This was not the duty that I signed on for. When one goes to the desert, the last thing you expect is cloudy and cool weather and God forbid, rain! But that is exactly what happened and the final two rounds of the eleventh annual Wild West Shootout was rained out over the weekend. It just wouldn't stop showering on Saturday and every time they started to make progress on the track, it would start raining again. After messing around with this all afternoon and covering most of the race cars with mud after the initial packing effort was nearly successful, they finally gave in and called it. I can also now confirm from first hand experience that it does indeed both thunder and lightning on the desert.
Congratulations to promoters Chris Kearns and Mike Montgomery for attempting to make up the rained out program as a doubleheader on Sunday with a late morning makeup race to be following by a late afternoon second show. Unfortunately the weather continued to be uncooperative. By Sunday morning it was clear that they weren't going to have the track ready for an early show so that event was cancelled while they still hoped to get the later show in. When I arrive at the track around Noon, it was clear that there was going to be no racing in the near future as the mud was axle deep on the track from top to bottom. Shortly after, the event was cancelled and the promoters gave out refunds for the pit passes as well as those fans that had purchased tickets ahead of time.
Interestingly, I was told by no less an authority than Race Director Kelly Carlton that the promoters were going to combine the first place payoff for the final two shows at no additional cost to the racers or fans so that the Late Model feature would have paid seventeen grand to win while the Mods would have been three grand and the X Mods would have received fifteen hundred dollars. Unfortunately, we never got to that point. The promoters also paid out a point fund with the top ten in the Late Models and the top five in both the Mods and X Mods paying back five spots. There is some discussion currently ongoing with event sponsors that in 2018, instead of offering the big bonuses for the Late Models, that money would instead be used to further increase the point funds in all three classes as the promoters seek to use the sponsorship money where it would do the best job of increasing car counts.
And not surprisingly also, there immediately were people critical of the track prep and the job they did or didn't do to try and protect the track from the rain and get it back into racing shape. When I arrived at the track, the surface had been ripped open and whether that was done the previous evening and allowed the rain to further soak in or it was done on Sunday morning to try and allow the air to dry the track, I can not say. I was told by someone that was camping at the track that it did rain all night at the track even though there was no more rain where I was staying just a few short miles away.
In any event, it was a very disappointing conclusion to the series where most everyone that tows all the way to the desert expecting to get a full six races in. In all the years that I attended this race in Tucson, there was never a single rain out and the closest they ever came to getting rained out was one night when a very light mist fell all evening but they raced right through the mist.
The weather for the whole series this year was disappointing with not much sun throughout the week and lots of cool and cloudy weather. It was not what most were hoping for.
Car counts for the series averaged forty one in the X Mods, forty seven in the Mods and forty six in the Late Models. All three classes were solidly represented with the Modified being especially impressive. The Late Model count was OK but started to get just a little bit thin as the week progressed and I would say that some work should be done for next year to try and get a few more cars out for this class. The local cars have dwindled to a small number as Late Model racing opportunities on the West Coast have diminished and some of the locals don't think they can keep up in this series and don't even show up.
It is tough to make comparisons between the racing here in San Tan Valley and the racing at the previous track in Tucson. Arizona Speedway is smaller than Tucson and likely should be easier on motors. However, the way the track was prepped this week, that wasn't so much the case as the track was heavy most nights and had a big cushion that made it nearly as high speed as Tucson. Much talk centered around the fact that the track turned out to race totally different than what most people that hadn't race here before were told that it would be and in many cases, were looking forward to and had prepared for.
The organization of the race crew allowed time trials to take no more time and put no more stress on the race track than in previous years when all classes just hot lapped. I still feel however, that some of the best racing ever was the Late Model heats at Tucson where draw/passing points found some interesting heats mixed up by speed that provided some spectacular qualifying action.
For sure, the crowds were significantly bigger at Arizona Speedway than they ever were in Tucson and for no other reason than that, the series has already been booked in at Arizona for next January with the same three classes in action. Arizona Speedway is a more rugged facility than Tucson with no power or water as they generate their own electricity with generators. Suggestions for next year would be to provide more satellites for the spectators, pit area and also the campers. The food selections were limited and the lines long so I would suggest bringing in a bunch of food trucks to provide more variety and reduce the waiting time for food. Other than that, they did a first class job of running the show and you would be hard pressed to find a promotional group that can crank off the races any faster than they do here.
So, other than the bitter taste left when the last whole weekend was wiped out by rain, the trip was a successful adventure. More and more people from the Midwest make the trip each year and seem to enjoy themselves immensely.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Pierce and Thornton Jr. Continue To Roll In The Desert
With the quality of the competition and the big numbers of drivers in all divisions, seeing one driver dominate the winning was not something that I expected for the eleventh annual Wild West Shootout. However, two drivers have proven me wrong already as both Bobby Pierce and Ricky Thornton Jr. have dominated their respective divisions. Both won their third feature race on Friday night of the four contested so far with Pierce toying with the field in the Late Models and Thornton Jr. earning the Modified win in a stirring drive to the front. Only the X Mods have been more mixed with "The Modern Day Cowboy", Ron Schreiner winning the main on Friday night and becoming the fourth different X Mod driver to visit victory lane so far.
Another big crowd was on hand for the show on Friday, contested under cloudy skies with even a few sprinkles of rain falling from time to time but never anything to the extent of creating any problems for the racers.
The success of this racing series has been clear and apparent to all and with that success in mind, officials of the Wild West Shootout announced that the program will return to Arizona Speedway in 2018 and that the dates will be January 6,7,10,12,13 and 14 with the 5th reserved as a practice night.
The smooth running programs continued on Friday with the hot laps/time trials being spun off quicker than ever. A little track prep followed but they were still moving along so well that the first heat race of the night actually hit the track sixteen minutes before the advertised starting time! When trying to cut it close to not miss the first green of the night, coming to this event means you better be here early if you're not going to miss the first heat!
Track officials have been doing a good job of administering the race programs also. They have been watching the starts closely and between Race Director Kelly Carlton and the starter, have called back a number of jump starts. Of course, the rule that all cars that stop on the track during a race has screwed a few drivers spinning and stopping on the track to avoid accidents, but it is the same for everyone and certainly makes it a breeze to administer.
Once again it was Pierce that dominated the Late Model division. Billy Moyer started on the pole and led a few laps but Pierce quickly moved to the high side and blasted past the Hall of Famer. After that, it was just a matter of working the traffic and keeping his lead over Chris Simpson who had taken over third. Simpson did close a little when Pierce got hung up with a couple of lapped cars, but once he cleared them, he again pulled away. After most of the show found the lower to mid groove the fast way around the track, the groove suddenly jumped to the top for the Late Model feature and it is apparent that Moyer just doesn't want to bang around off the cushion and the outside rail any more. Garrett Alberson was one of the fastest cars on the track at the end of the main as he closed on Moyer at the end. Terry Phillips, after a poor qualifying effort that saw him start eighteenth in the main really got up on the wheel and charged all the way up to fifth at the finish. After some real lackluster runs early in the week, the change of cars had really perked up his program.
While Thornton Jr. continues to dominate the Modifieds, the way he won the main event Friday was very much different than how Pierce controlled the Late Models. I would have to say that the Modified feature on Friday was the best main event of the series so far. The racing was excellent with several different drivers challenging for the lead and much passing and lead changing going on. Dustin Strand, Shane Sabraski, Brad Diercks and R.C. Whitwell all had legitimate chances to take the win at various times until Thornton Jr. worked his way forward from a tenth starting spot to take the lead. I don't know what it is about Thornton Jr. and his Shaw chassis but the combination really works for him. You would probably be hard pressed to even find another Shaw chassis in the Modified pits this week, but Ricky puts it anywhere and everywhere on the track on his way to the front. There were only two minor yellows in the Modified feature, twenty of the twenty four starters were still on the track at the finish and not a car was lapped. I would have to say that the Modified field has been the most impressive of the series, despite the fact that this is supposed to be a Late Model series. Truly, both the Mods and X Mods should be due for a purse boost for 2018. Thornton Jr's win was also the first of the week where the winner came from deeper than the second row in the starting field.
The X Mods have seen four different winners in four nights and that continued Friday as Ron Schreiner, the transplant from Wisconsin, led from start to finish in the main. He likes to keep his car straight and drive it through the corners and that strategy worked to perfection Friday as no one had anything for him. Thornton Jr. was behind the wheel of Missouri's Mike Tanner's back up car and while one can argue whether Thornton Jr. should even be racing in this class, he once again proved that he can drive anything with four wheels. However, even he couldn't keep up with Schreiner on this night. North Dakota's Rusty Kollman continued his consistent racing with his fourth top ten in four nights. Opening night winner Travis Schulte and Wisconsin's Clark Swartz maintained their pace also with another top ten finish.
Car counts remained solid for night four of the series. The Modified field continues to amaze as eight more drivers made their first appearance of the week and with fifty three Modifieds in the pits, the car count has continued to climb each night and has reached a two year high. Forty two X Mods made for four solid heats and with a few of the Late Model drivers returning for weekend number two, forty six of them took qualifying efforts with Mike Marlar the most notably missing, having headed back to eastern Tennesse after a sub par showing. Both the Mod and X Mod fields remain well up over 2016.
Another big crowd was on hand for the show on Friday, contested under cloudy skies with even a few sprinkles of rain falling from time to time but never anything to the extent of creating any problems for the racers.
The success of this racing series has been clear and apparent to all and with that success in mind, officials of the Wild West Shootout announced that the program will return to Arizona Speedway in 2018 and that the dates will be January 6,7,10,12,13 and 14 with the 5th reserved as a practice night.
The smooth running programs continued on Friday with the hot laps/time trials being spun off quicker than ever. A little track prep followed but they were still moving along so well that the first heat race of the night actually hit the track sixteen minutes before the advertised starting time! When trying to cut it close to not miss the first green of the night, coming to this event means you better be here early if you're not going to miss the first heat!
Track officials have been doing a good job of administering the race programs also. They have been watching the starts closely and between Race Director Kelly Carlton and the starter, have called back a number of jump starts. Of course, the rule that all cars that stop on the track during a race has screwed a few drivers spinning and stopping on the track to avoid accidents, but it is the same for everyone and certainly makes it a breeze to administer.
Once again it was Pierce that dominated the Late Model division. Billy Moyer started on the pole and led a few laps but Pierce quickly moved to the high side and blasted past the Hall of Famer. After that, it was just a matter of working the traffic and keeping his lead over Chris Simpson who had taken over third. Simpson did close a little when Pierce got hung up with a couple of lapped cars, but once he cleared them, he again pulled away. After most of the show found the lower to mid groove the fast way around the track, the groove suddenly jumped to the top for the Late Model feature and it is apparent that Moyer just doesn't want to bang around off the cushion and the outside rail any more. Garrett Alberson was one of the fastest cars on the track at the end of the main as he closed on Moyer at the end. Terry Phillips, after a poor qualifying effort that saw him start eighteenth in the main really got up on the wheel and charged all the way up to fifth at the finish. After some real lackluster runs early in the week, the change of cars had really perked up his program.
While Thornton Jr. continues to dominate the Modifieds, the way he won the main event Friday was very much different than how Pierce controlled the Late Models. I would have to say that the Modified feature on Friday was the best main event of the series so far. The racing was excellent with several different drivers challenging for the lead and much passing and lead changing going on. Dustin Strand, Shane Sabraski, Brad Diercks and R.C. Whitwell all had legitimate chances to take the win at various times until Thornton Jr. worked his way forward from a tenth starting spot to take the lead. I don't know what it is about Thornton Jr. and his Shaw chassis but the combination really works for him. You would probably be hard pressed to even find another Shaw chassis in the Modified pits this week, but Ricky puts it anywhere and everywhere on the track on his way to the front. There were only two minor yellows in the Modified feature, twenty of the twenty four starters were still on the track at the finish and not a car was lapped. I would have to say that the Modified field has been the most impressive of the series, despite the fact that this is supposed to be a Late Model series. Truly, both the Mods and X Mods should be due for a purse boost for 2018. Thornton Jr's win was also the first of the week where the winner came from deeper than the second row in the starting field.
The X Mods have seen four different winners in four nights and that continued Friday as Ron Schreiner, the transplant from Wisconsin, led from start to finish in the main. He likes to keep his car straight and drive it through the corners and that strategy worked to perfection Friday as no one had anything for him. Thornton Jr. was behind the wheel of Missouri's Mike Tanner's back up car and while one can argue whether Thornton Jr. should even be racing in this class, he once again proved that he can drive anything with four wheels. However, even he couldn't keep up with Schreiner on this night. North Dakota's Rusty Kollman continued his consistent racing with his fourth top ten in four nights. Opening night winner Travis Schulte and Wisconsin's Clark Swartz maintained their pace also with another top ten finish.
Car counts remained solid for night four of the series. The Modified field continues to amaze as eight more drivers made their first appearance of the week and with fifty three Modifieds in the pits, the car count has continued to climb each night and has reached a two year high. Forty two X Mods made for four solid heats and with a few of the Late Model drivers returning for weekend number two, forty six of them took qualifying efforts with Mike Marlar the most notably missing, having headed back to eastern Tennesse after a sub par showing. Both the Mod and X Mod fields remain well up over 2016.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Pierce's 250 K gone, Thornton Jr. and Strong dominate
Round three of the Wild West Shootout took place on Wednesday, January 11th at the Arizona Raceway on the grounds of ET Motorsports Park in sunny Arizona.
The first midweek show of the extended series always produces a little bit of change over the rest of the series. Car counts can fluctuate considerably as some drivers leave and yet others just begin to arrive. The spectator counts also can be substantially different than those for the rest of the events while lastly, track conditions are often substantially different too for various reasons.
Car counts were down over the first two nights of racing except for the Modifieds where things turned out to be quite surprising. The Late Models lost ten cars over the opening Saturday with some of the California and New Mexico drivers heading home to work over the week. A couple cars were also lost to event ending crashes, the most disappointing being the loss of Ricky Thornton Jr to the local fans after his Sunday crash bent the frame in his new Black Diamond entry. Also for area fans, Nick O'Neill was missing after he hurt the motor in his car during the practice session on Tuesday night. That's right, if six nights of racing wasn't enough for you, there was also a voluntary session of practice on Tuesday night. Pay $200, and you could take all the laps you wanted!
After a couple of cars scratched out of Wednesday night's action when they had motor problems, a couple of the heats were a little skimpy on cars, a possible concern for upcoming events. Hopefully, those missing for the midweek show will return for next weekend.
Meanwhile, the Modified class pulled off a stunner. Instead of losing cars, additional cars rolled in for Wednesday and a two year high of the open wheel cars was on hand. In face, three more Modifieds arrived at once in a big rig all the way from the Winnipeg Manitoba area.
The X Mod field was down somewhat too but this is the class that has more variables, largely due to local entrants that have to work and can't always make it for the weeknight shows with the crazy Phoenix traffic patterns.
A couple drivers and crews were busy since Sunday as Justin Duty, who rolled his car, was back in action after a busy couple of days of work. His father John flew home to Oregon to work but Justin stayed and got his car ready. Unfortunately, he would tear the whole side of it off later in the evening.
South Dakota's Dustin Bluhm had a couple of trying days too. He flipped his Modified on Sunday. Actually, until after he flipped it, it was just a borrowed ride but when he wiped out the front end, he had to fix it and buy it! Then, to make matters worse, on Tuesday night he blew the motor on his X Mod and was forced to change that. He told me that so far this week, he figured he was down about twenty four grand so far! I only hope he stays away from the craps table with his current luck.
The drivers meeting brought some disturbing information. Co-promoter Chris Kearns delivered the news that there was a lady on hand from some governmental agency with a sound devise, checking to see if the track was exceeding whatever the decibel limits are. Apparently they have been receiving noise complaints from people living about a mile away from the track from the first weekend's action and of course, with Wednesday's show being the only truly midweek show, even more emphasis is being placed on this program. Kearns reminded everyone to make sure they had their mufflers on and also spoke to the fact that they were going to run off as speedy a show as possible. In that regard, when everyone was set to go, the races started which turned out to be fifteen minutes before the advertised starting time and the final checkered waved at 9:45 p.m.
With the rumblings that I had heard earlier about the neighbors not being enchanted with the race track, this is the kind of thing that could most put this series in jeopardy.
Race director Kelly Carlton reported that the tire samples were back from the weekend races and everyone passed "muster" with more samples to be taken on Wednesday night. They were also going to pull off rear tires from the winners to further do inspections based on complaints that they weren't teching enought.
With the later starting time on Wednesday, it made track prep again a changing experience. The sun was almost set by the time hot laps started and this made for a considerably different track than the previous two shows. It was slimy in the early going with a narrow groove and later on in the evening, for the first time all week the outside groove seemed to give up and most of the Late Models were right on the bottom. This played into Billy Moyers' hands as he doesn't like to bang the cushion any more and has always been a smooth runner on the bottom lane. He and Terry Phillips, two that had disappointing opening weekends, both "righted their ships" on Wednesday. For Phillips, the answer was to break out a new Black Diamond race car while for Moyer it was to make some changes on his car.
Joining Moyer in victory lane were Shawn Strong in the X Mods and Thornton Jr in the Modifieds. For Thornton Jr, it was his second win already this week while Strong has gotten better in each outing for him this week. Both of them got to the front quickly in their main events in what were relatively "ho hum" races. There was some battling in the Late Model feature before Moyer took over and the show in total wasn't quite as entertaining as the opening two were.
It was a trying night for Dustin Strand on Wednesday. He had just moved into second in the Mod feature when he spun in turn two all by himself. The same thing happened in the Late Model feature but in that event he got some help from a certain yellow and red car. Strand suffered damage but was able to limp home with a top ten finish while he was hoping for much more after pulling off the most scintillating move of the week on the opening lap of his Late Model heat.
While it feels like we have seen some good racing and much side by side battling, in three nights of racing we have yet to see a feature winner come from deeper than the second row of a main with six of the nine right off the front row.
While the crowd wasn't near as big as either of the previous two races, it was by far the biggest Wednesday night crowd I have ever seen for a Wild West Shootout at any location. The Wednesday night crowds at Tucson used to be very poor so this was a significant improvement. It looks like this event will be a huge success, as long as track promoters don't get thrown "out of Dodge" by the local powers that be.
The first midweek show of the extended series always produces a little bit of change over the rest of the series. Car counts can fluctuate considerably as some drivers leave and yet others just begin to arrive. The spectator counts also can be substantially different than those for the rest of the events while lastly, track conditions are often substantially different too for various reasons.
Car counts were down over the first two nights of racing except for the Modifieds where things turned out to be quite surprising. The Late Models lost ten cars over the opening Saturday with some of the California and New Mexico drivers heading home to work over the week. A couple cars were also lost to event ending crashes, the most disappointing being the loss of Ricky Thornton Jr to the local fans after his Sunday crash bent the frame in his new Black Diamond entry. Also for area fans, Nick O'Neill was missing after he hurt the motor in his car during the practice session on Tuesday night. That's right, if six nights of racing wasn't enough for you, there was also a voluntary session of practice on Tuesday night. Pay $200, and you could take all the laps you wanted!
After a couple of cars scratched out of Wednesday night's action when they had motor problems, a couple of the heats were a little skimpy on cars, a possible concern for upcoming events. Hopefully, those missing for the midweek show will return for next weekend.
Meanwhile, the Modified class pulled off a stunner. Instead of losing cars, additional cars rolled in for Wednesday and a two year high of the open wheel cars was on hand. In face, three more Modifieds arrived at once in a big rig all the way from the Winnipeg Manitoba area.
The X Mod field was down somewhat too but this is the class that has more variables, largely due to local entrants that have to work and can't always make it for the weeknight shows with the crazy Phoenix traffic patterns.
A couple drivers and crews were busy since Sunday as Justin Duty, who rolled his car, was back in action after a busy couple of days of work. His father John flew home to Oregon to work but Justin stayed and got his car ready. Unfortunately, he would tear the whole side of it off later in the evening.
South Dakota's Dustin Bluhm had a couple of trying days too. He flipped his Modified on Sunday. Actually, until after he flipped it, it was just a borrowed ride but when he wiped out the front end, he had to fix it and buy it! Then, to make matters worse, on Tuesday night he blew the motor on his X Mod and was forced to change that. He told me that so far this week, he figured he was down about twenty four grand so far! I only hope he stays away from the craps table with his current luck.
The drivers meeting brought some disturbing information. Co-promoter Chris Kearns delivered the news that there was a lady on hand from some governmental agency with a sound devise, checking to see if the track was exceeding whatever the decibel limits are. Apparently they have been receiving noise complaints from people living about a mile away from the track from the first weekend's action and of course, with Wednesday's show being the only truly midweek show, even more emphasis is being placed on this program. Kearns reminded everyone to make sure they had their mufflers on and also spoke to the fact that they were going to run off as speedy a show as possible. In that regard, when everyone was set to go, the races started which turned out to be fifteen minutes before the advertised starting time and the final checkered waved at 9:45 p.m.
With the rumblings that I had heard earlier about the neighbors not being enchanted with the race track, this is the kind of thing that could most put this series in jeopardy.
Race director Kelly Carlton reported that the tire samples were back from the weekend races and everyone passed "muster" with more samples to be taken on Wednesday night. They were also going to pull off rear tires from the winners to further do inspections based on complaints that they weren't teching enought.
With the later starting time on Wednesday, it made track prep again a changing experience. The sun was almost set by the time hot laps started and this made for a considerably different track than the previous two shows. It was slimy in the early going with a narrow groove and later on in the evening, for the first time all week the outside groove seemed to give up and most of the Late Models were right on the bottom. This played into Billy Moyers' hands as he doesn't like to bang the cushion any more and has always been a smooth runner on the bottom lane. He and Terry Phillips, two that had disappointing opening weekends, both "righted their ships" on Wednesday. For Phillips, the answer was to break out a new Black Diamond race car while for Moyer it was to make some changes on his car.
Joining Moyer in victory lane were Shawn Strong in the X Mods and Thornton Jr in the Modifieds. For Thornton Jr, it was his second win already this week while Strong has gotten better in each outing for him this week. Both of them got to the front quickly in their main events in what were relatively "ho hum" races. There was some battling in the Late Model feature before Moyer took over and the show in total wasn't quite as entertaining as the opening two were.
It was a trying night for Dustin Strand on Wednesday. He had just moved into second in the Mod feature when he spun in turn two all by himself. The same thing happened in the Late Model feature but in that event he got some help from a certain yellow and red car. Strand suffered damage but was able to limp home with a top ten finish while he was hoping for much more after pulling off the most scintillating move of the week on the opening lap of his Late Model heat.
While it feels like we have seen some good racing and much side by side battling, in three nights of racing we have yet to see a feature winner come from deeper than the second row of a main with six of the nine right off the front row.
While the crowd wasn't near as big as either of the previous two races, it was by far the biggest Wednesday night crowd I have ever seen for a Wild West Shootout at any location. The Wednesday night crowds at Tucson used to be very poor so this was a significant improvement. It looks like this event will be a huge success, as long as track promoters don't get thrown "out of Dodge" by the local powers that be.
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Wild West Shootout - The Opening Weekend
One hundred and fifty two driver car combinations attempted a qualifying effort during the opening weekend of the eleventh annual Wild West Shootout at the Arizona Speedway in San Tan Valley. This was almost equally spread between the three divisions that were in action with the Late Model count slightly higher than the other two classes which coincidentally, turned out exactly the same number of cars for the opening weekend.
Here are some random opening weekend thoughts on the action, both on and off the track.
I think the track really threw the drivers for a loop on the opening two nights of the racing action. Most everyone I talked to expected a slick, top to bottom racing surface that would be easy on the motors, the drivers would have to drive as if they had a block under the accelerator, and a finesse type of style would be most successful. It turned out to be totally different than that however. The track instead built up a big berm both nights and there was much "hammer down" racing. In fact, the track raced much like a smaller version of U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson where this event was previously held. In fact, some of the X Mod drivers, who were trying to match their gear ratios with the "chip rule" they are required to adhere to out here found themselves using exactly the same gears that they had run in Tucson. Sunday the track prep people made a concerted effort to keep the top side groove a little dryer and try to add more life to the low groove. This worked for most of the night and certainly had some affect on the considerable side by side racing we saw. It didn't hold for the whole night however and the Late Models were up banging the wall come feature time once again. However, this is not to say that the racing has not been good and actually has been quite entertaining for the opening two rounds. But the track has remained very much an "elbows up" kind of track, just like Tucson was.
Comparing last year's field to 2017, it might be fair to say that the Late Model field may not be quite as strong as last year's was, although in fairness, 2016 was an extraordinary year in attracting "big name" talent to the desert. Missing this year were such drivers as Moyer Jr, O'Neal, Lanigan, Gustin, Junghans, Clanton, Davenport, Bagley, Weiss, Hollingsworth, Looney and Rasdon which was mitigated some by 2017's addition of Pierce, Pearson, Marlar and Overton. However, there were still plenty of fast cars on hand and to say that the racing has been diminished any by the absence of some of last year's entrants would be very incorrect.
It is ironic that the format was changed from passing points to hot laps/time trials in large part to appease some of the "big names" and even with the change they lobbied for, they still didn't show up! It will be interesting to see whether or not they go back to passing points for next year or remain with the time trial format since most of the current crop of racers here are not used to normally qualifying. With the argument that time trials wear out the track mitigated by the fact that the Late Models qualify with no hot laps to benefit them, the main question with time trials is that they place all the fast cars together up front and we don't get to see any big charges through the field that a draw and passing points format would possibly provide. However, heat races on Sunday saw some pretty intense action so we will see how the rest of the week plays out.The Modifieds and X Mods by the way, are still using their draw/passing points format from years past.
The Modified field seems pretty comparable to last year both in numbers and quality although with the Scott brothers, Gustin, Dillard, Ray and Big Daddy Duval missing, that is several fast cars not on hand. Truth be told, even with USRA sanctioning for this event this year, I don't see an significant increase of what could be called USRA point chasers in the field. Rodney Sanders is focusing on his Late Model this year but he did take a brief ride in sponsor David Tanner's back up Modified but the run was a short one as the motor "went South" after just a few brief heat race laps.
For those that truly enjoy all classes of racing, the X Mod field seems to get stronger each year, even though few local drivers are partaking in the action. It continues to amaze me when over two dozen X Mod drivers haul all the way out here to the desert from the northern regions to race for a purse that is significantly smaller than either of the other classes, And don't be mistaken, these cars are very sanitary too, with rigs that match or exceed the higher class cars in quality an function. And the X Mod drivers continue to get the short end of the stick as they are the only class that doesn't get their winners interviewed after the heat races. I'm sure their fans would like to see them on TV too!
One group of drivers missing for the most part so far has been the Las Cruces crowd, a group that supported the races in Tucson in a big way and the closest spot to the local track that runs USRA rules. Perhaps the extra distance this year was a determining factor or perhaps that they have their biggest race ever coming up the following weekend after this was an even bigger factor.
Eight drivers have raced in more than one class so far this week. Jesse Hoskins, Scott Bintz, Dustin Bluhm and Chad Olsen have raced both X Mods and Mods while Dustin Strand, Ricky Thornton Jr, R.C. Whitwell and Justin Kay have raced both Mods and Late Models. North Dakota's Lucas Rodin has a Modified that he as of yet hasn't dropped out of the truck and rumors persist that Thornton Jr may take a ride in Missouri driver Mike Tanner's second X Mod before the week is over.
Ben Shelton has been calling the action this week with Dustin Jarrett providing commentary and driver interviews. They both do a very fine job but still tend to call the races for the TV crowd rather than the thousands on hand in the stands.
Several Late Model drivers have had particularly disappointing opening weekends. Among those would be Terry Phillips, Kyle Beard, A.J. Diemel, Mike Marlar and Billy Moyer. Beard lost a motor on Saturday, rolled out his back up car to finish the program and then crashed that car on Sunday. Diemel's was most off the track issues as his father Don took ill and was taken to the hospital on Saturday. A.J. returned to race on Sunday but was then an innocent victim of a stack up that collected him.
Obviously Bobby Pierce leads the way after two shows with the best showings as two firsts are impossible to top. Also showing plenty of stretch and consistency opening weekend were Chris Simpson, Brandon Overton and Earl Pearson Jr. David Braseale and Rodney Sanders have also been consistent.
In the Modifieds, Minnesota's Shane Sabraski, in his SSR chassis, has been the best so far with two top five finishes. Fito Gallardo had this going also until he blew a motor on the last lap Sunday and dropped back a number of positions. Three drivers have been in the top ten both days including Justin Kay, Matt Leer and Thornton Jr.
Northern drivers have been dominating the X Mods. Travis Schulte has two top five finishes along with fellow Minnesota driver Chad Olsen. North Dakota drivers Scott Bintz and Rusty Kollman(in Bintz' back up car), both have top ten finishes along with Wisconsin driver Clark Swartz.
The crowds have been very good both days and exceeded the opening weekend turnouts from Tucson. With the continued questions surrounding the reopening of the newly branded Wildcat Raceway in Tucson and the track's increased focus on Sprint Car racing, unless the promoters of this event and the track owner at Arizona Raceway have issues, I would expect the race to stay here for the foreseeable future even though there are rumors that this track's future is unpredictable due to the advance of new houses marching in the direction of the track.
By the way, I had some computer issues when I arrived that made spending reports seem unlikely. However, the skilled technicians at Tice Technologies were able to get me back up and running from long distance so if you're ever in the area of northern Wisconsin and have computer problems, call the folks at Tice in Rice Lake Wisconsin.
Here are some random opening weekend thoughts on the action, both on and off the track.
I think the track really threw the drivers for a loop on the opening two nights of the racing action. Most everyone I talked to expected a slick, top to bottom racing surface that would be easy on the motors, the drivers would have to drive as if they had a block under the accelerator, and a finesse type of style would be most successful. It turned out to be totally different than that however. The track instead built up a big berm both nights and there was much "hammer down" racing. In fact, the track raced much like a smaller version of U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson where this event was previously held. In fact, some of the X Mod drivers, who were trying to match their gear ratios with the "chip rule" they are required to adhere to out here found themselves using exactly the same gears that they had run in Tucson. Sunday the track prep people made a concerted effort to keep the top side groove a little dryer and try to add more life to the low groove. This worked for most of the night and certainly had some affect on the considerable side by side racing we saw. It didn't hold for the whole night however and the Late Models were up banging the wall come feature time once again. However, this is not to say that the racing has not been good and actually has been quite entertaining for the opening two rounds. But the track has remained very much an "elbows up" kind of track, just like Tucson was.
Comparing last year's field to 2017, it might be fair to say that the Late Model field may not be quite as strong as last year's was, although in fairness, 2016 was an extraordinary year in attracting "big name" talent to the desert. Missing this year were such drivers as Moyer Jr, O'Neal, Lanigan, Gustin, Junghans, Clanton, Davenport, Bagley, Weiss, Hollingsworth, Looney and Rasdon which was mitigated some by 2017's addition of Pierce, Pearson, Marlar and Overton. However, there were still plenty of fast cars on hand and to say that the racing has been diminished any by the absence of some of last year's entrants would be very incorrect.
It is ironic that the format was changed from passing points to hot laps/time trials in large part to appease some of the "big names" and even with the change they lobbied for, they still didn't show up! It will be interesting to see whether or not they go back to passing points for next year or remain with the time trial format since most of the current crop of racers here are not used to normally qualifying. With the argument that time trials wear out the track mitigated by the fact that the Late Models qualify with no hot laps to benefit them, the main question with time trials is that they place all the fast cars together up front and we don't get to see any big charges through the field that a draw and passing points format would possibly provide. However, heat races on Sunday saw some pretty intense action so we will see how the rest of the week plays out.The Modifieds and X Mods by the way, are still using their draw/passing points format from years past.
The Modified field seems pretty comparable to last year both in numbers and quality although with the Scott brothers, Gustin, Dillard, Ray and Big Daddy Duval missing, that is several fast cars not on hand. Truth be told, even with USRA sanctioning for this event this year, I don't see an significant increase of what could be called USRA point chasers in the field. Rodney Sanders is focusing on his Late Model this year but he did take a brief ride in sponsor David Tanner's back up Modified but the run was a short one as the motor "went South" after just a few brief heat race laps.
For those that truly enjoy all classes of racing, the X Mod field seems to get stronger each year, even though few local drivers are partaking in the action. It continues to amaze me when over two dozen X Mod drivers haul all the way out here to the desert from the northern regions to race for a purse that is significantly smaller than either of the other classes, And don't be mistaken, these cars are very sanitary too, with rigs that match or exceed the higher class cars in quality an function. And the X Mod drivers continue to get the short end of the stick as they are the only class that doesn't get their winners interviewed after the heat races. I'm sure their fans would like to see them on TV too!
One group of drivers missing for the most part so far has been the Las Cruces crowd, a group that supported the races in Tucson in a big way and the closest spot to the local track that runs USRA rules. Perhaps the extra distance this year was a determining factor or perhaps that they have their biggest race ever coming up the following weekend after this was an even bigger factor.
Eight drivers have raced in more than one class so far this week. Jesse Hoskins, Scott Bintz, Dustin Bluhm and Chad Olsen have raced both X Mods and Mods while Dustin Strand, Ricky Thornton Jr, R.C. Whitwell and Justin Kay have raced both Mods and Late Models. North Dakota's Lucas Rodin has a Modified that he as of yet hasn't dropped out of the truck and rumors persist that Thornton Jr may take a ride in Missouri driver Mike Tanner's second X Mod before the week is over.
Ben Shelton has been calling the action this week with Dustin Jarrett providing commentary and driver interviews. They both do a very fine job but still tend to call the races for the TV crowd rather than the thousands on hand in the stands.
Several Late Model drivers have had particularly disappointing opening weekends. Among those would be Terry Phillips, Kyle Beard, A.J. Diemel, Mike Marlar and Billy Moyer. Beard lost a motor on Saturday, rolled out his back up car to finish the program and then crashed that car on Sunday. Diemel's was most off the track issues as his father Don took ill and was taken to the hospital on Saturday. A.J. returned to race on Sunday but was then an innocent victim of a stack up that collected him.
Obviously Bobby Pierce leads the way after two shows with the best showings as two firsts are impossible to top. Also showing plenty of stretch and consistency opening weekend were Chris Simpson, Brandon Overton and Earl Pearson Jr. David Braseale and Rodney Sanders have also been consistent.
In the Modifieds, Minnesota's Shane Sabraski, in his SSR chassis, has been the best so far with two top five finishes. Fito Gallardo had this going also until he blew a motor on the last lap Sunday and dropped back a number of positions. Three drivers have been in the top ten both days including Justin Kay, Matt Leer and Thornton Jr.
Northern drivers have been dominating the X Mods. Travis Schulte has two top five finishes along with fellow Minnesota driver Chad Olsen. North Dakota drivers Scott Bintz and Rusty Kollman(in Bintz' back up car), both have top ten finishes along with Wisconsin driver Clark Swartz.
The crowds have been very good both days and exceeded the opening weekend turnouts from Tucson. With the continued questions surrounding the reopening of the newly branded Wildcat Raceway in Tucson and the track's increased focus on Sprint Car racing, unless the promoters of this event and the track owner at Arizona Raceway have issues, I would expect the race to stay here for the foreseeable future even though there are rumors that this track's future is unpredictable due to the advance of new houses marching in the direction of the track.
By the way, I had some computer issues when I arrived that made spending reports seem unlikely. However, the skilled technicians at Tice Technologies were able to get me back up and running from long distance so if you're ever in the area of northern Wisconsin and have computer problems, call the folks at Tice in Rice Lake Wisconsin.
Monday, January 9, 2017
Pierce Leads the Way Again at Arizona Speedway
After a quick turnaround, racing continued on Sunday, January 8th with round number two of the Wild West Shootout at Arizona Speedway in San Tan Valley. It was a little warmer on Sunday and the sun also shown quite a bit more throughout the day. Speaking of the sun, when it starts to set at the Arizona Speedway it creates a real problem. The track faces roughly West to East so that when the sun starts to set, it is blindly bright. I spoke to a few of the drivers who said that the billboards on the back chute and into turn three seem to help as they didn't report any problems with visibility. That is not the same in the main grandstands however, as the sun is so bright it makes watching the action almost impossible for a few short minutes just before the sun drops below the horizon. However, I will not complain as the last time I checked at home, the temperatures were still struggling to crack the "goose egg."
Car counts were very close to those of Saturday with a few new drivers and some that didn't return for various reasons with all classes being within a car or two of where they were on Saturday.
A slightly different strategy was used on Sunday for track prep with the top side of the track receiving a little less water and the lower groove getting a bit more. The intention was to slow down the top side and try and balance the track out a little better. For the most part it worked and I think we saw more side by side racing on Sunday, although that's not to say that Saturday was that bad either. Still, they were trying to keep everyone from riding the rim as they had done for the opening night and for the most part, they were successful doing that. Toward the end of the night, the top side again started to dominate and most of the successful cars were running up against the guard rail by the end of the action, but that groove never was the sole way to get around the track. What I am most encouraged about is that they are making a concerted effort to keep the track the best they can for everyone without spending too much time fiddling with the surface. They do it when it is necessary but don't overkill the spectators with misting, watering and packing.
Is Keyser Manufacturing Co. starting to sweat? Is their quarter million in danger? For the second straight night, it was Bobby Pierce in victory lane in the thirty lap Late Model feature. Despite the fact that he started on the pole, he had his work cut out for him as he gave up spots to both Garrett Alberson and Brandon Overton but was able to fight back and pass both of them. What was impressive to me was that he was able to overtake Overton by using the low groove on a restart but then when he saw how fast the top side way, he was able to jump up there and then pull away. His car seems so smooth where ever he puts it on the track and he wasn't "bucking around" like most of the others that were riding the top side.
Unlike the opening night, the action got a little rough on Sunday with Ricky Thornton Jr. heavily damaging his car and Jason Rauen reportedly bending the frame on his car. Oregon's Justin Duty also flipped after winning the dash on Saturday. A few more cars are expected midweek and they may be needed to replace those damaged beyond repair.
Dustin Strand has been making a name for himself with his appearances at the Wild West Shootout the past two years, and he added to that Sunday when he led the Modified feature from start to finish. It was a remarkable night for the northern delegation as the top five finishers were all WISSOTA racers. Running someone else,s rules and on a tire they are unfamiliar with, their collective finish was very impressive. For runner up David McDonald, this was the first week that he has run a Modified in several years, having moved to Late Models several years ago. MB Customs cars finished second through fourth with McDonald, Matt Leer and Matt Gilbertson all running that same chassis. Shane Sabraski had his second top five finish of the weekend as he has his SSR chassis running great. Shane will move to a Lethal chassis from David Stremme as some point this year.
Four of the top five in the X Mods were again northern drivers. Chad Olsen had his second top five finish as he dominating the main event. North Dakota drivers Preston Carr and Rusty Kollman both had top five finishes and last night's feature winner Travis Schulte spun, went to the rear and then raced his way back up to fourth. Shawn Strong, the top USRA driver from Missouri, finally got the kinks out after a back run on Saturday. Barely making the show on Sunday, he raced from twenty third to finish second in the main. He'll be one to keep an eye on the rest of the week. Other than Thornton Jr, the best finish by a local so far was Sunday when Tyler Mecl finished sixth in the X Mod feature. Mecl, by the way, hauls his car North to Minnesota and races there during the Summer.
Track officials continue to present a solid and quick moving race program for the fans. They start right at the advertised time and in an effort to move things along even quicker, they took more cars from the heats so that they could reduce the number of B features, which also has a way of help saving the race track. Sunday the show was done by 9 p.m.
Car counts were very close to those of Saturday with a few new drivers and some that didn't return for various reasons with all classes being within a car or two of where they were on Saturday.
A slightly different strategy was used on Sunday for track prep with the top side of the track receiving a little less water and the lower groove getting a bit more. The intention was to slow down the top side and try and balance the track out a little better. For the most part it worked and I think we saw more side by side racing on Sunday, although that's not to say that Saturday was that bad either. Still, they were trying to keep everyone from riding the rim as they had done for the opening night and for the most part, they were successful doing that. Toward the end of the night, the top side again started to dominate and most of the successful cars were running up against the guard rail by the end of the action, but that groove never was the sole way to get around the track. What I am most encouraged about is that they are making a concerted effort to keep the track the best they can for everyone without spending too much time fiddling with the surface. They do it when it is necessary but don't overkill the spectators with misting, watering and packing.
Is Keyser Manufacturing Co. starting to sweat? Is their quarter million in danger? For the second straight night, it was Bobby Pierce in victory lane in the thirty lap Late Model feature. Despite the fact that he started on the pole, he had his work cut out for him as he gave up spots to both Garrett Alberson and Brandon Overton but was able to fight back and pass both of them. What was impressive to me was that he was able to overtake Overton by using the low groove on a restart but then when he saw how fast the top side way, he was able to jump up there and then pull away. His car seems so smooth where ever he puts it on the track and he wasn't "bucking around" like most of the others that were riding the top side.
Unlike the opening night, the action got a little rough on Sunday with Ricky Thornton Jr. heavily damaging his car and Jason Rauen reportedly bending the frame on his car. Oregon's Justin Duty also flipped after winning the dash on Saturday. A few more cars are expected midweek and they may be needed to replace those damaged beyond repair.
Dustin Strand has been making a name for himself with his appearances at the Wild West Shootout the past two years, and he added to that Sunday when he led the Modified feature from start to finish. It was a remarkable night for the northern delegation as the top five finishers were all WISSOTA racers. Running someone else,s rules and on a tire they are unfamiliar with, their collective finish was very impressive. For runner up David McDonald, this was the first week that he has run a Modified in several years, having moved to Late Models several years ago. MB Customs cars finished second through fourth with McDonald, Matt Leer and Matt Gilbertson all running that same chassis. Shane Sabraski had his second top five finish of the weekend as he has his SSR chassis running great. Shane will move to a Lethal chassis from David Stremme as some point this year.
Four of the top five in the X Mods were again northern drivers. Chad Olsen had his second top five finish as he dominating the main event. North Dakota drivers Preston Carr and Rusty Kollman both had top five finishes and last night's feature winner Travis Schulte spun, went to the rear and then raced his way back up to fourth. Shawn Strong, the top USRA driver from Missouri, finally got the kinks out after a back run on Saturday. Barely making the show on Sunday, he raced from twenty third to finish second in the main. He'll be one to keep an eye on the rest of the week. Other than Thornton Jr, the best finish by a local so far was Sunday when Tyler Mecl finished sixth in the X Mod feature. Mecl, by the way, hauls his car North to Minnesota and races there during the Summer.
Track officials continue to present a solid and quick moving race program for the fans. They start right at the advertised time and in an effort to move things along even quicker, they took more cars from the heats so that they could reduce the number of B features, which also has a way of help saving the race track. Sunday the show was done by 9 p.m.
2017 Wild West Shootout Begins
Saturday, January 7th, the much anticipated 11th annual Wild West Shootout commenced at its new location at the Arizona Speedway located on the grounds of the ET Motorsports Park off Ironwood Road South of Mesa Arizona.
As the series has been for the past few years, it was once again a three division program featuring unsanctioned Super Late Models along with sanctioned, for the first time, USRA Modifieds and the local X Mods which was an amalgamation of IMCA Sport Mod, USRA B Mod and WISSOTA Midwest Modified rules.
However, for the first time, after having run the race in recent years at the U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson, the whole she-bang moved North a couple of hours to Arizona Speedway for this year's edition. With so much uncertainty about the future of U.S,A. Raceway, promoters Chris Kearns and Kevin Montgomery were forced to make a decision at this time last year and after reaching an agreement with Arizona Speedway's owner Jonah Trussel, the event moved for this year.
So, everyone from the drivers to the spectators attending were in essence breaking new ground as everyone arrived either Friday or Saturday to a new venue which required an adjustment on everyone's part. Drivers didn't know exactly what the track was going to be like and spectators were unsure about the accommodations for those staying at the track or those looking for housing in the immediate area. And of course everyone wanted to see how the new host facility would race.
And as with most things in life, there are trade offs when a move as drastic as this takes place. Off course, until the first year of the series is in the books, it is way to premature to draw any lasting conclusions on how the track races and if indeed the racing will hold up to what we were used to seeing in Tucson.
My immediate observations were that the Arizona Speedway is a smaller track than Tucson's used to be which might possibly be a good thing for the racing motors which were often taxed at Tucson, particularly when the track pulled heavy. Arizona Speedway seems wide enough to race on and has good banking and it has a shape that looks like it might be a good track for side by side racing and passing to take place. It isn't as fancy a facility as U.S.A. Raceway and definitely doesn't have as many amenities as Tucson. Such things as restrooms, parking, track lighting and close access to restaurants and hotels are wanted compared to Tucson, although all are bearable.
The pits aren't set up near as well as Tucson, there is no scoreboard, the seating is probably not as nice and getting off busy Ironwood Road and back on is a bit of a white knuckle adventure. There are lots of overhead poles and wires and aesthetically the place just isn't as nice as U.S.A. Raceway was. However, on the other hand the place is far from being a "dive" and as the opening weekend showed, the place is more than functional for even such as big an event as this.
As important as anything is the track itself so that the drivers can put on a good show for the fans as that was one of Tucson's stronger points. My preconceptions were proven wrong on opening weekend as I expected a slick and smooth, top to bottom kind of surface that promoted handling with blinding speed and horsepower not being so necessary. However, what we saw on opening night was a big bermed, high speed track with the cars dancing dangerously around the upper side of the speedway and the speeds being very near to those at Tucson. I believe that the drivers were just as surprised as many of us were with how the surface placed out and I talked to a number of drivers that surprised me when they told me they were running the same gear size that they ran at Tucson. Track officials also admitted they were still experimenting with the surface as to how much water to put on it etc. and this whole experience is new for everyone and they have never had to prepare a January surface for so many cars before at Arizona Speedway. We're all kind of learning together. However, their efforts were good and the opening night of racing went very smoothly. They actually started a few minutes before the advertised green flag time and down time, as per a Chris Kearns event, was very minimal.
The big change in the race format for 2017 was that for the first time, the Late Models qualified for their starting positions while the other two classes continued to draw and then use passing points to qualify cars for the feature and establish their starting positions. Group qualifying was used and the field was broken down into heats before qualifying so every driver was only timing against nine or ten cars, rather than the entire field. This was a much fairer way of doing it and the Late Models qualified without benefit of hot laps so the overall number of laps put on the track wasn't any more than if they had hot lapped. The whole process went smooth and didn't delay the start of the program like time trials normally do. It is far too early to determine which way of establishing the lineups makes for a better show so I will refrain from making any more comments on this until I see a few more shows here. I do however, know that one of the best parts of the old way of doing the qualifying was that the heat races often held a very interesting mix of drivers. Now for sure, we know the quickest cars will be right up front in the heats which will likely stifle much passing. Ironically, the two main drivers that whined and whined about having to run passing points and not having time trials both failed to travel to the desert for the 2017 round. It will be interesting to see that without their constant "input" in the ears of the promoters, whether or not qualifying will be a part of the 2018 Wild West Shootout since the majority of the Late Model drivers on hand don't qualify on a regular basis.
As to the car counts for opening night of the series, overall they remained very consistent with recent years. The X Mod car count was up, the Modified count about the same as last year and the Late Models were down about ten cars. Opening night numbers included forty six X Mods, forty four Modifieds and fifty Late Models although A.J. Diemel did not participate after his father Don became ill and was taken to a local hospital and A.J. left the track to be with him.
Local participation was down from the Phoenix area as opposed to Tucson with some of that being understandable. Arizona Speedway runs IMCA Mods and Sport Mods and the Modified drivers could possibly find themselves at a rather significant horsepower disadvantage compared to the USRA spec motors. There were a few regulars that added big spoilers but most were still running their crate motors.
Not many of the Sport Mods partook in the action from the local area, even though their rules are much more compatible with the X Mod rules. The fact that the car count in that class was higher was due to an almost unbelievable number of northern drivers that towed significant distances to race. There were twenty four drivers from the WISSOTA ranks including a goodly number of North and South Dakota drivers as well as a number from Minnesota and a few from Wisconsin. It certainty is significant that these drivers have bought into participating in this series as without them the fields of cars would be considerably less. The Modifieds also had a large contingent of northern drivers with nearly half the forty plus car field being from the northern region also. The Las Cruces area used to be a significant source of cars for Tucson but far fewer of them make the extra distance tow to Phoenix, at least for opening weekend.
One thing the promoters hoped for with their move was that spectator attendance would increase with the change of tracks since it was no secret that the Tucson fans didn't do a very good job of supporting their own track with the vast majority of the spectators being "snowbirds" from up North. While there still were plenty of them at Arizona Raceway, there also seemed to be far move local fans on hand for the opening weekend. It's hard to compare spectator gates from track to track but the stands seemed very crowded for opening night and I was told later that the opening night gate was considerably higher than at Tucson.
Another area that produced a big field of cars was the Oregon area as their Late Models were on hand in strong numbers. It's been quite a few years since so many drivers from that region were on hand in Arizona and they helped make up for the loss of some eastern drivers.
No one could complain about the race program itself as it was a solid and nearly nonstop night of racing. Breaks were few and far between and the starter did his level best to keep the show moving. The track developed a strong side on the upper groove and much of the jockeying was to get to the cushion as quickly as possible as it held its speed all night. This made some for some interesting guard rail banging and a few instances of "hair on fire" slidejobs that had the crowd entertained.
There was much speculation about the Keyser Manufacturing Co. quarter of a million bonus that would go to the Late Model driver that could sweep the series. I still it very difficult to accomplish this, but apparently Bobby Pierce has it in mind. He was very strong as he got the lead immediately and ran away with the Late Model feature. Brandon Overton showed that he has a very heavy right foot as he got everything he could out of Don Shaw's car to take second ahead of Chris Simpson.
Ricky Thornton Jr. is the big crowd favorite here, so of that to do that he runs here on occasion when he is not out on the road traveling. He took the lead from the pole and led all the way for the Modified win. Fito Gallardo made a nice drive from eleventh to finish second and Minesota fans were pleased as their drivers, Shane Sabraski and Shawn Fletcher, finished third and fourth.
Gopher fans were even happier when unheralded driver Travis Schulte led from start to finish to win the X Mod feature. I get to see Schulte race from time to time and he runs strong at Minnesota tracks in Ogilvie and Granite City but he doesn't do much traveling so many people haven't heard from him as of yet. He is driving a former Sabraski car and in fact caught a ride in Sabraski's double stacker to get out here to Arizona. North Dakota farmer Brian Kakela finished second with Minnesota driver Chad Olsen third. In fact, the top four drivers were from the upper Midwest followed by Ron Schreiner, a Tucson driver originally from Wisconsin.
The opening night round proved to be a great starting point for this established series in its new home. Judging by the crowd in the stands, the solid race car support and the well run program, I don't believe this series will be moving again anything soon.
As the series has been for the past few years, it was once again a three division program featuring unsanctioned Super Late Models along with sanctioned, for the first time, USRA Modifieds and the local X Mods which was an amalgamation of IMCA Sport Mod, USRA B Mod and WISSOTA Midwest Modified rules.
However, for the first time, after having run the race in recent years at the U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson, the whole she-bang moved North a couple of hours to Arizona Speedway for this year's edition. With so much uncertainty about the future of U.S,A. Raceway, promoters Chris Kearns and Kevin Montgomery were forced to make a decision at this time last year and after reaching an agreement with Arizona Speedway's owner Jonah Trussel, the event moved for this year.
So, everyone from the drivers to the spectators attending were in essence breaking new ground as everyone arrived either Friday or Saturday to a new venue which required an adjustment on everyone's part. Drivers didn't know exactly what the track was going to be like and spectators were unsure about the accommodations for those staying at the track or those looking for housing in the immediate area. And of course everyone wanted to see how the new host facility would race.
And as with most things in life, there are trade offs when a move as drastic as this takes place. Off course, until the first year of the series is in the books, it is way to premature to draw any lasting conclusions on how the track races and if indeed the racing will hold up to what we were used to seeing in Tucson.
My immediate observations were that the Arizona Speedway is a smaller track than Tucson's used to be which might possibly be a good thing for the racing motors which were often taxed at Tucson, particularly when the track pulled heavy. Arizona Speedway seems wide enough to race on and has good banking and it has a shape that looks like it might be a good track for side by side racing and passing to take place. It isn't as fancy a facility as U.S.A. Raceway and definitely doesn't have as many amenities as Tucson. Such things as restrooms, parking, track lighting and close access to restaurants and hotels are wanted compared to Tucson, although all are bearable.
The pits aren't set up near as well as Tucson, there is no scoreboard, the seating is probably not as nice and getting off busy Ironwood Road and back on is a bit of a white knuckle adventure. There are lots of overhead poles and wires and aesthetically the place just isn't as nice as U.S.A. Raceway was. However, on the other hand the place is far from being a "dive" and as the opening weekend showed, the place is more than functional for even such as big an event as this.
As important as anything is the track itself so that the drivers can put on a good show for the fans as that was one of Tucson's stronger points. My preconceptions were proven wrong on opening weekend as I expected a slick and smooth, top to bottom kind of surface that promoted handling with blinding speed and horsepower not being so necessary. However, what we saw on opening night was a big bermed, high speed track with the cars dancing dangerously around the upper side of the speedway and the speeds being very near to those at Tucson. I believe that the drivers were just as surprised as many of us were with how the surface placed out and I talked to a number of drivers that surprised me when they told me they were running the same gear size that they ran at Tucson. Track officials also admitted they were still experimenting with the surface as to how much water to put on it etc. and this whole experience is new for everyone and they have never had to prepare a January surface for so many cars before at Arizona Speedway. We're all kind of learning together. However, their efforts were good and the opening night of racing went very smoothly. They actually started a few minutes before the advertised green flag time and down time, as per a Chris Kearns event, was very minimal.
The big change in the race format for 2017 was that for the first time, the Late Models qualified for their starting positions while the other two classes continued to draw and then use passing points to qualify cars for the feature and establish their starting positions. Group qualifying was used and the field was broken down into heats before qualifying so every driver was only timing against nine or ten cars, rather than the entire field. This was a much fairer way of doing it and the Late Models qualified without benefit of hot laps so the overall number of laps put on the track wasn't any more than if they had hot lapped. The whole process went smooth and didn't delay the start of the program like time trials normally do. It is far too early to determine which way of establishing the lineups makes for a better show so I will refrain from making any more comments on this until I see a few more shows here. I do however, know that one of the best parts of the old way of doing the qualifying was that the heat races often held a very interesting mix of drivers. Now for sure, we know the quickest cars will be right up front in the heats which will likely stifle much passing. Ironically, the two main drivers that whined and whined about having to run passing points and not having time trials both failed to travel to the desert for the 2017 round. It will be interesting to see that without their constant "input" in the ears of the promoters, whether or not qualifying will be a part of the 2018 Wild West Shootout since the majority of the Late Model drivers on hand don't qualify on a regular basis.
As to the car counts for opening night of the series, overall they remained very consistent with recent years. The X Mod car count was up, the Modified count about the same as last year and the Late Models were down about ten cars. Opening night numbers included forty six X Mods, forty four Modifieds and fifty Late Models although A.J. Diemel did not participate after his father Don became ill and was taken to a local hospital and A.J. left the track to be with him.
Local participation was down from the Phoenix area as opposed to Tucson with some of that being understandable. Arizona Speedway runs IMCA Mods and Sport Mods and the Modified drivers could possibly find themselves at a rather significant horsepower disadvantage compared to the USRA spec motors. There were a few regulars that added big spoilers but most were still running their crate motors.
Not many of the Sport Mods partook in the action from the local area, even though their rules are much more compatible with the X Mod rules. The fact that the car count in that class was higher was due to an almost unbelievable number of northern drivers that towed significant distances to race. There were twenty four drivers from the WISSOTA ranks including a goodly number of North and South Dakota drivers as well as a number from Minnesota and a few from Wisconsin. It certainty is significant that these drivers have bought into participating in this series as without them the fields of cars would be considerably less. The Modifieds also had a large contingent of northern drivers with nearly half the forty plus car field being from the northern region also. The Las Cruces area used to be a significant source of cars for Tucson but far fewer of them make the extra distance tow to Phoenix, at least for opening weekend.
One thing the promoters hoped for with their move was that spectator attendance would increase with the change of tracks since it was no secret that the Tucson fans didn't do a very good job of supporting their own track with the vast majority of the spectators being "snowbirds" from up North. While there still were plenty of them at Arizona Raceway, there also seemed to be far move local fans on hand for the opening weekend. It's hard to compare spectator gates from track to track but the stands seemed very crowded for opening night and I was told later that the opening night gate was considerably higher than at Tucson.
Another area that produced a big field of cars was the Oregon area as their Late Models were on hand in strong numbers. It's been quite a few years since so many drivers from that region were on hand in Arizona and they helped make up for the loss of some eastern drivers.
No one could complain about the race program itself as it was a solid and nearly nonstop night of racing. Breaks were few and far between and the starter did his level best to keep the show moving. The track developed a strong side on the upper groove and much of the jockeying was to get to the cushion as quickly as possible as it held its speed all night. This made some for some interesting guard rail banging and a few instances of "hair on fire" slidejobs that had the crowd entertained.
There was much speculation about the Keyser Manufacturing Co. quarter of a million bonus that would go to the Late Model driver that could sweep the series. I still it very difficult to accomplish this, but apparently Bobby Pierce has it in mind. He was very strong as he got the lead immediately and ran away with the Late Model feature. Brandon Overton showed that he has a very heavy right foot as he got everything he could out of Don Shaw's car to take second ahead of Chris Simpson.
Ricky Thornton Jr. is the big crowd favorite here, so of that to do that he runs here on occasion when he is not out on the road traveling. He took the lead from the pole and led all the way for the Modified win. Fito Gallardo made a nice drive from eleventh to finish second and Minesota fans were pleased as their drivers, Shane Sabraski and Shawn Fletcher, finished third and fourth.
Gopher fans were even happier when unheralded driver Travis Schulte led from start to finish to win the X Mod feature. I get to see Schulte race from time to time and he runs strong at Minnesota tracks in Ogilvie and Granite City but he doesn't do much traveling so many people haven't heard from him as of yet. He is driving a former Sabraski car and in fact caught a ride in Sabraski's double stacker to get out here to Arizona. North Dakota farmer Brian Kakela finished second with Minnesota driver Chad Olsen third. In fact, the top four drivers were from the upper Midwest followed by Ron Schreiner, a Tucson driver originally from Wisconsin.
The opening night round proved to be a great starting point for this established series in its new home. Judging by the crowd in the stands, the solid race car support and the well run program, I don't believe this series will be moving again anything soon.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Closing The Book on 2016
Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to 2017! Whether it was a great year or a lousy one for you, either way, it's time to put 2016 in the rear view mirror and move on. As for myself, 2016 proved to be a perhaps, once in a lifetime year for me as virtually all of the races that I would have longed to attend, I was able to do so. There always seemed to be some great event or series of races that I really wanted to see but for one reason or another, was never able to. However, in 2016, along with an extensive Summer time schedule that allowed me to chase racing all over the Midwest on a weekly basis, I was able to go to just about every big event that I really wanted to see. Once again we were able to attend the racing series at Tucson in January and made the World Finals in Charlotte for the second straight year. We also got to St. Louis in December for a racing weekend that far exceeded my wildest hopes and for the first time in over thirty years, we were able to attend some races in Florida during Speed Weeks. With minimal rain outs plus some just plain dumb luck, I was also able to cash in on some other opportunities to attend races as the season wore on. The bottom line was that many of my racing records were smashed in 2016.
In 2016 I attended one hundred and eighty four nights of racing which destroyed my old record of one hundred and sixty nine that was set back in 2012. This was accomplished by attending sixty three different race tracks in fifteen states. The fifteen states attended came up second to my all time record of sixteen states set in 2008 and duplicated in 2010. While the numbers always remain secondary as the only reason I'm going to all these races is to just have fun, not try to set some kind of meaningless records, I still would have never thought it was possible to break my old record. And simply, the only reason it happened is because I was able to go to Florida. I went to fourteen nights of racing between February 7th and February 20th and suffered only on rain out as by dumb luck, the year I was able to work things out to go to Florida proved to be the year they had some of their best weather ever.
2016 also proved to be the sixth time that I had attended over one hundred and sixty races during a calendar year and also marked the thirty sixth straight year that I have attended at least one hundred races during a year. I guess mostly this shows that I am persistent, stubborn, lucky and have managed to maintain good health over this long run. It also means that I have missed an incalculable number of weddings, picnics, parades and other social gatherings, for which I am grateful that my wife, relatives and friends continue to humor my hard to explain desire. Most of all I am fortunate that Linda understands and indeed, would be there at nearly every race herself if circumstances allowed. In other words, she's nearly as nuts as I am!
Interestingly, while it at times felt like I was chasing my tail all Summer, I actually attended races at fewer tracks in fewer states than some other previous years. I actually even made it to two "tar" tracks in 2016, thus proving that I am more than just a dirt track fan, although less than half of one percent of my racing was at pavement tracks, thus providing a pretty weak argument against my dirt track bias.
I think my other "achievement", as it were, was that in 2016 I hit a significant number in terms of tracks I have attended. With the seven new tracks I attended in 2016, I am now up to three hundred race tracks that I have attended races at in twenty nine states and three Canadian Provinces.
The seven new tracks were All-Tech Raceway, East Bay Raceway and Bubba Raceway Park, all in Florida plus Screven Motor Speedway in South Carolina, Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore, Sheyenne River Speedway in Lisbon North Dakota and Riverside International Speedway (The Ditch), in West Memphis Arkansas.
Seeing so many races, as you can imagine, there were lots of great shows and spectacularly close finishes and the inevitable "dog" from time to time. However, with things as tough as they are in racing these days, I prefer to not even mention the "stinkers" that we could talk about one on one, but instead highlight some of the many spectacular nights spent at the tracks of America.
The Wild West Shootout in Arizona continues to be one of my, and many others, favorite races of the entire year. U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson was a great location for this event and I am hoping strongly that the move to Arizona Raceway in San Tan Valley will not alter this perception. Chris Kearns and Joah Trussel will need to be on their game to continue this great series.
Florida was a blast! It was fun to be a first hand part of the racing that the rest of the country talks about until the snow melts and they can do some first hand racing themselves. East Bay and Volusia County were both first class in all regards and folks made this neophyte feel right at home. Plus for the first time, I got to meet the legendary Jean Lynch.
Ardmore was a pleasant surprise. I had no preconceived notions about this place but it proved to be a very nice place and their three day, early March USMTS event had terrific fields of cars.
Toby Kruse and the rest of the folks at Beatrice always do a great job with their Spring event in Nebraska. Despite what the weather might throw at them, they always seem to somehow get their race in. The field of cars was spectacular and the crowds great. And don't forget the gizzards!
The Izzo family finally got their Spring race in at LaSalle Speedway and it turned out to be a great event. For Late Model fans, the action on the quarter mile was great and folks got a preview on what kind of a year Bobby Pierce would have early.
Humboldt Speedway does Modified racing the right way and the Whitworth family puts on a great show. Every since year they make improvements to their facility and the physical change to what their racing plant looks like now compared to the first time I ever was there is stunning. Their "King of America" race the end of March always attracts over one hundred of the best around and for the support class, their B Mod race weeks before is nearly as big.
The two day Lucas Oil MLRA race in April at Lucas Oil Speedway was another notable event. The racing was excellent, the car counts stout and the facility remains mind boggling, no matter how many times I have been there.
In my area there were also some races of special note. At the Rice Lake Speedway, their Street Stock "Little Dream" race continues to set records as the race for the support class, bid up by fan participation, paid over fifteen grand to the winner in 2016! They also had their best night ever for the track, in terms of overall revenue, when they hosted the One Main Financial Challenge Series for Late Models and A.J. Diemel edged Jake Redetzke in a thriller. The John Seitz Memorial race for Late Models at the River Cities Speedway is a race not to be missed by Late Model fans. RCS is a spectacular track to watch any type of race cars run at, but watching the Late Models ram three wide around the track in a lap that takes about eleven seconds is spectacular. The WISSOTA 100 at the Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron is also a spectacular show. Over three hundred cars in action over four days in front of a packed house, and as a bonus in 2016, the racing was very competitive on the half mile. The non profit club that runs the ABC Raceway in Ashland Wisconsin always does a great job with their season ending event in September. The Red Clay Classic is one of the last events in northern Wisconsin and both participant and car counts are outstanding for this track on the shores of Lake Superior. FYE Motorsports Promotions moved their Fall Classic to the Ogilvie Raceway in 2016 and the results were spectacular. Jammed spectator seating required temporary bleachers be added to handle the crowd and the pit area was increased for this event. It was a good thing they did, because the fields were outstanding in all classes and the weekend was a huge success at the "Big O."
I had not been to the 81 Speedway in Park City Kansas for well over thirty years. Everything looked much as I remembered from back then but as I also remembered, there were a lot of tough race cars that raced there and that Wichita was a great racing area as even for a rather late season event, the November crowd was ever bigger than C. Ray Hall and Todd Staley could have hoped for. The event has already been added to the USMTS special event schedule for 2017.
Finally, the Dome at America's Center hosted the final race event for me for 2016 and one that had probably received as much pre race publicity as any race for a long, long time. Running both Late Models and Modifieds inside the Edward James Dome seemed like a huge undertaking and for quite some time, I was skeptical that the race would truly ever take place. It took me quite a while to decide whether I was even going to attempt going or not, but believe me, after a shaky opening night that ran way too late with way too little action, the next couple of nights were spectacular. Particularly of course, was the Friday night feature's that saw great racing action in both the Late Models and Mods and as good as anything I ever saw at the Chili Bowl. Even though Saturday night's racing wasn't quite as good, they had shown that they could provide side by side racing in both classes and that was all that we and the drivers needed to see. We are anxiously waiting to hear announcements as far as what the promoter's plans are for 2017 but we hope that what we saw was just the first year of what will be our version of the Chili Bowl for Late Model and Mod fans. Thank you Cody Sommer for putting your neck on the line in this bold promotional effort.
We now look toward the new racing season to see what will be the same, what changes will take place and what does the future of the sport hold. One of the best bits of news so far this early Winter was the news that the promotional group at the Oshkosh Speedzone had signed a one year contract to continue operating the "Zone" for 2017. Anyone who has been to Oshkosh knows that this is one of the finest facilities in the Midwest and the car counts for their weekly shows, along with their specials, are spectacular. They, unquestionably, have one of the countries' biggest weekly car counts for the Modifieds of any track. Yet, they promoters have been in continued battles with the county, and there appeared a point not so long ago that racing might be shut down and the facility dismantled. And with only a one year contract, the future is still very tenuous.
Anyone who attends races on a regular basis knows that the entire country is suffering with problems over car counts and spectator turnout. We hope that 2017 shows an increase in both categories but we also know that promoters can't just open the gates and expect the racers and fans to pack the tracks. They need to work harder than they ever have had to before. All three parties in this deal, the fans, the drivers and the promoters need to work together and in a positive nature. It would also help if the sanctioning bodies would spend more time working to make their product better instead of trying to undermine their competition's efforts.
Good luck to all in 2017 and we'll perhaps see you in Arizona. By the way, the best non racing visual that we saw all year was after an early show at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway, we caught a spectacular fourth of July fireworks display on the banks of the mighty Misssissippi River that was beyond description.
In 2016 I attended one hundred and eighty four nights of racing which destroyed my old record of one hundred and sixty nine that was set back in 2012. This was accomplished by attending sixty three different race tracks in fifteen states. The fifteen states attended came up second to my all time record of sixteen states set in 2008 and duplicated in 2010. While the numbers always remain secondary as the only reason I'm going to all these races is to just have fun, not try to set some kind of meaningless records, I still would have never thought it was possible to break my old record. And simply, the only reason it happened is because I was able to go to Florida. I went to fourteen nights of racing between February 7th and February 20th and suffered only on rain out as by dumb luck, the year I was able to work things out to go to Florida proved to be the year they had some of their best weather ever.
2016 also proved to be the sixth time that I had attended over one hundred and sixty races during a calendar year and also marked the thirty sixth straight year that I have attended at least one hundred races during a year. I guess mostly this shows that I am persistent, stubborn, lucky and have managed to maintain good health over this long run. It also means that I have missed an incalculable number of weddings, picnics, parades and other social gatherings, for which I am grateful that my wife, relatives and friends continue to humor my hard to explain desire. Most of all I am fortunate that Linda understands and indeed, would be there at nearly every race herself if circumstances allowed. In other words, she's nearly as nuts as I am!
Interestingly, while it at times felt like I was chasing my tail all Summer, I actually attended races at fewer tracks in fewer states than some other previous years. I actually even made it to two "tar" tracks in 2016, thus proving that I am more than just a dirt track fan, although less than half of one percent of my racing was at pavement tracks, thus providing a pretty weak argument against my dirt track bias.
I think my other "achievement", as it were, was that in 2016 I hit a significant number in terms of tracks I have attended. With the seven new tracks I attended in 2016, I am now up to three hundred race tracks that I have attended races at in twenty nine states and three Canadian Provinces.
The seven new tracks were All-Tech Raceway, East Bay Raceway and Bubba Raceway Park, all in Florida plus Screven Motor Speedway in South Carolina, Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore, Sheyenne River Speedway in Lisbon North Dakota and Riverside International Speedway (The Ditch), in West Memphis Arkansas.
Seeing so many races, as you can imagine, there were lots of great shows and spectacularly close finishes and the inevitable "dog" from time to time. However, with things as tough as they are in racing these days, I prefer to not even mention the "stinkers" that we could talk about one on one, but instead highlight some of the many spectacular nights spent at the tracks of America.
The Wild West Shootout in Arizona continues to be one of my, and many others, favorite races of the entire year. U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson was a great location for this event and I am hoping strongly that the move to Arizona Raceway in San Tan Valley will not alter this perception. Chris Kearns and Joah Trussel will need to be on their game to continue this great series.
Florida was a blast! It was fun to be a first hand part of the racing that the rest of the country talks about until the snow melts and they can do some first hand racing themselves. East Bay and Volusia County were both first class in all regards and folks made this neophyte feel right at home. Plus for the first time, I got to meet the legendary Jean Lynch.
Ardmore was a pleasant surprise. I had no preconceived notions about this place but it proved to be a very nice place and their three day, early March USMTS event had terrific fields of cars.
Toby Kruse and the rest of the folks at Beatrice always do a great job with their Spring event in Nebraska. Despite what the weather might throw at them, they always seem to somehow get their race in. The field of cars was spectacular and the crowds great. And don't forget the gizzards!
The Izzo family finally got their Spring race in at LaSalle Speedway and it turned out to be a great event. For Late Model fans, the action on the quarter mile was great and folks got a preview on what kind of a year Bobby Pierce would have early.
Humboldt Speedway does Modified racing the right way and the Whitworth family puts on a great show. Every since year they make improvements to their facility and the physical change to what their racing plant looks like now compared to the first time I ever was there is stunning. Their "King of America" race the end of March always attracts over one hundred of the best around and for the support class, their B Mod race weeks before is nearly as big.
The two day Lucas Oil MLRA race in April at Lucas Oil Speedway was another notable event. The racing was excellent, the car counts stout and the facility remains mind boggling, no matter how many times I have been there.
In my area there were also some races of special note. At the Rice Lake Speedway, their Street Stock "Little Dream" race continues to set records as the race for the support class, bid up by fan participation, paid over fifteen grand to the winner in 2016! They also had their best night ever for the track, in terms of overall revenue, when they hosted the One Main Financial Challenge Series for Late Models and A.J. Diemel edged Jake Redetzke in a thriller. The John Seitz Memorial race for Late Models at the River Cities Speedway is a race not to be missed by Late Model fans. RCS is a spectacular track to watch any type of race cars run at, but watching the Late Models ram three wide around the track in a lap that takes about eleven seconds is spectacular. The WISSOTA 100 at the Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron is also a spectacular show. Over three hundred cars in action over four days in front of a packed house, and as a bonus in 2016, the racing was very competitive on the half mile. The non profit club that runs the ABC Raceway in Ashland Wisconsin always does a great job with their season ending event in September. The Red Clay Classic is one of the last events in northern Wisconsin and both participant and car counts are outstanding for this track on the shores of Lake Superior. FYE Motorsports Promotions moved their Fall Classic to the Ogilvie Raceway in 2016 and the results were spectacular. Jammed spectator seating required temporary bleachers be added to handle the crowd and the pit area was increased for this event. It was a good thing they did, because the fields were outstanding in all classes and the weekend was a huge success at the "Big O."
I had not been to the 81 Speedway in Park City Kansas for well over thirty years. Everything looked much as I remembered from back then but as I also remembered, there were a lot of tough race cars that raced there and that Wichita was a great racing area as even for a rather late season event, the November crowd was ever bigger than C. Ray Hall and Todd Staley could have hoped for. The event has already been added to the USMTS special event schedule for 2017.
Finally, the Dome at America's Center hosted the final race event for me for 2016 and one that had probably received as much pre race publicity as any race for a long, long time. Running both Late Models and Modifieds inside the Edward James Dome seemed like a huge undertaking and for quite some time, I was skeptical that the race would truly ever take place. It took me quite a while to decide whether I was even going to attempt going or not, but believe me, after a shaky opening night that ran way too late with way too little action, the next couple of nights were spectacular. Particularly of course, was the Friday night feature's that saw great racing action in both the Late Models and Mods and as good as anything I ever saw at the Chili Bowl. Even though Saturday night's racing wasn't quite as good, they had shown that they could provide side by side racing in both classes and that was all that we and the drivers needed to see. We are anxiously waiting to hear announcements as far as what the promoter's plans are for 2017 but we hope that what we saw was just the first year of what will be our version of the Chili Bowl for Late Model and Mod fans. Thank you Cody Sommer for putting your neck on the line in this bold promotional effort.
We now look toward the new racing season to see what will be the same, what changes will take place and what does the future of the sport hold. One of the best bits of news so far this early Winter was the news that the promotional group at the Oshkosh Speedzone had signed a one year contract to continue operating the "Zone" for 2017. Anyone who has been to Oshkosh knows that this is one of the finest facilities in the Midwest and the car counts for their weekly shows, along with their specials, are spectacular. They, unquestionably, have one of the countries' biggest weekly car counts for the Modifieds of any track. Yet, they promoters have been in continued battles with the county, and there appeared a point not so long ago that racing might be shut down and the facility dismantled. And with only a one year contract, the future is still very tenuous.
Anyone who attends races on a regular basis knows that the entire country is suffering with problems over car counts and spectator turnout. We hope that 2017 shows an increase in both categories but we also know that promoters can't just open the gates and expect the racers and fans to pack the tracks. They need to work harder than they ever have had to before. All three parties in this deal, the fans, the drivers and the promoters need to work together and in a positive nature. It would also help if the sanctioning bodies would spend more time working to make their product better instead of trying to undermine their competition's efforts.
Good luck to all in 2017 and we'll perhaps see you in Arizona. By the way, the best non racing visual that we saw all year was after an early show at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway, we caught a spectacular fourth of July fireworks display on the banks of the mighty Misssissippi River that was beyond description.
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