Every year it seems like there can be no way that the Arizona Sport Shirts Gateway Nationals can top the previous year. And then they drop the green flag, the barking hounds are released and the madness starts. After three nights of chaos, Tyler Carpenter, Kyle Larson and Derek Losh stood on the smoldering ruins of their race cars to accept the awards as winners of the three feature races that were run in front of a huge and raucous crowd of dirt track fans.
This is really not racing in what you might imagine as the normal sense. It's more like racing fighter planes inside a gymnasium. A gymnasium that is filled with dust, ruts, race car parts sheared off and "whoop de doos" that seem to shift position around the track from lap to lap. But one thing is definitely is not, and that is boring or predictable. It seems like this track is the great equalizer and all weekend we have seen local and regional favorites racing elbow to elbow with the biggest names in the sport, and often coming out as the victors. And all this just adds to the infinite uniqueness of this event.
Granted, this race does have its share of warts. The track is incredibly rough, the down time is long and tedious, everything from parking to concessions is over priced, the air inside the area is not the best and the dust was flying in copious amounts on Saturday night and it is a very spendy weekend for all that attend. But all it takes is to watch one of three main events and all those things are just mere inconveniences not worth mentioning. In fact, mere words can not do justice to describe the action that took place on the track during those three races and I would suggest that anyone that didn't see the race either live or on video, get a hold of a replay and prepare to watch something that just isn't fairly describable with mere words.
Last Chance races started at 3 pm as event organizers wisely decided to only hot lap those drivers that were already in the main event and by 7 pm we were ready for the big shows.
The "lights out" driver introductions and indoor fireworks were spectacular as usual, all leading up to the three main events. The Late Models were first and Tyler Carpenter, live and direct and full of spunk from the mountains of West Virginia, held off the challenges of several drivers to win the forty lap main event. Incredibly, with all that was happening on the track, the yellow flag waved only twice during the Late Model main.
Shannon Babb, Ryan Unzicker, Tanner English and Brandon Sheppard all had legitimate chances to win the race but all sorts of issues plagued them and Carpenter was able to hold off the last lap charge by Sheppard to get the win by a fender length. Only eight of the twenty starters were still on the track at the end and everyone was showing some sort of damage.
Larson was the class of the Midget field and after coming from fifth to take over the lead, he held off challenges to take the win. This race were smoothly for the first half of the distance and then was plagued by yellow flags thereafter including two reds for flipping cars. However, Larson was head and shoulder over everyone else and only bad luck or mechanical failure could stop him. Neither happened and he took the win over Chris Windom and Tyler Courtney. The Midget feature was the only one of three where at least half the starting field was still on the track at the finish.
The Modified feature came right down to the wire also. In fact, a last corner pass by Losh saw him sneak under Kyle Bronson for the ten grand win. Bronson had been holding off the challenges of Losh for the last half of the race but on the final corner Kyle hooked a big rut, went skittering out to the wall and Losh was able to drive under him for the spectacular win. Most of the crowd stuck around to watch the Mods and they went wild at the unexpected finish.
There is no doubt that this race is truly one of a kind and not able to be duplicated anywhere else currently. I don't know if it's because it is the last race of the year or if it is the unique atmosphere or the fact that it is on TV live or what, but all the drivers seem to address this event slightly different than they do the rest of the year. They take chances here that they wouldn't do at other places and the whole event feels more like "Monster Jam" than a dirt track race. We were even "treated" to some WWF type antics on track and while at most events what happened would resulted in a DQ for the night, at this race instead they give the chief combatant a provisional to start the feature! It is as much show as it is go and perhaps that is part of the secret of its success.
Dates are already set for the next two years of this race with next year's coming close to Christmas again while the 2021 race will be earlier in the month of December.
The one thing that I keep having trouble wrapping my head around is that while many in the field in all three classes go home with wrecked equipment, they still are right at the head of the list the following year to get on the entry list. I keep thinking that eventually drivers and teams are going to get tired of wrecking their stuff year after year but I guess as long as there are some that want to take the risk, there are a very large group of spectators salivating at the thought of watching them tear into each other on the track.
My next reports after the first of the new year should be from Vado Speedway Park for the World of Outlaws Late Models Battle at the Border at this new facility, IMCA TV Winternationals at Cocopah Speedway and the Wild West Shootout at FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway.
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