August in Knoxville, Iowa.
It’s hard to put an explanation to outsiders on just how big of a race the Knoxville Nationals is – no, just how big of an event it’s become.
Sprint Car fans from around the United States as well as Australia will be traveling in droves this week to see 10 days of racing and vacation during the biggest dirt race of the year.
And while it’s hard to quantify both how big it is and how much bigger it’s gotten, the conversation starts and ends with the promoter behind the scenes.
Kendra Jacobs.
“It’s exciting now to see this new desire and attention across the country to be at the event,” Jacobs said. “That’s what we always wanted. It’s an amazing race and the race is always incredible, but it can’t just be a race on its own. It has to be an event.”
Under Jacobs’ guidance since 2016, the Knoxville Nationals has grown to become to have a Super Bowl style feel on the annual racing calendar.
That’s speaking on the atmosphere at the race track, not just the feel on social media around the racing world.
It’s come to be that way because of the hard work that she and her team do behind the scenes.
“This is their vacation,” Jacobs said, as she was stuffing 700 gift bags for campers that will live at the facility for two weeks in RV’s. “They save up all year – their money and their vacation days – to spend it here in Knoxville, Iowa. We need to treat it like it’s a vacation, entertain them, and make it a party. I feel like I’ve got a great group that has that same vision.”
Jacobs has been the lead promoter at Knoxville Raceway since the start of the 2016 season.
Since she’s taken the role at the track, Knoxville and its brand outside of the Nationals has grown tremendously.
In 2021, the track hosted both a NASCAR Truck Series race as well as Tony Stewart’s SRX Series that was shown nationally on CBS.
“You’re going to see that more and more with dirt tracks in other series that might not have looked at dirt tracks before – like NASCAR – and are starting to look at us as viable facilities for their events,” Jacobs said. “We were incredibly honored that NASCAR wanted to be here. I think it says a lot for our facility and the way carry and promote ourselves.”
It’s an accredit to the work she’s put in.
Knoxville is already on the map in the sprint car world, but different series and drivers have taken notice of the half-mile next to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
It’s boosted the excitement and allure of the track’s biggest race.
“I’ve had a lot of NASCAR people call me after the truck race and say ‘Hey, how do we get tickets for the Nationals? We want to come back,’” Jacobs said. “That’s maybe a race they would have never gone to before, and now they want to come. So, that’s the ultimate goal in bringing some of these other events to the track and diversifying what we can offer the community.”
Jacobs said that she wants to keep the options open for unique events on the track’s schedule.
She’s confident they can succeed, even if it may not be an every-year thing.
“I think we’re going to keep looking at options like that,” Jacobs said. “(We’re looking at) What would be something that we bring in – and maybe it wouldn’t be an every-year thing – but what would be something fun that the fans can get behind if it’s a one time every three-or-four-years event.”
She also reassured that the Knoxville Nationals will always be the headlining event – another signal of just how big the race is in the grand scheme of things.
Think about if Knoxville got a NASCAR Cup Series race… the Nationals would still be bigger. That will be no surprise to the dirt fans reading this and maybe an eye opener to the others.
“Ultimately, we are the Sprint Car Capital of the World and that will not change,” Jacobs said. “The Knoxville Nationals, no matter what, will always be our premier event, but I do think it’s a great idea to bring in new fans and then those fans are giving us a chance for other events.”
Jacobs was made to put Knoxville on the map like she – and the entire staff at the track – has.
She grew up going to Knoxville with her dad, Kenny Jacobs (4-time ASCoC champion), as early as when she was six years old and then traveled around with him during his career.
Racing ran in the family, and eventually turned into Jacobs’ day job.
She started doing PR for NASCAR drivers in 2002, working with Ricky Rudd, Steve Park, and Ryan Newman before taking on a role with Hendrick Motorsports a few years later.
After working with the team, Jacobs moved out of racing to Rick Hendrick’s automotive group. Two years went by and she missed the sport too much.
“That’s when I went to work for Spire, an agency I still work for now,” Jacobs said. “I worked with Kyle Larson, Rico Abreu, a lot with STP and Richard Petty… then this opportunity at Knoxville came up.”
Jacobs was so surprised with the opportunity to work at Knoxville Raceway that she thought the Fair Board was joking when they brought it up to her.
She almost didn’t take it, because of the fear of potentially ruining something that was so special to her.
But that fear, in turn, has driven her into helping make Knoxville what it is today.
“It was a very hard decision, because I love this place so much,” Jacobs said. “I thought what if I go there and I don’t do a good job and I hurt Knoxville. I would have a hard time getting over that, forever. I have a fear of failure in everything I do – every aspect of my life – but I think the biggest thing is just knowing I want this place to be successful. That’s probably what drives me the most.”
The 60th running of the Knoxville Nationals kicks off on Wednesday, August 11, but race fans have already started flooding the streets in Knoxville. The track hosts the 360 Nationals and Capitani Classic (410 class exhibition race with a unique format) from Thursday-Sunday.
This year’s edition of the big race was delayed past 2020 after it was ultimately canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“When COVID, you know say hit America and everything started shutting down, we were focused on Nationals from the very beginning,” Jacobs said. “Watching (the) Nationals (date) and seeing that we were going to be this limited, it quickly became apparent to us that you can’t run the Nationals if we can only have 30 percent of our crowd here.
“To do it right, it had to be a full Nationals,” Jacobs said.
Fans were given the choice to get a refund on their tickets or roll them over to this season. Teams and drivers in turn got an extra year to design throwback paint schemes, if they so chose to, to celebrate the milestone running.
“We wanted to make this year special and I think the most special part about this year is that we can actually do it and bring everyone back together,” Jacobs said.
As of Saturday morning on July 31, Knoxville was at a record number of ticket sales for this year’s Nationals.
Just 2300 tickets remain for the event, which is 1500 less than were left at the same time in 2019. That year, it sold out at 6:00 p.m. on race day.
Jacobs is encouraging fans to purchase their tickets ahead of time, due to the high demand to see the Saturday Night, 50-lap A-Main.
It’s the biggest race of the year in the sport, and the biggest event of the season for Knoxville, and if there’s one guarantee for it – the stadium will be sold out.
That’s, in large part, thanks to Kendra.
