Weuve is going it alone at 50th Nationals

KNOXVILLE — There is just one driver competing in the 50th Knoxville Nationals that has a Jasper County connection.

Meet Bob Weuve.

Weuve, a veteran sprint car driver from Newton, is in his 23rd season of racing sprint cars and is in his 30th overall after beginning his career in drag racing. He drives for car owner Billy Fisher and is currently 15th in Knoxville 410 points.

After an up and down season with some mechanical problems and missing a couple of nights of racing Weuve is ready to go for the Nationals.

“Realistically we would be happy to make the B-Main on Saturday night,” Weuve said. “Everyone is just so fast here, the competition is tough, if we can get into the top 50 in points and avoid running the non-qualifier races on Friday, we would be happy.”

Weuve should have the tools to meet his goal with a 2010 Maxim Chassis and a Don Ott 410 engine under the hood with only three nights of racing on it. He has one career win at Knoxville coming in 1991, but Weuve has be very successful across the Midwest winning more than 50 sprint car features in Wisconsin, Missouri and Kansas.

“It’s better to learn on the smaller tracks before you come to Knoxville,” advised Weuve. “It’s a little intimidating coming here at first.”

Weuve also owns his own business Performance Plus in Newton. He is scheduled to qualify on Wednesday night in the Billy Fisher Racing white number 19.

His sponsors are Colfax Tractor, Farver True Value, NAPA, Creston Automotive, Sign Pro Designs and Kustom Sprintcar Supplies.