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.
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