Knoxville Raceway is a semi-banked half-mile dirt oval raceway (zook clay) located at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa. Races at the "Sprint Car Capital of the World" are held on Saturday nights from April through September each year. Some special events such as the Knoxville Nationals, 360 Knoxville Nationals and Late Model Knoxville Nationals are multi-day events. Weekly racing events at the track features multiple classes of sprint cars including 410 cubic inch, 360 cubic inch and Pro Sprints (previously 305 cubic inch). Each August, the Raceway holds the paramount sprint car event in the United States, the Knoxville Nationals. The track is governed by the 24-member fair board elected by Marion County residents.

History

The first weekly races were held at the Knoxville Raceway in 1954. After internal issues with the sanctioning body—the Southern Iowa Stock Car Racing Association—in 1956, Marion Robinson of Des Moines, Iowa was appointed as race promoter. During Robinson's tenure, the cars progressed from stock cars to modifieds to supermodifieds to sprint cars. Robinson created what would become the Knoxville Nationals in 1961. The event took place over two days and featured a $5,000 purse where today it is now nearly one million dollars.

Timeline

Track records

One-lap track records

Sprint car track champions

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum

The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum is located just outside Turn 2 of the Knoxville Raceway. It features rotating exhibits to highlight the history of both winged and non-wing sprint cars.