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Tab Boyd Uses a Bird's-eye View to Help Drivers Keep that Mo-mentum

Tab Boyd on the job at Iowa Speedway in 2013.

From high atop Iowa Speedway, Tab Boyd keeps watch. Sporting three radios connected to his headset, he’s the eye in the sky guiding Sam Hornish Jr. out of the garage during a practice run.

“You got one coming out of turn four right now but after that you’re clear … C’mon … lotta room. You got one ten back but other that you’re good-ta-go … and clear .. clear-clear”

With a headset-sunglasses-cap combination that gives him the look of an NFL defensive coordinator, Tab Boyd works for Team Penske spotting for Joey Logano in NASCAR Sprint Cup and Hornish in NASCAR Nationwide.

Uncle pressdog’s Fireside Chat — Bristol and Sonoma Edition

Yo yo yo, what up peeps? Couple thing have jolted me out of my contented slumber and caused me to fire up the dark roast, so DRINK (coffee), ye BASTARDS and let’s discuss a case of no contact (Bristol) and contact (Sonoma). 

NASCAR at Bristol: How Kasey Kahne Became My Personal Hero —

Setting: Bristol Motor Speedway

Cast: Matt Kenseth, P1, Kasey Kahne P2, 15 laps to go.

Background Sound Effects: Steady stream of bitching on Twitter (Bitching on Twitter? SHOCKER) about how Bristol has lost its mojo. How the banging and “bump and run” style racing is gone forever. Sprinkle in the tinkle of tears of lamentation.

Cue the swelling musical scores ….

Schatz Carves Through the Field to Win 2013 Knoxville Nationals

Donny Schatz celebrates his 2013 Knoxville Nationals title with fans. (Photo courtesy Knoxvilleraces.com)

In 2012, Brian Brown could have used two more laps in the Knoxville National’s championship race. In 2013, he would have preferred the distance was 10 laps shorter.

In both 2012 and 2013, Brown finished second to Donny Schatz, who Saturday won his seventh Knoxville National's championship in eight years. In 2013 Schatz found yet another way to win, coming from his 21st-place start  to pass Brown for the lead in just 41 laps.

Knoxville Raceway Works to Balance Tradition and Heritage with Innovation

Fans fill the main concourse during 2012 Knoxville Nationals

Knoxville Raceway has a lot of people who are very concerned with what it does. Consider the constituencies:

• The track is governed by the 24-member Marion County Fair Board

• Operation since 1954 has raised Knoxville Raceway to cultural icon status and created a large cadre of long-time, hard-core fans who are passionate about the track and its heritage

• Local civic leaders recognize the track as a chief economic driver for the town of 7,300

All those interested parties — “stakeholders” in the business lexicon — means a lot of people expect to be heard on issues facing the track. Honoring its heritage has always been a big part of Knoxville Raceway. But at the same time the racing world is littered with once-mighty race tracks that are now abandoned to weeds because they rested on their legacy laurels rather than keeping up with the ever-evolving requirements for winning fans’ entertainment dollar.

Erin Crocker Describes the Wild Ride in a Sprint Car

Not only is sprint car driver Erin Crocker the only woman to ever qualify for the Knoxville Nationals A-Main, she’s done it twice, most recently in 2010. She’s also on the board of directors of the Knoxville Sprint Car Hall of Fame.

During a chat at Peace Tree Brewery in Knoxville this summer, Woman of pressdog® Erin talked about what it’s like to drive a winged sprint car.

pressdog: So in a sprint car you’ve got no mirrors, you’ve got no radio and spotter, is it just like mayhem? I always wondered about this .. are you just always focused forward.

Erin Crocker: You always focus forward.

pressdog: Can you hear other drivers?

Knoxville Nationals Ready to Host the Sprint Car World

Competing cars line up on the infield of the 2012 Knoxville Nationals

Part tradition, part innovation, part “cultural festival,” an annual celebration of winged sprint dirt track racing is set to transform an Iowa town of 7,300 into the Mecca of sprint car racing next week.

The 53rd Annual Knoxville Nationals — what amounts to a four-day racing tournament that has been described as the Super Bowl of sprint car racing — kicks off August 7 in Knoxville, Iowa.

Knoxville and Oskaloosa Kick off "Iowa Speed Week"

2012 Knoxville Nationals A-Main competitors salute the fans with a four-wide parade lap.

This just in from Knoxville Raceway PR ... it's a festival of central Iowa sprint car racing:

12th Annual Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speed Week Starts Thursday; Will Again Award Jesse Hockett “Mr. Sprint Car” Title

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (July 31, 2013) - Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, California, is the defending Jesse Hockett “Mr. Sprint Car” titlist and it appears that he will once again be a contender during the twelfth annual Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speed Week, August 1-10, between the half-mile dirt tracks in Knoxville and Oskaloosa. Larson, a regular with the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season, is expected to compete in a majority of the sprint car racing events at both Knoxville Raceway and the Southern Iowa Speedway during the ten-day period.