KNOXVILLE, Iowa -- Cox Design & Metal Fabrication of Altoona will sponsor the Southern Iowa SprintWeek, to be held August 7-14. The point championship will be determined after eight straight nights of non-winged and winged 360- and 410-cubic-inch sprint car racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa and the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville. As a result of this announcement, the promotional partners of the third annual “Mr. Sprint Car” title competition, McTwo Promotions, the Marion County Fair Association, and the National Sprint Car Museum, have confirmed that the 2004 Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Southern Iowa SprintWeek champion will receive a record $3,000. Versatile Ricky Logan of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Shane Stewart of Bixby, Oklahoma, were the 2002 and ‘03 champions, respectively.

The 2004 Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Southern Iowa SprintWeek point championship opens at Knoxville on Saturday, August 7, with Casey’s General Stores Night. The track’s regular 410 c.i. sprint car field, which is annually enhanced up by many invaders, will compete in their traditional “Saturday Before the Nationals” program. The 360 show that night will be an invitational, named the “Night Before the Tournament”, and will feature many of the same stars and cars that will run the Sunday night Brodix Tournament of Champions (ToC). A record sixteen sanctions will participate in the Sunday, August 8, ToC: American Sprint Car Series (ASCS), ASCS-Gulf South, ASCS-Rocky Mountain, ASCS-Sooner, Eagle Raceway/Eagle Sprint Touring Series (EAGLE), Empire Super Sprints (ESS), Knoxville 360’s (KNOX), Montana Sprint Tour (MST), National Racing Alliance (NRA), Northern Sprint Tour (NST), Southern Ontario Sprints (SOS), Sprint Invaders Association (SIA), Sprints On Dirt (SOD), United Racing Club (URC), Winged Outlaw Warriors (WOW), and WISSOTA Promoters Association (WISSOTA).

The focus of the “Mr. Sprint Car” title hunt will then head 26 miles east to the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds in Oskaloosa for the Monday, August 9, Front Row Challenge. The wildly successful event is promoted by Terry McCarl and Bill McCroskey of McTwo Promotions, and will pay $5,000 to the winner. However, it will pay $50,000-to-win if one of the front row drivers accepts the challenge to start at the back of the pack. On Tuesday, August 10, the same Osky track hosts the non-winged Sprint Car Racing Association (SCRA) for the $30,000-to-win Ultimate Challenge. This innovative event is part of Ron Shuman’s prestigious Non-Winged World Championship (NWWC) tour. In 2003, McCarl reported participation by 56 cars on Monday night and a “whopping” 67 cars on Tuesday night!

The eight straight nights of racing is concluded back on the Marion County Fairgrounds with the 44th annual Knoxville Nationals, presented by the Midwest Ford Dealers on August 11-14. The prestigious event will pay $125,000 to the winner of the finale on Saturday, which will again be seen live on the Speed Channel. The Wednesday and Thursday preliminary night features pay $12,000 to win each, while the Friday night Kele World Challenge invitational for the best drivers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, pays $10,000 to win.

Knoxville Raceway will actually open the special week of sprint car racing on Friday, August 6, as it concludes the Advance Auto Parts 360 Nationals, presented by the Fleet Buying Group. The C-, B-, and A-Mains will be run on that evening, although points will not be awarded towards the Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa SprintWeek title.