KNOXVILLE, Iowa — It can’t get much sweeter for Logan Wagner and Mike Wagner.
The father-son duo packed their merchandise van, spruced with new t-shirt designs for the big week and trekked 1,000 miles west to Knoxville, Iowa, to compete in the 60th annual Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway.
The younger Wagner is making his third Knoxville Nationals appearance and first in the famed Zemco Racing No. 1z machine, the ride that won a preliminary event in 2007 with Jeff Shepard and returned the year after with Stevie Smith to finish third on the final night.
Mike Wagner, meanwhile, makes his Knoxville Nationals debut after 36 years of dreaming about sprint car racing’s grand event.
“To come out here and finally have the funds and get the opportunity to run the Knoxville Nationals, that’s unheard of in the racing world,” Logan Wagner said of his father. “I don’t know anyone who has run 36 dedicated years of sprint car racing who hasn’t been out here. I’m happy for him and his crew.”
“It’s going to be a great experience for us,” Mike Wagner added. “I have to thank all my sponsors who put money on the race car because without them, I wouldn’t be here at all.”
The Wagners are currently reaping some of their better years in a sprint car.
Mike Wagner, with the help of Mac MaGee Motorsports, a small business known for its agricultural business and enterprise management, has more resources to work with than ever before.
Last year he won his first feature at Port Royal Speedway since 2014 and raced all of Pennsylvania Speedweek for the first time. This year, the elder Wagner has another win to his ledger, as well as six top-five finishes in 23 starts.
“We’ve been consistent, but not as much as I want,” said Mike Wagner, who will race at Knoxville for the first time since 2002 with the All Star Circuit of Champions this week. “Hopefully we’ll do good here and be good back home the rest of the year.”
In 2015 and’16, Mike Wagner sacrificed his chance at running the big event to field an entry for his son.
Logan Wagner finished 18th in the B-Main that featured Sammy Swindell, Greg Hodnett, Tim Shaffer, Christopher Bell and Aaron Reutzel, who actually edged Wagner by one spot for the event’s rookie of the year.
In 2016, Wagner placed 20th in the D-Main.
The Zemco Racing machine, as previously mentioned, is no stranger to the grounds of Knoxville. The team’s car that set the world record for fastest speed in a sprint car May 1994 at New York State Fair Speedway with Billy Pauch is on display in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
“The Zemco Car at Knoxville … I’m embracing this more than anything. Looking at it as a challenge and an opportunity. I think, early, if we can unload fast and check the boxes, we’ll be just fine.”
Logan Wagner takes his sterling consistency of 20 straight top 10s, 11 podium runs, and a pair of wins to the most fascinating stage in all of sprint car racing.
“I was on the road with [my wife] Kim, and I was like, ‘At one point do they say, this is a horse track, let’s make it a dirt track?’” Logan Wagner said. “Everyone got back from the war and I guess they were like, ‘We want a brotherhood that lasts. Let’s go race sprint cars.’”
“It’s truly something special to be a part of,” he added.” You don’t want to be scared about it. You don’t want to be apprehensive about it. You want to embrace it. That’s what I’m going for this week.”