Sprint car racing doesn’t get any bigger each year than the Knoxville Nationals in August. Drawing the biggest field of cars and fans from all around the globe, the 54th running of the four-day, $150,000-to-win, prestigious event got underway for Craig Dollansky and the Big Game Treestands #7 team.
After rain showers on Wednesday, the second split qualifying night on Friday saw 53 drivers sign into the Knoxville Raceway. Drawing an early pill for time trials, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ started the racing program in the best way possible motoring to quick-time at 14.934 seconds. With everyone vying for points each time on the track, the next hurdle was heat action which showcases the best racing all week due to the inversion process. Starting outside row four in heat one and needing to finish in the top-four to transfer directly into the feature, the Aggressive Hydraulics #7 raced into fifth as laps wound down. Appearing to be on the outside looking in, Dollansky made significant ground on Brady Bacon in turns 1 & 2 on the final lap before powering high into turns 3 and around the outside of Bacon coming out of turn 4 to steal the final transfer in the 10-lap event.
An inversion of the eight fastest qualifiers who transferred through their heats then put the Eyecon Trail Cameras Maxim again outside row four for the 25-lap A-Main. Following a caution on lap 2, Dollansky battled with Justin Henderson taking the position on lap 11 entering turn three. After another yellow one circuit later, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ raced David Gravel for a spot in the top-five before capturing the position after a restart on lap 22. With just three laps remaining, Gravel snuck by the #7 after Dollansky ran low on fuel on the final lap finishing 6th and registering the 3rd most points of the night and 7th overall of the 105 total competitors.
“I was definitely happy with our qualifying effort, it was something we’ve been working on with Guy in the short amount of time we’ve been together,” commented Dollansky. “ I was happy with the results from Friday night and that put us in a good position for Saturday.”
With attention shifted to Saturday, the #7 team led by Guy Forbrook prepared the Big Game Treestands sprinter for the 50-lap A-Main with $150,000 on the line and the most prestigious trophy in sprint car racing.
When the green flag waved on the A-Main, Dollansky had an outstanding start but a caution resulted in a complete restart. Stealing fifth from Terry McCarl before another yellow on lap 3, the Aggressive Hydraulics backed sprinter lost the same spot to Justin Henderson eight circuits later. Waging a three way battle with McCarl and Henderson, Dollansky ran sixth before the planned halfway stoppage on lap 25.
After the #7 crew changed tires and fueled up for the final half, the Elk River, Minnesota native cracked the top-five on lap 29 and closed on Shane Stewart with fourteen to go, getting by the #2 on lap 40 before the final caution set up a ten lap dash to the finish. When the green replaced the yellow, Dollansky worked the bottom masterfully to pull even with Kerry Madsen. Racing closely with the #29, the #7 couldn’t quite capture the position still taking the checkered flag with a fourth place finish in the biggest race of the season.
“The first segment it seemed like we were a bit off with our car but made some adjustments for the second half,” explained the pilot of the #7. “We had a mechanical issue develop that was progressively getting worse, we feel like we left a little bit out there but at the end of the day it was a good finish for our entire team.”
- Craig Dollansky Racing on Aug 13, 2014
- Article Date: 8/13/2014 by Reid VanEck - CDR Public Relations