HARRISBURG, N.C. — I’m not very good at math, and I’ve never studied probability and statistics. Therefore, I’m guessing the odds of correctly predicting the top-three finishers in the 62nd running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway are about the same as hitting the Powerball jackpot.
But let’s dust off the ole crystal ball and give it a whirl anyway.
Here are my podium picks — in order — for the Saturday night, Aug. 12, finale of sprint car racing’s premier event:
Rico Abreu in action earlier this season at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway. (Mark Funderburk photo)Rico Abreu, St. Helena, Calif. — Long a fan favorite, this is the year the 2014 USAC Midget Series champion will send the huge Knoxville Nationals crowd into an absolute frenzy when he takes the checkered flag. The roar will be louder than in 1990 when Bobby Allen upset the field.
Running a true “outlaw” schedule, Abreu won four times during the first half of the year with an average finish of 6.147 — so the performance is definitely there.
Abreu also has an ace up his sleeve in veteran crew chief Ricky Warner, a 10-time Knoxville Nationals winner while turning wrenches for Donny Schatz.
Carson Macedo, Lemoore, Calif. — Macedo and the Jason Johnson Racing team will come up one spot short, but it will be the team’s best Nationals performance since the late Jason Johnson drove the No. 41 car to victory in 2016.
A four-time feature winner prior to July 1, Macedo’s fiery crash during the World of Outlaws’ June visit to Knoxville will have no impact on his performance as the Philip Dietz-prepared entry will be fast every time it hits the race track.
Brian Brown, Higginsville, Mo. — The six-time Knoxville Raceway track champion will have his best Nationals effort since finishing second to Schatz in 2014. He’ll lead the early laps but will be unable to fend off Abreu and Macedo after the fuel stop.
Brown was a three-time winner during the first half of the season, with one of those victories coming over the World of Outlaws at Knoxville in early June.
■ There has been a lot of talk about prize money in sprint car recently, and the Aug. 9-12 Knoxville Nationals will conclude the Summer of Money.
The total purse for this year’s Nationals is $1,159,005 with $185,000 earmarked for the winner of the 50-lap finale on Saturday night.
Let’s compare those numbers to some from the earlier editions of sprint car racing’s signature event:
During the inaugural running of the Knoxville Nationals in 1961, the two-day event carried a $5,455 purse and winner Roy Robbins banked $1,000.
The purse didn’t top $10,000 until 1966 when the expanded three-day event had $15,250 in prize money. Jay Woodside’s victory was worth $2,500.
The payoff continued to climb but didn’t top $100,000 until 1982 when Steve Kinser collected $10,000 from the $100,500 purse for his third consecutive Nationals victory.
The 1995 Knoxville Nationals saw the total prize money top $500,000 for the first time as Kinser’s 11th triumph was worth $100,000 from a $501,000 purse.
The $1 million mark was finally broken in 2021 when winner Kyle Larson took home $176,000 for his Saturday night drive in Paul Silva’s No. 57 sprint car. The total purse that year was $1,064,855.
■ Racing lost one of its biggest supporters June 30 when 88-year-old Jean Lynch, of Apollo, Pa., passed away. The third female inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, Lynch was the matriarch of a racing family that included her husband, Ed; son, Ed Jr.; and grandson, Sye.
Lynch also worked as a promoter, publicist and scorer in addition to managerial roles with DIRT, the All Star Circuit of Champions and Ohio Sprint Speedweek.
“I hear new things every week about her achievements. Just when you think you know everything she’s done, I swear you hear new stories,” Sye Lynch told SPEED SPORT in 2021. “So many people look up to her. Everyone that I know in sprint car racing knows her, or at least knows of her, and knows what she’s done. Back in her day, women didn’t really have a place in racing and for her to do what she did I think is just incredible.”
■ According to the Chicago Sun-Times, a bright yellow Corvette with red flames somehow found its way onto the Chicago Street Race circuit around 9 p.m. local time on Saturday night of the NASCAR weekend.
Officers stopped the unauthorized car near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Balboa Drive, and the 46-year-old driver was reportedly taken into custody without making wall contact.
This story appeared in the July 26, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
