Round two of the sixteenth annual Wild West Shoutout was held on Sunday, January 9th at the Vado Speedway Park in Vado New Mexico. Late Models, Modifieds and X Mods would again be running full programs in the second of this six night series.
Everyone's worst fears about this event and New Mexico unfortunately came true on Sunday. While the temperature was in the mid fifties range, it was also cloudy and there was a furious wind that was unfortunately blowing almost directly into the main grandstand. Now I'm from the North Country and I know cold weather and this was about as miserable a night that I have spent at the races in quite some time. The wind seemed to cut right through a person and I guarantee that only the absolute heartiest or craziest fans were on hand to watch. While there were some pretty small crowds at a couple of the midweek shows when this event was staged in Tucson, this might have been the smallest crowd that I can remember for a WWS event.
However, that was before the day of pay per view and while I can't comment on specifics, I was told that the number of people watching on pay per view on this night was very substantial. Perhaps we have even transitioned from the days of back gate driven race events to pay per view driven race events, neither of which in my view is healthy in the long term for this sport. However, that is just my opinion and I've been known to be wrong more often than not but I know for sure that I have been to several races in the past few months that were staged with pay per view the primary consideration in having the race.
Car counts remained pretty static from Saturday night's show, with X Mods in the low forties, Mods in the mid fifties and Late Models in the mid thirties. There were about ten cars that showed up on Sunday that hadn't raced on Saturday and quite frankly, while some events love to have huge car counts and umpteen classes racing, a quick three division program is sometimes just the right ticket. A special event shouldn't always be an invitation for every class a track races to be a part of.
A couple of Southwestern veterans were missing on Sunday after a big crash took out both Dickie Gorham and Sherman Barnett. However, Christy Barnett was able to return with her X Mod that had been repaired so that she was able to race in both open wheel classes.
The format would be the same as on Saturday with heats and B Features setting the racing grid for the main events following Late Model qualifying. An unusual incidence took place prior to the Late Model feature when the Pro Power Dash, open to those cars not qualified for the feature, was cancelled when only one car was available to race. This gave Clayton Holland a payoff of a grand or the opportunity to race in the main and Holland, playing a good sport, turned down the cash, instead wanted to race the main. Congrats to him for his spirit of adventure.
Let's cut to the chase. Despite the miserable conditions and the small crowd, the Late Model feature will certainly be held as one of the best of the whole year, despite the fact that we are only in January. Even the Late Model experts(?) on hand were raving.
The Vado Speedway Park comes with the reputation of being a racy track and it certainly held up to that advance notice on Sunday. While the races were good on Saturday, they were so much better on Sunday and whether it was the little bit more moisture they put on the track or the cloudy conditions, the track was prime for side by side racing and fantastically thrilling slide jobs.
Garrett Alberson started on the pole and led the majority of the main but his race lead was interrupted on several occasions by Tyler Erb, Mike Marlar and finally, Brandon Sheppard. These four drivers put on a great show with slide jobs back and forth while not touching each other and throwing "dirty moves."
They traded positions back and forth and as things shook down for the finish, it was Alberson leading Sheppard and Erb. It looked like Alberson would hold on even with the third turn getting tricky with an increasing berm developing. However, with just two laps to go, Alberson bobbled in that exact spot and as he cut down the track to try and protect his lead, both Sheppard and Erb blew past him.
But the action wasn't done yet, as on the final lap Erb threw a gigantic but clean slider, taking the lead in turn three. However, Sheppard cut back under Erb and outraced him to the line in what was a dandy race. Alberson was a disappointed third with Marlar and Jake Timm next in line. Sheppard remains in line for a three hundred thousand dollar bonus, just four feature wins away.
The Modified feature saw Tanner Mullins drive a smart and steady race, take advantage of the openings that would open up and he would charge up from the seventeenth starting spot to win the main event.
A big pileup on lap one would eliminate several of the racers and shuffle the starting order. Tyler Wolfe would edge in front for one lap but he was soon passed by Fito Gallardo who has been due to win a big race now for several years. He opened up a small lead as Mullins was up into the top five before ten laps were completed. A lap eleven yellow allowed Mullins to move up to second as he got by Wolfe for second but Gallardo continued to lead.
However, Fito, who literally built the Vado Speedway Park through his construction company, bobbled in that tricky corner three and by the time he pulled his car up off the berm, he had fallen to fourth as Mullins took over the lead on lap fourteen.
After that, Dereck Ramirez, who started twentieth on the grid, moved into second and tried to put the heat on Mullins while hoping to be a repeat winner. However, Mullins was running strong and as hard as Ramirez would push, Mullins had him covered and would drive on for the win. Wolfe would settle for third over Bo Day as Gallardo slumped to fifth at the line.
The X Mod feature would have three different leaders, a great side by side battle for the lead and a slider gone bad that would taint the finish of the race before Cole Campbell would see the checkered.
Campbell would lead the opening two laps as the majority of the field raced the cushion. However, Kris Jackson, looking for two wins in a row, worked the low side and he was successful in driving under Campbell to take over the lead. Just when it looked like he might motor away from the field, he suddenly lost power and on lap five it was Campbell that moved back into the lead.
It became a two car race as Campbell was challenged by Andy Bryant who in fact took the lead on lap seven, only to see Campbell repass him for the lead. For the rest of the race, it would be those two slugging in out as Campbell would continue to pace the field with Bryant on his bumper.
Bryant changed his line just slightly and that seemed to give him a better run off the corners and with only three laps to go, Bryant did a slider and would cleanly pass Campbell in turn four to take over the lead. Then things went South as the two charged into turn one and Campbell tried to return the favor.
Unfortunately, we wasn't even close to having Bryant cleared, instead slamming into the side of Andy's #28 and shoving him up into the wall. Bryant was done with much front end damage while as often happens, the car causing the mess drives away unharmed.
Campbell would restart from the pole and despite a hard charge at the end by Aasa Flores, Campbell would go on for the win, one he shouldn't be too proud of. Jake Smith would start sixteenth and by driving a smart race and taking advantage of the incidents this race had, he would make a late charge with a couple of bold outside passes and drive home for the third finishing position, ahead of Josh Cain and Greg Gorham.
The program started right at 5 pm and they moved the show along as quickly as possible. It would be an excellent night of racing and how unfortunate that the weather couldn't have cooperated just a bit and made it nicer to enjoy.
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