WOO: Knoxville report 96-08-14 

              Mark Kinser Roars in Nationals Opener
                         By Richard Day
    KNOXVILLE, IA (August 14) - Mark Kinser took a giant step
toward what he hoped would be his first Amoco Knoxville Nationals
championship when the Skoal Outlaw Series opened the 36th annual
event Wednesday at Knoxville Raceway.
    In a Nationals where anything less than a championship would
be a disappointment, Kinser put together a near-flawless
performance on opening night. He broke the one-lap record Mike
Reinke set earlier this season, charged into second place from
the back row in the First Quaker State Heat Race and led the
final nine laps of the Preliminary Feature.
    "That was one of the toughest races I've run in a while,"
Mark told the capacity crowd from victory lane. "I was able to
run in the middle, on the high side and on the bottom. My crew
did a good job of preparing the #5M Wirtgen Maxim tonight.
    "The track was awesome. It always is when we come here to
Knoxville. The surface is always good. It's just one of those
places you look forward to running."
    Kinser, winner of seven World of Outlaws "A" Features at
Knoxville in the last three years, circled the legendary semi-
banked, 1/2-mile oval in 15.269 seconds, .007 faster than the
standard Reinke set earlier this season. He was rewarded with his
31st EcoWater Quick-Time Award of the year.
    Although Mark started the 20-lap Preliminary Feature outside
the fourth row - rather deep in the field for him - he was in
fourth place by lap five. Polesitter Todd Shaffer burst into the
lead as the green flag fell, and was approaching lapped traffic
when Daniel Coggeshell spun to a stop in the second corner late
in the sixth lap.
    Kenny Jacobs challenged Shaffer for first place as the green
flag replaced the yellow, but was unable to pull off the pass in
turn four. Sammy Swindell, who won the Third Quaker State Heat
Race from the 10th starting position, followed Mark past Jeff
Shepard two laps later.
    Kinser took the low line through turn three to pass Jacobs
for the runner-up spot late in the ninth lap. Swindell duplicated
the move to take over third place the next time around.
    Mark made another dash deep in the third corner to pass
Shaffer for the lead midway late in lap 12. Swindell, matching
Kinser move-for-move, passed Shaffer for second place in turn two
just seconds later.
    Kinser entered lapped traffic one lap later and, although he
raced through the backmarkers with ease, Swindell kept pace with
him. Sammy, keeping his #1 ChannelLock Gambler in the high
groove, caught Mark in the third corner with three laps remaining
but was unable to pass him.
    Swindell challenged for the lead until Mark executed a daring
move between four lapped cars midway through lap 19. Sammy passed
them seconds later, but was six car-lengths behind when Kinser
took the checkered flag.
    "I saw Sammy there several times and I had to pick my way
through lapped traffic," Mark said.
    Swindell praised his crew, adding that if he had driven the
car better he thought he could have won the race.
    "We'll take second; we had a good run," Sammy said. "The
driver just needs to do a better job. We had a pretty easy night;
didn't have to do much to the car. The car was really working
good. We'll bring it back Friday and see if we can do better."
    Shaffer held off Sammy's hard-charging brother, Jeff
Swindell, for third place. Shepard finished fifth, ahead of
Jacobs, Andy Hillenburg, Quaker State Heat Race winners Frankie
Kerr and Dave Calaman and Brent Antill.
    Jimmy Sills, who runs his own driving school in Placerville,
CA, recorded the 44th-fastest qualifying lap in the 72-car field,
but crashed into the retaining wall between turns one and two
seconds later. "Buckwheat" was taken to Knoxville Memorial
Hospital for observation, then released. His crew was unable to
get his car ready for him to start the "C" Feature, however. WoO
            1996 World of Outlaws/Skoal Outlaw Series
              36th Annual Amoco Knoxville Nationals
                Knoxville Raceway, Knoxville, IA
          Wednesday, August 14, Preliminary Program #1
    Qualifications:  1. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 15.269 (new one-
lap record); 2. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 7TW, 15.628; 3. Sammy
Swindell, Swindell 1, 16.652; 4. Danny Smith, Bodkins 00, 15.724;
5. Skip Jackson, Serace 55, 15.767 6. Scott Whitworth, Tall Corn
Racing 96, 15.805; 7. Paul McMahan, Roth 83, 15.818; 8. Dean
Jacobs, Jacobs 1F, 15.853; 9. Randy Hannagan, Peterson 2C,
15.873; 10. Jeff Shepard, Wahlie 1W, 15.906; 11. Randy Kinser,
Kinser 14K, 15.907; 12. Kenny Jacobs, Ashworth 92, 15.984; 13.
Mike Reinke, Cowman 02, 16.065; 14. Frankie Kerr, Shoff 23S,
16.069; 15. Tim Engler, Engler 73, 16.073; 16. Jeff Tuttle, Ball
3B, 16.075; 17. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 16.090; 18. Donny
Schatz, Schatz 15, 16.100; 19. Tony Moro, Moro 2M, 16.109; 20.
Johnny Herrera, Sonner 47, 16.129; 21. Ryan Jamison, Jamison 51J,
16.147; 22. Max Dumesny, Thompson 48, 16.200; 23. Lee Dunn, Dunn
81D, 16.214; 24. Todd Shaffer, Beam 88, 16.227; 25. Brent Antill,
Jordan Racing 1B, 16.243; 26. Joey Saldana, Stanton 75, 16.285;
27. Kevin Huntley, Johnson U2, 16.301; 28. Tyler Walker, Walker
35, 16.302; 29. Rick Martin, Martin 44, 16.343; 30. Chad Radel,
Strube 69S, 16.376; 31. John Kearney, Kearney 86, 16.390; 32.
Dave Calaman, Weikert 29W, 16.416; 33. Earnest Jennings, Jennings
61A, 16.427; 34. Tommie Estes, Jr., Threatt 29, 16.447; 35. Rick
Montgomery, Montgomery 9M, 16.466; 36. Brian Paulus, P&P
Motorsports 28, 16.466; 37. Todd Taeger, Taeger 7A, 16.501; 38.
Cris Eash, Eash 17E, 16.502; 39. Shane Stewart, Stewart 19S,
16.507; 40. Van Gurley, Jr., Gurley 3BV, 16.519; 41. Gary Wright,
Action Motorsports 9x, 16.530; 42. Tim Shaffer, J&M Motorsports
55T, 16.549; 43. Daniel Coggeshell, Coggeshell 3C, 16.614; 44.
Jimmy Sills, Berry 7, 16.627; 45. Ronnie Day, Davis 1S, 16.669;
46. Ray Lee Goodwin, Jr., Wertz 6E, 16.696; 47. Gerald Cressman,
Cressman 56C, 16.698; 48. John Hall, Hall 7H, 16.707; 49. Bobby
McMahan, Bailey 17, 16.749; 50. Wally Henson, Henson 6H, 16.777;
51. Nick LoSasso, LoSasso 51x, 16.813; 52. Judi Bates, Mourar
121, 16.826; 53. Robert Jackson, Lewis 2AU, 16.834; 54. Lyle
Howey III, Howey 55H, 16.867; 55. Calvin Landis, Landis 70,
16.904; 56. Tommy Scott, Scott 4S, 16.909; 57. Wayne Redmond,
Agri Sports 2H, 17.002; 58. Rod Holliday, Holliday 62, 17.026;
59. Tim Baker, Wandemheen 29V, 17.075; 60. Todd Wessels, Wessels
28W, 17.079; 61. Rich Brahmer, R&R Racing 26, 17.099; 62. Mark
Smyser, Smyser 69, 17.099; 63. Mallory Armfield, Armfield 5MA,
17.130; 64. Jim Bell, Steward 3, 17.369; 65. Steven King, King
65V, 17.446; 66. Spike Lempelius, Lempelius 52L, 17.505; 67. Ron
Rosenboom, Rosenboom 30, 17.516; 68. Michael Heronemus, Heronemus
64H, 17.752; 69. Keith Nafzger, B&N Motorsports 9B, 18.165; 70.
Bob Hildreth, Hildreth 55KC, 18.007; 71. Kent Wolters, Wolters
25, 18.667; 72. Tim Kuhn, Kuhn 11A, no time.
    Last-Chance Heat Race #1 (eight laps):  1. Judi Bates, 2.
Tommy Scott, 3. Lyle Howey III, 4. Rod Holliday, 5. Mark Smyser
($100); 6. Jim Bell ($75); 7. Todd Wessels ($50); 8. Ron
Rosenboom ($45); 9. Steven King ($40); 10. Kent Wolters ($35);
11. Bob Hildreth ($30). (first four qualified for the "C"
Feature)
    Last-Chance Heat Race #2 (eight laps):  1. Tim Baker, 2.
Robert Jackson, 3. Calvin Landis, 4. Wayne Redmond, 5. Mallory
Armfield ($100); 6. Michael Heronemus ($75); 7. Spike Lempelius
($50); 8. Rich Brahmer ($45); 9. Keith Nafzger ($40); 10. Earnest
Jennings ($35). (first four qualified for the "C" Feature)
    First Quaker State Heat Race (10 laps):  1. Van Gurley, Jr.,
2. Mark Kinser, 3. Joey Saldana, 4. Tim Shaffer, 5. John Kearney,
6. Ryan Jamison, 7. Scott Whitworth, 8. Randy Kinser, 9. Jeff
Tuttle, 10. Gerald Cressman. 2:51.1 (first four qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)
    Second Quaker State Heat Race (10 laps):  1. Dave Calaman, 2.
Kenny Jacobs, 3. Jeff Swindell, 4. Andy Hillenburg, 5. Paul
McMahan, 6. Kevin Huntley, 7. Todd Taeger, 8. John Hall, 9. Max
Dumesny ($50). DNS - Jimmy Sills. (first four qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)
    Third Quaker State Heat Race (10 laps):  1. Sammy Swindell,
2. Cris Eash, 3. Daniel Coggeshell, 4. Tyler Walker, 5. Donny
Schatz, 6. Mike Reinke, 7. Dean Jacobs, 8. Lee Dunn, 9. Tommie
Estes, Jr. ($50); 10. Bobby McMahan ($50). 2:47.1 (first four
qualified for the Preliminary Feature)
    Fourth Quaker State Heat Race (10 laps):  1. Frankie Kerr, 2.
Ronnie Day, 3. Shane Stewart, 4. Todd Shaffer, 5. Randy Hannagan,
6. Danny Smith, 7. Tony Moro, 8. Rick Montgomery, 9. Rick Martin,
10. Wally Henson. (first four qualified for the Preliminary
Feature)
    Fifth Quaker State Heat Race (10 laps):  1. Brian Paulus, 2.
Gary Wright, 3. Brent Antill, 4. Jeff Shepard, 5. Skip Jackson,
6. Ray Lee Goodwin, Jr., 7. Johnny Herrera, 8. Tim Engler, 9.
Nick LoSasso, 10. Chad Radel. (first four qualified for the
Preliminary Feature)
    C Feature (10 laps):  1. Jeff Tuttle, 2. Chad Radel, 3. Rick
Martin ($250); 4. Calvin Landis ($225); 5. Nick LoSasso ($200);
6. Gerald Cressman ($190); 7. Wayne Redmond ($180); 8. Wally
Henson ($170); 9. Lyle Howey III ($160); 10. Rod Holliday ($150);
11. Tommy Scott ($140); 12. Judi Bates ($150); 13. Tim Baker
($120); 14. Robert Jackson ($110). DNS - Max Dumesny, Jimmy
Sills, Tommie Estes, Jr., Bobby McMahan. (first two qualified for
the "B" Feature)
    B Feature (12 laps):  1. Danny Smith, 2. Dean Jacobs, 3. Skip
Jackson ($470); 4. Paul McMahan ($420); 5. Johnny Herrera ($350);
6. Randy Hannagan (320); 7. Kevin Huntley ($285); 8. Tim Engler
($250); 9. Tony Moro ($225); 10. Ryan Jamison ($210); 11. John
Kearney ($210); 12. Mike Reinke ($190); 13. Scott Whitworth
($175); 14. Jeff Tuttle ($320); 15. Chad Radel ($315); 16. Lee
Dunn ($160); 17. Ray Lee Goodwin, Jr. ($165); 18. Todd Taeger
($150); 19. John Hall ($145); 20. Rick Montgomery ($140); 21.
Randy Kinser ($135); 22. Donny Schatz ($150). (first two
qualified for the Preliminary Feature)
    Preliminary Feature (20 laps):  1. Mark Kinser ($4,100); 2.
Sammy Swindell ($2,625); 3. Todd Shaffer ($2,080); 4. Jeff
Swindell ($1,840); 5. Jeff Shepard ($1,580); 6. Kenny Jacobs
($1,500); 7. Andy Hillenburg ($1,380); 8. Frankie Kerr ($1,325);
9. Dave Calaman ($1,225); 10. Brent Antill ($1,090); 11. Joey
Saldana ($990); 12. Dean Jacobs ($1,050); 13. Cris Eash ($800);
14. Danny Smith ($860); 15. Tyler Walker ($580); 16. Van Gurley
Jr. ($525); 17. Daniel Coggeshell ($465); 18. Ronnie Day ($450);
19. Gary Wright ($425); 20. Tim Shaffer ($380);, 21. Brian Paulus
($425); 22. Shane Stewart ($390).
       Lap leaders:  Todd Shaffer 1-11, Mark Kinser 12-20
         EcoWater Quick-Time Award winner:  Mark Kinser
                               WoO
All information courtesy of MNI - Motorsport News International
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