Clanton a First Time Winner at Knoxville

 I have been a faithful attendee of the final night of the Lucas Oil late model nationals at Knoxville, Iowa for all of the previous fifteen years of its existence. The only 100 lap finale I missed was in 2009 when treacherous track conditions prompted track officials to move the feature back to Sunday. But for all most of those years, the risk of taking two vacation days to make the trip to the qualifying nights seemed too great given the fickle fall mid western weather. So part of my retirement " bucket list " was to take in at least the Thursday night event before any of the participants decided to load up and head home. For the first time in 2018 I was able to do so, mooching a ride from Positively Racing guru Jeff Broeg. Apparently I was not too big of a pain, as Jeff invited me to again tag along from Mt. Pleasant this year. The fly in the ointment, however was a weather forecast that would have likely made me cancel those vacation days during my working years. You can call us optimists or even foolish, but after several conversations, we decided to roll the dice, as the forecasted storms seemed to be breaking up as they approached the Marion County Fairgrounds.
  Although we drove through a few sprinkles en route, no moisture had fallen all day at the track, and with a slight breeze, it was a delightful evening, weather wise.
  The track and series officials presented the single class, fifty five car program as though rain might be coming, and while hot laps may have started a bit later than the 6:45 advertised time, the program, consisting of time trials, six twelve lap heat races, a pair of fifteen lap B mains, and a twenty five lap $7,000 to win feature wrapped up before 9:45! Of course, having only two yellow flags all night long contributed to the speed of the program, as well as a testament to excellent track prep and skillful driving.
  Jeff has a detailed account of the action on his " Backstretch " column on this site, so I will just add some random musings.
  It is no secret that the " professional " series drivers tirelessly advocate for straight up heat race starts based on qualifying times. However Knoxville, with their unique points formula stands firm on their invert format, with the result being heat races which require drivers to actually " race " their way into and through the main events leading up to the Saturday 100 lap $40,000 to win finale. Georgia driver Shane Clanton was the only one to time below eighteen seconds in qualifying, with a lap of 17.932 seconds. This landed him outside row three in the first heat from where he worked his way to the third and final transfer spot. Starting seventh in the main event, he charged to the lead right at the half way point, then cruised to the victory. Shane was clearly the class of the field on Thursday, and the outcome likely would have been a similar one with a straight up start, but under this format he was forced to pass two cars in the heat and six in the feature, creating a much more entertaining program.
  There were several home state drivers in the field who turned in solid runs on Thursday. Brian Birkhofer in a new Jason Rauen owned Rocket car, qualified second out of heat one. Jeremiah Hurst, who has announced his team will switch to open engine racing in 2020 led the second heat until the final turn, finishing second to Bobby Pierce, while Chris Simpson came home in third. Tyler Bruening gave up the lead to Darrell Lanigan with three laps left in heat five, then held on for second. And Chad Simpson, wheeling the Moring Motorsports #1 raced home second in the final B main. Bruening ( sixth ) and Chris Simpson ( tenth ) also had impressive runs in the feature.
  Two former champions of the event were on the pre entry list but failed to show. One of them, Mike Marlar, is rumored to be racing in the NASCAR Xfinity series this weekend. The other, Brian Shirley is possibly down a crew man, although neither has been confirmed.
  Action will resume tonight, Friday, with another complete show. Drivers will then be able to keep their best points night of the two to determine their starting spot in either the B main or the big dance on Saturday.
  With points awarded for time trials, heats, and the feature, the leaders from Thursday racing are as follows: Clanton, Lanigan, Ricky Thornton Jr. Tyler Erb, and Ricky Weiss. Iowa drivers Chris Simpson and Breuning are next, followed by Earl Pearson Jr., Brandon Sheppard, and Devin Moran. As mentioned, all drivers can take their best night of two, with the top twenty four locked in for the Saturday finale, while another six or so will be added from the B main, along with possible " emergency provisionals " for eligible non qualified Lucas Oil regulars.
  The feature top ten on Thursday was Clanton, Tyler Erb, Lanigan, Weiss, Thornton Jr., Bruening, Sheppard, Moran, Pierce, and Chris Simpson, so you can see that qualifying times and heat finishes play a roll in point accumulation.
  As of now the weather looks good, and I plan to be back at the historic 1/2 mile for the sixteenth edition of the fall classic on Saturday, so check back on Sunday for a recap. Maybe I will see you in Knoxville!