The Osky Challenges

Front Row Challenge and Ultimate Challenge Sprint Car Races

At Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa

By John Nelson and Tom Schmeh

November 11, 2025

Prelude

         As the Knoxville Nationals grew to become the world’s greatest Sprint Car racing event, it was natural that satellite races would spring up. Indianapolis has the Little 500 and Night Before the 500, while Daytona offers several weeks of competition for everything from Midgets to Big-Block Modifieds.

         For many years the Jayhawk Nationals slotted into the Monday preceding the Knoxville Nationals. Held at various tracks in Kansas, the Jayhawk drew decent crowds and fields of cars, yet was in no position to capture fans and teams gathering in Knoxville. Moreover, some top teams were reluctant to run the Jayhawk and face a possible scramble to repair a damaged race car followed by the long haul to Iowa.

         Into the field stepped Altoona, Iowa’s Terry McCarl, an established contender at Knoxville Raceway, and his primary sponsor, Bill McCroskey. Operating as McTwo Promotions, the duo booked Southern Iowa Raceway, only 25 miles east of Knoxville, for a memorial race for their friend Danny Young, who died in a Sprint Car accident the previous summer at Knoxville. A preliminary race took place on Monday, August 13, 1996 followed by the Danny Young Memorial the following evening. Twenty-three cars signed in for the program capped by a 25-lap A Main paying $3,000 to the winner. Knoxville’s Hall of Fame starter Doug Clark handled the flags. Terry McCarl had not planned on racing, but when the field came up short he entered the fray – and walked off with the top prize. Rounding out the field were Jeff Mitrisin of Oskaloosa, Australian champion Max Dumesny, rising California star Tyler Walker, and Steve Coelho of Tulare, California.

         For 1997 McTwo moved the Danny Young Memorial to the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport, Iowa. The thinking was to intercept race teams and fans traveling from the $100,000 Historical Big One at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway to the Nationals. Two days of rain scotched their plans.

         The following year Butch and Berta Young, Danny’s parents, came forward to personally promote their son’s memorial race. They booked the 1998 Danny Young Memorial at Knoxville on September 12, a month following the Nationals. (Don Droud, Jr. won the 410 feature while Larry Pinegar took the companion 360 race.) This cleared the path for McTwo Promotions to return to Oskaloosa for the pre-Nationals satellite race. Devising a unique formula, the Monday night event was billed as The Front Row Challenge.

The Front Row Challenge

         The Front Row Challenge kicked off on August 10, 1998 with a unique formula. Hosting winged 410 Sprint Cars like those running the upcoming Knoxville Nationals, the basic program comprised time trials, heat races, and a 25-lap A Main paying $2,500 to the winner. Nothing special there. But the Front Row Challenge offered the two front-row qualifiers the opportunity to start at the tail of the field and run for $25,000 to win. However, the two top qualifiers, Travis Cram and Brad Furr, both turned down the Challenge. So did 3rd qualifying Tyler Walker. Thus, the field lined up for the standard $2,500 prize. Walker went on to win the race, followed by Cram, Jeff Mitrisin, and Furr.

         For 1999 the top prize was boosted to $5,000 with a $50,000 Challenge. Jac Haudenschild of Wooster, Ohio became the first and only driver to accept the Challenge and race from last to first. At the time, only the Knoxville Nationals and Eldora’s Historical Big One offered more first-place money.

         Another unusual feature of the Front Row Challenge was the “King of the Hill” elimination series that determined the A Main starting lineup. After time trials and heats the leading qualifiers paired off in series of 2-lap dashes, the winner of each advancing to the next round. An added novelty was a foot race among the top qualifiers paying $1,000 to win.

         From 2000 to 2002 the World of Outlaws Gumout Series sanctioned the Front Row Challenge. Sponsored by a maker of automotive solvents, the Gumout Series was a “support series” intended to increase car counts at selected nationwide races. The Gumout 410 winged Sprints were the same as regular WoO cars and most of the drivers had previous WoO experience. The Gumout Series lasted three years only. In both 2000 and 2001, Danny Lasoski accepted Oskaloosa’s $50,000 Challenge and raced up to second place. His 2000 run was most remarkable, for Lasoski spun during the A Main and had to restart at the tail a second time. In 2002 Tyler Walker and Fred Rahmer declined the Challenge but 3rd qualifier Daryn Pittman accepted for a reduced prize of $15,000. His run ended in 3rd position.

         2002 marked the final occasion when a Challenge-taker stood on the podium. The next best run was Lasoski’s 4th in 2004. Only two other drivers made the top 10 thereafter. Perhaps, the top drivers had become so well acquainted with Osky’s half-mile that a winning run from last place was nearly impossible. For comparison, the greatest advance at the Knoxville Nationals came in 2013, when Donny Schatz, having won the B Main, raced from 21st position to capture his 7th career Nationals victory.

On several occasions in later years, no one accepted the Challenge. Eventually, the promoters felt that this inducement has lost its luster. Thus, in 2015 the Challenge was dropped and the Front Row became “just another Sprint Car race” in overall format. Only the “King of the Hill” qualifying dashes continued. One of the few surprises came in 2023 when Australian James McFadden captured the $21,000 winner’s share, likely the largest of his career. Between 2018 and 2025, only McFadden and Daryn Pittman interrupted Kyle Larson’s run of five Front Row triumphs.

The Ultimate Challenge

         For 2002 McTwo promotions unveiled a second marquee event for Southern Iowa Speedway. Held on Tuesday just before the four-day Knoxville Nationals program, the Ultimate Challenge featured non-winged 410 Sprint Cars racing for a $30,000 top prize – probably the highest for any non-winged race at the time. However, the purse was extremely top-heavy. In 2005 second place was worth only $2,500, fifth place $1,280, and 13th on down $500. In 2009, the United States Auto Club (USAC) cut the winner’s take to $15,000, but the overall purse structure barely changed. For 2013, the winning take was reduced to $10,000 but second was boosted to $4,500, third and fourth $2,000, and fifth $1,400.  

Unlike the Front Row Challenge, no special gimmicks were involved in the Ultimate Challenge.

For four years, 2014 to 2017, the Ultimate Challenge went on hiatus. It returned for a three-year stand in 2018 under a new format. Two Sprint Car programs were combined, both paying $4,000 to win. The American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) fielded winged 360 sprinters, while the POWRi WAR (Wingless Auto Racing) Sprint League sanctioned non-winged 410 cars. In 2019 the latter group revived the “front row challenge”, accepted and won by Brady Bacon! Available records don’t indicate how much money he received for charging from the back.

In 2021 the Ultimate Challenge was discontinued.