Stories and photos by
Terry Spradley
First in a Series
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| Brian Knoell relaxing in the pits before preparing for his heat race at Salina Speedway April 23. |
Knoell brings teamwork to the business of racing
The seat is nothing more than formed sheets of aluminum with minimal amounts of padding lining the bottom and sides. The compartment is small and without many frills. No power windows, no rearview mirror, and no CD player can be found surrounding this high-performance driver’s seat.
The driver’s compartment of the Chevrolet powered #B6, IMCA Modified stock car is built for business. Saturday night when the ground starts to rumble and the crowd at Salina Speedway stands to cheer, it’s a business Brian Knoell, Falun knows all too well.
After teaming up with his cousin Kendall Pihl, Falun, Knoell started racing in 1990. Since then they have claimed five series championships in three different classes. In 2004, the B6 Chevy placed second in the series standings.
“We’ve never finished out of the top five since we’ve been racing,” Knoell said.
Knoell is a first generation race driver. “I used to go to the races as a kid growing up, then I started hanging around with Kendall and he went to the races as a kid. After I moved down to this area, we started hanging out, going to races together and decided we ought to try doing it. When we first started racing it was just me and him.”
Things have definitely changed over the past 15 years. The front nose of the car has the Fat Boyz Bar & Grill logo from Little River as one of many sponsors. Viking Auto Supply, Lindsborg, adorns a left rear fender and the rear deck has a list of names under the “Special Thanks to” heading. The rest of the body is covered with decals and logos from other organizations and businesses that aid in Knoell’s quest for speed.
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| With mud clods from track packing still hanging on the car, Knoell sits on the wait line for the first heat of the IMCA modifieds. The top four drivers from each heat transfer to the 'A' Main, or Feature event race. |
“You couldn’t do it without these guys,” Knoell said, speaking of his crew and sponsors.
The white B6 sits just inside the door of Pihl Repairs as Knoell and his crew prepare it for Salina Speedway’s season opener a few hours later. Kevin Pihl, Falun, grinds on a piece of metal fine-tuning some suspension piece. Pihl looks up from his work long enough to comment on the team, by saying, “I’m not the smartest, but I am the best looking.”
Bob Potts, Salina , must be the smartest. He has been with the team for approximately 8 years. Having a father that was a race driver, he brings a lot of experience to the crew. “As far as making sure the car is ready to go each week, Bob does that,” Knoell said. “He is in charge.” Besides set-up and repairs, Potts builds the body for the streamlined racer. When I approached him, he was also handling the sweeping out the trailer duties.
“Brian and I have an agreement,” Potts said. I build the bodies new, and he gets to pound the dents out of it later.”
Typically, racers will start each season with new bodies; B6 received a new skin near the end of last season so it was not replaced for the 2005 start. We’ll put on a new body, maybe two, later this year,” Knoell said. “That dirt track racing, you know how it is; they get pretty banged up their first lap out there.” Funding an IMCA Modified is no cheap task. A rolling chassis can easily run $10,000. Start adding engine, transmission all the electronic and fuel support systems under the hood and it ends up costing a few bucks. Possibly another reason there are none of the amenities of your family sedan. Besides sponsors and much use of the barter system, Knoell supports his racing habit by working at Lampton Welding in McPherson.
“It’s hard to tell what we have in to our engines, because we do all of our own engine work. Randy ( Clark , Salina ), he does most of our engine work, anything under the hood he takes care of.” When asked about the engine’s horsepower, Knoell said, “We don’t like to talk about that because we run an engine claimer class.” Engine claimer means that other eligible drivers can claim (buy) your car’s engine by posting a $525 fee. Track officials may also file claims on motors at any time. This is generally reserved for cases where one power plant has an obvious edge over the rest of the field.
Limitations in horsepower and weight are placed on the cars to keep the racing more competitive. IMCA rules state that all engines must be able to be used in conventional passenger car without alterations. A typical passenger car weighs in at about 4000 lbs. IMCA has placed a minimum weight limit on the Modifieds of 2450 lbs with driver. Even with no performance enhancements, that gives the high-speed dirt burners a considerable increase in power-to-weight ratio over your family car.
Completing all the final tweaks, checks, and preparations, the crew rolls B6 into the car trailer and Potts prepares to haul it all a few miles up the road as the team prepares for the business of dirt track racing.
Follow-up- Knoell’s decision not to put a new body on the car for the opener proved a wise one. After winning the ‘B’ Feature, the ‘A’ feature was a short ride. On the first lap, with drivers running three abreast, the chaos of crashing cars shut the door on Knoell. With no place to go, he ended up in the wall. A couple other cars had ‘no place to go’ either and they added insult to injury.
“We’ve got her on IV’s back at the shop,” Knoell said, referring to the wounded ride. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ll be ready to go again next Saturday.”
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| Knoell takes the inside line as he attempts to slide by Rick Dauer in the D99 during Saturday night's feature event. |