Savage Words: Recapping Knoxville, through my dad's voice

The 63rd Knoxville Nationals wrapped up last week, and every year that massive sprint car event brings back so many memories for me.

Some of my earliest childhood smiles were created at that little spot just southeast of Des Moines. Over the years, the Nationals have become one of the bigger events on the motorsports calendar, and I’ve been around it for a minute or two to watch. My first Nationals was in 1979. I remember when it wasn’t the spectacle that it is today.

Part of the reason for its popularity and tremendous growth over the decades – and I’ll always believe it because I know it’s true – is from the early promotion the Nationals got in the 1970s from people like my dad. He was a media personality pioneer in sprint car racing, and his daily radio shows from Knoxville each August were that of legend.

He had multiple two-minute shows every hour over the four days at Knoxville that aired on several stations in the region. He hit some of the hot topics, but he mostly focused on how “our local guys” did at the world’s most prestigious sprint car race. 

He did his shows from the studios at 500-watt KNIA radio station in Knoxville. He also broadcast from the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame located outside Turn 2 at the track, and his early-morning shows were recorded on the motel telephone next to our beds. My brother and I many times woke to hearing him give his recap broadcast of the racing events the night before.

One year, my second Nationals in 1980, I sat on his lap from the press box atop the grandstands during the A feature. I knew then that I was watching something special.

I was a little kid when we went to KNIA each afternoon for his broadcast. His shows aired long before the Internet, social media and live stats were available on a phone. Back then, race fans in the Sioux Falls area hung on his every word and longed for his two-minute updates. The updates were recorded and edited, but he usually knocked them out in one take, which even as a naive little kid, was impressive to me.

So with the 63rd Nationals having gone checkered on Saturday night, here’s my recap of last week’s events and how “our local guys” did. Forgive me for a trip down memory lane, but I encourage you to read the following in my father’s voice, which he would have done on Sunday morning following the race:

“Here we go. Knoxville Nationals in 3…2…1: From the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxv” 

(Cough)...followed by a big swig of coffee.

“Let’s try that again.”

(Clears throat).

“Knoxville Nationals in 3…2…1: From the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa.

Tom Savage here from Knoxville Raceway and the famed Knoxville Nationals where last night Kyle Larson won the championship for the third time in four years. The talented driver and current NASCAR points leader is racing later today in the Cookout 400 from Richmond, Va.

Of the 105 teams that participated in this year’s Nationals, six came from South Dakota with Tea’s Justin Henderson having the best outcome. Henderson was the only South Dakotan to qualify for Saturday night’s A feature where he finished 24th. It was Henderson’s sixth time qualifying for the national championship race and he did so by finishing fourth in Friday night’s Hard Knox Preliminary event. Henderson initially qualified on Thursday night with a lap of 16.228 seconds, good enough for 21st. 

Dusty Zomer of Brandon also qualified on Thursday night and turned the sixth quickest lap in a time of 16.017 seconds. He started Saturday’s B feature on the outside of the fourth row. He finished sixth in that race, missing out on the national championship race by two spots.

Tea’s Matt Juhl may have pulled the surprise of the week when he was the top qualifier on Wednesday night with a lap of 15.431 seconds. His strong qualifying effort to open the Nationals on Wednesday helped catapult him to a fifth place starting position in the B feature on Saturday night where he eventually finished 11th.

Current Huset’s points leader Kaleb Johnson qualified on the outside of the seventh row in Saturday’s B feature before finishing 24th. The Sioux Falls native qualified 34th quick on Thursday night with a time of 16.489 seconds.

Kevin Ingle of Huron started 13th and finished 15th in Saturday’s E feature. Ingle qualified 51st on Wednesday in a time of 17.296 seconds.

Clint Garner of Sioux Falls turned a lap of 16.264 seconds on Thursday night, good enough for 40th. He qualified for Saturday’s E feature, but did not start.

Tom Savage here from the Nationals. Until next time, so long from Knoxville.