__NOTOC__ Danny "the Dude" Lasoski (born February 3, 1959) is an American

sprint car Sprint cars are open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval, circular dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them from "midget cars," sprint car racing is popular primar ...

racing driver from

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Sprint car racing

Most of Lasoski's sprint car experience is in the

World of Outlaws World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, originally known as the World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American national touring dirt track racing series. It is owned and operated by World Racing Group, and was rebranded when the World of O ...

series, winning the WoO championship in 2001, and finishing second four times, in 1999, 2002, 2003, and 2004. He won the premiere event in

sprint car racing Sprint cars are Open-wheel car, open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short Oval track racing, oval, circular dirt track racing, dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them fr ...

, the

Knoxville Nationals The NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals is an annual sprint car event held at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. An Associated Press writer called winning the event "sprint car racing’s premiere title". It is nicknamed "The Granddaddy of ...

, in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2004. Lasoski also won the 360 Nationals in 1995. He raced in the National Sprint Tour in 2006, winning the series' only championship. He rejoined the World of Outlaws after the season, and the NST folded. He has won 122 World of Outlaw feature events and was one of the more popular drivers on the tour. In January 2014 Lasoski teamed up with Andy Cobb to compete in multiple national tours to include the

. Lasoski joined forces in 2015 with car owner Tod Quiring and crew chief Guy Forbrook to win the inaugural National Sprint League (NSL) Championship. Lasoski has also won 11 Knoxville Raceway track championships (1986, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2016). He has won more races than any other driver with 112 career wins as of June 24, 2017, in the 410 division at Knoxville Raceway. He also has 37 career wins with the

All Star Circuit of Champions The All Star Circuit of Champions (abbreviated ASCoC) is an American motorsports sanctioning body of winged sprint car racing. It was founded in 1970 and purchased by Tony Stewart in the winter of 2015. High Limit Racing acquired the series from ...

. Lasoski has driven for some of the top sprint car teams in the sport including Tod Quiring, Dennis Roth,

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...

, and Casey Luna. Lasoski is the uncle to professional sprint car racer Brian Brown.

IROC

Lasoski was invited to the

International Race of Champions International Race of Champions (IROC) was a North American auto racing competition, created by Les Richter, Roger Penske and Mike Phelps, promoted as an American-motorsports equivalent of an all-star game. Despite its name, IROC was primarily ...

four times, from 2002 until 2004. He missed the final race in 2002 at the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

due to injuries sustained in a qualifying crash, with fellow dirt track racer

Ken Schrader Kenneth William Schrader (born May 29, 1955) is an American professional racing driver. He currently races on local dirt and asphalt tracks around the country while also competing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 11 Ford Motor ...

filling in. Lasoski won one race, in 2004 at the

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugura ...

. Lasoski also raced in the Canadian IROC series picking up three wins, all of them at the Canadian Motor Speedway.

Awards

He was inducted in the

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum is a hall of fame and museum for sprint car drivers, owners, mechanics, builders, manufacturers, promoters, sanctioning officials and media members. The museum is located in Knoxville, Iowa, the h ...

in 2011.

Motorsports career results

International Race of Champions

( key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

* Living people 1959 births People from Lafayette County, Missouri Racing drivers from Missouri World of Outlaws drivers International Race of Champions drivers {{US-autoracing-bio-stub