no worm was done sadly.

Thursday – Night #2 of the 410s

54 410s signed in for the night to bring the tally to 99 for the 51^st edition of the Nationals. The field was stacked as compared to the night before. Knoxville needs to a better job of evenly splitting of the field for 2012.

Again, horrible cell service all night from Verizon (it would get fixed for Friday and Saturday). It was obviously best to go out early as it can be seen with Darrah being the quick time. The place to be was up top and it was very interesting up in the suite watching every car to see how close to the cushion they would get. Great view up there and a few late guys still went out and dropped some legit laps.

The heat races weren’t very good though with T-Mac and Jason Meyers being the only guys getting the bottom to stick. We were very disappointed that the push trucks weren’t used either night after time trials to pack down the cushion. And of course we could only do the 8 invert each night due to the lack of cars. It was off for Intermission Bombs at Dingus since there was actually a C Main.

But we got in back for one helluva B Main! Jason Johnson came out of nowhere the last three laps to run down Greg Hodnett and nip him at the line for the final transfer, just like his fellow 360 stud, Stewart, the night before on the last lap. Dollansky also held off our favorite little zuffy and our favorite driver’s Twitter account, Kerry Madsen, barely at the line to start outside of row 11.

What a crazy turn of events when lining up for the ‘A’, Wayne Johnson’s car careened into the turn one fence taking him off the pole and killing his Nationals – just horrible luck there. That put T-Mac on the pole, but contact between him and Stevie Smith outta four sent them both to the back with T-Mac somehow saving it as he twirled down the frontstretch.

I was ready to call it a show with Meyers, who went to the hospital twice during the day for IV’s since he was sick, out front, but sure as shit, Mark Dobmeier would run him down twice and would take the popular victory for the locals! Dollansky was damn fast coming from the back, catching his cautions, but bad luck would strike with a few to go when the power steering went out relegating his amazing charge.

Great night of racing after the heats were kind of dull. Again, it was off to the Dingus for a little gathering with the crew.

Drunk/Entertainer of the Night: Pank toned it down for night #2, so we’ll give this to the Crowd Pleaser and Rajin’ Cajun after their charges on the track. And of course, to Dynamite for winning one for the Mafia.

Friday – Night #3 of the 410s

“You wanted the best, you got them with ample breasts!” That is how the 3^rd Annual Dingus Lounge Bikini Contest was opened by the best emcee in Iowa – Savage! Man, what a show, and it did not disappoint. Even with the late start time (were the Rubins in charge of this event?!), this show was one to see.

Nine contestants signed in for the $1,000 to win show and everyone else getting $100 tow money. The stripper pole didn’t last long since contestant #5, Ivory, snapped the fucker right in half! “Maitenance! We need maintenance!” screamed Savage as the crowd was almost in tears. There were pasties, and pasties that didn’t want to stay on. There was whipped cream, KY Jelly, hoola-hoops, and even a shake weight for contestants to use. Man, what a show! And you just can’t forget to give a “Tip of the Cap Henry to Contestant #5, Ivory.”

Another gorgeous day in Southern Iowa that led to an afternoon underneath the grandstand shooting “Beer for Buckets.” Before the end of it, there were a dozen of us taking our turns shooting at the Nerf Hoop and making a dent into the track’s beer profit. For the uninformed, you get three shots at this hoop underneath the frontstretch grandstand, and if you make one of them, then your beer is free and if you don’t you pay your $3 for it, pretty simple. Well yours truly shot an astonishing 12 for 14 on the week so that is 14 beers for $6. I’m gonna get banned from the joint like Eckert did from Eldora when Earl was in charge.

Didn’t buy any tickets for the night so it was off to the Dingus to see if anyone had any extras – which they did not. So myself and Rossco were stuck wondering if we would be able to get in for the night’s races – and we did! We missed the non-qualifier portion and the “revenge redraw”, but got to witness Shane Stewart gain the nickname “The Show Saver.” 17^th to 2^nd in the Race of Champions (25 laps) and then follows that up with 14^th to 2^nd in the World Challenge. The only guys he didn’t pass were the winners that started on the front row. Absolutely incredible how fast he was, and with it coming with a Wesmar power plant underneath hood!

With that being said, the Friday night show needs some fine tuning. It would have been worth purchasing a ticket had the Scrambles still been involved, and a lot of other people felt this way by skipping the night all together. Also, the money needs to get divided up somehow. The driver’s in Saturday’s ‘B’ were walking out with half as much as the guys who finished upfront in Friday’s Semi’s and A Feature. I’m not in charge, but something needs to be done there.

Drunk/Entertainer of the Night: The drunk can go to myself for staying out in turns 3 and 4 until the sun started to peak up with JR14. And the entertainer part can be handed to Shane for his drives to the front on the night, along with Savage for his commentary during the entire day.

Saturday Night – The Grand Daddy of them All!

Another great night (actually morning) sleep in Casa Del DeBerg on the couch with an early afternoon wake-up call. It turned out be another gorgeous day, and it was right back on the throttle after a hard night the evening before. A great day to do some drinking, play plenty of bags, do some tearing down around camp, and of course some grilling. I felt confident in the driver’s I picked for the night’s features, and came up empty, yet, again for like the 5^th straight year – dammit.

Dingus was on tap for one final day before the races, and it was off to the Section K to watch the D, C, B, and A’s for the night. I did get to my seat in time to watch the Dud polish off his impressive Nationals in the ‘D’!

The 23w was damn impressive again on Saturday night by going from 18^th to 9^th in the C. The B was filled with tons of drama. We had Kraig’s car smoking, Rager Phillips’ car sounding like a lawnmower and then stalling on the last lap, Henderson dropping anchor one last time, and Don Droud Jr. throwing his own Casey’s car into a transfer to go along with Kraig. Great race!

The racing was awesome yet again for the 50 lapper. If anyone is bitching about it, then they are blind. The winner came from 13^th and took the lead in 14 laps without double file restarts! He’s the best driver at Knoxville and everyone hates a winner. So congratulations to Mr. Schatz on #5 at Knoxville (that # should be higher)! There were sliders for the lead, including five changes for the lead between four drivers – as a fan I couldn’t ask for much more than that. Great show and I say leave it at 50 laps unless you want to bring it down to 35 laps without a stop.

Shane Stewart proved, once again, that he is a bad ass at Knoxville. Had that race gone a few more laps, he would have been standing atop the podium. The crazy thing is, the “competition yellow” didn’t come out until lap 27, instead of lap 25 like last year, so maybe those two laps are more crucial than you’d ever think??

It sure seemed like Sammy was chasing his car from the drop of the green. He hit the inside berm on lap two heading into three, allowing Brad Sweet to etch his names into the record books to lead a few laps. He then was coming with about five to go but also messed up again, allowing Shane to blow by and settle into second. Maybe he was just trying to finish, or maybe he was fighting his car, but he didn’t look like his 2010-self at all during the 410 Nationals, and he still finished 3^rd on Saturday night and won his prelim!

Congrats to A-Mac for throwing it in the ‘A’ this year after coming damn close last year. I know myself, along with everyone else around us, keeps forgetting that he is only 18 years old. He doesn’t act like his age, and sure as hell doesn’t look his age with his beard. Adrenaline may have gotten the best of him going into turn one (the smoke couldn’t have helped either), but the kid is going to be a damn good driver in the near future!

One last thanks to the DudeFan for turning on the propane switch in Casa Del DeBerg's motorhome after the races Saturday night. We had no idea what the funky smell was all night, even slept through it somehow, but we find out in the morning DudeFan "accidentally" turned it on while resting his hand on the counter. Thankfully we are all still breathing, and no one lit a match in the motorhome!

I got to meet a ton of new people during my nine days down there, and got to spend time with some of my closest friends. It was honestly the best Nationals of the 14 I’ve attended in the 24 years of my life. Thank you to everyone who made it so special, and we’ll have to do it again next year!

Quotes of the Week – If you heard any of these, then you heard us

“Comin’ in HOT!”

“Who wants vodka!?” followed by “Who wants shots?!”

“Tip of the Cap Henry to (fill in the name)!”

“Don’t worry, we’re here all week!”

“Make me a lunchbox, please!”

“Beer for baskets, anyone?”

“Load it up, Darrah!”

“No Talent!”

“Race fans, give it up for (fill in the name)!”

“You can’t trust a guy with two first names. You just can’t.”

“I just can’t thank my guys enough for all their work during the week!”

This ‘N That

*Shane Stewart loves Southern Iowa, it’s as simple as that. He garnered over $100K in earnings in 10 days and passed a total of 82 cars during the entire week during heat races, B’s, and A Feature action. Not bad at all, and his t-shirts where everywhere on Saturday night.

*Awesome, awesome weather all week long. No intense heat all week and it was hoody weather the last few nights! The best weather I can remember and it stayed dry other than opening night on Thursday for the 360s. Sign me up for this weather every year in the future!

*Best place to eat all week was Taso’s, going away. Such a huge menu, and we tried something different every time we went and it was all delicious. But we are still disappointed Subway is so far away from the track for the nightly 2:15am footlong!

*It is time to do a little touching to the Saturday night program. Instead of just taking two out of each feature to the back of the others, it is time to start transferring four to the back, and making each feature a little longer, especially with the way the track has been holding up for the 50 laps.

*Also, for preliminary nights, why is the fast timer being penalized to be in the first heat race? Flip it around and let him start in the last heat race when the track is wider! I also agree with Bobby Gerould’s proposal on his website (hammerdownusa.com) of switching the heat race format around.

*Another lackluster performance at the Nationals from Lusk Racing. Rumors were swirling he had to go home early due to an unhappy wife. Still waiting on confirmation on this though. Back to the news room.

Sponsors

I have to thank my sponsors for the entire week, without any of them nothing would have been possible: DeBerg Concrete, Bosma Poultry, T&K Transport, Nam Designs, Big Game Treestands, Aggressive Hydraulics, Dingus Lounge, and 212 Boiling Point. And I can’t thank my guys for busting their asses all week, without any of them none of the week would have been possible. So thanks to the DudeFan, Boese, Bertsch, Bosma24, and everyone else I’m forgetting. It couldn’t have been done without you all!

Upcoming

There should be a Report for this weekend’s 410 double-header at Huset’s. After that, we may have another Report for the Season Championship at Huset’s on the 11^th, and its possible for a double-header to end the year at Spencer and Deer Creek with the Outlaws.

Last and definitely not least, congrats to Scott on getting engaged during the week! Any reason to get to Butterfield is a good thing, and when you throw a wedding on top of that.. Look out!

BIG J

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Also, if anyone knows how to post a poll on here, you can email me or leave the instructions on here. I'm hoping to add a poll for this big guy. Thanks.

BIG J

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

"And on the Poll....."

Well, you beat the Speed broadcast, so here's to a job, well, done. Another fine recollection of the most saturated 10 days in all of motorsports. See ya at Husets at 7-8:30ish pm sharp.

Savage

Pretty good Report for not having any notes.

Anytime Pank realizes that he is going to get hammered he hands me his phone and I give it back to him in the morning. A smart move on his part. This was the case on Friday night as well where the worm was indeed performed, you may have missed this Big J. The area needed was a little undesired however as Pank took out two chairs around a table on the east side of Dingus.

Also don't forget The Champ's role in the propane incident.

Well thank you Savage for the kind words. That was the goal all along to beat the re-airing of the Nationals, and we accomplished that. You'll have to let your fans know the next time you're emceeing an event so I can come laugh my ass off at it. Even if it's a barmitzvah I am showing up! And I think you are in the ballpark for Sunday night's start time. My official time for the first car on the track for time trials is 7:37.

Typical DudeFan, blaming others for actions caused by him. The Champ had other things on his mind, like hitting back-to-back shots on a 40 year old single mother of two!

BIG J

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

No shout out to "Team Slow Ride" aka the Bang Bus?!

I'm disappointed Big J...

How do you do it? Great report. Still going to watch this weekend, you might have missed something.

 Lawlessness and liberalism equals Hell.  NY City, 
Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Minnepolis, etc. We saw it. 
Burning hundreds of buildings, a thousand assaults and 
dozens of murders. Getting worser and worser.

The GENUINE 'Shantytown' camp was MIA this year.... Big O was a no-show... due to health issues....

Phil Taylor

home-theater-systems-advice.com

Big O was there, he slept in his truck. I talked with him out behind 3 and 4 one of the nights.

I knew I forgot something, and it turned out to be the Bang Bus! Such a great bus that has nothing but "class" written all over the inside of it!

Can we not bring up the Shanty Town Showdown? That was about the only thing I came close to winning all week other than a concussion and a face full of dirt...

BIG J

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Big J You do one hell of a job on these reports! Three thumbs up!!

Dave Boy