KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Terry McCarl won his 59th career main event in the 410 class at the Knoxville Raceway on Saturday night.
It was worth $4,000 to the Altoona, Iowa, driver aboard the Destiny Motorsports No. 4 machine. It puts the veteran who is in third place on the all-time wins list here just one victory behind the 60 that Doug Wolfgang notched.
Ryan Giles topped a 48-car 360 sprint car field to earn $3,000. Matthew Stelzer made it three for three in wins this season with the Pro Sprint Series presented by Pace Performance.
McCarl started outside row one and outdueled pole-sitter Brooke Tatnell to stripe completing lap one. Kerry Madsen had already moved up to third from outside row six. Madsen continued his pursuit by shooting by Tatnell for second on the second lap. Five laps in, quick timer Trey Starks slowed his mount in turn four to bring the only caution of the event.
The restart saw McCarl leading Madsen, Tatnell, Austin McCarl and Wayne Johnson back to green. Madsen and Tatnell exchanged second, but Madsen took the spot for good, while Justin Henderston moved into the top five. Terry McCarl entered lapped traffic by lap ten.
While the veteran leader maneuvered through traffic, Davey Heskin was using the bottom to move into the top five himself. A pair of near disasters in lapped traffic late almost ended McCarl’s run, but he escaped and drove to his first win here since 2017. Madsen maintained second, ahead of Tatnell, Austin McCarl and Heskin. Henderson, Matt Juhl, Johnson, Tasker Phillips and hard-charger Mark Dobmeier, who overcame a heat mishap, completed the top ten. Mike Reinke, Phillips and Johnson won heat races.
“We’ve been struggling really, even last year,” said McCarl in Victory Lane. “We were trying things and once I was injured, I didn’t think we had anything to lose. Steve (Fitzpatrick) and Doug (Rankin) liked to experiment and sometimes it hurt us and sometimes it helped us. It’s been a while since I had a car like that where I could change directions. When Kerry’s behind us, you certainly never let up. He’s such a great driver with such a great team. It’s (Destiny Motorsports) first 410 win at Knoxville, and that means a lot to me.”
The finish:
Terry McCarl, Kerry Madsen, Brooke Tatnell, Austin McCarl, Davey Heskin, Justin Henderson, Matt Juhl, Wayne Johnson, Tasker Phillips, Mark Dobmeier, Josh Schneiderman, Chris Martin, Craig Dollansky, Sawyer Phillips, Mike Reinke, Chase Wanner, Jeremy Schultz, A.J. Moeller, Bobby Mincer, Mike Terry Jr., Joe Simbro, Matt Stephenson, Trevor Mell, Trey Starks.