Under dire weather advisories , the second round of the Wild West Shootout at the F K Rod Ends Vado Raceway Park in wild and windy New Mexico was held on Sunday afternoon, January 7th.
Under some of the most extreme weather conditions that I have ever experienced at an auto race, Pierce would execute a late race slider pass for the win in the Late Model feature after having come home a close second on Saturday. J. C. Morton would show great speed to win the X Mod feature while Cade Dillard would continue is domination of the Modified class.
Weather forecasts for Sunday were quite stark with a high wind advisory scheduled for the late afternoon and into the night along with the chance of rain and dare I say it, SNOW! And while they were right on with the wind, the rain and snow held off and the show was completed by some of the toughest track officials around as everyone was being buffeted by high winds that arrived shortly before on track activity was scheduled to begin.
The winds picked up quickly and being the high desert as this area is, the sand started flying immediately. One of the weirdest visuals I have ever seen is the sky line being obscured by blowing sand which blocked out the freeway just to the East of the track along with most of the horizon. And as you can guess, this flying sand hurt like he**. Trying to get back to the grandstands before hot laps began, I was walking right into the blast and I literally couldn't see more than a few steps in front of me. The track, however, kind of sits down in the hole and the drivers didn't seem to be bothered, other than to endure the sand being blown into their open trailers and trying to get to the track.
I am fortunate enough to usually watch the racing action from the roof of suite 3 which is owned by Rancho Milagro Racing where Trudy and Ed are nice enough to find room for us. Providing a spectacular view of the racing, this is generally the best seat in the house. However, on this night, with winds gusting to over 50 mph, I had to strongly consider whether this would be a good move or not. I did go ahead and sit up there but it was dicey at best and when the temperature starting to drop rapidly, it was just a miserable night for racing for those tough folks that stuck it out. This was the perfect night for racing on TV, if ever there was.
Car counts were very similar to Saturday with exactly the same number of Late Models on hand and only four short overall from Saturday. The program would be the same as Saturday but the high winds made the race track slick and slowed down the times. Kaden Honeycutt's quick time was six tenth of a second slower than Saturday and the track slowed down even more rapidly after that. However, they worked on it as needed and the racing was still good with the groove being wide and smooth.
As on Saturday, the Late Models would race their main event first and just as on Saturday, although Pierce was on the front row, he didn't get the jump on the field and instead, actually fell as far back as fourth before he started to march forward. Still guessing that this was due to tire choice, on Sunday he would make that decision work.
After Pierce led lap one and then began to fall back, it was Mike Marlar that would lead the majority of the race. Kyle Larson, Pierce and Tyler Erb would provide a good battle for second as they swapped spots with Shannon Babb moving into fifth by the halfway point of the race.
Pierce started to pick up the pace, just as he did on Saturday as he passed Larson and then began to close on Marlar. When Jake Timm got a flat tire with only five laps to go, this bunched the field and gave Pierce his chance. He built up a head of steam and with a slider in turn three, passed Marlar for the lead. Mike had nothing to offer in return and Pierce would then pull away on the final few laps. Marlar would fight off Erb for second with Larson and Cade Dillard completing the top five. Twenty five of the twenty seven starters were still on the track at the finish.
The X Mods would see a second feature winner, even though Saturday's winner Nick Rivera would lead the opening three laps. J.C. Morton, who had finished in second on Saturday, would power around Rivera to take over the lead and then show the way for the rest of the race. Rivera would push hard but in the reverse of Saturday, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't cut into the lead that Morton had built up.
The race was slowed five times, the last two with just two laps to go but this didn't help Rivera as Morton was the car to beat on this night and would drive on for the win. Rivera would settle for second.
Lucas Rodin, a winner here in the past, would rebound from a bad night on Saturday to drive forward from fourteenth to finish a strong third. Christy Georges-Barnett and Josh Cain would complete the top five.
The Modifieds would run twenty five laps of nonstop racing and once again, it was Cade Dillard who would take the win. He would start on the outside pole and leave the rest of the field in the dust(literally)! He was never challenged as he ran by himself with his only challenge being lapped traffic.
Near the end of the race, Rodney Sanders, who started eighth, would close up some on Dillard mainly because there was so much lapped traffic and they were bogging down Dillard some. Dillard was never seriously challenged though, and would drive on for the win. There was a great battle for third through fifth as Gary Christian, Dereck Ramirez and Dan Ebert would swap spots before ending up in that order. Only one car didn't finish the feature while seven cars finished a lap down, most bunched right behind Dillard.
What a great weekend for Dillard with a win and a fifth in the Late Models plus a double dip in the Modifieds. And this was done against a stellar field of drivers.
Everyone in the stands and pits alike was thrilled to see the final checkered flag wave so they could get out of the wind, sand and falling temperatures on what was a rugged night for man and beast. Again, it was as quick a show as could possibly be run and still provide the racing conditions that both teams and fans craved with the final checkered waving again at 9 pm. Special thanks to all the track workers and employees who had to put up with some really tough conditions on this night. And they seemed to do so cheerfully.
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