The 17th annual Wild West Shoot Out, held at Royal Jones' Vado Speedway Park nestled between Las Cruces New Mexico and El Paso Texas, concluded on Sunday afternoon, January 15th. Featuring the largest paying events of its six night run, Bobby Pierce would top what was a spectacular fifty lap Late Model feature and earn twenty five thousand dollars for his efforts. Kris Jackson would also have a most lucrative finale as between the his feature win, the bonus for features won and the point title, his X Mod win would earn him sixty five hundred dollars on the night. The evening finale would see Tyler Wolff nip Dan Ebert to win the Modified feature and the two grand top prize.
The finale would be run under probably the poorest weather conditions of the week with mostly gray skies and most significantly, a tremendously windy day here on the high desert. Winds would gust over fifty mph most of the afternoon with mini sandstorms every where and while it finally did settle down later as predicted, it was a wild afternoon of weather.
Most amazingly, with such difficult conditions, somehow the track prep crew managed to produce a very racy and dust free surface which had much to do with the great racing we would see. Frankly, how they did it I have no idea but there can be no doubt that their efforts had much to do with the entertaining show we saw. In fact, the track held moisture so well that several extra track rolling sessions by the race cars to widen the groove were necessary several times. It was quite remarkable.
The Sunday show always marks the lowest car counts of the week, oddly on the night when the most money is on the line but by Sunday, there are always some teams out of equipment, money or enthusiasm and they head for home early with most of the racers looking at some long pulls home. Still, there were enough cars on hand for four full heats in all three classes, double B Features and the three main events. Actually, for the finale with Monday morning work or a head to the highway or airport ahead, this is the perfect number of cars. And it should be pointed out that car counts in all three classes were significantly higher than for last year's finale. Overall, one hundred and ninety three different drivers raced in the three classes over the course of the six day event.
An indication of just how well the track prep crew did was when Pierce set quick time for the night with a lap of 14.033 which was also the quickest time of the entire week. Not that he needed it, but his quick lap also earned him another grand. Jonathan Davenport would set quick time of the other group of Late Model entries.
Four heats and a pair of B Features would set the twenty four car starting field for the Late Model fifty lap feature. Some tough racing and some bad luck would see a number of top drivers like Dustin Sorensen, Chris Simpson, Ricky Weiss, Rodney Sanders and Terry Phillips along with others have to fight their way through those B Features with not all surviving.
The fifty lap feature for the Late Models would produce a spectacular event and likely one that will be rated among the best of he year. Other than to check the official finishes for accuracy, I try not to read other accounts of races before I write about them so as not to skew my observations. However, sometimes this also produces what might not be totally accurate statistics, so bear with me.
My stats have their being unofficially six different lead changes over the course of the race with three different drivers, Pierce, Davenport and Mike Marlar all holding the top spot at one points. There were certainly more lead changes than this within laps but let's just say it was an event with plenty of action.
before the green flag would even fly things were happening as Dillon McCowan would lose a wheel on the warm up laps as apparently some lug nuts were forgotten by an now ex-crew member. McCowan would get back into the race but have to forfeit a great third row starting spot.
After that, things started off with a bang when Pierce and Davenport exchanged the lead on each of the first four laps as they traded slide jobs for the point. On lap four Davenport would grab the lead for the second time and would show the way for the next fourteen laps. He was the first of three drivers that would at some point seem to have things locked down but then see fate change.
Pierce would even slide back with Kyle Larson moving into second ahead of Pierce as the top four which would include Garrett Alberson were running in a tight group. Stormy Scott, along with Kyle Beard and Johnny Scott were also in the mix. Just when it looked like Pierce would be a non factor he picked up the pace again, moving past Larson and then closing on Davenport who was having his troubles with lapped traffic. On lap eighteen, Pierce drove back past Davenport to retake the lead for the third time.
Almost unnoticed, Mike Marlar was making a concerted drive to the front as he was knocking off positions quickly after starting ninth on the grid. By the halfway point of the race, he was up to second with Davenport, Larson and S. Scott in the top five. Marlar then began to put big pressure on Pierce and after Bobby pinched him off a couple times on the low side where Marlar was so good, he rolled to the middle groove that had worked so well on Saturday for him and he blew right past Pierce with one of the most impressive passes of the night on lap twenty eight.
Then Marlar stepped away from the field and for the second time in the race, it looked like the outcome was determined. However, once again that proved to be false. Pierce adjusted his line on the track and he came flying back to the front. Marlar fought, but on lap forty three, Pierce drove past him and retook the lead once again.
We had been waiting for a Kyle Larson charge for the entire race and the last seven laps we were treated to that. Larson would get past Marlar for second and then close on Pierce and they would battle it out to the finish with Larson trying every move possible to get past Pierce but Bobby would counter each one and while they raced extremely close to each other, I don't believe they ever even so much as touches. Larson's last shot came up short and Pierce would take the win by a couple car lengths with Marlar holding on for third. A most impressive run was put on by Stormy Scott who would forge his way up to fourth at the finish ahead of Alberson as Davenport faded at the end. This race, as announcers Ben Shelton and Dustin Jarrett pointed out, was a perfect example that with good racers and a track to race on, that they can most definitely put on quite the show!
There was good news for the X Mods even before the first green flag waved on this night. A post race game of dice on Saturday night had produced a sixteen thousand dollar prize for one lucky entrant and he contributed six thousand dollars then to the X Mod feature on Sunday, so suddenly the first place payoff went from a grand to three thousand dollars to win with the top six places getting a boost.
This was particularly sweet news for Kris Jackson who had dominated the action all week in this class and he took it upon himself to kick some butt one more time and take home the big pot. It would be a North Dakota front row for the X Mod twenty five lap main with Nate Reinke taking the early lead following a first lap spin that called back the start. Reinke would continue to lead for the first three laps but Jackson was on him almost immediately, digging to the inside of Reinke.
On lap four, Nate could not hold the bottom tight enough and Jackson drove under him and took over the lead. Once in front, he showed the tremendous speed that he had displayed all week as it is not often in this class that one driver has such a dominant car as to be able to pull away from the field at will. However, that would be the machine that Jackson had this week and there was no one that could hope to stay with Jackson on a open track.
As Jackson disappeared into the distance, Jimmy Ray, who has also been very good this week, would drive past Reinke to take over the second spot. However, the X Mods ran a clean show on this night with the last twenty three laps clicking off nonstop and there was no way that Ray could even begin to catch the far flung Jackson. He would put ten drivers at least one lap down on a night when all but one of the starters would still be racing at the end.
Jackson would motor on unchallenged and would have four lapped cars and nearly a full straightaway between himself and Ray at the finish. Gabe Hodges would get his best run of the week as he would come from ninth to finish in the third spot with Reinke holding on for fourth ahead of another North Dakota driver in Preston Carr.
Tyler Wolff would lead all twenty five laps of the Modified feature to earn two thousand dollars but things got very tight for him in the late going after having had a fairly comfortable lead early. Wolff would jump out to the early lead over Dan Ebert with D.J. Shannon, Darren Fuqua and Steven Whiteaker challenging. Wolff would pull out to a solid lead as no one seemed to be able to run with him while Fuqua forged his way into second as he and Ebert would go back and forth over that spot.
Several closely spaced yellows slowed things down midrace including the last one that would take Shannon out of his good running position. On the move at this point were both Tanner Mullens and Dereck Ramirez who had started mid pack and were gradually on their way to the front.
Things grew far less comfortable for Wolff following that last yellow on lap sixteen as an adjusted line on the track by Ebert would see him pick up the pace and began to slowly reel in the leader. Ebert went back to working the cushion and this time it helped him gain ground. He got past Fuqua for second and then began to reel in the leader. He got close several times in the last five laps but each lap would be just short of taking the lead at the line. On the final circuit he got a great run off turn two and looked to be ready to drive by Wolff for the lead but the Arkansas driver made his car very wide and Ebert slowed, rather than crash or attempt a wild cross over. That would kill Dan's momentum and while he tried to scramble off the final corner, Wolff would hold on for the win. Mullens would continue his advance, moving up to third at the finish in front of Fuqua and Ramirez. Ramirez would win the point title and the bonus connected with that .
Here are some thoughts in conclusion of this seventeenth annual Wild West Shoot Out that has been held at four different race tracks in two states over its life.
I don't think there were any classic races this year although Sunday's Late Model feature might creep into that conversation. However, there were a lot of very good races on a track that was in excellent shape to produce solid races night after night, a testament to the great work of the track prep crew. Every program was smoothly run with no delays or screwing around as everything was very well organized and orchestrated with much of that credit going to Race Director Kelly Charlton. I was especially impressed how he kept in contact with drivers that had disabled cars, directing them down into the infield safely and smoothly and avoided any number of what would otherwise be annoying yellow flags. Every show started on time and every one fit into the tight TV frame.
There was a great increase in the car count this year in all three classes. After a "wait and see" approach taken by some for last year's first race here, the racers were all in with the number of local cars especially impressive. The one group that seemed to slip this year with the X Mod group from the upper Midwest and that might be attributed to either another event coming up that might split the group or the X Mod rules that seem to hit hard against the WISSOTA group while favoring the local cars. I was hopeful that 2023 might see some adjustment in the X Mod rules but with the large number of local drivers that participated, there won't likely be any changes made unless Vado alters their own track rules.
I was told ticket sales were up 30% over last year and that was before the final weekend when the Saturday night crowd was what I would guess to be the largest crowd yet since this race was moved to Vado. While the Sunday crowd was only average, the weather had much to do with that and there can be no doubt that the appearance of Kyle Larson stimulated the ticket sales.
Another visit here just reinforced what a spectacular facility that the Vado Speedway Park is. Easily in the top ten in the entire country, one would have to really nit pick to find anything to complain about at this track. Saturday highlighted how nice this place was as while the show was waiting to start, live music was playing on the all cement concourse area behind the grandstands while Longhorn celebrities Earl and Ike were signing autographs and getting their picture taken with the kids. A large heating tent was set up for the fans' use all week where they could go and warm up a bit if needed while keeping an eye on the racing on the track as well as the Chili Bowl . Not much is missed here in terms of creature comforts and attending to the needs of the fans and the whole staff is very accommodating.
The dates have been announced for the 2023 WWS and it will again return to Vado Speedway Park. Once and for all, the talk must stop as Vado IS the only place for the WWS. There is no track in Arizona capable of providing the show they do here and no track possibly able to compete with what they offer here. Yes, it can get a bit cool in the high desert but I have frozen my ass in both Arizona and Florida for that matter and while it might not be the vacation destination that the Phoenix area is, there are things to do in the Las Cruces and El Paso area is you look around and the number one factor needed to produce a successful WWS is a great track, and Vado is that. They also have some great sponsors here that simply can't be matched virtually anywhere else.
While the dates have already been announced for next year's show, there is one suggestion I would like to make for future consideration when setting the schedule. I always feel that the second Saturday of this event should be the finale as it has the biggest car count and largest crowd. Yet we always pay the biggest money on Sunday when the crowd is always smaller and some of he drivers have already headed home.
I would propose moving up practice one day to Thursday, then run the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Take Monday off and then have the second practice on Tuesday night. Take Wednesday off, then run Thursday, Friday and have the biggest show on Saturday. This gives all the fans and drivers traveling the opportunity to use Sunday for travel. Just my thoughts.
Thanks need to go out to Chris Kearns and all his staff from the WWS. Also thanks to Royal Jones and all his staff who clearly hit a home run this year with the event. Thanks to the great announcers Ben Shelton and Dustin Jarrett for their help and to analysist Trenton Berry also. I need to send out also very special thanks to Trudy and Ed(Mund not Ward) Healy who provided us with a grand week as their hospitality was simply overwhelming. Also thanks to Mike Archuleta for helping up out at a time of need during the week. That is one thing I have noted is that the folks from this area are so accommodating..
So that's it from New Mexico and the WWS. Folks, if you have not been to this event or this track before, now is the time to start planning a trip for 2023.
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