By Craig Murphy

NSSN Correspondent

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Former World of Outlaw champion Danny Lasoski is running up front again on a consistent basis.
The only catch is, he’s doing it weekly at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway.
“The Dude” gained fame by mastering the historic half-mile Marion County Fairgrounds dirt track before joining the World of Outlaws. Lasoski won the 2001 WoO title and has won the Knoxville Nationals four times.
After his relationship with Tony Stewart went south, Lasoski reunited with team-owner Dennis Roth and promptly won the only National Sprint Tour title in 2006. But after finishing third in WoO points in 2007, Lasoski was left looking for a ride.
Lasoski hooked up with another former car owner, Guy Forbrook, and the two have shown why they were such a formidable pairing in the past.
“Knoxville is a fantastic place,” Lasoski said. “I consider this my hometown track.”
But as good as Knoxville is, and as well known as the track’s Championship Cup Series may be, Lasoski is racing with a void.
Simply put, it hurts to be on the outside looking in.
“That’s self-explanatory,” Lasoski said after finishing sixth in the WoO feature at Knoxville June 7. “I haven’t missed an Outlaw race (until this year) since 1998. We just don’t have the finances to race with them.
“I love to race against the best,” he added. “The guys in the World of Outlaws are the best.”
When Lasoski looks around the pits at Knoxville on any given Saturday night, he sees familiar faces from his recent WoO past. Racers like Dion Hindi, Brooke Tatnell and Justin Henderson are among the former Outlaws now running regularly at Knoxville instead of the WoO.
“It’s a lot less hectic, that’s for sure,” Henderson said of running the weekly shows at Knoxville and Huset’s Speedway, as compared to running with the WoO the last two years. “We spend almost as much, still.”
Henderson noted no longer being a regular WoO competitor brings some pain.
“It’s pretty hard, for sure,” Henderson said. “Knoxville is blessed with a very nice track here, but it hurts to say I’m not with the Outlaws.”
The driver from Sioux Falls, S.D., has torn feelings about not traveling across the country with the top sprint-car drivers this year.
“My wife and I are going to start a family, so I want to stay home more,” he said. “But if I could hook up with a really good ride, yeah, I would go.”
Henderson pointed out other drivers over the years such as Paul McMahan, who is also out of an Outlaw ride this year and racing the Ohio circuit for former Outlaw ace Rick Ferkel, and Daryn Pittman, among others, who have raced on-and-off with the Outlaws.
“It’s happened over the years quite a bit,” he said.
For Lasoski, returning to weekly shows at Knoxville has been an adjustment and a scramble. As of mid-June, he was leading a competitive 410 class in the Knoxville Championship Cup.
“On Dec. 4, Dennis Roth decided to do something else,” Lasoski said of his former car owner, who put Shane Stewart, a former WoO regular who spent 2007 in various rides off the tour, behind the wheel of his No. 83 car. “I’m so far behind the 8-ball right now, I can’t even see it.”
The driver from Dover, Mo., makes it clear where he would prefer to be.
“I love racing them guys in the World of Outlaws,” Lasoski said. “We’re hoping there is a sponsor out there wanting to help out. We’ve got a real good race team here.”
Other successful drivers have gone elsewhere. Jason Solwold, believed by many to be in line for the Tony Stewart Racing No. 20 ride after McMahan was let go last fall, didn’t get that ride. He also lost his ride in the No. r19 machine, and is back running weekly shows at Washington’s Skagit Speedway, where he won titles before joining the Outlaws.
Tim Kaeding, part of the highly successful California racing family, made a national name for himself in 2006 by winning 15 NST races in a second Steve Kinser Racing entry.
Not long after the 2007 season began, the money dried up and Kaeding headed back to California, competing in the Golden State Challenge King of California Series with Tom Rolfe Racing.
While competing at the Knoxville Nationals last year, Kaeding made it clear how much it hurt to go back home.
“You kind of feel like you disgraced yourself and your fans,” said the 2006 Motor Sports Press Ass’n driver of the year. “The disgusting part is knowing you can run up front with those guys. I want to be back on a national traveling tour.”
Kaeding was surprised how quickly his shot at a national ride fell apart, especially after such a strong 2006 campaign.
“You run 38 races, win almost half of them, and then the next day you don’t have a ride,” he said, pausing and shaking his head. “What do you do?”
He’s just one of many drivers who’ve returned to their roots this season.