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Kaley Gharst – 7K! by: Bill Wright KNOXVILLE, IA (April 17) – It seems that Kaley Gharst has been around long enough for seasoned veteran status. He has been the Knoxville Nationals and Knoxville Raceway Rookie of the Year (2005), won the Brodix Tournament of Champions and a 360 Nationals Preliminary feature last year, and was the 2007 Sprint Invaders Champion. He has five career Knoxville wins (3 in the 410 class). The Decatur, Illinois native already has racked up an impressive track record that is made all the more impressive in that Kaley will turn the ripe old age of 20 this year! He’ll look to improve on his seventh place points finish of a year ago this Saturday night at Knoxville! The fields will be stout on Saturday nights in the “Sprint Car Capital of the World”, but that will not deter Kaley’s thirst for Victory Lane. “We’re expecting a lot of guys to be at Knoxville this year, and fast guys at that,” he says. “Brooke Tatnell, Justin Henderson, Brian Brown, all the guys from last year, and more. I go into every race with a high level of competitiveness, so I don’t think it’s going to bother me at all…I’ll be alright.” The youngster won one award last season that he would not care to repeat, 410 Hard Charger of the Year. Time trials plagued him for much of the season, and his charges from the rear of the feature field became a weekly occurrence. “Qualifying is definitely something we need to improve,” he says. “If we can get practice night in (Friday), that’s what we’re going to work on. We need to lay down those good laps in clean air when the track’s still good. Last year, we struggled with those two laps, but then we were fast the rest of the night. We have a little bit better motors this year. I don’t know how much that had to do with our qualifying; part of it was me too.” The trip to Knoxville from Decatur is over 300 miles, but the Gharst family doesn’t think twice about where they’ll be on Saturday night. “Knoxville is the best,” says Kaley. “You can’t ask for anything more from the safety crew, the officials, and workers. Everyone is treated well, and treated the same. It’s a long drive every week, but it’s well worth it.” Not much is changing with the team this year, other than the look of the car perhaps. “Pretty much the only change is our number,” says Kaley. “We’ll be the #7K this year. It’s still Bruce Williams’ car and Tim Phillips (Phillips’ Floors) is still with us. ‘info2go’ is something new that Bruce is doing, so that will be on the car too.” Last year’s Sprint Invaders champ will focus primarily on 410 racing in 2008. “Our main focus is Knoxville, but we’ve also got Guy Webb’s #51 sitting here in the shop,” he says. “When we get some motors back, we’ll be running that with the All Stars and Outlaws when they get close. We may add a few IRA shows to fill out the schedule. We do have a 360, but we’ll only be running some of the bigger shows with ASCS and at Knoxville.” The nineteen year old made his debut “Down Under” this winter in Western Australia. He had a decent showing in four starts, and saw some unique things. “I’d say the biggest difference was there were only about seven or eight cars capable of winning the race, and the rest were filling the field,” he says of his starts in Bunbury and Perth. “Also, the government is somehow involved in the racing down there and there is quite a bit of advertising on TV with an hour long weekly show.” Those who read about Kaley’s Australian trip in March, who were worried about him not being old enough to rent a car and see some sights, can rest easy. “I ended up paying someone gas money to drive around!” he says. Keep an eye on Kaley’s progress this week and beyond at www.KaleyGharst.com ! Kaley would like to thank the following sponsors: Maxim Racing, Phillips’ Floors, Bell Racing, info2go, Pro Shocks, QA1, VRP Shocks, Charlie Fisher Racing Engines, Karl Chevrolet, Willco Services and HostIowa.net - Your Complete Internet Solution. |