Knoxville, IA - Dakota Hendrickson finished his rookie season 19th in points in the Lucas Oil Championship 410 Sprint Car Series at Knoxville Raceway. The Dead Down Wind team had mixed emotions over the season's outcome.
Crew Chief and Co-Owner, Steve Fitzpatrick said, "Our goal was to win the Rookie of the Year title and finish in the top 15 in points this season. We finished second to Garrett Dollansky in the Rookie of the Year race and early season engine problems severely limited our points production early on." Fitzpatrick continued, "Still, when you consider the level of competition in the 410 class every Saturday night and realize that over 30 cars were present each week, with 50-60 cars present for several events, finishing in the top 20 is quite good. And we sometimes forget that this is Dakota's second year in a sprint car. Last year we ran 305 sprints. Dakota just turned 17 in June. It's hard to ask much more of a kid who's going into his junior year in high school."
When asked to reflect upon the season, Dakota's dad and team co-owner Tony Hendrickson said, "We hoped for a bit better results, but we had a good year at Knoxville. We set the bar high for ourselves. We plan to compete, not just show up and run. Steve Fitzpatrick and our crew worked their butts off this season. I can't say enough about the work of Steve and crew members Josh and Kyle Lampkin. This is a team sport and without these guys you just can't do it. We also had great support from Bill McCroskey who really helps us put things into the right perspective. And it takes great sponsors like Dead Down Wind, Legends Outlets, Nebraska Crossing Outlets, Smarty Pig, and Wreck-A-Mended Collision Center."
The team is working on plans to return stronger next year with more resources and an extended schedule to include weekly shows at Knoxville Raceway and Huset's Speedway in Brandon, SD.