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.
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