Baca Jr. Survives Gaffe; Wins Modified Main at CAR Winter Nationals

 Chaz Baca Jr. recovered from an opening lap spin that could have spelled disaster to regain his footing and then lead from start to finish to win the Modified feature on the Thursday edition of the IMCA TV Winter Nationals at the Central Arizona Speedway in Casa Grande. Other winner on the program included Cole Czarneski in the Stock Cars, Robbie Thorne in the Sport Mods and Dillon Richards in the Hobby Stocks. 

Two hundred and twenty two race cars signed in to race on the Thursday night program with weather conditions that finally matched expectations of the desert in Winter. Glorious sunshine, temperatures in the seventies and just a light breeze blowing from the West and from the back of the grandstands all combined to make it the nicest night for racing so far this year. 

A visit through the pits showed just how much damage and wear to the racing equipment the last few nights of racing has produced. A second motor was going into the Baca Jr. driven Ferguson Stock Car along with the Garrett Gregory driven Modified out of Texas. A number of cars were minus all body parts and suspension pieces say strewn on the sandy pit areas. Braydon Whitfield's car, which was right in the middle of the big Sport Mod crash on Wednesday was being reassembled and they would not make it to the track until B Feature time, when they could only start the race before more problems sent the car rolling to the infield. 

There is plenty of entertainment to be had at this event and Thursday there was a free concert for all at Noon, featuring a local entertainer. A nice touch for this event with it's huge area for the pits is a constant shuttle carrying folks from the back straight pits to the front grandstand, back and forth and nonstop to late in the evening.

The track prep crew must have found a new trick that was used on this day, or perhaps the weather conditions were just more agreeable as unlike previous race days, they were able to get through all twenty plus heat races before they had to do their first round of track prep which made the show move along at a quicker pace. They were cutting things short last night with the curfew and being a mid week race, perhaps there was some added incentive to keep things moving. The running order was tossed also on Thursday with the Mod Lites running last in the program and that makes since as these small cars with narrow tires can function better on a hard track that perhaps might even be taking a bit of rubber. 

The program was similar to the previous nights with heat races generating winners that were automatically locked into the main events along with high passing points drivers with everyone else having to run the dreaded B Features. I must say however, that the B Features, usually the source of big crashes and yellow flag dominated races, have not been that bad so far with the exception of one Sport Mod B tonight that left quite a few drivers with major rebuilds in their futures. Certainly however, no one wants to run any more races than they have to, especially with this track showing to be quite the tire eater. 

The Stock Cars would lead off the main event action and for much of the race, it was a battle between Jason Berg and Czarneski for the win. They started on the front row side by side with Berg getting the early jump as Baca Jr., Kaden Woodie and Shelby Williams slipping  in behind them.  Justin Luinenburg was on the move and heading into contention until he hammered the turn one wall on lap eight, triggering the first yellow flag. 

Czarneski picked up the pace on the restart and two laps later he nosed past Berg to take over the lead as he started to pull away from the field. Woodie moved up as he and Berg battled for second with both getting by Baca Jr for position. A spin with just four laps to go bunched the field and things went terribly bad on the restart with the biggest crash of the week taking place. With the field bunched just as the green reappeared, Berg and Woodie rubbed together as they battled for second down the front stretch. They got locked together and shot into the outside wall with everyone behind them blasting into them and each other as the track was immediately clogged. 

Elijah Zevenbergen was turned sideways and he went tumbling down the track with other cars plowing into him and each other and when the dust had settled, at least ten cars were involved in the wreck with many receiving major damage. Elijah was OK but his car was a mess, along with several others. Both Berg and Woodie received flat tires and were done and the running order was wildly scrambled for the restart. 

Czarneski was in front of the mess and he retook the lead and pulled away during the final four laps to claim the win. Baca Jr, who somehow avoided the mess, came home second ahead of Williams, Mike Albertsen and Todd Heinrich with half the field not making it to the checkers. 

Baca Jr must have been racing with his rabbit's foot tucked in his pocket on Thursday as not only did he somehow avoid the Stock Car carnage, he managed to also catch the biggest break of the week which ultimately led to him winning the Modified feature. 

The track was watered before the Modifieds started their main and quite frankly, I think they tried to start the race before it was quite ready. In any event, Dylan Thornton and Baca Jr started side by side in the front row with Thornton getting the jump on the green. Going into turn three on the opening lap, Baca Jr flat out lost it, and spun across the track right in front of the whole field. Somehow a huge pileup was avoided but Devin Fouquette, from the third row, spun to avoid the calamity in front of him and was clipped, giving him a flat tire. Baca Jr. did a loop on the inside of the track and kept moving and when the yellow flew he was rolling as part of the pack and thus kept his starting position while Fouquette was done with front end damage. 

In my part of the world, Baca Jr would have been sent to the back for instigating the yellow but here, where they use the rule that only cars not moving when the yellow is shown are penalized, he excaped any reprimand and in a bit of irony, he would then get the jump on Thornton on the restart and lead all twenty five laps for the win. 

The rest of the race would go green to checkers and while Thornton challenged several times but just couldn't get the run he needed to make the pass, eventually Baca Jr began to pull away and except for a few lapped cars that kept him honest, the rest of the race proved to be a walk in the park. Thornton settled for second while Ricky Alvarado, continuing to show strength this week, moved from seventh to finish third with Troy Morris III and Jeremy Mills finishing out the top five. 

It has been shown that the first couple of laps in the feature races are critical to establishing running positions. It seems like once the race settles in, it is tough to gain much ground as everyone seems to race pretty even with early track position being critical. That's why the first couple of laps often are wild as drivers know they must make their move early. Robbie Thorne proved that as with a strong opening lap, he got the jump on Taylor Kuehl and then raced from start to finish as the leader of the Sport Mod main. 

He quickly pulled away from the field and as he has been all week, once in front he has been tough to catch. Kuehl got some pressure from Bud Martini for the second spot as Eric Winemiller, Payce Herrera and Steven Luecht battled for position behind them. 

The only yellow flew with eight laps complete for a minor stalled car and once the green dropped again, Thorne disappeared into the desert dusk once again. The battle for second heated up with Martini sneaking past Kuehl for position while Jake Smith, who started eighth, cracked the top five. 

Everyone was running fairly evenly and thus Thorne didn't even have to deal with any lapped cars as he drove on to what appeared to be a really easy win. The race for second stayed great right to the finish with Kuehl gradually reeling back in Martini and on the last corner, she edged him out for second. Herrera and Smith finished off the top five. 

The Hobby Stock feature again showed that the two Dillon's, Richards and Thompson, are head and shoulders above the rest of the field. And even Thompson, as fast as he is, just can't keep up with Richards who blew the field away again for what seems like his umpteenth win in a row. 

He started in the second row with with a display of power and speed, he managed to get past both Thompson and Joel Magee and the opening lap to claim the lead and with this race going nonstop for twenty, he was gone from the field into the Arizona night. 

One must wonder just how he is able to generate so much more speed than the field in a class that usually runs in packs but he just seems to pull away with ease. At the end, Richards would put six lapped cars and half a straightaway on Thompson to take the win. Morgan Olmstead, Blake Luinenburg and Magee completed the top five. 

Racing will resume on Friday night for another full show in the IMCA classes. IMCA TV is available for those that would like to monitor the progress of the Midwestern drivers. 

Thornton Tops Modified Battle; White, Berkeley and Richards Also CAR Winners

 Week number two for the IMCA TV Winter Nationals at the Central Arizona Raceway rolled off the grid on Wednesday night, January 15th. This week the program would remain much as it had been in week one with the only change being that the IMCA Mod Lites would be racing this week to replace the Sport Compacts who had just a one week run. Two hundred and twenty cars in the five classes signed in to race, counting about two dozen Mod Lites who came out in much bigger numbers than the Sport Compacts had last week. About fifty new drivers that weren't racing the end of last week signed in to race on Wednesday, replacing some that either took the night off or headed home. Once again the Modified car count was the largest with sixty nine of them set to race on Wednesday. 

It was a sunny day in the desert but when the sun set later, it turned quite cold and with the wind blowing stubbornly hard and not laying down once the sun did set, it made for a challenging night for both the race fans and also the track prep crew and they were forced to "rip" the track several times and water to keep the surface from rubbering up. 

It was the typically large racing program for this event with twenty three heat races along with seven B Features before the main events began. Passing points are being used this year which does give those that draw poor numbers a slightly better fighting chance but heat race winners are automatically locked into the mains so it still ends up being a lot of drivers fighting for a very few qualifying spots. 

Afternoon racing is always a very difficult task for the drivers and for the track prep crew but with such a large field of competitors and a 10 pm curfew, it is necessary to start as early as they do in order to get done in time and avoid promoter Brad Whitfield having to pay a fine and perhaps more importantly, piss off the neighbors who have been a source of difficulties to him sense he got CAR back up and racing. They were about fifteen minutes late getting started as the track needed just a bit more wheel packing since the track crew and gotten it good and wet but after that point, other than track prep time, it was nonstop racing for the next eight hours!

The running order would find the Sport Mods up first throughout the race day and so also their feature would be the first to hit the track. A full field of twenty eight drivers took the green flag for their twenty lap event which saw Dustin White from the tiny northern Wisconsin burg of Eagle River take the early lead. Disaster struck just two laps into the race when in heavy traffic down the front stretch a driver was turned and a giant collision was the result with drivers piling into each other, right the wall and ending up strewn all over the track. Nearly ten cars were involved in the pileup and at least seven done for the event, some with major damage. 

Under the yellow flag, Jake Smith, who was running second to White, slowed and pulled off the track with some kind of mechanical issues and that turned second over to Robbie Thorne with Taylor Kuehl next in line. 

The green returned and White continued to lead but he had Thorne closely following him with Kuehl, Rich Pavlicek and Ryan Peery next in line with the top five pulling away from the pack. Steven Luecht was on the move and he displaced Peery for a top five spot as the halfway signal was given. 

White continued to hold the groove and despite the pressure from Thorne, he didn't make any mistakes and held his line. The race took a turn with just five laps to go when Kuehl suddenly slowed on the front chute with what looked like an overheating problem and drew the final yellow. 

The five lap sprint to the finish saw White race a solid line, never faltering or giving Thorne an opening as he drove on for the win. Luecht showed speed the final half of the race as he moved into third with Peery making a nice comeback for fourth ahead of Pavlicek. All cars were on the lead lap at the finish but eleven didn't finish the contest, most with plenty of work to do before Thursday's show. 

Twenty eight drivers would see the green flag for the twenty lap Stock Car feature and this race saw the first and second place drivers run a tight contest for that full twenty laps. Chase Berkeley took the early lead with William Gould and  Cameron Starry battling hard for second before Starry took the spot. Chaz Baca took a ride in the Ferguson car on Wednesday and he moved into a challenge for second when the motor in the car let go in spectacular fashion and triggered the first yellow as he slid into the infield to avoid a major pileup. 

Berkeley continued to lead with Starry poking a nose under him in nearly every corner as Mike Albertsen got past Gould for third by the halfway point. 

The top four raced in tight fashion using the high line around the track with everyone waiting for Starry to make his move. He raced tight on the rear bumper of Berkeley but Chase refused to be harassed into making a mistake. It came down to the last lap when Starry dropped low in turn four but he didn't have the speed or momentum to make a pass and  Berkeley held his line and drove on for the win. Albertsen finished a close third with Gould and Shelby Williams completing the top five. 

The Modified feature was probably the most entertaining of the night as it would produce an event filled with slide jobs, daring moves and drivers running right up against the wall in multiple packs of cars. 

Kollin Hibdon from the outside lane got the jump on Dylan Thornton to lead the opening lap but Thornton wasted no time getting him right back as with a slider in turn four, he took over the lead. Those two would continue to go at it, trading sliders at nearly every turn of the track as they swapped lanes and provided an entertaining but risky event. 

Close behind the leaders, Ricky Alvarado and Brandon Beckendorf battled for position with Bryson Yeager and Reece Solander also fighting for position. Just before the halfway point of the race, Hibdon hammered the wall and damaged his car and as Kellen Chadwick triggered the first yellow with a flat tire, Hibdon retired to the pits with damage. 

Beckendorf inherited the runner up spot and Solander's charge had brought him up to third as he got past Alvarado. Back on green, Solander's great run ended with mechanical issues that saw him slow on the front chute and the race was no more than restarted when opening night winner Luke Silber hammered the fourth turn wall and his night was over too. 

A five lap dash to the finish as Beckendorf all over Thornton but Dylan would make no mistakes and Beckendorf didn't have the speed to drive past him as the California turned Iowa racer drove home for the win. Alvarado finished a solid third with Ethan Braaksma the charger of the event, coming from seventeenth to fourth in front of Troy Morris III.

The Hobby Stocks finished up the evening and it was no surprise when Dillon Richards, who started on the pole, drove on for the win. The same scenario that has played out most of the week continued as Richards and Dillon Thompson, who started side by side in the front row, would battle it out for the win. Richards got the early jump and despite a shot in the shorts by Thompson, he managed to keep his car straight and drive into the lead. Blake Luinenburg broke up the two car battle as he slipped past Thompson for second and tried to chase down Richards. 

Morgan Olmstead, running a solid fourth, saw his night end with a flat tire just as a three car grinder in turn three stopped the action with just three laps to go. Richards took off strong on the restart and would not be challenged as he drove home for yet another win this week. Luinenburg and Thompson completed the top three. Joel Magee and Bingston Rogers filled up the rest of the top five. 

Racing will continue on Thursday night with the first green flag to drop at 2 pm. IMCA TV is available for those that can't be on hand for the event. 

Richards Dominates, Then Holds On To Win at CAR

 Week two of the Pitt Stop Motorsports, IMCA TV Winter Nationals started off on Tuesday night, January 14th at Central Arizona Raceway East of Casa Grande Arizona. Racing at the Pinal County Fairgrounds. Located at Eleven Mile Corner, the program is under the direction of Brad Whitfield who has been the promoter at the track since racing resumed there just under two years ago.

The improvements that have been made at the track since I was there a year ago at this time have been quite remarkable. When last I was here at CAR, the track had no wall around it and cars were continuously slipping over the edge of the track as drivers drove often beyond their limits, knowing that the worst that could happen to them was that they would slip off into the run off area and trigger yet another yellow flag, off which there were so many that it became ridiculous. Apparently Whitfield felt the same way as a wall now surrounds the entire track, giving the place a much better look and while I haven't yet seen a full race program, I can imagine that with the wall the number of needless yellow flags will be cut significantly. The visual to me with the wall all the way around and surrounding the track makes it look smaller to me but that is not the case in reality. 

The wall is topped with big billboards that go all the way from turn one to turn four and even though they just got them completed a week ago Friday, two thirds of them are already covered with sponsor ads, again just improving the looks of the place. 

A new building has been put in place for the pit draw in the pits and new showers and restrooms have been brought in for the pit folks. The press box/VIP booths have been added on to and now run the length of the covered grandstand, one of three grandstands on the front stretch. The one thing the track still doesn't have and that is a scoreboard but I would not be surprised if by next year they one of those too. Things definitely seem on the uptick here and as one of the few dirt tracks in the state of Arizona and the closest one to both the metro areas of Phoenix and Tucson, they are taking advantage of that as they start to book bigger events and new series to their track including a High Limits Sprint Car show this year. 

For those that were missing "The Hook" and his buddies on their wrecker crews at the WWS, they are here working this event which only makes sense with them being based in Tucson and this track much closer. I do not know for sure but they might be among the weekly crew that works events at this track.

Four race programs have already been held here this week for the IMCA Winter Nationals and with well over two hundred cars having been in action in five classes, the first week was a highly successful one, even though they had to fight a bit of rain during one of the shows, lots of wind and cold temperatures. 

Week two would see the same four core classes of IMCA racing with the Mod Lites brought in this week to replace the Sport Compacts. But first, on this night, the second week would begin with a few unique events. 

The Gene Freeman Memorial Pit Crew Challenge, a staple of this event, would kick off Tuesday night. The format is simple. Under the timing watch, each race car comes to a stop beyond a designated point, two crew members come to the car, jack it up, replace the right rear wheel, the car is dropped and it must make one full lap of the track with the timing ending when it crosses the line. Twenty eight teams, representing all classes of racing, would attempt this challenge with the winner earning a grand for their team. The event was well organized, didn't take long to complete and was entertaining with sage comments added by event announcers Chad Myers, "Big Boy" Jason Frommelt and Ben Deatherage.  The winner was the Dylan Thornton team with a time of 49.538 seconds. 

Two other competitive events on Tuesday night was a forty lap special, non point race for the IMCA Hobby Stocks that paid a grand to the winner. The top thirty is series points to this date were eligible with twenty two cars actually taking the green flag for this race, which turned out to be one of the strangest seen in quite some time. 

Dillon Richards, winner of three of four Hobby Stock features run so far this week, started on the outside of row two but before a lap was completed, he had already driven into the lead. He then charged away from the pack at a blistering pace and before long was already lapping cars. The other driver making big moves was Blake Luinenberg who had started tenth and was also cutting through traffic like a hot knife through butter. These two were clearly the class of the field as they drove away from everyone. 

It was crazy the way that Richards was coming through the pack, lapping cars at will and soon getting up to the top five runners. As the race remained under the green, there were only three cars left on the lead lap by the halfway point with Luinenberg a full half lap behind and Morgan Olmstead also managing to stay on the lead lap. 

However, all the dominance came to an end on lap twenty six when a stalled car triggered the first yellow flag and the field was realigned with Luinenberg now on the tail of Richards. And Dillon was not able to run away from Luinenberg as Blake stayed right in his tire tracks as they however, pulled away from the rest of the field. 

One more yellow for debris set up a final eight lap sprint to the finish and Richards was not able to shake Luinenberg. In fact, Blake started to put heavy pressure on the leader. and looked for a path to pass. On the final lap, Luinenberg had a good run to the inside of the leader going into turn three and many would have tried a wild slider at this point, whether it be successful or not. However, Luinenberg didn't and raced Richards clean with Dillon holding on for the win. Olmstead finished third with Hunter Farrell and Neil Pella completing the top five. The forty lapper clicked off fast with their being only three cars on the lead lap at the finish and fourteen that finished. 

The evening concluded with the first annual Canadian Modified Shootout event. Ten Canadian based Modified teams threw money in together with the proceeds going to a charity and they ran a ten lap event. Russell Duncan took the early lead but a monkey wrench was thrown into the proceedings at the halfway point when the yellow flew for debris on the track. At this point the field was inverted with Duncan suddenly finding himself at the tail of the field. 

No matter, he simply charged back to the front in the remaining laps and still won the race over Sir Lawrence O'Connor and Chris Beaulieu. After that, the track was turned over for practice with drivers in all five classes getting laps in for this coming week. 

 

Pierce, Strickler and Moseley Complete WWS Domination in Series Finale

 The nineteenth annual Wild West Shootout was concluded on Sunday, January 12th at the FK Rod Ends Vado Speedway Park in Vado New Mexico. Five of the six events in the mini series were completed with round number three being snowed out on two consecutive nights as the WWS endured its worst ever week of weather for this event, despite having been  promised much better conditions in the days leading up to the event. 

However, for Bobby Pierce, Kyle Strickler and Rob Moseley, it must have felt like it was eighty degrees and sunny as they completed their domination of the series with all three winning feature races on Sunday. For Pierce and Moseley it was third fourth win of the week in five attempts while Strickler won his second event of the week but secured enough points to top the Modified division and get the points fund money also. 

With most of the field remaining in the pits to complete the weekend, the format for the event would remain the same with four heats, a pair of B Features and a main event for each class. The Late Models ran fifty laps on Sunday as this was their bookend twenty five grand to win event matched with the opening night show last Saturday. A sponsor stepped forward to provide extra money for the starting positions and also for those drivers that failed to make the main event. The Modifieds would be racing for three grand to win on Sunday with extra money on the line throughout their field and the X Mods would also be running for their largest purse of the series so it was an important night of racing. 

The track was really "juiced up" for the event on Sunday with numerous wheel packing sessions on the outer groove as the track was very fast and heavy. In fact, in a bit of a surprise, Louisiana's Clayton Stuckey snapped off a lap at 14.184 seconds during qualifying which was the quickest lap of the week and earned him an extra grand. 

As has been the case all week , the Late Models would run off their main event first followed by the X Mods and Mods but I have noticed that the majority of the fans on hand don't necessarily evacuate the grounds as soon as the Late Models are done, telling me that those on hand are race fans more than just Late Model fans and likely fans of drivers in the other classes too. That is worth noting when marketing this series I would think. 

Pierce started on the outside pole but with a rush got the jump on Garrett Alberson who held the inside pole and with seemingly his toughest competition quickly vanquished, Bobby would be in good shape for the rest of the event. 

And that would indeed be the case, as he quickly pulled ahead of the field and with the first sixteen laps going nonstop, he was quickly into lapped traffic who were engaged in their own battles, making it tough to get through those packs. But Pierce prevailed and when the only yellow of the race flew, he continued to show the way over Alberson, Tyler Erb, Stormy Scott and Chase Junghans. 

When the green returned, Erb got a good jump and slipped past Alberson for second and he took up the chase of the leader. Junghans was picking up the pace too and moved past Scott who was having some handling issues in the corners with Dustin Sorsensen also passing him .

Pierce was long gone but the inside line really served Junghans well as he continued to charge, driving under both Alberson and Erb to move into second. If perhaps there would have been a yellow flag, he might have put a scare in Pierce, but as it was, the final thirty four laps ran off green to checkers and other than another bunch of lapped cars that Pierce had to work through late, his lead would have been considerable. As it was, he finished with some distance and two lapped cars between himself and Junghans. Alberson got back around Erb to finish third. Collen Winebarger, the relative unknown from Oregon, completed what has been a very impressive week for himself by getting past Sorensen and completing the top five. Nineteen starters were still on the track at the finish. 

Rob Moseley has had the X Mod field over a barrel all week and he continued to shine in this class, driving to a dominating win, his fourth of the week with only Christy Barnett to mess up his complete sweep. Moseley's formula has been to have a very successful heat race with passing points being used, then start up front in the main and just pull away from the field. 

And that he accomplished one last time this week, pulling away from the start in what was a rocky first few laps with two grinding collisions in the first three laps. One eliminated his front row running partner Aiden Frazier who got together on the back chute with Donovan Flores, sending the field scrambling for cover. 

Moseley then had Hunter Sandy as his challenger and Sandy drove deep into the corners several times, trying to slip past the leader. However, Moseley held his ground and then eventually began to stretch his lead until one last yellow bunched the field, setting up a seven lap finish. 

No problem for Moseley who this time drove away from Sandy and drove home from there for the win. Sandy finished second, holding off a late charge by Rick Ortega for the spot. Ortega had been running Modifieds all week but when he got into a big crash on Saturday, he left that vehicle in the trailer and instead rolled out this X Mod which ran very competitively right from the start. Josh Cain and Barnett completed the top five finishers. 

With Strickler starting on the outside pole, it looked to be a certain thing on who would win the Modified feature. However, a surprise was in store as after leading the opening lap, Strickler was slid by Carlos Ahumada Jr who drove under him to take over the lead. One lap later and Strickler would return the favor, sliding past Ahumada Jr in turn four. 

Things went sour for Ahumada Jr in the next turn as while trying to stay with Strickler, he spun in turn one and triggered the yellow flag, after which he was digging the rest of the race to get back to a top ten finish. 

Joseph Thomas, who really picked up his pace the second weekend of the series, then motored into second place and kept Strickler within sight while just not being able to provide a stiff challenge. Nathan Smith and Rodney Sanders raced behind Thomas as the race reached it's halfway point. 

But the driver doing the charging was Dustin Sorensen. After starting way back in eighteenth place, he was on a mission as he hammered the corners and drove to the front with abandon. He was able to pick off drivers at will and by the halfway point was up to fifth. He then continued his charge, getting past Sanders and Smith and when the last yellow flew with just nine laps to go, he was up to third. 

Strickler took off on the green and Sorensen quickly got past Thomas for second and then pushed hard to try and catch Strickler. Sorensen was on the edge of control, banging off the outside cushion in his effort to catch the leader. However, Strickler was just a little too fast and despite his hard efforts, Sorensen had to settle for second with Strickler taking the win. Thomas had a fine run for third with a charging Cade Dillard and Sanders completing the top five. 

The nineteenth annual Wild West Shootout is now complete. I have to thank especially Ben Shelton and Chris Kearns for their help. The staffs of both the WWS and Vado are excellent to work with and all the employees of both organizations are great when it comes to customer service. 

I had a chance to talk to Kearns on Sunday afternoon. He was not as optimistic as some others that next year the race could be moved to a later date. He said that while the WWS is a strong series, he is still at the mercy of Lucas Oil and the World of Outlaws when it comes to schedule making so no dates were announced for the 2026 race yet. He feels that teams might be burned out after Speed Weeks and might not be willing to make a run halfway across the country at that point.  And while he loves the show that the Modifieds and X Mods put on, he said that this is truly a Late Model event and he must cater to them. 

At some point, no matter how great a facility Vado is and no matter how much the local sponsors help him out, this race must move back to Arizona, according to Chris. This begs the question of where it could be moved to. Arizona is about out of dirt tracks these days with just about all of them closed and the only viable choice would be Central Arizona Raceway in Casa Grande. However, according to Kearns, they have their own event going on at the same time as the WWS and since they are able to draw over two hundred cars and only pay a grand to the winners, it would seem unlikely that they would be interested in taking on this event. 

The only problem with New Mexico this time of year, and one that there is no answer for, is the weather. Coming off the worst weather week in series history, it would seem that at some point even the top drivers would get tired of making the long trip to the West and then having to endure such a miserable week. That is one thing that Arizona can offer and that is warmer weather. 

Chris said that he is more than pleased with the fields of race cars that Vada turns out and the racing has always been good and the sponsors most generous, but he needs more fans in the stands but that is tough to do when the weather is so extreme. Many of the local fans would prefer to wait until the weather is warmer and it is tough to talk folks into a racecation  when the weather conditions can be so extreme. 

So I guess we will all wait together to see what develops for 2026 as to when and where this race will take place. In the meantime, thanks to all that make it happen. 

Pierce, Sorensen and Moseley All Cruise at WWS

 Once in a while, no matter how strong the field and no matter how good the race track, the racing program ends up producing stinkers of a show. Such was the case on Saturday, January 11th at the fifth round of the nineteenth annual Wild West Shootout at FK Rod Ends, Vado Speedway Park. 

With a combination of strong running race cars and favorable starting positions, Bobby Pierce, Dustin Sorensen and Rob Moseley all cruised to easy victories in their respective main events on Saturday. All three starting on the inside pole of their main events and all three ended up leading all laps as they raced to victory. Their only challenges came following restarts but each managed to handle those situations correctly and all three would find victory lane. 

The weather conditions are slowly improving as the week winds down here in the high desert with the sun shining down brightly and the temperatures slowly creeping upward. It is still heavy coat weather once that sun sets but the winds have also eased off and the conditions are now more manageable. The large tent that is set up as a heating station for the fans, even equipped with tv's, was largely unused on Friday. 

Car counts have remained strong throughout the week and while the number of new drivers was down to a trickle on Saturday, most everyone that has been racing all week continues to do so. 

Activity was probably at a weekly high so far in the pits with a couple of drivers making amazing rebounds after having endured very bad luck less than twenty four hours ago. Both Jake Timm in the Late Models and Nate Reinke in the X Mods were able to fix their cars after both rolled over quite hard on Friday night. With the way both cars looked as they were dragged off the track on Friday, it seemed unlikely that either could run the following day but the race teams can do some amazing things some times. When I arrived in the pits early Saturday afternoon, Timm and crew had his car almost ready to go already with Jake telling me that "they don't give up easily" and I guess he proved that to the rest of the field later.

Reinke's situation looked even more dire as he and his small crew from North Dakota had their X Mod stripped of body panels but their looked to be much work to be done and time was growing short before racing would begin. Track officials told him to draw a number just in case and then let them know if he needed to scratch. That's what I assumed would happen as I headed to the grandstands but come heat race time, there he was on the track and ready to go!

And what was most amazing was how well both drivers fared, especially given their circumstances. Reinke would finish second in a heat race and start the feature from the second row. He would run both second and third for much of the race until a late restart bit him and he ended up sixth. Still, not a bad ending to a tough beginning. Timm would also qualify for the main and ended up just one spot short of a top ten finish, his best feature finish of the week. So both were rewarded for their hard efforts. 

There were also others having to scramble as the racing week finally started to lengthen. Cade Dillard and Mike Marlar both went to back up cars for Saturday and Tony Jackson Jr. was added to that list when he lost a motor early on. In the Mods, Cade Dillard swapped motors after he blew one up on Friday while challenging for the lead and Jake Boles went to a back up car after blowing up also on Friday. 

The track slowed down on Saturday with Drake Troutman setting quick time overall at 14.451 seconds while young Carson Brown would top group A to secure a pole position for a heat race also. 

The program would be the same as usual with heats, B features and a main event for all three classes. There was the final Pro Power dash of the weekend and Oregon's Bricen James took the win and then turned down the thousand dollars for that win, wanting instead to run the feature race. Ten extra laps were run in the feature on Saturday, however they probably could have run an extra hundred laps and no one would have caught Pierce. 

It was smooth sailing for Pierce as he got the jump on the green with the race only going one lap before the yellow flew as Chase Junghans blew a motor and clogged up the field. Back on green, Pierce was gone with Troutman moving into second and giving chase but as the field settled in, Pierce would gradually pull away. Brandon Sheppard, Tyler Erb and Ethan Dotson have been among the noticed all week and they continued to provide action. Sheppard has been forced to dig through the field most of the week after not qualifying the best and on Saturday he was up to third by the halfway point of the race and chasing Troutman for second. Erb and Dotson have been "flame throwers" all week with their wild slide jobs and bold moves and once again they were at it. 

A late yellow with just nine laps remaining when Don Shaw got a flat tire bunched the field and while Pierce was away clean, Sheppard was able to get past Troutman for second but he had nothing to offer the leader. Troutman had things go bad for him as both Erb and Dotson got past him for position in the final laps with Dotson completing a noteworthy charge from fifteenth to fourth. Only three drivers failed to go the distance in what was a relatively smooth race. 

Rob Moseley has been on a tear this week and matched Pierce's win total as he took his third X Mod feature, leading all laps after starting on the pole. Reinke got past Donovan Flores to take second early on, but he was unable to cut into Moseley's lead. The only driver that seemed able to stay with Moseley was Christy Barnett who quickly moved up after starting sixth. 

After a good battle, she got past Reinke for second and set off after the leader. She was able to cut into Moseley's lead and did indeed poke a nose under him in the corners but Rob had enough to hold her off. A late restart set up a three lap battle to the finish but Moseley held his line and Christy was forced to settle for second.

Josh Cain got third after coming all the way from eighteenth but it was slightly tainted after contact between himself and Greg Gorham upset Gorham who ended up spinning. Hunter Sandy and Scott Bintz, continuing his steady runs, completed the top five. 

Sorensen shook off the disappointment of a failed charge in his Late Model when his radiator got a hole in it to come back and dominate the Modified feature. Sorensen has been fast all week with his Mod but circumstances haven't worked out for him, that is until Saturday when he started on the pole, got the jump on Terry Phillips and then ran away from the pack. 

Dillard chases Sorensen for twenty five laps but was never able to get a solid run on the Minnesota driver who was using the cushion to set a frantic pace. Fito Gallardo was in the top five when a tire rub eventually caused him to get a flat tire, slowing the race with ten laps complete. Gary Christian started to move up, getting past Joseph Thomas to move into third by the halfway point of the race. 

One late yellow for a spin proved to be a big help for Kyle Strickler who had started eleventh. He was up to fifth when the late yellow set up a four lap dash to the finish and he was able to pick off both Thomas and Christian to get to third and was pressuring Dillard for second. But no one had anything for Sorensen who drove home the winner. 

It was a smooth night of racing with not the many crashes of Friday night and a relatively early completion time for the twenty two race program. 

Alberson Holds off Pierce, Barnett and Strickler Also WWS Winners

 It's been a long and trying week for race teams, officials and fans here in the desert to see racing action during the Wild West Shootout at the FK Rod Ends Vado Speedway Park. Snow, wind and bitterly cold temperatures resulted in racing action being postponed on Wednesday night for round three of the mini series and then even harder snow on Thursday resulted in round three being canceled. Quiet frankly, everyone was lucky that the sun came back out on Friday morning and helped with the melting process, otherwise the Friday show might have not be held either. The pits were uncharacteristically muddy on Friday, there was still snow beside some of the trailers even after the Friday show was completed and temperatures barely cracked the forty degree mark. In retrospect, when the forecast which was accurate and consistent for what happened as early as last Sunday was fulfilled, it might have been better to race on Tuesday instead of having a practice night and then all six shows could have been held. But hindsight is twenty twenty as management had to provide refunds on Friday for six day arm bands etc. so they made good with the teams. 

The track prep crew deserves much credit for bringing the racing surface around and making it manageable for Friday night racing. It was very wet and soft even in the early afternoon but fears that it would be rough never came to bear fruit and while they had to spend some time knocking down the cushion, the track stayed very racy, just as it has been all week, albeit blinding fast that some probably didn't particularly like, but that situation could have happened anything all year and at any track. Everyone pitched in to get the facility in shape for the drivers and fans and track announcer and series co-promoter Ben Shelton was even seen working a push broom, removing moisture behind the grandstands. 

A few teams did pull out after the nearly week long delay with some worried about the weather on long trips home and some just not wanting to wait out the weather conditions. However, there were also seventeen teams that arrived on Friday night that had not raced previous to that night so there were plenty of racers on hand to put on a show for the fans. 

Among those that remained was Chris Lewis who took a tough flip on Sunday but elected to remain, fixing up his Modified so that he could race on Friday night. Making it even tougher for Lewis was the fact that his was one of the few teams still working out of an open trailer. 

The fast track did produce the quickest times of the week so far with Garrett Alberson setting fast time with a lap at 14.283 seconds, perhaps foreshadowing what he would be able to accomplish later. The race program was nearly identical to the previous weekend's events with qualifying for the Late Models while the Mods and X Mods drew for position and then raced for passing points. Heat races were followed by a pair of B Features for each class and then as quickly as possible, track officials moved into feature race action. One staple always for this series has been quickly run programs and that remained the case on this cool Friday night. 

Kelly Carlton is one tough Race Director and he is insistent on starts and restarts to make sure that they are fair and even. A number of starts were called back on Friday and have been all week, perhaps more so than any other event you might see all year but the drivers are told at their meeting what the rules are, and he sticks to them, no matter who it might be involved. 

And as has been the case all week, the Late Models would be first up for their main event. On this night, a thirty lap main event would highlight their program and with the fast track, drivers were under the gun to make their moves quickly and not wait for things to shake out. 

We saw this urgency right from the drop of the green flag as Alberson, who started on the outside of row two, split Kyle Beard and Drake Troutman in the first turn, then slid past Ross Bailes in turn three and show into the lead before one lap was completed.  From there, he would stretch his advantage while there was plenty of action behind him with much shuffling of position and more than a few rubs between drivers as no one was backing off. As Bailes worked his way into second, flame throwers Ethan Dotson and Tyler Erb had more than one dust ups with each other while Bobby Pierce worked his way up after starting eighth on the field. 

By the halfway point, Alberson continued to hold a good sized lead over Bailes, having a great run as he drove the Austin Kirkpatrick ride once again with Dotson moving to third ahead of Drake Troutman and Erb. Bailes, Erb and Dotson continued to blast away on each other with the result being a flat tire for Dotson while Pierce continued to march forward. 

With just two laps to go, Bailes great run came to an end as he suffered a flat tire and banged up against the turn three wall which allowed Pierce to take over second. The two lap sprint to the finish saw Alberson not mess up on this restart as he took off strong on the single file start and held off challenges of Pierce to take the win. Erb finished third with Dustin Sorensen having another solid run and Brandon Sheppard, who was racing from behind all night, charged all the way from twenty first to complete the top five. The fast track did take it's toll with ten cars not going the distance. 

The X Mod feature saw a dominating performance by Christy Barnett as she led from start to finish to take the twenty lap win. She pulled away right from the start with Greg Gorham trying to stay with her. Barnett was in lapped traffic early and she made some strong moves as he fought through the slower cars while still maintaining her lead. Scott Bintz, who is having a stellar week so far, again put on a strong performance as he worked his way up from the third row to challenge Gorham for second. 

The lone yellow of the race was actually a  red flag as North Dakota's Nate Reinke, who is always a strong challenger in this series, clipped a spinning car that he couldn't avoid on the front stretch and flipped over on his roof, triggering the stoppage. 

The final nine laps of the race saw Barnett pull away again as neither Gorham nor Bintz could stay with her, as she finished with a comfortable margin over them. Shayne Bailey put on the drive of the race, coming from eighteenth to finish fourth with Josh Cain rounding out the top five as only five drivers failed to complete the distance. 

Kyle Strickler has been quick to adapt to the USRA style of Modified racing as opposed to the UMP type he is used to with tires and some other differences in the rules. Friday night he started on the pole and no one would touch him as he drove to a dominating win over a strong field of drivers. As Strickler pulled away, Rick Ortega was having a strong outing as he held off Rodney Sanders for second for a number of laps. 

Sanders would finally get by for second as Strickler was already navigating his way through traffic. On the move were Gary Christian and Cade Dillard from the third and fifth rows respectively. Bad luck would strike Ortega as he lost a driveshaft and spun in turn two, ending his night. 

Dillard was the driver to watch as he was picking his way to the front and by the halfway point was up to third, which then led to a good battle with Sanders for the runner up slot as Strickler was still solidly in the lead. 

Following the Ortega restart, Dillard tried to get past Sanders when suddenly a huge cloud of smoke and sparks emitted from the Dillard car and he was done, triggering yet another yellow. 

The last eight laps saw Strickler comfortably in front with Sanders settling for second. A banger between Christian and Dustin Sorensen, who had charged from sixteenth, saw Christian the winner as he maintained third while Sorensen settled for the next position. Paden Phillips completed the top five with a number of drivers securing their first top ten runs of the week to date. Seventeen drivers completed the event, all on the lead lap. 

The high speeds on Friday led to several grinding collisions and in addition to Reinke's flip, Jake Timm took a hard tumble with his Late Model that likely ended his WWS while X Mod driver Jimmy Downs nosed into the back stretch wall and also went for a header too. 

Discussions have already started concerning the 2026 Wild West Shootout which will be the twentieth edition of this event. It is way too early to be certain of anything when it comes to next year and I will just say that it is possible that this event might be positioned somewhat differently on the racing calendar next year but there are still a number of factors that must align for that to happen. Stay tuned. 

Pierce and Moseley Repeat as WWS Winners, Jake Gallardo Tops Modified Field

 Round two of the nineteenth annual Wild West Shootout was held on Sunday, January 5th at the Vado Speedway Park in Vado New Mexico. It was an excellent show on Sunday, with all three  feature races providing plenty of action, passing and close finishes and the winners included Bobby Pierce and Rob Moseley, who both went back to back after each won main events during Saturday's opener while Jake Gallardo edged out Dustin Sorensen in the closest finish of the week so far, as the local driver nipped the Minnesota driver by .022 seconds in a thrilling finish. 

Minus just a few drivers that did not return after Saturday action, nearly one hundred and fifty drivers took the green flag for racing in three divisions again on Sunday. While the X Mods and Modified drivers would be racing the exact same program as on Saturday, the Late Model drivers were racing for ten grand to win during the second event of the series while also racing ten fewer laps in the main. 

It was a seasonal day here in the high Plains where the altitude is just over four thousand feet with a sunny day with temperatures near sixty but when the sun sets, it does cool off quickly. The track  prep crew put some extra water on the track for Sunday's show and it made for faster speeds, quicker time trials and just a bit of track chop. While there was nothing wrong with Saturday's program, I felt the racing was even better for the Sunday show. The track did have some "character" to it and while many of us that attend races would argue that a few bumps and a heavy cushion makes for better racing, many of the drivers would and indeed were complaining that the track was too bumpy. 

And while the racers perhaps were not all happy, we that were watching were more than happy to witness a program that will go down as one of the best of the entire year with great feature racing in all three classes, passing and much side by side racing and perhaps one of the best Late Model features that we will see all year. Seldom do you see the big advances that drivers in all three classes made and as the track changed during the main events, drivers surged to the front while some fell back, all making for great entertainment. 

Moving the show along well on a Sunday, racing would begin at just before 5 pm Mountain time after Garrett Alberson turned the quickest time of the night and week so far at 14.304 seconds. 

The program would be an exact copy of Saturday's show with the lone exception that the Late Model main would be ten laps shorter. I was amazed to see that after the twenty qualifying events had been completed, it was noted that all twenty events saw the winners start in the front row. To me, this was very misleading as there were some fine racing battles in the heats with much passing and since passing points were used to set the feature fields in two classes while the Late Models had plenty of competition that required them to go very hard in their heats, the preliminaries were nothing short of entertaining. 

Mitch McGrath, who pounded the wall in qualifying on Saturday and tore up his brand new Longhorn chassis to the point that he couldn't race on Saturday, won the Pro Power dash and cut his losses by taking the grand to the winner and passing on racing the main Sunday.

The Late Model feature would be up first, as it always is for this series and after a bit of track prep where they worked on a blown out section on the back chute, the track turned out great for the three features and provided some of the best racing that will probably be seen all year. 

Twenty four cars started the Late Model feature and to a man, likely everyone in the stands was shocked when Collen Winebarger got the jump on Mike Marlar to take the early lead. And not only did Winebarger grab the lead, he proceeded to pull away from a pack of some of the finest drivers in the country, stretching his lead to over two seconds as the pack swarmed upon each other behind him. Marlar quickly fell back as he was passed by Bobby Pierce, Garrett Alberson and Cade Dillard. 

Winebarger was storming the cushion and Pierce was unable to cut into his lead when the first of two yellows flew with ten laps complete when Don Shaw hammered the front stretch wall. Those that expected Winebarger to fade were surprised when he again pulled away from the pack but there was much position changing going on behind him as Alberson drove past Pierce for second and Brandon Sheppard also on the move. The next ten laps were wild as suddenly Marlar picked back up the pace after looking to be in trouble and he brought Sheppard with him, as they moved into second and third by the halfway point with Pierce getting shuffled all the way back to fifth. 

The second yellow proved to be Winebarger's downfall as after a Bricen James spin, Sheppard roared into the lead while Pierce also gathered himself and moved back into third and then quickly into second and while Winebarger faded after that, he did show that he, among several Western cars entered here this year, have picked up much speed over what they showed in previous years. 

The final fifteen laps or so proved to be a battle between Sheppard and Pierce as Bobby searched for an opening to make a pass. He would get past briefly on lap thirty three, only to blow the next corner and let Sheppard get back around him. The leaders caught lapped traffic at this point, adding to the drama and they tried to get through the slower cars while not leaving an opening for a winning pass. 

Off the final turn one corner, Sheppard got just a bit higher than he wanted as he tried to steer around a slower car and Pierce got a humungous run on him down the back chute, dove low and was able to get under Sheppard as both slide dangerously high toward the wall. Bobby was able to recover first and would edge out Sheppard for the win in just a dandy race. Almost unnoticed, Chase Junghans had come storming to the front using the low side and he, along with Tyler Erb and Ethan Dotson, all cracked the top five with late rushes while Alberson and Marlar both faded. Twenty cars completed the distance. 

The X Mod feature was a two car battle with Moseley and "The Red Headed Rebel", Scott Bintz battling it out for the win. Moseley had a great run in his heat and he then started on the pole for the main. He would take the early lead but that only lasted for a lap as Bintz made a great dive low in turn four, sliding under Moseley to take over the top spot. 

Bintz would hold the top spot for two laps before Moseley again took over the top spot with a strong move of his own. Two yellows in the early going kept the field bunched and following the second yellow, Kale Murphrey accelerated past Bintz to take over second. Those two would then battle for the second spot as Moseley was able to put just a bit of distance on the field. 

Also on the move was Brian Craighead who raced up to fourth by the halfway point. Bintz would again take the second spot and the closing eight laps, after the fourth and final yellow, would see he and Moseley battle for the win. 

Lap after lap, Bintz would bore deep into the corners and try to edge up inside Moseley but Rob was just fast enough to hold off all his attempts. To the line they surged with Moseley holding off Bintz by just a couple car lengths for the win. Craighead continued his charge and moved up to third by the finish with Murphrey and a late charging Blake Adams completing the top five. 

Jake Gallardo would be scored the leader of all twenty five laps of the Modified feature but that would be just a bit misleading. And while he had a nice sized lead for much of the event, at the end things would get very tight and it took the electronic scoring to determine just who had won the race. 

Gallardo got the jump from the outside of the front row to beat Terry Phillips to the first corner with Troy Gemmill moving in behind them as the yellow flew early when Jimmy Ray spun on the front chute. As Gallardo pulled away, the battle for second was a good one with the driver on the move being Rodney Sanders. 

Driving an experimental car, he moved to the cushion from his fourth row starting spot and fought his way up to second by the halfway point of the race. Also on the charge and following Sanders was Dustin Sorensen who has shown big speed both nights so far. 

Both he and Sanders started to close in on Gallardo, who was fighting his way through considerable traffic. Then Sanders began to fade as Sorensen and several others also passed him before Rodney pulled up lame on the track with some mechanical issues that sidelined him. 

This set up a two lap dash to the finish and it turned out to be a dandy conclusion. Sorensen moved to the cushion on the single file restart and he got a run on Gallardo. Continuing to pound the outside, they came off the final corner side by side with Gallardo holding off Sorensen by inches for the thrilling win. And as the leaders battled for the win, so also were Phillips and Kyle Strickler fighting it out for third with Strickler making a last corner slider to guarantee the spot. Carlos Ahumada Jr came from fourteenth to complete the top five.  The fast paced program was completed shortly after 9 pm. 

Drivers and crews will now get a couple days off to relax and unwind. There will be a practice session on Tuesday night for those interested and racing will resume with another three division program on Wednesday night. Amazingly, Late Model legend Thomas Hunziker and his business, AM-1 Roofing of Oregon will offer free admission to this event. That's correct, a ten grand to win Late Model program highlighting a three division program and there will be FREE admission to all fans. When's the last time you ever heard of that happening? The Wild West Shootout never fails to amaze.