IRS raids office of Torco Racing Fuels’ Knoll

DECATUR, Mich. — Internal Revenue Service agents on Thursday raided the business office of Evan Knoll, president and chief executive of Torco Racing Fuels Inc. and one of drag racing’s biggest names.

IRS spokesman Stephen Moore said the agents executed a search warrant at the office in downtown Decatur, about 150 miles west of Detroit.

Agents also had a search warrant for a residence in the southwestern Michigan village, but Moore declined to say whose home it was or what the agents were seeking.

Telephone calls seeking comment were made to Knoll’s office and to his Decatur home, but there was no answer at either location. A phone message was left at the Ada office of his lawyer, Larry Wilson.

About 20 federal agents and deputies from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office were involved in the operation, Moore told the Kalamazoo Gazette for an online story.

Undersheriff Paul Edwards said federal agents had an 8 a.m. briefing at the sheriff’s office in nearby Paw Paw before heading to Knoll’s business office.

Edwards said the IRS contacted his department Wednesday and asked the agency to provide a “uniformed presence” during the search. The federal agents did not tell local authorities what they hoped to confiscate or why, he said.

Knoll and his businesses have been hit with three federal lawsuits since April 2007 that allege contract breaches and seek millions of dollars.

Knoll Gas Motorsports announced in January, less than a month before the season began, that it was withdrawing millions of dollars of sponsorships from a number of drag racing teams.

Knoll recently stopped construction of a $2 million home in Decatur and several contractors have filed liens against the property for unpaid invoices, the newspaper reported.

He has remained out of the public spotlight for a number of months, citing lingering health issues related to a 2004 car crash that injured his head.

Information from: Kalamazoo Gazette, http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette