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The Wolf twisting the chassis on the Doug and Joanna Howell's sprinter during hot laps on July 4th, 1981 at Knoxville.

Lee Johnson

Cool. Many thanks.

Luna's Ford engine style that won 2 WoO titles and 3 
Kings Royals before a weight rule against the best EVER
in their prime and now DOMINATES super dirt late model
racing is no longer allowed/wanted in a WoO sprint
car.... Was Luna a miracle worker?

...and he won the feature!

7/4/81

Wolfgang Takes Feature

from Knoxville Raceway

Knoxville, IA – Doug Wolfgang, current World of Outlaws sprint car point leader, returned to the Marion County Speedway Saturday night to win the twenty-lap Pepsi/Mountain Dew feature event. Wolfgang's win was the fourth feature victory in a week's racing for the Sioux Falls, South Dakota driver. The string of victories were from Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Knoxville ½ mile oval. Wolfgang advanced into the lead on the 10^th lap restart when Gary Scott, Holts Summit, Missouri, allowed "Wolf" to travel in the high groove of the racetrack. Early race leader, TJ Giddings, was forced to drop from the lineup on the same lap because of a brake malfunction. Scott continued to maintain second place ahead of Randy Smith of Norwalk, and Billy Robison of Topeka, Kansas.

Records continued to be set on the high-banked fairgrounds track. Bob Hop of Mendota, Minnesota, broke the record for the B main, the only event no changing from the previous week's racing. Hop's new record is 3:32.57. The previous record holder was Lonnie Jensen, and has been untouched since 1977. Bob Thompson of Des Moines, Iowa, placed the Casey Stores/Sonner Sprinter in second place to transfer with Hop to the feature event.

First of four qualifying heats was stopped on the initial lap when Roger Hurst of Kansas City, Missouri, barrel-rolled his mount in the third turn. Hurst was not injured but heavy damage was sustained to the sprint car. The race was won by Cliff Woodward of Kearney, Missouri. Other heat events were won by Cliff Blundy, Metamora, Illinois, Lynn McIntosh, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and Mark Shaffer of Newton. A total of 38 entries from eight states were competing in the eight-event program.

Results

Time Trials (Qualifying Order): 1. 4, Doug Wolfgang, Sioux Falls, SD (21) 20.148; 2. 31, John Stevenson, St. Paul, MN (11) 20.241; 3. 3, Gary Scott, Holts Summit, MO (24) 20.267; 4. 88, Bob Hop, Mendota, MN (3) 20.366; 5. 43, Randy Smith, Norwalk, IA (12) 20.399; 6. 12, TJ Giddings, Kansas City, KS (10) 20.456; 7. 47, Billy Robison, Topeka, KS (18) 20.504; 8. 10, Jimmy Sills, Sacramento, CA (33) 20.532; 9. 42H, Glenn Hughes Jr., Denver, MO (6) 20.552; 10. 55, Tim Green, Carmichael, CA (27) 20.583; 11. 71x, Manny Rockhold, Pekin, IL (35) 20.620; 12. 7x, Lenard McCarl, Des Moines, IA (15) 20.649; 13. 1A, Jerry Potter, Kansas City, MO (31) 20.688; 14. 51, Con Edwards, Altoona, IA (23) 20.690; 15. 9, John McCoy, Knoxville, IA (8) 20.759; 16. 48T, Bob Thompson, Des Moines, IA (29) 20.782; 17. 5, Lynn McIntosh, Thunder Bay, ONT, Can. (1) 20.895; 18. 34, Mike Pinckney, Des Moines, IA (14) 21.072; 19. 21, Mark Shaffer, Newton, IA (28) 21.237; 20. 37, Mike Thomas, Des Moines, IA (13) 21.289; 21. 23s, Cliff Blundy, Metamora, IL (22) 21.303; 22. 14, Mackie Heimbaugh, Des Moines, IA (19) 21.315; 23. 1, Sonny Smyser, Lancaster, MO (9) 21.372; 24. 2, Galen Martin, Fairfield, IA (25) 21.402; 25. 9x, Mike Proffitt, Pleasantville, IA (7) 21.527; 26. 27, Ed Grant, Canton, IL (20) 21.584; 27. 81, Cliff Woodward, Kearney, MO (2) 21.626; 28. 6T, Gary Dunkle, Waverly, NE (30) 21.726; 29. 54K, Roger Hurst, Kansas City, MO (4) 21.964; 30. 48, Tim Deaver, Knoxville, IA (17) 21.995; 31. 76, Steve Hainline, Bonaparte, IA (34) 22.182; 32. 43H, Glenn Hughes Sr., Denver, MO (36) 22.514; 33. 10x, Dean Smith, Humboldt, IA (26) 22.651; 34. 75, Charles Findley, Albany, MO (16) 23.517; 35. 23, Roger Lechtenberg, Dysart, IA (5) 23.827; 36. 18, Bill Hetrick Jr., Carman, IL (32) NT; 37. *.

Trophy Dash (started), 5 laps, 1:42.93: 1. Randy Smith (2) 2. Gary Scott (4) 3. TJ Giddings (1) 4. Doug Wolfgang (6) 5. John Stevenson (5) 6. Bob Hop (3)

Heat one – slow (started), 8 laps, 2:53.70: 1. Cliff Woodward (8) 2. Glenn Hughes Sr. (3) / 3. Dean Smith (2) 4. Charles Findley (1) 5. Ed Grant (9) 6. Tim Deaver (5) … also: Steve Hainline (4), Roger Hurst (6), Gary Dunkle (7), Mike Proffitt (10) DNS – Roger Lechtenberg, Bill Hetrick Jr., *

Heat two (started), 8 laps, NT: 1. Cliff Blundy (2) 2. Gary Scott (8) 3. John McCoy (4) 4. Glenn Hughes Jr. (6) 5. Lenard McCarl (5) 6. TJ Giddings (7) / … also: Galen Martin (1), Mike Pinckney (3)

Heat three (started), 8 laps, 2:51.36: 1. Lynn McIntosh (3) 2. John Stevenson (8) 3. Jimmy Sills (6) 4. Mike Thomas (2) 5. Manny Rockhold (5) 6. Randy Smith (7) / … also: Sonny Smyser (1), Con Edwards (4)

Heat four (started), 8 laps, 2:52.31: 1. Mark Shaffer (2) 2. Doug Wolfgang (8) 3. Mackie Heimbaugh (1) 4. Jerry Potter (4) 5. Billy Robison (6) 6. Tim Green (5) / … also: Bob Thompson (3), Bob Hop (7)

B main (started), 10 laps, 3:32.57 (NTR): 1. Bob Hop (6) 2. Bob Thompson (4) / 3. Mike Pinckney (3) 4. Galen Martin (2) 5. Con Edwards (5) 6. Ed Grant (1) … also: Tim Deaver (7), Steve Hainline (8), Dean Smith (9), Charles Findley (10) DNS – Sonny Smyser, Mike Proffitt, Gary Dunkle, Roger Hurst, Roger Lechtenberg, Bill Hetrick Jr., *

A main (started), 20 laps, NT: 1. Doug Wolfgang (6) 2. Gary Scott (4) 3. Randy Smith (3) 4. Billy Robison (1) 5. Jimmy Sills (7) 6. Tim Green (9) 7. Jerry Potter (12) 8. Manny Rockhold (10) 9. Bob Hop (21) 10. Glenn Hughes Jr. (8) 11. Cliff Woodward (19) 12. Mark Shaffer (15) 13. John McCoy (11) 14. Mackie Heimbaugh (18) 15. Bob Thompson (22) 16. Lynn McIntosh (14) 17. Glenn Hughes Sr. (20) 18. Mike Thomas (16) 19. TJ Giddings (2) 20. Cliff Blundy (17) 21. Lenard McCarl (11) 22. John Stevenson (5). Lap Leaders: Giddings 1-7, Scott 8-9, Wolfgang 10-20.

If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me! 
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com

is it just me or does Knox look like it has some banking back then?

Knoxville sure looked alot like Eldora back then, Its obvious the track has had several degrees of banking taken out since But its no wonder why the rim riders used to defy gravity back then

I loved what Wolfie said about the Howells car how " it had cow shit from north dakota and pidgeon shit on it from the dirt floor barn, and it barely had any paint on it but it ran damn strong"

That photo definitely shows a car hooked up!! looks kinda cool without the billboard on top

Thanks for a GREAT pic, Porsche Pete. Thanks also to Bill W for the results page from that night.

Not to many Wing boys around today that would comfortable with that car laying over on the Rt rear.

Doug Howells used to bring that car to Winnipeg and area tracks. Looked just like Wolf said but ran like a bear. Was hard to beat anywhere. Proves that good looks don't win races.