KNOXVILLE, Iowa — In dirt-track preparation circles, no one is as revered as the Dunkin family. The family has been instrumental in the preparation of the famed Knoxville Raceway since the 1950s.
Chris Dunkin heads the current team, which will see some definite challenges with this weekend’s three-night program that includes Friday’s debut appearance of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the historic half-mile oval.
It all starts with a practice session for the Truck Series on Thursday that leads into Friday night’s Corn Belt 150. Saturday, the $20,000-to-win Corn Belt Clash welcomes the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Series. Knoxville’s 410 winged sprint cars will also race on Saturday night.
Dirt-track operators from around the world have spent a week at a time with Dunkin’s crew, trying to glean information to take home to their local tracks. Though NASCAR officials want Dunkin to do what he does, they do have a stipulation that throws a monkey wrench at the track prep team.
“They have told me, ‘No mud,’” Dunkin said. “NASCAR had two reasons. Number one, they have windshields. Number two, they don’t want to pack the radiators full of mud.”
Dunkin wants to learn from his experience with preparing for the June 19 Superstar Racing Experience at the Sprint Car Capital of the World.
“I’d like to see it dry, but tacky to start with. We’re going to put water on it, but not as much as usual,” Dunkin explained. “We’re going to work up to 6:05 or when the heat races are set to start. I’d hope to have it dry, but tacky so we can have zero dust. It’s not muddy, it’s just got a sticky consistency. We’ll go out on Wednesday like we normally do with water the day before. We need moisture in there. To start the SRX race, we had dust and we don’t want that again.”
The art of dirt preparation has one ultimate chief.
“Mother Nature will play so much into that day,” Dunkin continued. “If it’s dry air … we always watch dew point and humidity. The humidity was in the teens for our Outlaw show here (the show saw a rare reworking of the track), and we rarely see that. That’s no aid to us. If it’s like that it’s going to be harder. We’d much rather see some humidity in the air.”
It will definitely be a different Knoxville than sprint car fans are used to seeing.
“We’ll try to get it ‘dry sticky’ for Thursday (practice sessions) and we’ll all learn,” Dunkin explained. “We’ll see what we like, and what they do and don’t like. We’ll adjust from there for Friday night.”
When the Truck Series race concludes on Friday night, few will remain at the Marion County Fairgrounds to see Dunkin and crew burning the midnight oil in preparation for Saturday’s sprint car races.
Dunkin is aware the turnaround will be a big challenge.
“I think having a race track that’s bone dry with all the trucks going 150 laps, there’s going to be a lot of rubber in the track,” Dunkin said. “Turning around on Saturday night and having a USAC race will be the greatest challenge. We’ve learned some things about the aerator that we’re going to try overnight.”
If anyone can pull it off, it’s the Knoxville Raceway track crew.
Tickets for all three nights are still available by clicking here or by calling the ticket office at 641-842-5431.