Seven-time Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway track champion, Terry McCarl, has exchanged his usual No. 24 sprint car for a throwback No. 7x for the 5-hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores. The No. 7x was driven by his father, Lenard McCarl, who passed away in the spring.
"Most people remember my father in a black and gold #7x," McCarl said. "Some of my best memories are of the blue and white car that he had in the mid-1970s. Our car will not only be patterned after that, but we will also have the original car from 1975 in our pit."
Lenard, a chassis builder and driver, built the No. 7x car in 1974 and raced it throughout the 1975 season. That year, the top-three cars in the Knoxville Raceway point standings that year were built by Lenard -- champion Roger Rager, Lenard in second and Steve Hainline third. Lenard won two feature events at Knoxville Raceway and was later inducted into the track's Hall of Fame.
Four McCarls have competed in the Knoxville Nationals including Lenard, Terry, brother Kenny and son Austin, who is also entered this year. The 56th running of the event will mark Terry's 30th career Knoxville Nationals, which is sixth on the all-time entry list. He has qualified for the Saturday finale 19 times, which ties him with Mark Kinser for fifth on the all-time qualifiers list. In his 19 starts, McCarl has earned four top-five and seven top-10 finishes. His career-best finish was a third-place effort in 2007. McCarls also has two preliminary wins at the Knoxville Nationals, including last August, when he won in exciting fashion after starting ninth.
Beyond the emotional factor of a possible Knoxville Nationals win for McCarl, from Altoona, Iowa, fans are also pulling for him due to an unfortunate and surprising statistic: no native-Iowan has ever won the Knoxville Nationals. Tied for third on the all-time Knoxville Raceway win list with Steve Kinser, McCarl appears to be the best bet to change that statistic.
Other entries received thus far for the 5-hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores include:
Colby Copeland of Roseville, Calif., has entered the Knoxville Nationals for the second time in his career. Copeland, driving the No. 18w, is hoping to improve on his 24th-place finish in the D-Main last year.
Craig Dollansky has earned an impressive 14 top-10 finishes in his 18 Knoxville Nationals finale starts. The Elk River, Minn., native will race the No. 2KS that he's currently sitting fourth in the points with at Knoxville Raceway.
David Gravel from Watertown, Conn., will race the No. 5 CJB Motorsports entry in the Knoxville Nationals. Gravel has qualified for the last four consecutive finales, posting a career-best finish of 13th in 2015. Gravel won the Wednesday preliminary feature event in 2013.
Kevin Hetrick of Gladstone, Ill., has entered the Knoxville Nationals in his No. 35 sprint car that he races regularly at Knoxville Raceway. Hetrick is a former 34 Raceway champion and has earned one 305 feature win at Knoxville Raceway in 2010.
Dean Jacobs of Wooster, Ohio will race the Seeling Motorsports No. 97 in the Knoxville Nationals. Jacobs has previously qualified for two Saturday finales with a career-best finish of eighth in 2000.
More confirmed drivers will be announced each week as we close in on the 56th running of sprint car racing's most prestigious event. An updated list can be found at www.knoxvilleraceway.com/Event/Knoxville-Nationals. The deadline for pre-entry is July 15.
The 56th annual 5-hour ENERGY® Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores kicks-off on Wednesday, August 10 and concludes on Saturday, August 13. The event features more than 100 drivers from around the United States, Australia and New Zealand, Nearly 21,000 spectators converge upon Knoxville for the event.
Tickets for the 5-hour ENERGY® Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores are available for purchase at www.knoxvilleraceway.com or by calling 641-842-5431. Four-day ticket packages are also available.
More information about Knoxville Raceway and the 5-hour ENERGY® Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores can be found at the aforementioned website, on Knoxville Raceway's Facebook page, @KnoxvilleRaces on Twitter and Knoxville Raceway on Instagram. The Knoxville Raceway app is also a free download for all Apple and Android phones and features live timing and scoring for every event.