Peterson Tops Late Models at CAR, Earns Two Hundredth Feature Win

 Week number two of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw began on Thursday night, January 30th at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande. For many of the drivers, this marks their second week of racing in the desert while there are some rigs that have parked here in the pit area for nearly a month now as this series, running back to back with the IMCA TV Winter Nationals, certainly is a grind for a number of drivers, their crews and the working staff of the track plus the video crew etc. Even for the fans it is a lot of racing action for an area that with truly only one dirt track in the entire state operating at this time, gives them more racing events than the rest of the year put together over just a month. 

Twenty three new drivers to the Mincy events signed into the pits on Thursday, some that had raced parts or all of the Winter Nationals but then took a week off and some that were just arriving to the desert this week to join the racing activity. While we may be racing in the desert, a large number of drivers are from out of this area with a great number from the Midwest. That even applies to the sponsors of this event as one look at the banners hung on the front straightaway show the high concentration of sponsors from the Midwest and upper Midwest helping make this race a reality and I'm guessing that without all their support, this event would probably not be taking place. 

While they keep points to mark the series point champion, I'm not sure just what or if any rewards come along with that title, other than to say that the individual claimed the title. And in an odd turn of events, four of the current point leaders have failed to return for week two of the Mincy series for a variety of reasons including big races being held elsewhere to family emergencies that came up. 

A new term has been added to the racing dictionary this week with a schedule change for the start time due to a "sun break," The intense Arizona sun, even in the Winter here, shines into the eyes of the drivers as they leave turn four and with the scheduled starting time, the angle of the sun and this particular time of the year, they are forced to halt the racing for a period of time for the sun to lower in the sky. This is the first time this was necessary for the Mincy but because of that plus the fact that the track was too wet to start at the appointed time, the first green flag dropped just over an hour later than the scheduled time. The problem created by that was the track curfew and when several of the races had more incidents than earlier in the week, track officials became nervous. The post race feature interviews were held until after the racing action was completed to move things along better and the Limited Mod feature, which was having a devil of a time staying under the green for the first time during the series, was checkered early. However, the Modifieds wrapped up the evening with a nonstop main event and the show was completed about fifteen minutes before it would have had to be "gonged." 

Two new feature winners during the Mincy series stepped forward on Thursday night as Tyler Peterson was a first time winner in the Late Models while young Payce Herrera topped the Sport Mod main event. For Peterson it was his two hundredth feature win of his career, split between success in both the Modified and Late Model classes. 

The track was very fast on Thursdaye night, due in much part to the extra water that was worked into the surface and the track maintained its speed throughout the night. Plus, with just a bit of character in turns one and two, he produced some intense racing action but also unfortunately, some of the nastiest wrecks seen so far during the series. 

The Late Model feature was a dandy with three different leaders over the course of its twenty five lap run. Matt Gilbertson got the initial jump on the green but that start was called off after a turn two spin caused the yellow flag to wave. Gilbertson would use the outside line to get the jump again on the second attempt and take the early lead over Peterson.

Behind them, Don Shaw, Josh Leonard and Dylan Thornton were battling for position with Chad Olsen and Austin Kuehl becoming part of a large group of drivers running in a tight pack. 

Gilbertson maintained a hot pace and before too long, as the race stayed under the green, he was in lapped traffic which allowed Peterson to start to close up. Tyler took a couple looks underneath the leader but wasn't able to take advantage as the halfway signal was given. 

However, just one lap later Gilbertson got high off turn four and Peterson drove underneath him to take over the lead. As Gilbertson started to slip back in the pack, Shaw took over the second spot and began to close on Peterson as the leaders continued to encounter heavy traffic. With just five laps to go, as the leaders continued to fight through the traffic, Shaw got underneath Peterson to take over the lead but Peterson didn't give up and on the next lap, he executed a slide job and got back to the point. 

Shaw pushed hard to try and regain the lead but in traffic in turn four, he got into the side of a car being lapped, giving himself a flat tire while tearing off most of the right side deck. As he slowed, the yellow flew for a four lap sprint to the finish. 

Ricky Weiss had been on the move and was up to third when the yellow waved and he looked to be a prime contender for the win. However, Leonard surprised him on the start by getting a jump and moving into second. This was the break Peterson needed as he put distance on the field to race to the win. Weiss got back around Leonard for second but he was too late to put a challenge on for the win. Olsen and Gilbertson completed the top five. 

Peterson had been sitting at one hundred and ninety nine feature wins for much of the last part of the 2024 racing season but wasn't able to get another one, so this monumental win was a good way to start 2025 for the multi time national champion in both the Late Models and Modifieds with WISSOTA.

Payce Herrera became a first time winner in the Mincy when he held on to win a rough and tumble main event that saw only eight cars take the checkers. Arizona champion Tyler Johnson led for much of the race which saw three cars battling for much of the contest. 

Early on, Kaden Woodie was battling Johnson for the lead when he spun out, triggering the first yellow flag. Johnson was then in a tough battle with Bud Martini until Bud broke and pulled off the track. However, Johnson was still under the gun with Herrera and Ryan Peery pushing him hard for the lead with the top three running in tight formation. Meanwhile, Woodie was racing his way back up through the field and would eventually become a part of the lead battle once again. 

Herrera made a strong outside move and on lap thirteen drove past Johnson to take over the lead. Tyler had none of that however, and crossed back over on the next lap to reclaim the lead. On the following lap, however, Johnson jumped the cushion, slowed dramatically and Woodie, with a full head of steam, crashed into the Johnson car as Herrera was able to duck under both. They were both done and Herrera moved back into the lead, holding off Peery and Joe Docekal to take the win. 

Johnson had to scramble to even make this race as he was running double duty with his car and had went off on the back of the wrecker during the Limited Mod feature and his crew had to rush to get the car fixed and get him back on the track to start this race from the pole but he would again exit the track later on the back of the same wrecker. 

The WISSOTA Super Stock feature saw the first repeat winner as defending national champion Dexton Koch fought off all challenges from James Trantina to take the win. Koch used the outside line to take the early lead he then maintained his edge over Trantina the rest of the way. 

This race was stopped just once when Jordan Henkemeyer, opening night winner, bounced off the outside wall and called it a night. Beau Brown, Doug Bolt and Matt Sparby completed the top five. 

The Limited Mods had a tough time of it on Thursday with this race being shortened considerably by a time limit. It was too bad that this happened as there were a number of excellent battles for position going on throughout the field, but the inability of the drivers to keep their cars pointed the correct direction ended the action prematurely. 

Rob Moseley, the scourge of the Wild West Shootout, joined the action for Thursday night and the New Mexico driver got the jump on the field but a yellow stopped the action before a lap could be completed. Moseley again took the lead but then he pulled up suddenly, dead in the water in turn two and his night was completed early. 

Jake Smith then took over the lead but one lap later, Lucas Rodin made a strong run to the outside and drove around Smith to take over the lead. Smith and Jess Brekke were in a good battle for that top spot but two quick yellows for spins kept the field bunched as even single file restarts didn't help. 

Trying to get racing going once again, some great battles broke out but coming three wide out of turn four, Scott Bintz made contact with another car and spun across the track in very heavy traffic. Chad Ayers was unable to avoid clobbering Bintz, with the Tucson driver then sliding sideways and taking a hard flip right on the home stretch. Both drivers were OK but the damage to both cars was severe, with Bintz being the fourth night on a brand new car. 

A green, white and checkers finish was called for on the lengthy event and Rodin would hold off Smith and Travis Saurer for the win with Brekke and Jarod Klein completing the top five.

The Stock Car feature produced a great side by side battle between Shelby Williams and Mike Albertsen. Williams had taken the early lead when the race was stopped with five laps complete for a spin. 

On the green, Albertsen got beside Williams and the two, parked next to each other in the pits, would race side by side for the next five laps, swapping lanes occasionally but always door to door. Finally Albertsen was able to edge in front and over the final five laps, held off all challenges to take the win. 

Jason Storbakken made a fine charge, starting eighth and racing up to third on the final lap, edging out Trevor Hidalgo and Casey Murdoch. 

The Modified feature was the only main to go green to checkers. Eston Whisler got the jump on the field but before one lap could be completed, Troy Morris III had made the pass on him to take over the top spot. Kollin Hibdon moved into second quickly and the chase was on. Weaving through traffic, Morris III pounded the cushion as Hibdon chased him for the lead. 

Eston Whisler settled into third spot by the halfway point of the race with Tate Johnson up from the twelfth starting spot and Bryson Yeager next in line. 

The leaders continued to work through traffic with Hibdon gradually closing in on Morris III as the laps ran down. With just a couple laps to go, Morris III made what was probably the winning move as he split two slower cars down the front chute and that gave him the distance he needed to hold off any challenges from Hibdon late. 

Kollin would settle for second with Eston Whisler, Johnson and Ian Whisler completing the top five. 

Ben Detherage and Jason Garner have taken over the announcer duties for the Mincy Thaw and they have done a fine job in continuing the good work started by their predecessors the previous two weeks. 

Round five of the Mincy will be held on Friday night with all six classes again in action and sunny skies again predicted for the desert. IMCA TV is available for viewing. 

Zach Johnson Tops Late Models at CAR

 Over one hundred and thirty drivers signed in for night number three of the opening round of the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw Saturday night, January 25th at the Central Arizona Raceway near Casa Grande and it was Zach Johnson who took home the biggest prize when he topped the thirty lap Late Model feature. Other winners on third straight night of racing for the Mincy Than included Tom Berry Jr. in the Modifieds, Jess Brekke in the Limited Mods, Shelby Williams in the Stock Cars, Ryan Peery in the Sport Mods and Max Nelson in the Super Stocks. 

Johnson had the pole position and he took the early lead after fighting off stiff challenges from both Clayton Stuckey and Ricky Weiss before he settled into the lead spot. As he continued to hold down the point, Stuckey and Weiss had an excellent battle of their own for second with Weiss prevailing by the halfway point of the race. 

Lapped traffic became a consideration as the race neared its halfway point as Johnson worked his way through a considerable amount of slower traffic and Weiss began to take advantage as he closed the lead up considerably on Johnson. Zach had a couple of tail end cars that were racing for position, side by side and this cause him considerable difficulty, which Weiss took advantage of to pull to the Minnesota driver's rear bumper. 

Going into turn three, Johnson attempted to make a move around the slower cars but he got too high and slid up the banking and Weiss was right there to take over the lead. Johnson, however, caught a monstrously large break as when they came to the line to complete that lap, the yellow flag had been displayed as Matt Gilbertson had blown a tire and was slowly trying to clear the track, causing the yellow to be waved. 

This saved Johnson, who went back up front into the lead for the restart. Back luck struck Karl Tipton who was running a strong top five race when he spun in turn one and the yellow light came back on and Tipton's night was done. 

Johnson retook the lead once again and opened up some distance on the pack as Stuckey surprised Weiss on the restart by grabbing the second spot back again. Johnson had opened up some distance on the field once the green was again displayed and despite Stuckey closing up some at the end, Johnson successfully negotiated a few slower cars and drove home for the win with room to spare. Stuckey settled for second ahead of Weiss while opening night winner Dylan Thornton settled for fourth and young Amelia Eisenchenk had a great race to complete the top five . Only two of the starting field failed to make the checkers. 

For the "Millennial Farmer" from Lowry Minnesota, it marked his first Late Model win in the last seven years as he has been concentrating on Modified racing for the last number of years. He got to run a Late Model for Don Shaw last year at this event and that piqued his interest in getting back into the class. Interestingly, when he left Minnesota he had no race car and picked up this car at Vic Hill's shop in Tennessee where it had received one of his power plants to match up with the Longhorn Chassis that Mike Marlar had previously raced. Practice laps on Wednesday night were the first time that he had sat behind the wheel of the car and Saturday night was just his third night of racing the car. 

Tom Berry Jr. got his first Modified victory of the Mincy Thaw series when he led from start to finish to take the twenty lap main. This was a two car race from start to finish as Kollin Hibdon chased Berry Jr. for the entire event, coming quite close on several occasions but never being able to make the winning move. 

An early yellow with just two laps complete saw Beau Speicher slow in heavy traffic and Andrew Peckham launched over him when he ran out of racing room. Both cars were eliminated. Berry Jr. would continue to lead with Hibdon close behind. Tyson Blood was on the move and worked his way into the third spot by the halfway point of the race with Tate Johnson and Chaz Baca moving in behind them. 

The race took a dramatic turn just three laps later when Johnson, running a strong fourth and in the lead group, suddenly blew a motor racing down the front chute. His car dropped copious amounts of fluid right in the racing groove and Troy Morris III, close behind, hit the fluid and slammed hard into the wall. Other drivers were slipping and sliding, spinning and dodging the mess as the front chute was wild with activity. A lengthy clean up period was needed and both Johnson and Morris III were done. 

The seven lap finish of the race saw Berry Jr. pick up the pace and Hibdon wasn't able to get close enough to perhaps try a slide job as Berry Jr. drove on for the win. Blood got a solid third place finish with the running order behind him scrambled due to the incident. Ian Whisler and Logan Drake were able to complete the top five. 

The Limited Modified feature would see the third different winner in three nights of racing with the largest field of cars in this division so far on hand Saturday. Jake Smith, who had won the previous night, sat on the pole after a dominating run in his heat race but it was Jess Brekke that got the jump on Smith to take the early lead. Smith began his chase of Brekke that would continue through the course of the contest. 

A lone yellow slowed the action with six laps complete for a minor spin with the field quickly getting back to work. Tyler Johnson, out of the Sport Mod ranks, rode the high side as he moved into third but his bold line would back fire when he caught the wall and that slowed his effort. 

By the halfway point, Brekke still had Smith closely following as former winner Lucas Rodin moved into third. Both of them would try their hardest to catch up to the high flying North Dakota driver but Brekke was up to the challenge on Saturday, maintaining his lead with a strong performance to take the win. Smith and Rodin would follow with Travis Saurer powering up to fourth driving one of Scott Bintz's cars and James Trantina finished up the top five. 

The Stock Car numbers were up some on Saturday after an exhausting two weeks previous for that class but Shelby Williams continued on his hot streak as he won for the second time this week, driving around Kaden Woodie to grab the lead and eventually the win. 

Woodie took the early lead with Mike Albertsen moving into second as Williams settled in early in the third spot. However, Williams was running at a hot pace and was able to power around Woodie to take over the lead with a move past both leaders. Jason Rogers, back in his own car on Saturday, was running a high risk line right up against the outside wall but he was making it work as he roared into second and threatened Williams until he clipped the wall in turn one and fell back to fourth. 

Williams had control and drove on for the win, with Woodie and Rogers next in line. Albertsen would settle for fourth with track promoter Brad Whitfield rounding out the top five. 

Ryan Peery took the win in the Sport Mod main as he controlled the top spot throughout the contest, which was a long one with five yellows slowing this race as spins were a hallmark of this contest. 

Peery started out strong, taking the early lead while there was quite the scramble for position behind him, something that held throughout the race. While Peery was mostly in the clear, the positions behind him were jumbled with several scrums shaking up the running order. 

Page Herrera was able to establish himself in second and drove his hardest trying to keep up with Peery with Noah Speicher moving into third by the halfway point. Bud Martini and Kaden Woodie were battling for top five spots and on lap twelve they would get together in turn three with both being eliminated from the contest. And just as it looked like things were settled, Speicher rolled to a halt while running third with just three laps to go. 

Peery continued to maintain control and drove on for the win with Herrera pushing his hardest but settling for second. Jake Kierstad, close to victory earlier this week, came up late to get third ahead of Eric Winemiller, up from fourteenth and Aaron Spangler. 

The Super Stocks again put on a good show for the fans as they introduced themselves to race fans in the desert. Max Nelson got his first win of the week, leading all laps but surviving pressure from three different drivers to do so. 

Early on it was James Trantina that chased Nelson but then, following a restart, opening night winner Jordan Henkemeyer put the pressure on Nelson. But by the halfway point, it was defending national champion Dexton Koch who had driven up to second. 

They produced a high speed chase over the last few laps of the race with Nelson holding on for the win. Jason Hobbs, with his brand new Dirt Dueller chassis from Les Duellman, had his best run to date as he finished third with Henkemeyer and Matt Sparby completing the top five. 

It was the first win in four years for Nelson, who has raced in both the Late Model and Modified classes in recent years before settling into the Super Stocks last year. Interestingly, the three classes brought in this week to run with the three hold over divisions have produced different winners all three nights so far. 

After three rounds of the Mincy Thaw, the drivers and crews now get a short break to relax and explore the sights of the desert. Round two of the Mincy begins on Wednesday night, January 29th with a practice night and the final three programs will then take place on January 30th, 31st and February 1st .  

Stuckey and Morris III Among Feature Winners at CAR's Mincy Thaw

 The Ernie Mincy Early Thaw moved into night two of its run at the Central Arizona Raceway on Friday night, January 24th with another six division program that drew one hundred and thirty four drivers from throughout the Southwest and Midwest. Largely due to the level of competition in the pits, there were no repeat winners from the opening show on Thursday night with drivers from Louisiana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and California taking the honors. 

The headline class for the Mincy is the Late Models as they are brought in for this six night extravaganza with drivers on hand from all parts of the country. However, unlike Thursday night's opener when a remarkably smooth main event was presented with not a single yellow flag and very few quarter panels even ruffled, Friday night's feature was quite the opposite with several cars going off on the hook and more than a few drivers upset. 

Things developed quickly in the twenty five lap feature race for the Late Models that saw Clayton Stuckey and Thursday night's winner Dylan Thornton flanking each other in the front row. They went barreling into turn one on the opening lap with Stuckey moving up the track into the path of Thornton. The next thing we saw was Thornton up on two wheels and riding the wall as other drivers tried to take evasive action. Thornton felt he was run out of racing room and he may well have been and after an opening night win in a brand new car, Thornton was left to stew in the infield as the race was restarted. 

At the same time, third starting Ricky Weiss stalled in turn three with some kind of rear end mechanical issues that required a wrecker so before one lap was completed, two of the favorites were done for the night. 

Stuckey again took the lead on the restart but before a lap could be completed, a large pileup occurred in turn three and this dust up eliminated three more cars plus dinged up several more. 

Finally racing would break out and seven laps were run off before a stalled car slowed the action once again. The best battle was for second where Don Shaw and Zach Johnson exchanged the spot with Johnson getting by before Shaw turned up the wick and repositioned himself in second. 

By the halfway point of the race, Josh Leonard had moved into fourth, having gotten past Cole Schill for that spot. Shaw and Johnson settled in as second and third and with a period of green flag racing, leader Stuckey had caught up to the back of the field, and he had some issues getting through the traffic. Before long, it was clear that both Shaw and Johnson were catching him as the distance between them started to shrink at a considerable rate. 

But then Stuckey was able to work through the traffic and although Shaw pushed as hard as possible, the lead stabilized and Stuckey was able to hold off the challengers by several car lengths as he drove on for the win. The top five stayed the same as they crossed the line but nine of the starting field failed to finish the event. 

The Modified feature proved a great way to end up the night of racing as the open wheel drivers did a great job and provided a thrilling finish. In a race that ran off green to checkers, there were three different leaders and the winning pass was executed with just two laps remaining in the contest. 

The race started out with a bang as with the dropping of the green flag, front row starters Tate Johnson and Bryson Yeager were joined by second row driver Luke Silber and they drove into the first corner three wide. Somehow they managed to survive that wild start with Johnson securing the lead as Yeager dropped into second behind him. Tom Berry Jr. moved into position behind the top two and began his own challenges to get past both of them. 

Johnson continued to carry the top spot through the halfway point of the race but Yeager was all over him with Troy Morris III getting past Berry Jr. for third. And just one lap later, Yeager made a bold move to the outside and was able to drive past Johnson and take over the lead with Johnson slipping back a few more spots as his car started to get very loose. 

Leader Yeager caught the back of the pack and he had  his difficulties navigating through the slower cars with the field quickly catching him and suddenly, the top seven drivers were lined up bumper to bumper with them trying to decide where to go and how to use traffic to improve their position. 

Morris III is a bold driver and he made his move decisively with just two laps to go as he stepped to the outside of Yeager and blew past him coming off turn four to take over the lead. And in the final two laps he extended that advantage as he pulled away to score the win over Yeager, Berry Jr., Ethan Braaksma and Chaz Baca as only two cars failed to go the distance. 

One of the most successful drivers since January racing has come to Central Arizona Raceway and other Southwestern tracks has been Lucas Rodin. The North Dakota driver has won a number of special events in January and he added to that total on Friday as he led from start to finish to top the Limited Modified main event. 

He started on the pole and took an immediate lead in what would be a nonstop main event. As he pulled away, the battle was for second where James Trantina was trying to hold off Jake Smith, the winner last night. As Rodin maintained his strong pace, Smith was all over Trantina for second with James finding his car getting looser and looser in the corners. 

Just past the halfway point of the race, Smith was finally able to move by and take over second but he had much ground to make up on Rodin. Jake pushed hard and narrowed up the lead, but was never able to offer a serious challenge as Rodin rode home for his eighth special event win here at CAR. Trantina held on for third with young Payce Herrera being the most successful of those drivers attempting to race in two classes as he finished fourth ahead of Jess Brekke.

The Sport Mods would join their faster cousins, the Modifieds, with a late race battle and ultimate pass for the lead with just q few laps to go also. In this case, it was a pair of Minnesota drivers that battled it out for the win with Avon's Bud Martini pulling off the big move late for the win. 

Jake Kierstad had gotten the jump on Herrera to take the early lead with Martini moving into second following a lap five restart when he passed Herrera. Travis Peery, last night's winner, Kaden Woodie and Joe Docekal were all right in the running as the lead group was tight. 

This race was tough on patience, as the yellow flew an even high six times  for spins, stalls and a couple of jingles that left the leaders packed together tightly. Through all the restarts, Kierstad continued to lead with Martini challenging him at every turn. 

Following a lap eleven multi car tangle in turn four, Martini made his move on the restart, bolding pulling out of line and making a strong drive through turn four that allowed him to pull past Kierstad and take over the lead. And once in front, Bud would pull away from the pack. 

There was one more yellow when while battling for third, Woodie and Peery would come together with Peery spinning out of contention and setting up a two lap sprint to the finish. However, Martini had the field covered and he pulled away to win the feature in his ten year old built by the Martini brothers. 

Kierstad would come home a disappointing second after having led so many laps with Woodie, Herrera and Docekal trailing. 

The Stock Cars have been strangely absent this week after running in big numbers here for the last two weeks. However, the short field didn't bother "Wahoo" Albertsen as he led from start to finish to claim the win. 

He got the jump on Shelby Williams as they raced start to finish in first and second in a race stopped only once by a yellow. Don Earven drove home for the third place with Woodie and promoter Brad Whitfield next in line. 

Defending WISSOTA Super Stock national champion Dexton Koch led from start to finish in another nonstop main to take the win for these upper Midwestern based cars. Koch, who is working on a deal to drive Late Models in 2025 when he gets back to Minnesota, broke out his title winning car at the last minute for a trip to Arizona and made it pay with a strong effort. Jordan Henkemeyer, last night's winner, chased Koch for fifteen laps but simply couldn't catch him and settled for second. Max Nelson finished third ahead of Jason Hobbs and Trantina, who changed a motor this morning after blowing one up in winning a heat race last night. 

The first round of the Mincy will conclude with another full show of racing beginning at 5 pm Mountain time on Saturday before everyone takes a few days off and the final round begins again next Thursday. 

Thornton and Baca Jr. Winners as Ernie Mincy Thaw Begins

 Brad Whitfield and his staff at the Central Arizona Raceway certainly have a lot on their plate during the month of January. They start out with nine race nights spread over two weekends for the IMCA TV Winter Nationals that host well over two hundred race cars every night. They start at 2 pm in the afternoon and race until 9 or 10 pm each night, they turn right around and do it again. 

And they are only half done when that mini series is complete. They then bring in a group of different drivers who along with three of their IMCA classes that have the opportunity to race up to sixteen times before January is done, do it all over once again. The Ernie Mincy Early Thaw is highlighted by the Late Model class as Whitfield brings in the powerful Late Models as he and a group of backers try to re fire this class in the desert. Late Model racing has been on the decline here in Arizona for a number of years but there are a group of backers that are trying to get things going again in the Arizona area, and this series, along with some more races spread out over the course of the CAR racing season, are helping in that regard. 

This Late Model series features a variety of drivers, mostly from the Midwest, and using different rules packages that hopefully balance out the competition. Much like SLMR does for Iowa and Nebraska, this series endeavors to balance out the open motor cars with the spec engine cars and the crates to provide a balanced race package where all can be competitive. A large number of the WISSOTA based drivers have supported this event over the last two years, and the opportunity to race in warm weather in January and be competitive has brought a number of them back to the desert this year. Probably the only disappointment so far in this year's field is the lack of Arizona, northwest and California drivers on hand as part of this series is to support development of the class in this area. However, there were a solid group of twenty eight drivers that signed on to race for the opening night. Don Shaw, a well known Midwestern Late Model driver and track promoter, was instrumental in getting this racing series going out here last year, and even though this year his involvement was limited to track prep and racing himself, he has been able to keep the "pipeline" of drivers from the upper Midwest traveling out here.  

Also new this week was the Limited Modified class and the WISSOTA Super Stocks. The Limited Mods is a combination class of WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, of which dominated the numbers here as they did also last year, the B Mods and X Mods from Vado and for those IMCA Sport Mods adventurous enough to race in two divisions. 

Matt Sparby, a WISSOTA Super Stock driver in Minnesota and part time Winter resident of the Phoenix area, always wanted to race in the desert but with the class he most races in not offered in these parts, he bankrolled the adding of this class to the 2025 Mincy and was able to get nine other drivers to join him in traveling out here. While their numbers were quite small, they would put on some good racing action on the opening night and if asked back next year, hopefully more drivers would join them. This is a support class back in the Midwest and not a lot of drivers that race this class are set up to race in January halfway across the country. 

The IMCA Mods, Sport Mods and Stock Cars were the other three classes running again for another six night mini series and for this Thursday night opener, apparently they had a number of them that needed a night off as particularly the Stock Car field was surprisingly small. However, as we get closer to the weekend and drivers and crews get a bit of a break, the numbers in these classes are expected to trend toward Winter National type numbers. 

With the slightly smaller numbers expected to race this weekend, the starting times were moved back to 5 pm each night, which does crowd the 10 pm curfew just a bit but does also make it much easier to keep a dirt track in good racing shape without the many track prep sessions that we saw last week, In fact, on Thursday, there was only required one session before the feature races. Track prep was made more challenging, however, by a brutal desert wind that howled for most of the day and evening, creating mini sand storms that made traversing the pits a painful ordeal, getting moisture into the track also a challenge and once the sun set gave the air the feel of a Midwestern night. 

One hundred and fifteen drivers signed in for the Thursday night show, just about half of what was on hand last week. Passing points were used to set the feature race lineups for all six classes with only the Modifieds needing a B Feature to whittle down their thirty two car field. With this track racing so fast in the main events, heat race success in garnering as many passing points as possible is vital to a successful night. 

It would turn out to be a very smooth night of racing with few yellow flags needed. In fact, the yellow waved only three times in seventeen qualifying races with the one spin rule being in effect. Three of the feature races would also run green to checkers including the Late Model main so it was an excellent job done by the drivers, many were no or limited experience racing at CAR, particularly since it races and looks so much different than it did just one year ago before the walls were added the corners reshaped. 

Sport Mods were up first for their main event and this twenty lap feature rolled off nonstop from green to checkers. It was dominated by Ryan Peery who would lead from start to finish after starting on the pole position. He got the jump on Bud Martini right from the start and those two continued to hold the top positions throughout the race. 

From time to time, Martini would close up the distance and seem ready to challenge but then each time Peery would pick up the pace and again distance himself from the pack. Peery drove home with a several car length lead in a race that was over quickly but had little drama. Martini would settle for second and another Minnesota driver, Kaden Woodie, would finish third. Joe Docekal made a nice advance late to finish fourth with David Pitt completing the top five. 

Twenty seven cars started the Late Model feature with heat race winner Blaine Doppler having difficulties at the end of his heat that kept him out of the main event. It was a tough night for car owner Paul Mueller as his other driver, Austin Kuehl, scheduled to start in the second row of the race, also had trouble before the green flag dropped and ended up in the infield, a big disappointment for the North Dakota owner. 

Cole Schill had the pole but on the first lap, Dylan Thornton edged past him to take over the lead. Nebraska driver Josh Leonard moved into second  and all time Late Model record holder at this track, ,  Ricky Weiss, slipped into third. The top three pulled away from the field with Thornton running the high side of the track, just as he likes to do with his Modified.

Clayton Stuckey was also working his way to the front after starting in the fifth row. Lapped traffic became an issue as there was much traffic on the speedway and Thornton got hung up a couple times which allowed Leonard to close in on him and at once point, get beside the leader before Thornton found the hole to pull slightly away once again. 

In the second half of the race, Weiss would work traffic and get past Leonard for second and then try to catch Thornton for the lead. However, Thornton had a good run going and was successful in working his way through the traffic. A big move past Rob Mayea with just a couple laps to go left him with an uncatchable advantage and he drove home for the win. Weiss and Leonard followed, with Stuckey getting past Schill to finish fourth. Only four cars failed to finish the nonstop event. 

Tough luck saw pole starter James Trantina miss the Super Stock feature as the engine smoke during his heat race was apparently serious enough to keep him from racing. Only nine Super Stocks took the green flag, yet they participated in one of the most entertaining mains of the night. The lead was officially swapped three times but there were other leaders during laps as the top four drivers engaged in a series of slide jobs that produced much excitement. 

Max Nelson took the early lead but he was soon challenged by defending WISSOTA national champion Dexton Koch. Jordan Henkemeyer was exciting as he rode the banking all the way up from the fourth row to challenge for the lead in just a few laps. 

Koch and Henkemeyer both took shots at the leader, who repelled their early advances. Henkemeyer surprised Koch with an outside pass for second and then moved into challenge Nelson when out of no where, Doug Bolt, all the way from Thunder Bay Ontario, shot around both of them in turn four and edged into the lead, only to have the yellow wave when Koch stuck his car into the wall in turn two. 

On the green, Henkemeyer again went to the outside, passed both Bolt and Nelson and shot into the lead, but Nelson slid him back on the next lap to retake first. But with just a few laps left, Henkemeyer wasn't done yet, and he slid Nelson once again for this lead and this time it stuck and he was able to hold on by a couple car lengths to take the win back to Minnesota. Nelson, Bolt, Koch and Sparby would follow. 

Just a handful of Stock Cars were on hand, for some reason, but they still put on a good feature race. Kaden Woodie got the jump on Mike Albertsen to take the early lead but Albertsen was all over the leader, looking for a route to pass and grab the top spot for himself. Shelby Williams was lurking in third but close behind as the top three started to put distance on the field in what turned out to be a nonstop feature. 

Albertsen started to drop lower on the track, trying to work the inside line and make a pass. He would get up beside Woodie several times but just not quite have enough momentum to pull past. However, the leaders to so involved with each other that they forgot about Williams.

With just a handful of laps left, as Albertsen tried to get inside Woodie once again off turn four, Williams shot to the cushion, got a great head of steam and blew past both leaders to take over the lead. And once in front, he pulled away and drove on for the victory with Albertsen finally getting past Woodie for second. Bo Partain and Kyle Falck completed the top five. 

Chaz Baca Jr has been the biggest winner during these January events in Arizona and he added to that total with another wire to wire Modified feature win. His second has been to have great heat race runs which have given him excellent starting positions and he did that once again on Thursday, managing to earn the pole spot. 

He took the initial lead over Eston Whisler and Jerry Flippo with Troy Morris III and Tom Berry Jr both on the move. As Flippo flipped his way past Whisler for second, heavy lapped traffic saw both Morris III and Berry Jr. whistle their way up to third and fourth. 

Baca Jr. continued to hold the lead but Flippo looked inside him several times, nearly getting by once in traffic. The leaders were still stuck in that heavy traffic when Alan Farley appeared to blow a motor while right in the middle of that group but everyone managed to avoid him as the first and only yellow of the race appeared. 

And surprisingly, while still under yellow, Flippo pulled into the infield with problems, surrendering his good running spot. With only a few laps left, Baca Jr. took off and while Morris III pushed hard, he wasn't able to challenge for the lead. Berry Jr. tried the low side but had to settle for third with both Kollin Hibdon and Drew Janssen moving into the top five at the finish. 

The Limited Modifieds completed the evening with twenty one drivers taking the green flag which included four adventurous Sport Mod drivers that chose to run in two classes. James Trantina was able to start the Limited Mod feature from the pole after having bad luck with his Super Stock and he would lead the vast majority of the race. 

Only two laps were completed before the biggest crash of the night occurred in turn four with five cars slamming together and being eliminated from the event. Back under green, Trantina was being closely challenged by Jarod Klein and Lucas Rodin, the all time biggest winner in this class at the track. 

Jake Smith, Jess Brekke and Onyx Johnson were all in contention too as the pack was full and running close together. Two more yellows for minor spins near the halfway point of the race kept the field bunched but Smith was charging as he got past Rodin for second and closed on the leader. 

Trantina, however, continued to lead until he got over the cushion in turn one, got hung up on the wall and Smith charged past him to take over the lead. Trantina suffered a flat tire, making a tough night even more difficult to swallow. 

Smith would hold off challenges from Rodin to take the win with Brekke making a late hustle up to third ahead of Scott Tofte and Johnson. 

Track officials did have to overcome a situation during the program. A transformer blew during the track prep session, knocking out the pa system. More importantly, the track warning lights did not function but officials placed wreckers with warning lights in the corners and they were able to race the Sport Mod and Late Model features successfully this way until the power company was able to restore power. The option of just waiting until power could be restored was not a viable one due to the impending curfew and things worked out just fine under the jerry-rigged system. 

The Mincy will continue with full shows scheduled for both Friday and Saturday night before everyone catches a short break once again before sprinting to the finish next week.  

Richards Completes Domination of CAR Winter Nationals

 Dillon Richards completed one of the greatest two week runs seen in recent times Saturday at the Central Arizona Raceway as the Hobby Stock driver from Beatrice Nebraska won his fifth straight feature race and eighth of nine during the IMCA Winter Nationals to claim the point title in the Hobby Stocks. In other feature action, Robbie Thome won his third feature race in the Sport Mods during the Winter Nationals, Shelby Williams topped the Stock Cars for his first win of the series and Dylan Thornton came back from his Friday night disappointment during the Modified feature to edge out Brandon Beckendorf and claim the win in the series finale. 

Another very solid field of twenty hundred and twenty seven drivers signed in to race on Saturday for the finale, a great number considering that some had to already head home for various reasons including wrecks, mechanical failures and impending weather conditions affecting travel. But there were still plenty of cars on hand as the same format was still needed with the exact same number of qualifying events as has been the case this week. 

Nine feature events, including the Gene Freeman non point race held on Tuesday night, were available to the Hobby Stock drivers. And incredibly, Richards won eight of them, only being edged out from a perfect record by Dillon Thompson in a main last week. And despite the fact that the biggest number of Hobby Stocks during the whole mini series showed up to race on Saturday, they were still all battling for second as Richards dominated once again. 

His secret during the whole series was to have spectacular runs in his heat races so that he would start toward the front in the main events, thus making his job much easier. A great ninth to first run in his heat on Saturday would guarantee him the pole for the twenty nine car Hobby Stock feature and he led the event from start to finish to claim the win plus the point title in the Winter Nationals. Despite the big field of drivers including seven that were making their initial runs of the week, the Hobby Stock drivers put on a smooth show with there being only one yellow flag during the event. 

Richards wasted no time establishing his lead as he pulled away from Scott Bernards and Hunter Ferrell early. As the leader pulled away from the field, his main competition all week, Dillon Thompson, was busy working his way into contention as he moved into the runner up spot after starting sixth by the halfway point of the race. Blake Luinenburg was also on the move, as he settled into the third spot. 

Thompson's main challenge as the race continued was to wind his way through heavy traffic as he caught the back of the pack and he managed to put a number of drivers a lap down without incident. Just as it looked like he would be home free, a spin on the back chute triggered the lone yellow of the race and set up a four lap sprint to the finish. 

Richards wasn't going to let this one slip away however, and as the green returned he again pulled away from the pack, allowing no one to make a last lap attempt to steal one away from him. He crossed the line comfortably ahead of Thompson but just as the leaders completed the race, several drivers trying to gain that last spot came together on the front chute, producing a grinding crash that saw the race finish under a checkered/yellow situation. Hard hits were recorded by Joe Peterson and Joe Gallaher and while their cars were badly damaged, they were both both able to walk away, despite a flash fire in Gallaher's car. 

The official scoring saw Luinenburg finish third with Morgan Olmstead and Bernards completing the top five. Richards' record of achievement will be one that will be hard to top in coming seasons. 

Shelby Williams became a first time winner as the Texas Stock Car driver wasted no time getting to the front of the twenty eight car Stock Car field and then dominated the proceedings the rest of the way. Williams started in the second row but when pole starter Bill Brack slid up the track on the opening lap and steered Mike Albertsen up the track with him, Williams shot to the inside and crossed the line the leader by lap one. 

With both Brack and Albertsen soon to drop out with flat tires, that opened up the positions behind the leader with Todd Heinrich and Andy Morris quickly taking those spots. A single yellow slowed the action and when a spin on lap ten bunched the field, Williams was ready to pull away again. 

The second half of the race saw Williams drive away from the field but the entire group was so evenly matched that in those hard ten laps, he failed to even catch the back of the pack which made his job considerably easier as there was quite the clump of cars racing together back in the field. 

Williams continued to motor on without stress and he drove under the double checkers to take the win. Former winner here last week Heinrich held off all challenges from Bo Partain to take the second spot and Dillion Lawrence had his best run of the week, finishing fourth as Morris faded to fifth. 

The Sport Mod feature proved to be the most difficult event of the week to complete as six yellows littered this race, bogging it down at certain points. Former winner last week Jake Smith sat on the pole but it was Aaron Spangler from the outside that grabbed the early lead. Smith began to fade immediately and he quickly pulled off the track, calling it a night. 

Spangler led through the first yellow, which waved after just three laps for a spinning car. On the restart, two time winner Robbie Thome came from the third position to blast past both Boddie Parker and Spangler and take over the lead. 

Thome was probably glad that he made his move when he did as the race then really got bogged down with the yellow waving four more times in the next five laps for a variety of spins and crashes as the field was quickly diminished in size. 

Finally the drivers were able to put multiple laps in under the green with Kaden Woodie, last night's winner, moving up from the third to take over second. Cole Suckow was close behind with Parker and Jake Kierstad in the top five. 

Thome continued to lead with the best battle for second as Woodie and Suckow battled for that position. One last yellow produced a lot of concern for Thome however, as a two lap sprint for the win would see Woodie and Suckow right up behind him. As Thome took off, Suckow claimed the second spot and he charged right up behind Thome, going for the win. Going into turn three, Suckow threw a slider and moved under Thome for the lead but Thome wisely waited him out, crossed under him after he slid by and then drove home for the win, with Suckow's effort a good one but he still settled for second to the multi feature winner. Woodie settled for third with Rob Gallaher and Kade Dimick finishing off the top five. It was a rough race, with just fourteen drivers, half the starting field, still on the track at the finish. 

The final race of the IMCA Winter Nationals was the Modified feature and it was a good one. Run for twenty five laps, this race went green to checkers and produced a spectacular battle for the win between Dylan Thornton and Brandon Beckendorf. They started on the front row, side by side, and their battle would continue throughout the race, made even more spectacular by the fact that as they battled with each other, they also had to deal with much lapped traffic as there were still twenty four drivers on the track at the finish of the event. 

They were both running the high side of the speedway and as they approached the corners, lap after lap, Beckendorf would try to nose under Thornton, several times leaving the corners side by side but each time Thornton managed to hold of the Minnesota driver. Thornton was scored the leader of all laps, but that statistic would be a bit misleading as they spent much time side by side. 

Jeremy Mills was third at the halfway point but he was soon overtaken by Troy Morris III who seemed to be the fastest car on the track during the  last half of the race. With the leaders hung up badly in heavy traffic during the last few laps, Morris III moved right in on them to produce a three car battle with Morris III looking to steal the win. 

The move of the race was produced by Thornton as the leaders saw the white flag when he somehow managed to slip past Spencer Wilson and Brady Bjella, both slower cars, quicker than Beckendorf was able to and that gave him just enough of an edge to take the checkers with both Beckendorf and Morris III close behind. Mills would settle for fourth and Kollin Hibson scooted past Ethan Braaksma on the final lap for fifth. 

The point champions for the series included Braaksma in the Modifieds, Williams in the Stock Cars, Dustin White in the Sport Mods and Richards in the Hobby Stocks. 

The final night seemed to produce more crashes than perhaps the rest of the week combined and "The Hook" wrecker crew, led by "The Cowboy", was very busy with two double hooks required on this night. Perhaps the most spectacular crash on the night involved Brandyn Johnson as the Sport Mod driver jumped the inside berm on the back chute, slamming into a ute tire protecting a light pole so hard he knocked several of the lights off the pole, badly damaging his race car. 

Among the other bad luck victims on Saturday was Elijah Zevenbergen who after fixing his badly damaged Stock Car after a roll over earlier in the week, managed to blow the guts out of his motor during racing action on Saturday. And even though it was the finale of a long eight race mini series, there were a dozen drivers on Saturday that made their first runs of the week. 

This mini series, which moved to Central Arizona Raceway this year under the direction of Brad Whitfield after Cocopah Speedway in Yuma, where it was previously held, was closed, seemed to have a very successful run for the last two weeks. Car counts seemed very comparable to what was presented at Cocopah and the crowds, at least from my perspective, seemed much larger than any produced at Yuma. I believe the proximity of this track to the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas certainly has something to do with that. 

Obviously Whitfield must have been happy with the results here, as dates for next year's event were already announced on Saturday. The IMCA TV Winter Nationals in 2026 will be held on Jan. 6-17. 

Thanks go out to Whitfield and his entire crew for their help and hard work during this grueling two weeks of racing. But their work is only half done. Many are excited for the return of the Late Models to CAR and they will take center stage for the next two weeks, with six races scheduled for the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw on Jan 22-25 and Jan 29-Feb. 1. Along with the Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods with race along with the B Mods and WISSOTA Super Stocks as many drivers that were not in action for the last two weeks will invade Arizona from their Midwestern bases. 

Check Central Arizona Raceway face book page for more information. 

Johnson Gets First Mod Main as Controversy Clouds Winter Nationals

 A second week high of twenty hundred and thirty drivers gathered at the Central Arizona Raceway for round number seven of the IMCA TV Winter Nationals on another sunny but cool January day on Friday, January 17th. 

There were plenty of fireworks during the Friday night show, culminating in a clash that involved the top four drivers in the Modified feature and provided the opportunity for Montana driver Tate Johnson to win his first ever Modified feature. Chaz Baca Jr. made up for coming up short in the Modified main by winning the Stock Car feature, Kaden Woodie shook off the back luck that had plagued him this week to dominate the Sport Mod feature while Dillon Richards continued his own domination of the Hobby Stock division, winning for the seventh time over the two week span of this mini series. 

Once again, the pit area before the show was a bee hive of activity as more teams raced the clock to repair damage inflicted during Thursday night's event and once again, they managed to amaze me and others with what they were able to do to keep their cars racing. Remember Elijah Zevenbergen, who was right in the middle of the gigantic Stock Car mess last night? The crew managed to get that car fixed and he was ready to race once again on Friday, even winning a heat race. Also having major damage in that same crash were Jake Archibald and Doug Holzmeister and both of them also returned to action on Friday. 

One driver that I got to talk to in the pits before the show was Dylan Thornton. Many of the Modified drivers are keeping an eye on his progress and success this week as I was told that he is the only Modified driver running the new spec engine that is a new option for the Modifieds in IMCA this year. Based on his progress and success this week, it seems like he will not be the only on using this option on the track for much longer. 

He told me that this engine weighed more than the crate and extra weight on the front ends of these cars is a problem but that it had more horsepower and he liked the "snap" it provided. The motor is from Mid State Machine in Des Moines and he told me that other customers had motors on order right now. Thornton later would be right in the middle of the biggest controversy of the week during a wild moment in the Modified main. 

Thornton will remain busy over the next two weeks out here in Arizona as car owner Ricky Kay will be delivering his Late Model to race here for six more nights over the next two weeks. 

I also had a moment to visit with the two announcers that are calling the show here at the Winter Nationals. Chad Meyer tells me that he will be calling the action in 2025 again at his two regular tracks, the Kossuth Co. Speedway in Algona and the Hancock County Speedway in Britt. 

I subscribe to the only national racing trade paper still in the business these days that I know of and that is the Area Auto Racing News out of Trenton N.J. A number of their writers refer to a big wreck in their stories as a "Jingle" and before and after, that is the only time I have ever heard that reference for a pile up. That is until today, when Meyers used the same reference in describing a wreck. I will have to ask him about that. 

Jason Frommelt will be returning to his duties at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds again in 2025, calling the action there. He will also be announcing at 300 Speedway in Farley where I expressed surprise to him as I didn't even know that they were racing in 2025. He said that they will be running a few events and in particular, a big Stock Car show but not to the level of the event that they hosted with XR last year. 

The Winter Nationals is using an unusual format for the drivers when they draw a pill for their starting positions for each night. They draw a number and if they don't like it, they can pay another twenty bucks and draw a replacement number!. I know that there are a few events in Iowa and perhaps other states that do this, such as Darkside and MVG on occasion, but this has got to be the biggest event that I had heard of that does this particular strategy. And I can tell you that it has never, ever been done in my home area and quite frankly, I hope that it never is. 

The qualifying format would be the same as always and as the week progresses, the drivers are finally figuring out that they need to complete their qualifying heats in one piece and that there is no benefit to creating or being a part For that reason, the qualifying went smoother than it has all week with twenty three heat races being completed and the yellow having to be used only six times. Off course, the one spin rule that is being used in a life saver in situations like this, keeping the drivers moving and eliminating many potential stoppages. Also, the drivers, working with the Command Center, are doing a good job of getting off the track when they have problems and avoiding needless slowdowns. The heat races clicked off at a fast pace for that reason. 

The first major infraction of the week saw Modified heat winner Gene Kay disqualified after shocking the field with his victory when he failed to have mufflers on his car, a big no, no for this event. There would be another DQ looming ahead, unfortunately and it would be in the first feature race of the night, that being for the Sport Mods. 

Twenty nine drivers took the green flag for that twenty lap main and outside pole sitter Kaden Woodie got the jump on Dustin White, the current point leader in the series in this class to take the early lead. Early spins took out contenders Cole Suckow, Justin Erickson and Ryan Peery before everyone settled down and races. 

The last sixteen laps cranked off nonstop and Woodie put a big beating on the field as he pulled away quickly and put nearly a full straightaway on the pack. There would be no catching him but the battle for third was a good one as Boddie Parker fought to hold off Colby Fett and Taylor Kuehl. Parker was taking all kinds of challenges from those two but managed to hold them off until the final corner of the race when he went high and both shot past him for position. 

Unfortunately, Fett was disqualified later for a technical issue with Kuehl awarded third ahead of Parker and Payce Herrera. White ran second for the whole race and protected his point lead. Woodie has been having his share of bad luck in both classes he has been racing this week but the former snowmobile racer was not to be denied in this race. 

Everything hit the fan, as they say, in the Modified feature but the event nearly played to its conclusion before the fireworks. Brandon Beckendorf got a great start to the race as he blasted away from Ricky Alvarado early and opened up nearly a full straightaway on the pack. Before long, he caught the back of the pack and then he started to have problems.

As Beckendorf tried to negotiate his way through the field, Ethan Braaksma was on the move after starting fifth. He got past Alvarado for second when Ricky nearly went into the wall in turn four and then one lap later, he did it again as Thornton got past him also. 

Beckendorf was really showed down by the heavy traffic and by the halfway point of the race, Braaksma had caught him and began to search for a path past the leader. Thornton was also catching up with Alvarado and Baca Jr next in line. 

Braaksma continued to try and duck under Beckendorf for the lead but each time, either traffic or Beckendorf was there to block his move. Finally, with just three laps left in the race, Braaksma was low inside of Beckendorf as they raced down the front chute. Just as Ethan nosed under Beckendorf, Brandon tried to drop low as slower traffic was in front of him higher on the track. 

The two leaders touched as they headed into turn one and both spun broadsides across the track with the pack thundering down on them. Thornton turned his car sideways but clipped the front of Beckendorf's car hard and then Alvarado stopped to avoid T-boning Beckendorf while other took evasive action. 

When it came to lining up the cars for the restart, that's when things got controversial. Beckendorf was done with front end damage and Braaksma knew he had to go to the tail. Thornton, despite much of his right side body flapping in the breeze, was able to drive his car and he tried to get to the front. However, track officials signaled him to the back and he was not a happy driver. Neither were many in the crowd who made the most noise I've heard out of them this entire week. Whether or not Thornton stopped on the track as a part of the wreck I can't say for sure, but I didn't think that he did. He roared his motor and spun his tires before he did pull to the tail, only to quickly pull off after the race restarted. He would stop under the flag stand after the race was over to have words with both the starter and Jim Stannard of the IMCA office who quickly raced down to the flag stand. Alvarado tried to get his spot back but he was sent to the tail for stopping, even though he didn't even make contact with the two spinners. The lesson to be learned, don't stop for anyone's wreck, unless you want to be punished for saying your own equipment or perhaps keeping someone else from being hurt. 

After all this mess was sorted out and the top four cars were all out of the hunt, Johnson, having his best run of the week, inherited the lead as he had passed Baca Jr for fifth. Virtually the top ten runners were scrambled after this accident and it was assumed that Baca Jr would quickly pass Johnson and take another win. 

But not so fast! Johnson actually pulled away from Baca Jr on the green and easily drove home the winner, the first ever Modified win for the Montana racer. Baca Jr settled for second with Logan Drake , Reece Solander and Braxton Yeager completing the top five. 

Three lead changes highlighted the Stock Car feature with Baca Jr coming home the winner following a late race pass with just four laps to go. Chase Berkeley, a winner earlier this week, got the jump on Baca Jr to lead the opening lap. Baca Jr would get past Berkeley one lap later but Berkeley wasn't done yet as he slid Baca Jr one lap later to retake the lead as the top two ran close together. 

Bo Partain and William Gould ran close behind the leader but Shelby Williams was the driver on the move as he slowly cut his way to the front of the field. The race remained under the green with Berkeley extending his lead through the halfway point but then Baca Jr was able to pick up the pace and resume his challenge. With just four to go, Berkeley got just a bit high in turn four and Baca Jr was there to dive under him and take over the lead, just as Williams started to catch the top two. 

Two laps later a three car pileup in turn three slowed the race for the first time and set up what looked to be a fight to the checkers. Williams seemed ready to make his move at this point, appearing to be the fastest car on the track but that's not how it played out once the green reappeared. Baca Jr would drive away from both drivers behind him and control the last two laps to take the win. Berkeley found more speed and fought off all challenges and ended up in second ahead of Williams. Off the final corner, Jason Rogers made an outside move and drove past Partain for fourth. It was a nice come back for the Baca Jr group, as early this week they had to replace a motor that had blown up in competition. 

Can anyone stop Dillon Richards in the Hobby Stocks? There have been eight events for the Hobby Stocks over the last two weeks, county the Gene Freeman non point race on Tuesday, and Richards has now won seven of them!

Friday night he had to come from fifth on the grid and even suffered his first body damage of the week when a fender got bent but he managed to get to the front of the pack once again to claim the win. For all the world, it looked like Morgan Olmstead might get the win as he took the early lead from Braxton Eichelberger and put distance on the field with the pack running high up against the outside wall. 

Richards got past his main competition this week in Dillon Thompson to move into second and then closed on Olmstead. He may not have been able to make the winning pass, or it would have been much tougher but just before the halfway point, Olmstead got way too high in turn three and Richards was right there to drive under him and take over the lead. 

It was lights out after that as Richards pulled away and even with one late yellow to contend with, he dominated the rest of the proceedings to take the win. Olmstead got too high once more late in the race and Nathan Deragon was able to get past him for second. Thompson and Blake Luinenburg completed the top five. 

Saturday night the IMCA TV Winter Nationals will be completed with point champions crowned in all classes as well as another full show of racing.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Richards Dominates, Then Holds On To Win at CAR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Pierce, Strickler and Moseley Complete WWS Domination in Series Finale

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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