Victor Lee Dominates East Bay Finale; Martin Goes Three for Three in Sprints

 The Modified portion of the East Bay Winter Nationals wrapped up on Saturday night, January 29th as they ran their long distance (75 lap) finale along with a third dose of the Top Gun Sprint Cars on what was a bone chilling night with near record low temperatures. Victor Lee continued to demonstrate the strength and consistency of his race program as he was the car to catch all through the Modified main event and no one was ever able to successfully do that as he drove home for the five thousand dollar win. The Sprint Car feature was a strong looking one indeed but that did not keep Danny Martin Jr from totally dominating for his third straight win here this weekend. 

It is not a good thing when one travels to Florida expecting sunshine and warm temperatures and instead sees a freeze warning posted on the local weather forecast for the day and flip flops were exchanged for sweaters, heavy coats and for some of the old(or perhaps more leaded members of the crowd), long handles. And let me tell you, they felt pretty dang good when I came back to the car following the program and found the vehicle coated in ice. 

The program would be similar for those trying to qualify for the main event except instead of time trials, points earned over the three nights previous would set the grids for the heat races with the top six in points moving straight to the main event without having to race a preliminary. They would redraw for their starting positions. Two cars out of the heats and two cars out of the B Features would set the twenty four car starting field. There would be one provisional and that would go to the highest point driver at the track in 2021 not in the main. Patrick Passanise would claim that spot but when his car wouldn't run right all night, he borrowed the ride of Jason Jack to take the green and collect the start money. 

The Top Gun Sprints would draw for their starting positions and then use passing points to set their order for their main event. Twenty two Sprints would race on Saturday night while the Modified was below sixty for the first time this week as a few drivers would head home early, the victims of wrecks, mechanical issues or perhaps poor starting positions.

Interestingly, two of the top six drivers in Modified points would execute motor changes before the program on Saturday. Kentucky's Chris Wilson would find metal in his oil pan and feel a motor swap was necessary. Kevin Adams, on the other hand, would do a swap not because they needed to but because they had planned to. Adams' strategy here is to always start the week with a four hundred and twenty something cubic inch, seven hundred and ninety horse gun boat for the power to qualify well on a perhaps heavy track as qualifying is the key here. However, on feature night, they swap over to a three hundred and eighty eight cubic inch plant that puts out well over a hundred horses less, because they want a smooth power flow that works on a slippery track and is easy on tires. His success over the last half dozen years or more here seems to bear out that strategy. 

The Mods took to the track for their feature first in an effort to keep the Sprints from turning the surface into a rubbered up mess, much to the delight of the Mod drivers and the scorn of the winged brigade on hand. However, "The Clay by the Bay" may have been frozen solid by feature time, thus negating other options. 

The Modified feature would be a test of man and machine with three different leaders and eleven yellows during the contest including one planned stop on lap thirty five for fuel only. A couple drivers did swap tires and forfeited their positions in the order to do so. 

Adams would redraw the pole but it would be Lucas Lee who would lead the opening lap. Victor Lee, who started fourth, would then see the lead for one lap before Lucas would retake him as the top six were running tight together in the opening few rounds. 

The yellows flew early with contender Drake Troutman blowing up on lap six to cause a stoppage. On the green this time, It would be Adams who would use the cushion to shoot into the top spot and he would lead until lap sixteen when Victor Lee would again take over the point. Lee, who never got off the bottom lane in four nights, was however able to keep his car straight and pulling nicely, which was something that few others could say. 

The tricky East Bay surface, exacerbated by the very cool temperatures, made for very uncertain traction issues, especially on restarts and drivers would seem to surge forward, only to drop back markedly again when the green flag was unfurled as every restart was an adventure. The inside line seemed to be the fastest route around the track but Victor could run it like no other while the only one continuing to pound the cushion was Adams, who threatened to knock down Al Varnadore's walls several times. 

At the midpoint fuel stop, it was the Lee's, Victor and Lucas, Adams, Shane Burrows and Tyler Nicely in the top five. Burrows, who started eighteenth, was running third with only a couple of laps to go when he broke and Nicely would later attempt to knock down the first turn wall when he decided to try the top side of the track. 

Victor Lee saw his main challenger Lucas Lee break during the second half of the race as he would stretch his margin out every time the  green stayed out for any length of time. Several yellows allowed Adams to challenge on the top side and he would stay close for a lap or so but every time Victor would gradually pull away again. 

The last yellow, with only two laps to go, gave Adams one last shot but last year's surge past Jason Hughes was not to be repeated as Victor was simply the fastest car on the grounds and would once again drive away from Adams for the win. 

All the shuffling of positions saw Seth Geary, last night's winner after missing the opening night, come from twentieth to finish third with Travis Varnadore, despite his motor making awful sounds from perhaps a broken header, would finish fourth. Allen Weisser would come from seventeenth to round out the top five. 

Victor Lee was anything but spectacular all week with his "catfishing" style but it was also very effective as he could get the power to the track without a lot of slipping and sliding and that was something everyone else struggled to do as the East Bay changing surface continues to befuddle many. 

The Top Gun Sprints served up a bizarrely memorable feature event of their own. Caused by the cold weather and the break for Modified post feature ceremonies, the track was like ice when the Sprints took the green flag and as cars struggled to find traction, they flopped around on the track like tarpon looking for water. Track point champion Frank Beck would lead the opening lap but then Danny Martin Jr, showing the savvy that would make him a three night winner, realized that the top side was much the faster and he flew past the other contenders like they were standing still and roared into the lead on lap two. One in front, he was gone and just like the last three nights, as the slower cars pulled into the pedestrian lane, he stayed up top and drove by them at will as more and more drivers went a lap or more down. 

Several of the other few contenders broke and dropped out and at the finish there were incredibly only three cars on the lead lap! And not only that, the fourth place car was two laps down and all the other finishers were also at least two laps in arrears. It was quite a display, or debacle  as I would prefer to describe it.

Justin Clark, visiting from the East Coast, would run second until the last restart when Top Gun champion from last year Tyler Clem would drive past him to take that spot. It was, however, a nice come back for Clark who last night ended up going through a mudpuddle in the pits when he lost control and he took a wet and dirty bath that ended his night. Thirteen of the twenty two starters were still on the track at the finish, most of them putting along at FWD speed. 

The brutally cold weather killed any chance of their being a crowd of any size, but the pits was a full place with nearly seventy different Modified teams on hand during the week. The Modified drivers were lobbying for a different support class for next year as this was the first time the Sprints had joined the Mods for this event and they didn't help the track conditions at all. However, the fan base for the Sprints in the grandstands, an important consideration, seemed much larger than any of the other classes that have been tried with the Mods. Myself, I think there are enough Mods and their fans that a one class program, such at the Late Models run, would be just fine here. Plus the early conclusions to the evening, that would allow time for post race activity, were really killed this year with all the late night finishes and Saturday night was no exception with the final checkered near Midnight. 

Thanks to Al Varnadore and his staff, the UMP folks and others for their help. The plan is to return in a week or so to see how the Late Models handle the challenge of "The Clay by the Bay."    

Geary Upset East Bay Modified Winner; Martin Repeats In Sprints

 Round three of the Winter Nationals at East Bay Raceway Park for the UMP Modifieds and Top Gun Sprints was contested on a blustery and cool Friday night January 28th and Seth Geary provided a stunning upset as he won the Modified feature over a sixty plus car field while Danny Martin Jr. prevailed for the second straight night in the Sprints. 

Geary's win was a profound one in that Friday night was the first night he had entered the series as work commitments kept him away from the track on both Wednesday and Thursday night. Not only that, he was the last car to roll into the pits and barely made it through tech before the cut off was enforced and if he had missed that event, he would not have been allowed to time and starting at the back of a heat race would have been a huge mountain to climb. As it was, he was quickest qualifier for his group, won a heat and then redrew sixth for what turned out to be a chaotic and taxing thirty lap feature race. 

Right from the beginning of the evening, there seemed to be an ominous  tone to the events. There have been many different greeting signs for race track entrances seen over the years and most are pretty standard. However, they don't mess around here at East Bay as the main welcome sign right as you enter the parking says this, "Enter At Your Own Risk"! And after navigating the junk and garbage strewn road into the grounds, it does give one some pause. 

The weather forecast wasn't much help either as the headline for Gibsonton for Friday was, "Wind Chill Advisory." This is not what you want to see when you are on vacation and it is supposed to be warm. And it will only get worse as the forecast for Saturday night is for a "Freeze Warning." Cover your strawberries for sure, which by the way were for sale at the concession stand for the first time on Friday as the famed strawberry shortcake is one of the most famous of sidelines here at East Bay from Smokey's patch just down the road in Brandon. 

Drivers seemed to be on edge Friday as it would be the last night to earn points before Saturday night's finale, and many appeared to be tired racing and getting roughed by the same drivers and there would be no "turn the other cheek" on this night. Many were also on edge about some of the officiating with mufflers left laying on the track during racing action and no penalties levied and rumors swirled through the pits about "tire cooking" and the announcement that there would probably be no tires sent in to check for legality. 

Last night's feature winner Victor Lee was crashed in hot laps but he would later make a nice comeback and have a very representative night. Tyler Nicely would be quick qualifier for the second time this week and be the only driver in the sixteen second bracket. He would then complete the nightly ritual by redrawing a "two" which inverted just the front row drivers and would guarantee that once again, all six heats would be won off the front row, thus making it a clean sweep for all three nights. 

Top Gun Sprints would bring twenty eight cars to the track on this night and would need a B Feature to complete their grid for the main event. Their feature would be first and it was a rocky one with six yellows and the first tip over of the week all part of their show. 

Frank Beck would lead the first two laps of the Top Gun feature before being overtaken by Garrett Green. Green would lead through the longest period of nonstop racing until he was passed with a power move by Martin Jr on lap seven. Once again, much like last night, the slow cars would drop to the lower lane while the faster cars raced around the middle to top of the track, almost like a two lane highway with dividing barriers. The slower cars did a nice job of staying out of the way while the faster cars raced past them n the express lane. 

Shane Butler would over take Green for second and while he tried to close the gap on the leader, Martin Jr was always able to maintain a relatively comfortable edge. One late yellow set a four lap sprint to the finish but there would be no late challenges as Martin Jr would take the win over Butler and Green. There were only seven cars on the lead lap at the finish and a considerable number that didn't see the checkered for a variety of reasons, mostly mechanical. 

By the time the Modifieds saw the track for the main event, the track was a rubbered up mess. With a narrow and very fast rubber lane, a lot of drivers that wanted to get to the front right away and discretion no longer the better part of valor, it was a formula for a yellow flag plagued wreck fest  and that is exactly what we saw. This patience testing event, while it had some compelling racing for bits and pieces, was more often than not a frustrating, fourteen yellow flag marathon that tested the patience of drivers, fans and officials alike. If we could have kept the race under the green, it might have been good and the brief bits of intense racing we saw were good, but much to much time was spent circling under the yellow and watching the wrecker crew at work. 

Nicely redrew the pole and it looked like for once he was finally going to get the win that had eluded him so far this week. He would lead the first ten laps of the event but he was clearly not handling like he would have liked as his tight car pushed in the corners and he was in a defensive mode right from the strart. 

Despite the rubbered up track, drivers were pushing extremely hard and certainly not afraid to lean on each other. Brian Shaw came up to challenge and he was not afraid to move up to the second lane and time after time, he challenged Nicely for the lead. Shaw was pushing extremely hard and a couple of times he pulled sliders on Nicely, but each time Tyler was able to cross him over and retain the lead. 

Meanwhile, the flagman was already experiencing tennis elbow and he was displayed the yellow seven times in the first ten laps. Geary had started sixth and was quietly moving his way into the top three as he seemed to be one of the few that was not squealing his tires and looked and sounded smooth on the track. 

Following that lap ten yellow, things got very wild for the lead as Shaw once again challenged Nicely and this followed with Geary making the move of the race as he split the leaders and dove into the top spot with a spectacular move. And once in front, he would lead the rest of the thirty laps. 

He certainly earned the win though, as he would have to endure seven more yellows, each followed by a double file restart that was fraught with danger but each time successfully navigated by Geary. His Longhorn chassis handled magnificently and he would lead Nicely home for the win. 

Once again Victor Lee drove the same kind of race as he did in his win earlier, as he kept his car clean, rode the low side of the track smoothly avoiding trouble and making passed when it was appropriate. It paid off with a strong third place finish ahead of Chris Wilson and Lucas Lee. 

Drivers are going to have to go into  a more conservative mode for Saturday night's feature I would guess or they won't have any tires or cars left in the seventy five lapper and this thirty lapper tonight saw everyone race at a frantic pace that  I don't think can be maintained for a longer duration. Barely half the field was left running at the finish and there will be an incredible amount of work necessary on Saturday by the crews to get some of the cars back on the track for the finale. 

Once again, it was a long night which hasn't been the norm for this event in previous years. Racing didn't start until almost an hour after the advertised time, primarily it seems to me because they just haven't allocated enough time for time trials before the scheduled starting time. And all the yellow flags in the two mains led to a Midnight finish on a night when the wind was gusting to a NorEaster by the end. 

Saturday night's finale will see the heat races lined up by points earned over the week so we will see if that can help speed things along on a night that promises to be brutally cold by Florida standards. Remember, for those out of the area and those from town that are wimps, the action is shown live on Flo .

 

Victor Lee Prevails for East Bay Modified Win; Martin Jr. Tops Sprints

 Night number two for the East Bay Raceway Park Winter Nationals for Modifieds was held on Thursday night, January 27th and after a wild main event that had as many twists and turns as a cheap pulp novel, Kentucky driver veteran Victor Lee found himself in Victory lane. The local Top Gun Sprint Car series also presented the first of what will be three straight nights of winged 305 action and Danny Martin Jr. would bring home the win in that event. 

Thursday would find everything around East Bay looking much better as things had dried up, the track would be totally different for the drivers and the temperatures had also ridden somewhat. There were still some wet roads near the back of  the property and late arrivals plus the Sprint Cars had to hunt for a dry spot to pit with most ending up on a little knoll near the back of the parking lot they fought with the roaming cranes for a pitting position. If you've never been to East Bay, the property is a roaming sort of flexible parking lot, based on the weather and creative action is sometimes needed to find a dry spot after rains amidst the debris and junked out vehicles and double wide gutted trailers that litter the property. This track is not visited as a scenic adventure, it's the racing that dominates here. 

Three new Modifieds including one from Canada helped raise the Modified field to  sixty two while twenty six Top Gun Sprints were also in the pits. The Modified format would be the same as the previous night while the Sprints would be one of the very rare breed of Sprint series that do not qualify, as they use passing points to set their feature lineups, a refreshing change during a series when too many laps are made by cars in qualifying mode for my tastes anyway. 

Twenty four more hours of drying weather created a race track that was much different than the one seem on Wednesday plus the wide tires of the Sprints, which ran before the Modified feature, all helped to develop a track that was about one hundred and eighty degrees different than that seen the previous night. Track crews were also busy with some other projects as the sound system and dead speakers had been fixed and a whole bunch of light bulbs were replaced in the scoreboard so that the numbers for time trials were legible after a previous night of trying to decipher what seemed to be some kind of ancient hieroglyphics on cave walls. 

There are things you notice down here that you would never see at any other time during the year. Using the sometimes bizarre format of UMP, in the heat races, if a driver spins on the first lap by himself, he goes to the back. However, if it turns out to be a multi car pileup, everyone gets their spot back. So it seems to be that often the strategy is to run like a bat out of hell on the opening lap, and if you spin try to get someone else to hit you and stop so you get your spot back! Of course this gets tricky as you don't want to get so hard that you are wrecked and can't continue but a little fender bender with all hitting the brakes and stopping is most welcome. Then it's time to try it again. 

Also, we saw a B Feature tonight where the green flag had been dropped and the yellow waved twice before a lap could be completed. Suddenly, another car pulled on to the track and joined the field, something that would not be allowed anywhere else. However, this driver raced and actually come up just one spot short of making the main which would have been a true travesty and something that you would only see in Florida. 

Drake Troutman would be quickest qualifier on Thursday and surprisingly, his best lap was two tenth of a second quicker than on Wednesday night when the track was "hammer down"  but still slimy when qualifying took place. Sadly, for those of us yearning for heat race passes, he pulled the one pill for straight up starts and all six heat races were won right off the front row. However, the twenty four car feature field would compete in a much wilder, crazy and unpredictable main event that would have folks talking and perhaps, shaking their heads just a bit too at what they had seen. 

Steve Stevenson, an addition to the field on Thursday driving a former Jeff Mathews car, would get the jump on fellow Florida driver Travis Varnadore and lead the opening lap as the locals were making much noise early as they went after their second straight win. 

. Stevenson led the first five laps as Lucas Lee and Tyler Nicely moved into challenging positions when the first caution waved for a multi car wreck in turn one with Allen Weisser one of the participants. This would be looked back on later. 

Unfortunately, the restart went sideways with Lucas Lee climbing on the back of Stevenson's car as the race was a "no go" with the jammed up start that was ugly from the beginning. 

It had been announced at the driver's meeting that if the leader didn't fire in the "fire zone" which was clearly marked, it would be the leader's fault. Being very much that the case here, Stevenson was sent to the tail and Lucas Lee inherited the lead. However, he was being challenged heavily by Nicely with Victor Lee, after starting fourth, gradually easing his way into third. 

NIcely continued to pressure Lucas Lee heavily until back to back yellows on laps eighteen and nineteen slowed the field, the second when Tyler Clem, having a good run, was dumped on the front chute. 

Things bunched up on the restart with L. Lee, Nicely and V. Lee battling hard for the top spot. The squeeze came off turn two and Nicely got forced low on the track and clipped the inside jersey barricade, damaging his car while he spun. He then went to the tail and would later spin again and pull off, marking the second straight night he has been a DNF. 

This left it to the Lee's, Lucas and Victor, to settle the race and while they battled, behind them a war raged with drivers exchanging spots on nearly every lap as the changing conditions on this unpredictable racing surface saw drivers make one good lap followed by a miserable one as the shuffling took place. 

Lucas Lee was having a terrible time turning his car in the corners and finally, with just three laps to go, he slid high in turn four and Victor Lee, who had been very smooth all race, drove under him to take over the lead and he then pulled away for the win, satisfying one of his "bucket list " wants, a wild at East Bay. 

A somewhat frustrated Lucas Lee would settle for second and lo and behold, Weisser, who went to the back following the lap five incident, would put on quite the drive and he passed cars and took advantage of the shuffle of positions to come home third. His car's number, taped on the plain white car, was flapping in the breeze but ugly or not, the car proved to be very fast. Weisser was not in the top five with ten laps to go and was really charging at the end.  Seven of the twenty four would not finish and again for the second straight night, all were on the lead lap at the finish. 

The Top Gun Sprints would start everyone running in the main with twenty five taking the green for their twenty five lapper. A.J. Maddox would the first lap before being passed by Garrett Green for the lead. However, Danny Martin Jr was moving up quickly and on lap eight he drove by Green to take over the lead. From that point, he would hold the top spot the rest of the way to  take the win. 

There were only two yellows for minor spins and the race itself was a smooth contest with Martin Jr, Maddox and Green running fairly close together at the front but there would be no challenges for the lead. 

There was a dramatic difference in speed between the quickest cars and many of the others in the field, thus lapped traffic was worse than trying to navigate Interstate 4 at 5 pm. However, it appeared that the slower cars knew who they were and once the green was dropped, they all moved to the inside lane and the fast cars raced around them, almost like they were in the express lane on a freeway while the slower cars putted around the bottom. It made for a smooth race but a very odd looking affair also. There were only nine cars on the lead lap at the finish with twenty still running. 

Despite the winner only taking home a grand for the victory, there were drivers on hand from five different states including northern drivers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania that helped beef up what would have been quite a small field otherwise. And with the Sprints running their main first, their wide tires really polished up the track for the Modified main and made for a very different racing surface for them. 

However, some of the beauty of this event has been lost with the adding of a second division. Much like when the Lucas Oil Late Models race here in upcoming events, a one class program has much to offer with intense, non stop racing that was always done at an early time, something that many like including the race teams. 

Now however, with the adding of a second class, the show seems to go much longer with the qualifying lasting well after the advertised starting time and the additional events of a two class program forcing the finish time to nearly 11:30 pm, far later than I had hoped to be at the track for these midweek shows. Less classes, not more is generally better.  

 

Bernhardt Opens Up East Bay Mod Series with Feature Win

 The East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton Florida opened up the Modified portion of their 46th annual Winter Nationals on Wednesday night, January 26th with local driver Bryan Bernhardt racing into victory lane over a big field of cars. The opener was delayed one day by an all day, Florida soaker that threatened to postpone the opening action by a second day except for an outstanding effort by track owner Al Varnadore and his staff to turn a muddy mess of a facility into a working race track. 

Wednesday would dawn cloudy, cool and misty after over twenty four hours straight of rain that pounded down on occasion and otherwise provided a soaking mist. The pits and track were completely soaked and those that braved driving into the pits before the heavy equipment was broken out were getting stuck one after another. 

However, even before all the precipitation stopped, Varnadore and his crew were at work, first opening up the pit roads and then eventually working on the track after it was allowed to sit as long as possible. And granted, it was never an easy walk through the pits even by the end of the night and puddles and mud were everywhere to be found, the race cars were all packed with mud by the end of the night, but the track stayed smooth, the groove gradually widened out and all those from far points of the country got to do what they came here for and that was to race while much of the country either shoveled out or shivered in extreme Winter weather. It was no walk in the park here either, with heavy coats necessary against the wind and dampness but all those that braved the conditions saw a good opening night program of Modified racing. 

A stout field of sixty Modified drivers from fifteen states were present for opening night racing action. Along with the Florida regulars, big fields of drivers were on hand representing the UMP hot bed states like Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia as this series, as it has for many years, is being run under UMP rules with UMP officials from the home office officiating the action. 

A quick glance at the race cars would be telling as the new UMP rules to perhaps bring their Modified class back to a point of more sanity seem to already be in effect. While I was told they are now holding to their new rules fully quite yet, as they were announced late and many teams already had their cars put together, any radical looking cars are being asked to get their house in order. 

One noticeable thing immediately was that the cars have a spoiler for the first time in quite a few years. If they have a deck that does not rise more than three inches front to back, they are allowed a three inch spoiler while those that have a higher deck increase than that get no spoiler. It would appear that most have made the change as nearly everyone is running spoilers this week. The cars are also much straighter than they used to be with the distinctive "banana bend" no longer allowed. They still run giant motors and reports of the size and horsepower of some of the power plants this week are impressive. 

Opening night action would consist of time trials, heats and B Features and a twenty five lap main event. This program format would be repeated for the first three nights of this series with Saturday night's seventy five lap feature paying five grand to win giving the top six in points in the first three nights the front three rows with everyone else fighting through races to join those six. 

This is UMP so of course there would be time trials. The "kicker" is that after qualifying the fast timer draws a pill which could result in a one, two or four car inversion for the heats with only three out of each heat moving to the main. Of course, on this night the draw was one resulting in  straight up start. 

Combine that with a "hammer down" track that started with a pretty narrow groove and the heats were pretty easy to predict with all six winners coming from the front rows of their races. This is to be expected and I guess anyone that goes to a time trial show and has other expectations than this is jusst not being realistic. Only when more cars are in the mix and the starting order more shuffled like in the B Features and main events does more passing take place. That's just the way it is. 

There was drama early however, as defending champion of the Saturday night, seventy five lapper, Kevin Adams from Wisconsin, was nailed at the scale before time trials with a deck height too high and his time trial effort was nullified. This would result in him starting on the tail of a heat, not the thing you want when the fast cars are way in front of you and the groove narrow. This would require Adams to then put on a show as he came from tenth to fourth in a heat, won a B Feature and then roared from twenty first to fifth in the feature, still gaining positions when the checkered flag flew. 

Illinois driver Ray Bollinger also had to do some work as his car had opera windows and window openings are not allowed in UMP so he had to hastily fashion some sail panels to cover up the holes before he could run his heat race. 

Kentucky driver Tyler Nicely is always among the fastest drivers at this event and he turned quick time, won a heat and then redrew the outside pole among the heat winners for the feature race. It seemed just a mere formality that he would lead from wire to wire. 

However, one never knows for sure and I guess that's part of the fun. Nicely would take the lead for the first two laps and just when it seemed he would be home free, suddenly out of the blue, all by himself in front in turn two, he spun out with no help and was forced to tail back the field. It would turn out to not be his night at all as later he would spin again, get clobbered and call it a night, thus damaging his points total toward Saturday. 

This would turn the lead over to another Kentucky driver, Chris Wilson who was also being chased hard by Bernhardt, who started eighth, and Lucas Lee, another stout runner every year here. Those three would have a close battle, interrupted several times by yellows for spins as the slippery conditions continued. 

One laps past halfway, Wilson hit some water on the back chute, the car got sideways and Bernhardt shot past him to take over the lead. Bryan would lead the rest of the way, with still three more yellows to endure but he showed speed as he pulled away by a few car lengths each time and was never really challenged the rest of the way as the two time East Bay point champion would score the win, the first for the locals here in several years. The battle for second would be good the rest of the race with Wilson edging out Lee for second. 

The local drivers gave one of their best showings in quite some time as along with Bernhardt, Travis Varnadore would come from fifteenth to finish fourth and Dale Kelley had a strong run too until he looped on the front chute. Seven cars would not finish the race and all cars were still on the lead lap at the finish. As usual, East Bay proved to be a tricky track with the outside line coming in and then fading just as quickly and no one seemingly able to get a decent run off turn four as the changing tides always make for a challenging to figure out surface here. Each year the track seems to get just a bit flatter but the outside line still works for some as the timeline for the existence of East Bay grows shorter and shorter. The venerable facility is showing its age for sure but there is no incentive to upgrade and modernize any further when it will all come tumbling down in too short a time. 

Sharing the announcer duties with local track announcer Larry Jewitt was Summer Nationals announcer Ruben Mireles and they made a good team on opening night. Jewitt is originally from Ohio and I heard him announce many years ago in that area. He was also a contributor to a number of racing papers from the Midwest, all long gone by now. 

This year I believe for the first time, the Modifieds will not run as a sole class for this series as they will be joined by the local Top Gun Sprints for the final three nights of the series. I presume this is an attempt to get a few more local and open wheel fans to come out and join the racing action but selfishly, I look at it from the perspective that it takes a quick, one division program that has always gotten done early, into a possible longer night with the pushing starting of the Sprints etc to take into account. I guess we will see who is right in this regard in the upcoming nights. Quite frankly, this has always been a more for tv event than a live spectator attraction anyway. 

Marlar Scores For 25K at Wild West Shootout

 

The Wild West Shootout concluded its six night series with the finale on Sunday night, January 16^th at the Vado Speedway Park in Vado New Mexico. On tap would be a fifty lap main event for the Late Models paying twenty five thousand dollars to win, a five fold increase over all the previous five nights along with extra money events for both the Modifieds and X Mods. Kris Jackson was also in line for a twenty five hundred dollar bonus if he could get his fourth win of the week while Rodney Sanders could earn an extra ten grand with a fourth win. Point fund monies for the series would also be passed out on Sunday so the rather laid back attitude in the pits all week saw blood pressures slightly elevated for the Sunday night final.

The format would be the same expect that the Late Models would add an extra ten laps to their main event. A number of the drivers, having rocky weeks, headed home a day early while several others were done for the week with mechanical issues but one hundred and nine drivers in the three classes signed in to race the finale.

The results would see a continued show of strength by Mike Marlar in the Late Models, a continuation of the dominating performances by Rodney Sanders in the Modifieds and the continuing battle of the Ozark boys that flared once again in the X Mods with Andy Bryan being the one standing on Sunday night.

Track conditions continues to impress everyone as while the surface was slightly different again on Sunday with each day seeing the surface just a tad bit different, every night the track has raced great and the drivers in all classes have been raving about the racing. The track ,also importantly in this day and age, is very easy on tires and with the price of tires shooting up, that will be increasingly important to the racing teams.

The fans have also enjoyed the shows which have featured close and intense racing without dusting out the fans in the stands. Drama, surprises and some impressive performances would make the final round on Sunday.

After all qualifying was complete, the Late Models would get first crack at the freshened track for their fifty lap feature. Young Jake Timm was on the pole and he would dazzle as he would lead the first forty laps of the feature and quite frankly if not for a yellow on lap forty, I believe that he could have held on for the win.

Timm would pull away from Mike Marlar, who shared the front row with him and at one point have half a straightaway on Marlar. Ricky Weiss and Earl Pearson Jr were having a good battle for third while Garrett Alberson, Tyler Erb and Bobby Pierce were also working their way forward. Earlier, Erb had set quick time, only to pound the wall on his second lap and give the Best Motorsports Team plenty to do.

Timm continued to show the lead and he got into an excellent rhythm as he worked through lapped traffic. Marlar was gaining just a bit but it was questionable whether or not he could have caught Timm unless Jake made a big gaff or the yellow flew.

So guess what, the yellow flew with forty laps complete when Kent Rosevear, who had been a thorn in the side of drivers all week with his annoying habit of trying to race with the leaders while being lapped. This time he piled into the wall in turn one and collected Johnny Scott and Garrett Alberson, disappointing all the local Alberson fans in the stands.

This was the trouble that Timm didn't need as the experience of Marlar came to roost on the green as Mike was able to steal the line of Timm and one lap later take over the lead. Marlar would then pull away and lead the last nine laps to complete the victory with Earl Pearson Jr continuing his strong runs of the week to take second while Timm was happy with third.

For Marlar, he has alerted the Late Model group that he will be a force to be wary of as everyone heads to Florida along with the veteran Pearson. Just shaking down his new car, perhaps this new Longhorn will be the ticket for Timm to gain the consistency he has lacked to step up the ranks in the Late Models.

A late race tangle on the back chute took out Weiss and Erb and left Weiss fuming but while it looked like just a racing accident, Erb always seems to be the one in the middle of these kinds of deals.

The X Mods delivered a dandy finale that saw some great side by side racing and a wild conclusion the provided controversy, hard feeling and an eventual disqualification.

Aaron Blacklance would start on the outside pole and lead the first lap but the first part of the race was great as Blacklance and Andy Bryant exchanged the lead five times in the first five laps and it doesn't get much better than that.

Two yellows in the first six laps slowed things but the rest of the race would run green to checkered. Blacklance and Bryant would continue to battle, side by side, lap after lap. Bryant would continue to nose under Blacklance on each corner, but Aaron, running one lane off the bottom, would be Bryant off the corner lap after lap.

Meanwhile, Kris Jackson, looking for the four feature race bonus, moved up to third after starting tenth as he lurked just a couple of car lengths behind the lead duo. Bryant continues to work on Blacklance and he finally got a nose under him and cleared him for the lead on lap nineteen.

Jackson then quickly moved in as he was waiting for his moment and this was it. He pulled beside Bryant and as they dove into turn one on the final lap, Jackson squeezed by on the bottom as the lead duo worked through lapped traffic.

Bryant came roaring back as they headed into turn three with Bryant diving low and making plenty of contact with Jackson which knocked him up the track and allowed Bryant to fill the bottom and take over the lead.

Jackson wasn't done yet though and made one last blast off turn four but he spun sideways on the track and the field drove past him. Bryant would cross the line first for the win, his first here this week while challenging on several other nights, while Blacklance, who was trying to set up the lead duo on the final lap hoping they would take each other out, got only half his wish and would settle for second. However, his consistent finishes throughout the series would give the WISSOTA driver from far Northwestern Minnesota and within spitting distance of Canada, the title, an impressive feat considering he was running the WISSOTA package which for some odd reason was required to carry more weight in though their motors were more restricted. Reed Solander would finish third in the feature while Blacklance would edge Gabe Hodges for the point title.

On the cool off lap, Jackson would gun his car and blast into the side of Bryant, on his way to the scale and promptly get himself DQ'd by Race Director Kelly Carlton.

In victory lane, Bryant claimed that Jackson “doored him” in turn one on the final lap and he was just paying him back. While I didn't see it happen, it certainly could have. For sure Bryant got him back but the spin off the final corner wasn't caused by that. It was simply Jackson getting too hard on the gas.

X Mod dust ups of the week were solely the property of Missour drivers Cole Campbell, absent this night after he ran out of equipment, Jackson and Kansas driver Bryant. Early season specials for big money will see all three of these drivers as featured competitors so things look to only get hotter among the trio.

Likely the most impressive driver of the week was Rodney Sanders in the Modified class as he won his fourth feature of the series. After a couple of shake down runs, he won the last four events of the series against, arguably, the toughest field of drivers.

Brandon Sheppard, still having fun in the Mods, would lead the first five laps after starting on the pole. Sheppard was pounding the cushion while Sanders smoothly moved up by working the bottom. He would finally drive under Sheppard to take over the lead and then would pull away. After a lap two yellow for debris, the race would run off nonstop the rest of they way with Sanders dealing with much lapped traffic.

The last five laps would see Sheppard pick up the pace using the cushion and to Sanders' fortune, the race was not any more than twenty five laps as Sheppard would have put the heat on him if the race lasted any longer as Sheppard proved that once again despite few appearances in the open wheel cars, he can certainly wheel them. Dereck Ramirez would finish a solid third.

So, Sanders would collect the ten grand bonus for winning his fourth feature of the series and put the rest of the Modified community on high alert for the continuation of the season in March.

Weiss would get the bonus for having the fastest qualifying lap of the week while Marlar would be the point champion for the Late Models.

So the sixteenth version of the WWS has been completed. There were no rainouts and threats from the weather, except for a couple of cool nights with really just the first Sunday windstorm making things really miserable.

The crowds gradually picked up as the week progressed with the local fans likely having to pick out the night(s) they wanted to see while still being selective. While they seemed to enjoy the Late Models, Vado in Modified country and even as the Late Models ran their features first each night, hardly a soul moved from the grandstand until the Mods were done.

Vado Speedway Park came off very good both in person and certainly to those watching at home. The racing was excellent and the facility would compare with any in the country. Whether this race remains at Vado next year or is moved to another track will depend on several other factors, none of which have to do with the suitability of the facility or the management and employees.

Marlar First Time Winner This Week at WWS

 Round five of the sixteenth annual Wild West Shootout at the Vado Speedway Park was held on Saturday night, January 15th. New to victory lane during this year's series was Tennessee driver Mike Marlar who would top the Late Model forty lap feature race after a spirited duel with Tyler Erb.

The dominating drivers in the X Mods and Modified divisions would shine again as Kris Jackson would win his third feature race of the series in the X Mods while Rodney Sanders would win his third straight in the Modified class. 

A half a dozen new drivers, primarily X Mod drivers from either Las Cruces or El Paso, would make their first starts of the series and while the X Mod division would for the second time this weekend edge past the car counts that were on hand in Arizona last year, both the Mods and Late Models would be at exactly thirty less than last year. And while it is always important to have large and strong fields of race cars on hand, there can be no question that Vado Speedway Park continues to provide outstanding racing on a consistent basis that the Arizona Speedway found hard to deliver. 

I spoke to both series promoter Chris Kearns and officials from Flo Racing who have a big investment in this series also to get their thoughts on the series so far and to perhaps give an idea on what will happen next year as a meeting of the minds was held on Thursday to consider options for next year. 

Everyone loves Vado Speedway Park as a great facility and certainly one of the top tracks in the country, one that probably many of the "track raters" have never been to simply because, and no offense to residents of New Mexico here, it is located in a part of the country probably not visited by a lot of people. Just over two million people live in this state, there are not a lot of metropolitan areas and plenty of wide open space, and if you are not a fan of the outdoors, hiking and such or a chili pepper fan or alien believer you may not have even felt the inkling to travel to the "Land of Enchantment."

No matter, this is a great race track and Royal Jones, Chris Stepan and the track staff have put together a track that would rival any in the country. However, while it is a great track to race on and watch at, it has not attracted a lot of the northern travelers this year, simply because at nearly five thousand feet, the weather here is not nearly as temperate as it would be in the deserts of Arizona at this time of year. 

The crowds have been disappointing so far for the series although the last two nights have seen things pick up considerably. With the northern cars missing, and believe me, they are seriously missed by the officials of this series, the crowds have lagged. Kearns himself told me that even at Arizona Speedway, the visitors from Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas that attended the races were twice as many as the local Arizona fans. So, while everyone loves Vado, and that track remains an option for 2023, they are also looking into some other race facilities, perhaps in slightly warmer climates, that could host the series next year. All they could honestly tell me is "stay tuned" for an announcement as things develop for 2023. All parties are working hard to find the best solution but it is a complicated issue in a world of racing right now that is tumultuous at best. By the way, the dates for next year have been set at January 7-15th with a practice session slated for the 6th. 

The program for Saturday would be identical to the previous ones with the exception that five X Mod heats would be run with the increasing car count on Saturday. This would be tempered by the fact that at least four cars blew motors over the course of the program as the wear and tear of a week of hard racing is starting to catch up with some of the cars. 

Josh Cain, who had the scintillating run in the X Mod feature in a borrowed ride on Friday, changed a motor in his own car and would be back in that ride on Saturday. Among the new entrants on Saturday would be Brandon Sheppard driving a second Modified for the Leon Ramirez team. Sheppard, now out of the money for the big bonuses for features won, is now having some fun the rest of the weekend and he has had some great runs in the Ramirez car at previous USMTS races in Texas. Things would start off great though, as he pounded the wall in hot laps, and severely damaged the cars decking but the Ramirez crew would get everything squared away and he would later provide one of the biggest charges of the night. 

Early action would tend to make one believe that some upsets were on the way as Sheppard left a trail of liquid between him as his Late Model broke on the first lap of his heat race and he would have to go to a backup car for the B Feature. However, a fifteenth to second charge in the B Feature would get him in the main, albeit with a poor starting spot. 

The Ramirez crew earned their keep on this night as not only did they have to repair Sheppard's Mod, Dereck Ramirez's car lost a spring as he was leading a heat race and he would also have to start a B Feature to get into the main. So there were a lot of things going on early that could affect Saturday night's outcomes. 

Previous to the Late Model feature, the Pro Power Dash was held for drivers not making the main and in an unprecedented move, for the third time this week in the three dashes held, the winner turned down the grand for the win to instead start the feature from the tail. So while the field of Late Models has been uncharacteristically small this year, those on hand are serious about racing at much as they can. Saturday it was Arizona driver Kent Rosevear that turned down the cash to race. 

Once again the Late Models provided dynamic main event that was cleanly run with the forty lapper going green to checkered and only four drivers not on the track at the end. And while the official record will show that there were only two different leaders, the race itself was much closer and intense than that will seem to indicate. 

Marlar started on the outside pole and would get the early lead over Tyler Erb. They crisscrossed from the start with Marlar going to the bottom and Erb to the cushion. Erb would charge up and pass for the lead on lap ten but Marlar would fight right back and after a side by side battle, retake the lead. 

Ricky Weiss would challenge briefly before slipping back a bit and Erb would also fade some as the race stayed under the green. However, the charges were left to Earl Pearson Jr and Garrett Alberson. Pearson Jr, who seems rejuvenated in his new ride from Jason Papich, would roar up to the second spot but the this race belonged to Alberson. 

He started eighth and had worked his way into fifth by the halfway point. However, the last twenty laps were his as he drove past all those contenders in front of him except Marlar, and only a few more laps would have been needed for him to pass for the lead as his car seemed that dominant. However, Marlar would maintain to the checkered for his first win of the week so it seems that Sunday's big twenty five thousand to win main could be a very wide open event. 

Alberson woke up the quiet crowds of the week with his charge as he got the biggest ovation of the week for his run to second while Pearson Jr hung on for third . Sheppard was able to only move up six spots from his eighteenth place start. 

The X Mods had a rough go of it in their main event with two large pileups before a single lap could be completed. With all the tangled metal, it was remarkable that most could restart the race and at the end, only five cars didn't finish the race.  "The Hook", who has been a part of WWS from its days back in Tucson, was again on hand to help quickly separate the wrecks and get disabled cars off the track, was working overtime during this event. Gabe Hodges would start on the pole and lead the opening five laps as the running order got shuffled considerably with all the early carnage and pit stops. 

However, it took Kris Jackson only five laps to move up and then pass Hodges for the lead using a power move down the back chute that saw him pull out and drive right by Hodges for the lead. 

Once in front, he was quite comfortable with no real challenges, even though he had to contend with three more yellow flags before the checkered flew. However, a race long battle for second saw Hodges fight off Jake Smith for that spot while Aasa Flores make a late race pass to edge out point leader Aaron Blacklance for fourth. 

The other multiple winner in the division, Cole Campbell, was involved in a grinding crash in a B Feature when he was turned around and didn't make the main and may have to go to a backup car for Sunday's finale. 

Someone "poked the bear" in the Modified division and after a slow start to the week, Rodney Sanders has been on fire since and Saturday night's beat down marked his third straight feature win in the Modifieds. And Sanders has not just been winning against some strong fields, he has been dominating. 

Saturday he started in the second row and drove past early leader Bumper Jones on lap three and that was it as he was gone after that. 

A yellow flag bunched the field right after he took over the lead but then the race continued on green to checkered and Rodney pulled away from the field. This does not bode well for the competition once the point season for the USMTS begins. Tyler Peterson had another strong run as he got by Jones for second and then maintained that position for the rest of the race, despite Tanner Mullins closing in on him some near the end of the race. 

The Ramirez cars were busy in the main as Sheppard came from seventeenth to fifth and Ramirez from twentieth to seventh in the identical cars nearly impossible to tell apart. 

Royal Jones and the WWS staff seem to have given thought to just about every facet of this event and they even had a large heating tent available for those fans that got chilled. However, the night didn't turn out nearly as badly as has been predicted and except for Sunday's wind which was indeed brutal, the evening in the high desert have not been too bad. It helps when the program is started early and run off in a quick manner and the hospitality suites have been jam packed this weekend too. 

 

Tyler Erb Tops Wild West Shootout; Sanders and Jackson Continue To Roll

 The one night break was over and the second leg of the Wild West Shootout continued at Royal Jones' Vado Raceway Park on Friday night, January 14th. Friday night would be the first of three straight nights of racing to conclude the sixteenth annual edition of this event, contested this year for the first time on the soils of New Mexico after a long run at various racing joints in the state of Arizona. 

The start of the second weekend of racing saw a few drivers head home and some different ones on hand to catch a quick three race weekend before they too, head home. There were about fifteen drivers on hand for the Friday night show that hadn't made an appearance during the first thee races of this series. 

Keeping in mind that 2021 was somewhat of an aberration at Arizona Speedway due to the historic events that happened during 2020 and '21, while the car count elevated in a couple of the classes over the first weekend of racing, it was no where near what last year was at Arizona Speedway. 

The X Mod count on Friday was the largest of the week and actually larger than any night of the 2021 Shootout, largely due to the fact that the X Mod type cars race weekly here at Vado while that type of class exists no where near the late Arizona Speedway. 

The Modified car count even slipped over the first weekend of the Vado experience and was over thirty cars less than at Arizona last year and while the Late Model count on Friday tied the top count for the 2022 series high, it was nearly thirty less than was on hand last year at Arizona. The total car count, comparing the second Friday this year to last year would show an alarming drop of sixty cars from last year's total. The bottom line is that, for whatever reason, the long distance travelers didn't buy into the move to Vado, no matter that there were truly no other workable alternatives available, and they stayed away in droves and thus their fans were not here either, which has been reflected on the grandstand side of things. On a positive note, the Friday night crowd at Vado tonight was by far the biggest so far during the series and it actually looked like a race crowd in the grandstand, not just a few stragglers that missed the entrance to the truck stop next door. 

I do know that the key players in this series held a meeting on Thursday and dates for the 2023 Wild West Shootout were established but they were not announced tonight, nor was the location of the 2023 Wild West Shootout. 

The format for Friday night's show was unchanged from previous nights. Following Late Model qualifying, four heat races and a pair of B Features would set the running order for the three main events. Passing points would be used fully for the two open wheel classes while the four Late Model heat winners would redraw for the starting positions while everyone else would l the ine straight up. between here and Cocopah, both places utilize a mix and match formula to line up the mains with neither fully satisfying to me.

Donny Schatz left for the Chili Bowl once again and apparently took his t-shirt trailer with him as it had left the grounds by Friday. However, Tyler Peterson, who has driven Schatz' WISSOTA Late Model on occasion, received the honor of driving his open Late Model on this night, despite the fact the Tyler told me his has never sat in this car before, and certainly not to even practice with it. Sadly, after turning a good qualifying effort and starting on the outside of row two for a heat race, he looped the car in the first turn of the first lap, got smacked into and was done for the night. 

The only other major driver change for night four would find Mercedes Abercrombie behind the wheel of the Late Model driven by Austin Kirkpatrick on the opening weekend. They blew a motor during the Tuesday night practice, replaced that power plant, only to see Mercedes blow up again in spectacular fashion during a Late Model B Feature tonight. Bob

Race action on this night would see one new feature winners while two others strengthened their positions for the weekend with their second wins of the series. 

Late Models always go first here right after a track prep session following all qualifying and that gives them a racy and fast track to put on a good show. While their were no thrilling last lap heroics or controversy on Friday, there was still a good amount of excellent three way battling for the lead until Tyler Erb established his dominance. 

A reinvigorated Earl Pearson Jr would start on the pole and battle in the early laps, first with Brandon Sheppard and then with Erb who replaced Sheppard on the cushion when Sheppard slipped back slightly. Garrett Alberson was there also in the early going with a four car battle up front. 

Sheppard would pull up lame with a flat tire on lap eleven which would end his chances of victory and on the restart, Erb would take over the lead briefly before Pearson Jr would take it back. However, Erb persisted and by the halfway point, he had again grabbed the top spot.  Bobby Pierce had moved up after starting ninth and he worked his way into third and put the pressure on Pearson Jr for that spot. 

As Erb slightly pulled away, the battle for second remained strong until the late laps when Earl gradually put a little distance on Pierce. With only the single yellow, the race flew by quickly and Erb would maintain his edge to the finish as he would take the win over Pearson Jr, Pierce, Johnny Scott and Mike Marlar. 

Peterson would try to overcome his Late Model boo boo as he started on the pole for the Modified feature and would lead the opening four laps before Rodney Sanders would fly around him on the outside and take over the lead. The top side would be fast briefly but soon everyone would migrate back to the bottom as Sanders gradually pulled away from the field. 

Dereck Ramirez would come up from the second row and drive around Peterson for second as he tried to make the top side work. While it held for awhile, eventually it would slow up and Peterson would drive back under him to take second. 

However, no one would have anything for Sanders as he gradually drove away from the field and scored a relatively easy win, his second in a row here. Peterson would have a fine drive for second and late in the contest, Jake Gallardo would get past Ramirez for the third spot. 

We have reached that point in the series where some of the drivers have had enough of each other, as the bumpers were polished and the rub rails sharpened as the X Mods hammered away on each other during their twenty lap main event. Five yellow flags and a good number of DNF'S were the result of some aggressive racing across the board. 

Reece Solander was the early leader but it took pole sitter Justin Allen just two laps to get crossed up on the front chute and trigger the first of the yellows with cars scrambling in all directions to avoid him. 

Solander would lead the first five laps with Aaron Blacklance challenging him as Kris Jackson made an impressive charge, moving from fifteenth to second in just those five laps. On the green, it took only two more laps for him to put Solander behind him and take over the lead. Solander continues to run second with Blacklance challenging along with Gabe Hodges as the race reached its halfway point. 

Jackson was along up front but Andy Bryant, who started in the row behind Jackson, was making a charge of his own as he cracked the top five by the halfway point and continued to move forward. However, his run would end just after he passed Blacklance for second when he slowed in a cloud of steam and smoke on the front chute and rolled into the infield. 

The last nine laps of the race would go off nonstop with Jackson pulling away again for the win with Blacklance getting a fine run as he held off Hodges for second. Brian Craighead would steadily advance from ninth to finish fourth and the charge of Josh Cain should not be overlooked. 

Cain had qualified his car through a heat race but when he had mechanical issues with the car, he was forced to borrow the car of Mingo Jaurequi to run the main. He started on the tail but by keeping his nose clean and taking advantage of the openings when they existed, he was able to drive his way up to fifth at the finish. 

It was a good show overall with no big delays and some close racing and it was uplifting to finally see some people in the grandstands watching but I must admit that based on their cheering and attention, they were here primarily to watch the Modifieds race which I suppose, is understandable since that is the primary class here weekly with most of the drivers that the local fans cheer for in that class. The other classes are second on the food chain here this week, at least in the perception of many of the spectators. 

Dotson Continues To Roll at Cocopah

 

The second week of the IMCA.TV Winternationals began on Thursday night, January 13^th at the Cocopah Speedway near Somerton Arizona at the tribal track owned by the Cocopah Indian tribe. Continuing from the first week, IMCA sanctioned Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks would again be in action for full racing programs. Joining these four classes would be the IMCA Mod Lites, this week replacing the Sport Compacts.

There was a changing of the guard somewhat in who would be competing as since the series wrapped up week one last Saturday, a number of the teams headed home while I counted just over thirty new teams that didn't race during week on on hand for Thursday's race. And there will certainly be some more that will show up on Friday and Saturday that just couldn't get off work to be there tonight with some of the local racers fitting into that category.

While the car count was slightly  lighter on this night, there were still one hundred and seventy three cars plus about eighteen Lites on hand to race and comparing to last year's edition of this race on this night, car counts were up in all four classes with the Stock Cars making the biggest boost as there were just about double the number of cars as last year as Stock Cars on the West Coast really seem to be taking off.

After a couple of nights to smooth things out from an operational standpoint, the show seems to be moving along more smoothly each night. It probably helps that the drivers are now pretty familiar with the track as the number of yellow flags was down substantially from previous nights so that with another race start at precisely the advertised time and many races green to checkered, the earliest finish of the week was accomplished with the final checkered waving before 9:30 pm. However, we were't shorted in numbers of races run as twenty six heats and B Feautures were held before the main events started with only the Hobby Stocks not needing at least one B Feature.

It was a beautiful night for racing but with just a slight overcast, we didn't even need to take a “sunset” break and other than a couple of short breaks to refresh the track, it was racing nonstop from start to finish.

Bouncing back and forth between this race series here at Cocopah and the series at Vado, while the classes are slightly different, both produce good racing and the only really marked difference is the weather which is much more fan friendly here in the Yuma area.

Stock Cars were up first and this race proved to be another amazing performance by an amazing young driver as Dallon Murty, fresh on the grounds as of Wednesday, would win a thrilling Stock Car main event.

The first lap provided a wild and almost disastrously start as front row starters Josh Most and Cody Johnson tangled in the first corner in front of the twenty six car field. Most and Johnson tangled as they fought to get to the inside in turn one with both getting sideways in front of the big field. Somehow they both saved their cars, got straightened out and kept going without the yellow flag even waving as Murty led lap one coming up from the second row.

However, Most powered past Dallon to take the lead on lap two and their battle would begin. Most was running the low line with Murty second and Bo Partain eventually moving into third. For the first half of the race most of the field was running the low side but eventually it was Murty that moved up the track and started to make time as he closed on Most.

Josh sensed him coming and as they raced into turn three, Most moved up with a slider to block Dallon and Murty would cross him over and down the front chute move into the lead on lap seventeen. Murty would immediately pull away from the field despite the best attempts of Most to catch back up. As Murty drove on for the win, Most would make one last futile attempt to catch him and would slide high and allow Partain to sneak past him at the line to take the second spot. A late yellow had set up a one lap dash to the finish but Murty was not bothered.

Murty's appearance at this event just came together in recent days when the Leslie Gill team, with two cars on hand for this event, put Dallon and his father Damon behind the wheel of team Terminator chassis cars. Murty just added to his building resume with another impressive win.

The Modified division has become the personal property of Ethan Dotson as the California driver won his fourth straight Modified feature here, despite competing against over sixty other drivers on a nightly basis. Everything has been going great for Dotson as he has combined great speed with some excellent draws and redraws, managing to win heats each night that have allowed him to redraw from a great position based on the unusual format they have been using here that allows heat winners to start in front despite using passing points.

Dotson would start on the pin for the twenty five lap Modified feature and he had absolutely no challengers as he drove away from the field. He had almost a straightaway lead over the field by the halfway point and his only problems would be the heavy traffic that was running in a bunch and was tough to get through.

However, by that time he had built up a big lead and despite losing some ground in the final laps because he was hung up, he still finished comfortably in front of Tripp Gaylord to take the win. Gaylord had made a nice run, driving past Jeremy Mills and Tanner Black to get second with Tim Ward also moving up to finish third.

For Dotson, it was his fourth straight feature win after an opening win by Kollin Hibdon and earned him an extra $500 bonus which he could double if he keeps winning. The Mods ran off a nonstop main with only two drivers not on the track at the finish.

The open wheel cars would do themselves up proud on this night as the Sport Mods would also run on a nonstop main event as the first female driver would crack victory lane when Shelby Alves would top the twenty lap main event. She would start on the pole and lead the opening two laps before she was passed on the tall side of the track by Shane Paris. However, the inside line started to take rubber and pick up speed and Paris was a sitting duck as Shelby drove back under him to take over the lead.

And once in front, she put several car lengths on the field as she hit her marks perfectly lap after lap.

Andrew Peckman made a strong drive as he moved up from the seventh starting spot and moved past Paris to take over second. He was able to close up slightly on the leader but with Alves firmly in control on the low side, there would be no openings for him to make a move.

Alves would drive a solid race and give her challengers no openings as she drove on to the win over Peckham with Izac Mallicoat nipping his fellow Iowa driver for third.

Despite a rubbered up track for the Hobby Stocks to wrap up the evening, they were racing all over the track and produced an interesting finale with Brian Brown coming from seventh to get his second win of the week to date.

Zack Tate would lead the first thirteen laps of the main with challenges from Thomas Daffern and Bobby Horton. The lead group was running in a tight pack and there was much jockeying for position. Following a yellow for a spin, Daffern would hammer the back stretch wall, tearng off a wheel and ending his night.

Tate would still be leading buy Brown was moving up using the high side of the track and on lap fourteen he was able to drive into the lead. The pack was still tight when Tate got spun in turn four by Horton, triggering the fourth and final yellow of the event. Both would go to the tail and this would give Brandon Bombardo second until he too hammered the wall and lost time.

The last four laps would see the jockeying continue as Brown would go on for the win with Jason Duggins, who started strong and then slumped back making another charge late and driving into second. Replacement driver Dillon Richards, driving a Cordova machine, would come from twentieth to finish third ahead of Bombardo.

Rumors floated around the pits today that come 2023, this Winternationals Series would take on an even bigger stature with the sanctioned body making this winter event one of their signature races of the year.

Tonight will mark our last night here for the Winternationals this year. Thanks go out to Brad Whitfield and his staff for a great time and for their cooperation. Thanks also to California friends Paul Vetter and Ron Rodda for their help and to all those friends, both new and old, that we got to see.

Sheppard Wins Tense WWS Late Model Feature; Campbell and Mullins Also Victorious

 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. 

Sheppard, Jackson and Ramirez Top WWS Opener

 Saturday night, January 8th was the opening night for the sixteenth annual Wild West Shootout held this year at the Vado Speedway Park in Vado New Mexico. Late Models, X Mods and Modifieds would be the three featured classes as has been the case for a number of years for this event. 

Of course, by now everyone knows that this race was moved by necessity this year due to the closing of the Arizona Speedway near Mesa and Cave Creek Arizona and close to the metropolitan Phoenix area. The WWS run at Arizona Speedway was a very successful one, growing by leaps and bounds after its move from U.S.A. Raceway in Tucson as the metro Phoenix area proved a big attraction for both drivers and fans as a Winter destination. 

However, with that track now closed due to urban expansion and no other track in the Phoenix metro area suited to handle such a big show, series owners Chris Kearns and Michael Rigsby went shopping for another track to handle this event and they settled on the Vado Speedway Park here just off of Interstate 10 halfway between Las Cruces New Mexico and El Paso Texas. 

In my opinion, there can be no doubt that Vado is a superior facility to Arizona Speedway as this is a new track, built just  about three years ago and trucking magnet and Modified racer Royal Jones spared no expense when he built this facility which is state of the art in all regards. It is top notch in all regards with excellence in all facets and much thought was put into the track before it was built, even to having it pointed the correct direction so as to minimize any problems from sun or wind. It certainly has to rank right up there with the finest tracks in the country and I'm sure Jones is hoping that this series, which is always a big media hit during the cold of Winter, will highlight just what he has here in the Southwest, an area probably not at the top of the tourist attractions spots in the country. And there is a lot of ground between here and the next racetrack but fortunately, there is great local support from both cities and a strong local field of cars to draw from. 

The one sticking point going into the racing was just how this was going to draw for both fans and drivers with it being a fact that much of the support and success for the WWS in years past has been the large number of drivers from the Midwest and upper Midwest who came to Arizona for this race and in many cases, brought their families along for a vacation. Would New Mexico, at nearly five thousand feet in elevation, be as attractive a destination as going to the Arizona area? And that question has yet to be fully answered as only time and this weeks results being a strong indicator. 

Opening night weather fears were put at ease as it was a pleasant night and certainly not a whole lot colder than it could be at Arizona Speedway as heavy coats were often needed there. As far as the car counts for the three classes, there were forty two X Mods, Fifty three Modifieds and thirty one Late Models. I felt that the X Mods and Mods would have a good field of cars as both classes have a strong local base of support of really quality cars. The item impossible to not notice was the much smaller number of cars from my area of the upper Midwest. 

Quite frankly, the Late Model field was just a bit thin, both in quality and quantity. That's not to say that there weren't some extremely good cars on hand; just that the number and depth of them was not as deep as most years at Arizona. Just my feeling alone but it looks like the lack of a vacation destination for a lot of teams and their families has exposed this series to the fact that there are five races with only mediocre pay and one good paying event at the end and with so many gigantic paying shows scheduled this year across the country, that even the chance to race on this fine track was not enough incentive to stir a lot of teams to make the drive, which is by the way several hours closer than driving to the Phoenix area. 

As far as the racing itself would go, it was top notch in all regards but there would be no upsets on opening night as three of the strongest drivers in their respective divisions would dominate the show on Saturday. A pit walk before the show would find that some teams were already in trouble as Nathan Smith and Clint Reichenbach had already been forced to change motors after practice night issues while Christy Barnett would miss the opening night action after slamming the wall with her X Mod during practice. One team, whose name I didn't catch, was also headed home after blowing their motor during practice and not having a back up power plant and they were multiple hours from home!

Opening night provided some drama as a huge crash on I-10 between El Paso and the track involving a semi blocking the whole road caused a huge backup and many of the teams arrived at the track at the last minute but as  far as I know, everyone was able to eventually get through. 

Something that you always get with a Chris Kearns promoted event and that is an extremely quick show as there is not diddling around with this group once that first green flag waves. Passing points are used for the open wheel classes with the Late Models qualifying and unfortunately, starting their heats straight up. They used to use passing points for the Late Models too, but certain drivers, many of which are no longer here, whined long and hard enough that eventually they got their way. If fact, if I was to criticize anything, it's that they put too many cars in heats and they only run eight laps for the heats. But I might be splitting hairs here too.  Two B Features would set the final running order for the three main events. 

Late Models would go first on this night for their main as Kearns knows that the pay-per-view, which is huge for this event, is driven by the Late Models and with this track being in the Mountain time zone, an early finish for those watching on tv is important. 

With Bobby Pierce redrawing the pole, there was the threat of a runaway and he would lead the opening eleven laps of the main. However, Brandon Sheppard, who started right behind him, figured out the fast line for his car and he would move to the cushion while Pierce continued to run low on the track. Getting a gigantic run off turn two, Sheppard would blast into the lead and would then pull away. 

The Late Models would run nonstop for forty laps so the race was over quickly and Sheppard's main challenge later was working through lapped traffic but it caused him no difficulty and he would win easily. Pierce would finish second with Mike Marler third ahead of Stormy Scott and Earl Pearson Jr. 

In victory lane Sheppard would point out that this was the first race out for what was a brand new car, his family owned and prepared Rocket that he will run at regional events etc. in between WoO shows and other big races. 

The X Mod feature would also be one of domination, this time by Kris Jackson who is one of the top B Mod drivers in the Midwest and a dominant racer in the state of Missouri. He would start on the pole and would lead from start to finish in a race that was slowed four times for minor yellow flags. 

Jackson is building his own chassis now as he has went into partnership with his cousin Tony Jr  building race cars and his opening performance can only help business. Andy Bryant would move into second on the opening lap and remain there the rest of the way with Gabe Hodges third as the visitors from the Midwest would hold sway over the locals, at least on opening night. 

The domination would continue as the Mods wrapped up the night. Defending USMTS champion Dereck Ramirez would start on the pole and he would lead from start to finish in a race that was stopped just one for debris on the track. 

Ramirez would cruise up front as he had a comfortable margin on the field and no challengers to push him. There was however, a good battle for second with Jacob Bleess going back and forth for the spot with Tyler Peterson and the Minnesota driver would hold on over the North Dakota driver for second. Another Minnesota driver, Dan Ebert, would finish fourth while Rodney Sanders, who "stepped on it" and spun in his heat, would come from seventeenth to complete the top five. 

The track was good for the opening night and the program moved through smoothly but with the dominant wins and not a lot of battles for the lead, it was just a bit "ho hum." but sometimes that happens. Vado doesn't miss a beat though as among other things, they debuted a new video board on the back chute for lineups, replays etc. 

If you've never been to Vado, the track sits just off I-10 and is bordered on both the North and South by several huge dairy operations. And on this day, with the wind in just a perfect direction, the smell of "farm success" was strong in the air!

I have one bone to pick and that is with the rules for the X Mods. For a class that doesn't even run at this track anymore, which is where the rules were formulated, it seems poor for even the local drivers to have to modify their cars to race at their home track. Vado now runs USRA rules but for this series, it's pretty much open season with most drivers putting on spoilers and the weight package not seeming to be very appropriate. If they were sharp, they would go with the rules that Humboldt used for their big shows where the USRA, WISSOTA and IMCA all run their own rules and the mix works out well and fair and just get rid of these out of dates X Mod rules that just cost everyone money and definitely kept some cars at home in the garages this year.  

Dotson Tops Big Modified Field Again at Cocopah

 Night number three of the IMCA.TV Winternationals at the Cocopah Speedway on Friday, January 7th would see four new winners emerge in victory lane while Ethan Dotson would show great speed again as he won for the second straight night in the Modified division. Once again the field was a big one with over two hundred race cars signing in to race while over two dozen new drivers would make their first appearance as the series approached its halfway point.

As the week works on, the program has gotten smoother and smoother each night as the drivers figure out the race track, management does an even better job of preparing the track and the whole program flows better. Friday night, would see the show conclude at its earliest finishing time of the week while still providing just as much racing for the fans while giving the drivers the same opportunities to make the main event. 

Things haven't changed in that regard although the number of B Features in each class was increased on Friday night. The smaller races seemed to go much smoother with not nearly as many yellow flags as the bigger ones did and this was one case where more was actually quicker in the long run. Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts would again not need a B Feature(s) although the number in both of those classes continues to edge upward. 

The tech area got a little bit busier on Friday night and that generally is not a good thing. There would be disqualifications of several drivers over the course of the night but for those annoying, not speed producing, infractions. Drivers got DQ'd Friday for everything from not racing with safety shoes on to not having their approved stickers on their wheels. This is the kind of stuff that just drives me wild but certainly common sense should prevail here. The reason some of these safety rules are in place is because drivers don't think enough to take care of themselves and someone needs to make sure that they are driving safe. 

The running order for the feature races was changed up just a bit on Friday night with the Stock Cars taking to the track for their feature race first. Twenty four cars would take the green for the Stock Car main and it was Josh Most taking the early lead as he looks to finally get to victory lane in the Stock Car after having been close so far this week. He would lead the first ten laps of the race while fighting through two yellow flag slowdowns and fighting off the likes of Bo Partain, Zach Madrid and Shelby Williams. 

With most of the field running the high side, it would be Partain who would  break through using the low side and his strong drive would see him slip under Most and take over the lead. He was really quick in that low groove and with the last sixteen laps of the race going nonstop, Partain would pull away for an impressive win. Chase Berkeley would also start to make the low side work and with a late charge, edge past Most to take the second spot at the finish. Only four cars would fail to finish the race and not a single car would be lapped. 

Modifieds would take to the track next and this would be the Ethan Dotson show as it took him only two laps to pass early leader Josh Cain and once into the lead, he would pull away from the field. extending his advantage to nearly a full straightaway and that is a hard thing to do on this big and fast track. With previous winner Kollin Hibdon on the pole, a two car shootout was expected but Hibdon shocked everyone by spinning on his own early in the race, triggering the first yellow. 

As Dotson led, Cain tried to fight back but he spun in heavy traffic in turn three, triggering a big wreck that eliminated Justin McCreadie, Mike McKinney, Trip Gaylord and himself. After that the race was smooth sailing with Dotson pulling away from the field for an easy win. Tim Ward got to second after starting tenth but he couldn't touch Dotson and would settle for the runner up honors with Zach Madrid having a good run for third. 

Some different drivers started toward the front of the Sport Mod feature on Friday night and this would produce some different faces in victory lane on the podium. Minnesota driver Tim Bergerson would grab the early lead and pull away from Chris Toth. Braden Richards would drive up to second as the first yellow waved for fluid on the track. With the surface showing a lot of rubber following the Modified feature, the inside line was the way to go but to slip out of that narrow groove would be a very bad thing so the front of the field lined up single file as the green came back out. 

Bergerson continued to lead but it was clear he was having trouble holding the bottom off the corners and finally, on lap fourteen, he slipped high enough down the back chute to let Richards slip under him for the lead. And once in  front, Richards quickly opening up several car lengths over the pack as he pulled away. 

Under green the rest of the way, Richards would continue to expand his lead and would drive home for the win. Bergerson continued to struggle and would give up finishing positions two and three to Ryan Peery and Joe Feyen. There was much excitement in victory lane for the Iowa driver who got his first Sport Mod feature win after just having moved up from the Hobby Stocks. 

The Hobby Stock feature, as they have been this week, was a wild one with the drivers running multiple grooves with much slicing and dicing as the rubbered up track didn't seem to hinder them. Chandler Dodge led the first five laps before he was overtaken by Bobby Horton and it was looking like he might pull off a three peat for the week. 

However, another local competitor in Brian Brown, of which they apparently have many struggles with each other during the season, broke out again with Brown taking over the top spot at the halfway point and despite repeated efforts by Horton to regain the lead, Brown would drive on for the win with Horton a close second and Nick Posey third. 

Kaytee Devries started on the pole for the Sport Compact feature as she looked for a second feature win here this week and she would lead the first six laps over a tight swarm of cars. Then Billy Foultz, making his  first run of the week, would storm up from the fourth row to pass Devries and take over the lead. 

But last night's winner Kevin Reuter, after starting on the front row but then slumping back in the field, would reenergize and come driving to the front. At the halfway point of the race, he drove past Foultz and would take over the lead, a lead he would maintain the rest of the way to claim his second straight feature win. A late yellow would bunch the field and Devries picked up the pace on the final restart as she would drive past Foultz to take second over him at the finish. 

A new term was coined here this racing week  in the racing lexicon and that would be the official "Sunbreak." With the early starting time and the lack of cloudy days here on the desert, at a certain point in the proceedings, a break must be taken as the sun shines directly into the eyes of the drivers as they race down the back stretch and for each night, at a certain time this pause must be taken for safety reasons. This gives a nice chance for any necessary track work, a restroom break for those so inclined or a chance for those drivers still wearing their flip-flops to slip on those driving boots.