By Tony Veneziano
Knoxville, IA- June 4, 2010- With a trio of Hall of Famers competing in the inaugural Hall of Fame Classic Presented by Mediacom for the World of Outlaws at the legendary Knoxville Raceway, it was only fitting that one of them was in Victory Lane at the end of the night on Friday. That driver was Jac Haudenschild, a 2009 inductee into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, who outdistanced Brian Brown on a couple of restarts with two laps remaining to score his second win of the season.
With his win on Friday night, Haudenschild has now won a total of 16 times at the half-mile in his illustrious career, including in 11 events with the World of Outlaws. The $10,000 triumph was his first at the half-mile since 1999 and his first in a World of Outlaws event at Knoxville since 1998. The native of Wooster, Ohio now has 53 career World of Outlaws A-Feature wins.
“I’m glad to win,” said Haudenschild. “We have a good combination with this XXX car and Leonard Lee working on it and we have a great car owner in Lon Carnahan. The car felt good tonight and it’s always good to pick up wins.”
Making the win extra special for Haudenschild was the fact that he will be able to attend the Hall of Fame Inductions on Saturday, after missing the ceremony last season when he was inducted, as the World of Outlaws were racing elsewhere.
“It’s a great honor to be in the Hall of Fame and we are glad to be in there,” said the winner. “I’ve always enjoyed racing here at Knoxville. I like this race track and I like the big half-miles. Hopefully we can come back and win again tomorrow night.”
Haudenschild started on the pole and jumped to an early lead over Brian Brown and Mark Dobmeier. While that pair battled for the second spot, Haudenschild was able to open a comfortable lead as he negotiated lapped traffic. The first 23 laps of the race went non-stop before a caution flew on the 24th circuit when Donny Schatz lost a tire while running sixth. On the ensuing double file restart, Haudenschild chose the low side of the track. He used a strong restart to lead the field into turn one, only to have the caution come out again. On the second restart he again had a good run down the front straightaway and was able to pull away from Brown over the last two laps aboard the Owens-Corning Fiberglass XXX.
“Usually when you start on the bottom here it’s a better take off,” noted the veteran. “Really the car felt good anywhere tonight. I just needed to get a good run off the bottom and keep doing what I was doing.”
Brown looked low on the initial start in turns three and four on Haudenschild, but could not quite get a run on him aboard the FVP Maxim. He had Mark Dobmeier battle him for a number of laps early in the race for the runner-up spot. Brown tried everything he could on the two double file restarts with two laps to go, but was not only battling Haudenschild, but also his own car.
“I was kind of biding my time there,” said Brown. “I had a left rear tire going down the last few laps. Jac (Haudenschild) and his crew did a great job tonight. I think the best car won tonight and I’m just happy to get a Top-Three finish for FVP and all of our great marketing partners. After last night crashing in the heat and blowing that left rear tire, you can’t beat coming home on the podium.”
Tyler Walker finished third in the Hunter Truck Sales Maxim to earn his best finish of the season with the World of Outlaws and his best finish at Knoxville since 2003. He lined up fifth on the final two restarts and was able to charge past Kraig Kinser and Mark Dobmeier to score the podium finish.
“We had a good car and I was trying to feel my tires,” said Walker. “I think we had better tires than anyone on the restarts. We’re working with some new cars and we needed a little more wing to get these guys, but Jac Haudenschild is awesome here. Thanks to Jesse Keen and this entire team. They are working very very hard.
Brown was able to close in on Haudenschild a couple of times during the 25-lapper as the leaders found themselves in traffic for the majority of the contest. On a very fast track only one car that was running was a lap down, with the leaders trying to get by the cars on the tail end of the lead lap.
“The car was pretty good in traffic,” shared the native of Grain Valley, Missouri. “We kind of got in line there and I really didn’t want to see that last yellow. I really thought we had a shot and something for him and it didn’t work out. It was just one of those deals.”
Lucas Wolfe came home fourth in the Allebach Racing Maxim to earn his seventh Top-Five finish of the season and his third in the last four races as he continues to close in on his first career World of Outlaws win. The 2008 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner lined up seventh on the double file restart with two laps remaining and was able to get around Kerry Madsen, Kraig Kinser and Mark Dobmeier.
“I’m happy to have a good run and we had a good starting position through the format tonight,” said Wolfe. “There were a lot of good cars here and the competition was tough. We were racing up there with some good cars and didn’t have quite good enough car tonight. We got a lucky break on that last restart and got a good run on the bottom and were able to pick up a few spots. Hopefully that gives a little momentum going into tomorrow night.”
Kerry Madsen finished fifth in the Halls Haulage KPC to earn his fifth Top-10 finish of the season with the World of Outlaws and his first Top-Five. Jason Sides came all the way from the 17th starting spot to finish sixth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award.
Kraig Kinser was seventh in the Quaker State Maxim, with Mark Dobmeier eighth piloting the Senske & Son J&J. Brad Sweet came home ninth in the Great Clips Maxim, with Hall of Famer and three-time World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell coming from 18th to finish 10th in the Big Game Treestands Maxim.
The Hall of Fame Classic Presented by Mediacom which was lined up by an inversion of the Top-20 finishers from Thursday night’s main event offered “Show-up Points” for all competitors.
The Mediacom Shootout wraps up for the World of Outlaws on Saturday, June 5 at Knoxville Raceway with a full night of racing.
HALL OF FAME CLASSIC PRESENTED BY MEDIACOM NOTES
•KNOXVILLE RACEWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Ed Lynch Jr. won the first Last Chance Showdown. Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the second Last Chance Showdown.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 23 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include: Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway), Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway and Eldora Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway and Knoxville Raceway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park and Jackson Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park and The Dirt Track at Charlotte), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park and Tri-City Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway) and Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway).
•HALF-MILE WINNERS: Knoxville Raceway is a semi-banked half-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced 14 times at a track that size in 2010. The winners include: Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and I-96 Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park and Jackson Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Knoxville Raceway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway), Joey Saldana (Eldora Speedway), Jason Sides (Tri-City Speedway), Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park) and Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Hall of Fame Classic Presented by Mediacom; Knoxville, IA; June 4, 2010
B-main (12 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to A-main) – Starting Position [#]
1) 2L-Ed Lynch Jr.[2]
2) 13-Daryn Pittman[4]
3) 4X-Toni Lutar[3] [$200]
4) 1J-Bronson Maeschen[7] [$180]
5) 7K-Robby Wolfgang[5] [$175]
6) 49J-Josh Schneiderman[1] [$160]
7) 69-Mike Moore[9] [$150]
8) 6R-Ryan Bunton[6] [$150]
9) 2W-Johnny Herrea[8] [$150]
B-main (12 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to A-feature) – Starting Position [#]
1) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[1]
2) 47-Don Droud Jr.[5]
3) 15X-Adam Wilt[2] [$200]
4) 22-Brian Ellenberger[4] [$180]
5) 56-Davey Heskin[9] [$175]
6) 1X-Randy Hannagan[6] [$160]
7) 2B-Ben Gregg[8] [$150]
8) 3C-Cale Conley[7] [$150]
9) 91X-Dusty Zomer[3] [$150]
A-main (25 laps) – Starting Position [#]
1) R19-Jac Haudenschild[1] [$10,000]
2) 21-Brian Brown[2] [$5,000]
3) 17-Tyler Walker[5] [$3,000]
4) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[6] [$2,700]
5) 3-Kerry Madsen[12] [$2,500]
6) 7S-Jason Sides[17] [$2,200]
7) 11K-Kraig Kinser[4] [$2,000]
8) 13L-Mark Dobmeier[3] [$1,800]
9) 49-Brad Sweet[9] [$1,600]
10) 1-Sammy Swindell[18] [$1,450]
11) 63-Chad Kemenah[7] [$1,300]
12) 91-Paul McMahan[10] [$1,200]
13) 7-Craig Dollansky[11] [$1,100]
14) 15-Donny Schatz[8] [$1,000]
15) 30C-Lance Dewease[13] [$950]
16) 9-Joey Saldana[16] [$900]
17) 14-Jason Meyers[19] [$850]
18) 47-Don Droud Jr.[24] [$750]
19) 13-Daryn Pittman[23] [$725]
20) 11-Steve Kinser[15] [$700]
21) 2L-Ed Lynch Jr.[21] [$700]
22) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[22] [$700]
23) 59-Brooke Tatnell[20] [$700]
24) 6-Danny Lasoski[14] [$700]
Lap Leaders: Jac Haudenschild 1-25
KSE Hard Charger Award: Jason Sides
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Chizmark & Larson Insurance , Goodyear Tires (Official Tire), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, KSE Race Products, Penske Shocks , R2C Performance, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo; Engine Builder’s Challenge participants Don Ott Racing Engines, Kistler Engines, Shaver Specialties and Speedway Engines; and Chassis Builder’s Challenge participants J&J Auto Racing, Maxim Racing and XXX Race Company.