A Dose Of Near Misses For Veal At 360 Nationals Night Two
Author : JVR

Nobody expects the sport of Sprintcar Racing to be easy no matter what the event, but when you are in the cauldron of the ultra tough 360 Nationals at the famed Knoxville Raceway half mile you definately need more than a slice of luck to even make the show!

Having based themselves in and around the Knoxville area for the past three weeks, including a couple of sojourns into Minnesota (Hibbing Speedway) and South Dakota (Husets Speedway) Jamie Veal and his JVR Team were set for a strong performance during Jamie's qualifying night for the 360 Nationals last night.

With a new 360 powerplant under the hood of the Lucas Oil, SWI Engineering J&J Jamie's tilt at the 360 Nats looked headed in the right direction with a good marble draw meaning the 35au would take time on two qualifying laps as the sixth car to do so.

With the 0s car of Glen Styres setting the early pace for all to chase with a 17.038 second pass, Jamie produced an opening lap of 17.203 which would be ultra competitive given the nature of the track and the fact that 56 cars would be qualifying.

The irony of it all and the fickle nature of Sprintcar Racing reared its head as Jamie looked to have improved on his opening circulation only to have the new powerplant go South as it decided to quit on the exit of turn four! The crazy thing is Jamie still managed a second qualfying lap of 17.269 with the ailing motor - meaning that he would most definately have improved on his opening lap which at the completionn of qualifying was still good enough for 12th fastest of the 56 car field.

For the record defending 360 Nationals Champion Shane Stewart produced the best qualifying lap of the night with a time of 16.897.

With temperatures in the high 90's, the last thing the team JVR crew needed was an engine change but Jeff Judd and Glen Beaton swung into action along with Ken Veal to have the immaculate 35au in the staging area in time for Jamie's heat race the second of the night.

With a six car invert and the top four from each heat advancing to the A-Main all was not lost as Jamie was drawn to start from position four meaning if he maintained his position he would still make the show.

The opening laps of the eight lap heat were frantic with Jamie being a part of some intense racing action in the opeing circulations.

Added to the mix were a number of recalled starts that thwarted some positive momentum for Jamie as well.


As the field settled Jamie had slipped back to sixth before slowly finding his feet and hitting his marks on the low groove. A race long battle ensured and Jamie eventually had to settle for sixth and being resigned to a B-Main start.

After the opening laps of the B-Main, it was not out of the question that Jamie would again be in with a shot of making the Friday night Main event.

After starting from postion seven in the B-Main Jamie impressed with his car speed and his ability to master the ultra difficult low groove. All eyes were now firmly on Jamie and the expereinced Dennis Moore Jnr as the battle for a coveted A-Main start beckoned.

Unfortunately as Veal began to distance himself from Moore Jnr and his number 10 car, the caution flag flew thus reducing any advantage Jamie had over those who also craved the final transfer spot.

At the re-start Jamie committed again to the bottom side of the race track and the team's secondary motor gave all it had as a seemingly endless freight train of cars whom were utilising the high groove used their superior momentum to swing on by, thus relegating Veal to a sixth place finish.

Post race Jamie was disappointed, more so with the fact the hea and the JVR team were so close... so close to a better qualifying run - only for the motor to quit, so close to transferring directly out of his heat and ultimately one caution away from still making the show via the B-Main!

With the teams primary 360 powerplant now in Limbo and rain and storms forecast for Saturday in Knoxville, the team will weigh up their options ahead of implanting the 410 powerplant ahead of the inaugural Capitani Classic on Sunday night ahead of the Knoxville Nationals later in the week.

In closing the JVR Team would like to congratulate fellow Aussie who captured the highly coveted A-Main victory last night, flying the Aussie flag proud en-route to victory.

Jamie Veal and the entire JVR team would like to thank SWI Engineering, Heytesbury Stockfeeds, Lucas Oil Products, Mototech, PWR Performance Products, JH Designs, Driven Performance, J&J Auto Racing and Oval Express Magazine for all of their continued support.