Track Schedules

For John Hall of Marion, opening night marked the start of his 21st season of racing at the track and a long-awaited chance to shake off the ill effects of a disappointing end to the 2007 season.

Following a hard crash which ended a strong 2007 effort a week too early, the 1988 Knoxville Raceway rookie of the year in the 360 division spent a long, snowy winter rebuilding a race car from top to bottom.

Saturday's outing provided Hall and his Left Turn Enterprises racing crew their first look at what the car could do.

In the first few practice laps on the hallowed half-mile of black dirt, Hall was able to run times good enough for 21st place out of the 34 competitors in the night's 360 division. And that was with the added complication of a car directly in his path in the process of grenading a motor.

Hall's luck improved unexpectedly in his heat race. Scheduled to start eighth of nine competitors by virtue of an unlucky draw for starting spot, he quickly found himself the benefactor of another driver's misfortune. The car originally scheduled to start outside the front row cut a tire on the pace laps and was relegated out of the race. Neither of the other two drivers in line ahead of Hall seemed to want the responsibility of starting out the season's first race on the track on the front row, so the red and black No. 7H raced off alongside former 360 track champion John Kearney. Hall was overtaken in the seven-lap affair by the defending track champion, Josh Higday, and by the night's eventual A-main winner, Greg Bakker, but posted a strong fourth-place run.

And that was enough to amass him enough points to start the night's 360 feature event from 12th place. However, brake issues plagued the team before that event and Hall elected to start from the tail of the field.

During the 15-lap race, throttle issues began to surface and Hall called his opening night finished after 11 laps.

Even with a couple of bugs still to work out, Hall was satisfied with a safe and sound beginning.

“We're happy with everything,” he said. “We have nothing to hang our heads about.”

The car, which is owned by Charles and Doris Hall, will be back in action on Saturday, May 10, for the second round of Knoxville Championship Cup Series action this year. Crew members are Darrell Bonesteel, Cole Page, Cass Page and Steve Lindell.

Sponsors already on board include Maxim Racing, Parker Engines, APC Emmert Metal Fabricators, Super Shox, Chalk Stix Torsion Bars, Brake Man Brake Systems and Marion Dairy Queen.

The team is actively seeking additional funding to help with its racing effort. Potential sponsors or racing fans who just want to help out a dedicated driver can contact Stacy Ervin at stacyerv@Lcom.net  or visit the team's pit area following the races for more information on how they can help. Internet surfers can also check out www.johnhallracing.com ,the team's new website which is currently under construction.