Smooth Jason Hughes Tops Opening Night at SOS

Greetings from Oklahoma. To be specific, the town of Ardmore Oklahoma and the Southern Oklahoma Speedway for the second annual IMCA Southern Stampede.

The trip down on Wednesday could not have provided a more stark visualization of the extremes of this crazy, so called early Spring that we are going through. When I left my home on Wednesday morning, it was minus eleven degrees and I have so much snow in my yard, I'm running out of places to put it, all at a time of the year when we should be seeing much melting and the first mud puddles of the year. The entire state of Iowa is still snow covered and one must get into Missouri to see bare ground. But then it quickly changes and by the time I am in Kansas, the ground is bone dry and the temperatures are in the sixties, straining to reach seventy. And before this weekend is over, in the overnight hours we might be treated to a severe thunderstorm here in Ardmore. Crazy would not be the word to describe the current situation. The way its looking, I'm sad to report that if any racing wheels turn in either Wisconsin or Minnesota before the first of May, I would be surprised which means that we are losing a full month, and normally a very profitable month, from many of our race tracks. And this would mark the second straight year where the weather has hindered the opening races of my area tracks by almost a month. Not good for the bottom line of some tracks struggling under the best of circumstances.

But I digress. Let's focus on the positive. And I'm positive that the weather is nice enough for racing in Oklahoma. Southern Oklahoma Speedway, under the direction of Nicki and John Webb, is in an interesting situation. This is a USRA sanctioned track but they also run around eight IMCA sanctioned events during the year. Tell me another track that runs what would be considered a full year's worth of programs under two different sanctioning bodies, with two different sets of rules and between two different groups that don't see eye to eye on much. I can't think of one either. But they make it work here and much of that is due to the huge fields of cars, from the two different sanctioning bodies, that are within a reasonable driving distance from here. There are tons of open Modifieds in the region but also IMCA type Modifieds too and the same goes for the support classes, so what they get is two interesting and divergent groups of drivers, depending on what sanctioning body they happen to be racing under for each event.

It is IMCA this weekend, and the featured classes are sanctioned Modifieds, Stock Cars and Sport Mods plus they threw in the SOS Econo Mods just to get more of a local flavor. IMCA TV is even here to broadcast the show with Bucky Doren on hand for that.

I have been to SOS a couple of times previously, all for open Modified shows but it has been at least a couple of years since being here. This Spring they made more improvements to the facility including adding some more track lights(likely to aid the TV broadcast) and put up some more speakers in the pits where I can tell you that the pa can be heard well all over the spacious pit area. About the only amenity the track is now missing is a scoreboard.

  SOS is listed as a three eighth mile track which seems about right, is very wide and medium banked. Scotland County Speedway in Memphis Missouri always advertises how wide their track is(and they are correct), but I believe SOS to be even wider and they race every single inch of the track here. they prep it to go slick early and it does, but smooth as can be, and there were multiple grooves for racing throughout the night. In fact, I would say that the heat races en total where perhaps the best I've seen in a long time with much three and four wide racing(and I'm not exaggerating) and several photo finishes.

There were drivers on hand from twelve states to race for the very good purse and the attractive three full nights of racing. Several that would be known in the Positively Racing.com area would include Kyle Falck, Blake Adams, Andy Altenburg, John Oliver Jr, Jesse Sobbing, Bone Larson, Cory Sauerman, and  Ricky Thornton Jr. The Sport Mods were Southern style so no northern drivers were on hand.

I did get a chance to talk to Sobbing who was driving a car out of the local area for a friend. He tells me that his back is as good as its ever going to be but that he runs some risk every time he gets in a race car because one bad crash could have some catastrophic results for him. He said his wife keeps asking him if he has ordered a new race car but so far he has not as he tries to distance himself from the sport, something which is brutally hard for him, given that he was one of the most prolific racers in the entire county at one time.

I also talked to new Stock Car driver Blake Adams from McIntire Iowa. Previously he had raced a WISSOTA Street Stock and he still intends to do so but the fact that so many tracks close to him race Stock Cars, he felt he needed to get one also so he will be racing under both sanctioning bodies with two different, but similar looking full bodies cars. He's got his eye on the Street Stock Little Dream race coming up the end of July at the Rice Lake Speedway in Wisconsin, where for its twenty fifth anniversary of the race, it could likely pay twenty five grand to win!

Car counts for the opening night of racing for the weekend were fourteen Econo Mods, thirty one Southern Sport Mods, sixteen Stock Cars and forty five Modifieds. The Stock Car field seemed just a bit short but the other classes were fine with more cars expected as the weekend starts. And keep in mind that they do not race Stock Cars here weekly so all the competitors must be travelers from other areas.

Race Monitor went out on them so they had to generate their own lineups, the announcer had to "wing it", which he did very well at by the way, and there were no official results so we were all scrambling just a bit. The absence of Race Monitor, however, did cause the only delays of significance all night as it took them a few extra minutes to establish lineups for the heats and then after the heats, the lineups for the B Features. Otherwise they were "spot on" as far as starting the program and keeping things moving.

Despite the fact that it was the first race of the year at the track and much was on the line for the drivers and they were racing extremely hard in the heats, those races went remarkably smooth with only one yellow flag in twelve qualifying races! That does not happen very often, even with the one spin rule which I believe was in effect. The B Features had only a small number of yellows to and three of the four main events were completed with only one yellow per race. Only the Stock Cars got a little more physical, triggering a few more slow downs.

The Econo Mod feature saw Trent Gibby get to the front quickly and he then led the rest of the way in  dominant performance. He was followed by Chase Vineyard, Mark Marr, Mitchell York and Jim Fowler.

The Stock Car feature was a wild affair. Oliver Jr took the early lead but then was passed by Falck for the top spot. Following a restart, Falck pushed badly up the track and clipped Oliver Jr which spun him out. Oliver Jr was out of the race and Falck had to go to the pits for a tire change.

Jeffrey Abbey then took over the lead and maintained it for the rest of the race. However, in the late going Gary Williams found a fast lane extremely high on the track and if the race had been a couple more laps in length, I believe he would have blown right by the lower running Abbey. Dean Abbey finished third, Falck fought his way back up to fourth ahead of Kyle Pfeifer. J. Abbey must have been in some tough races already as it is just the first week of March and his car already could use some new sheet metal as the number is almost impossible to read, due to damage and being straightened out.

The Sport Mod feature saw a great battle for the lead. Twenty four cars started the main and only one yellow was needed despite the fact that there was much close racing. Near the end of the race, Jared Baird drove past Justin Whitehead to take over the lead and he held on for the win. Don Reid Jr ended up second as Whitehead faded to fourth behind Kyle Robinson with Nathan Sexton completing the top five.

The Modified feature was a dandy with only a lap three tangle to slow the action. In the beginning, it was Jared Hoefelman and Jason Hughes throwing slide jobs at each other as they fought for the lead. They must have exchanged the top spot at least three times before Hughes settled into the lead. By the Modified feature, the top side was the dominant place to race but Hughes felt it was getting a little slow up there and he started running a lower line in turns one and two which seemed to gain him just a bit of an edge. Unnoticed by many was the charge of Ricky Thornton Jr. He started tenth and in all the other races, no one had made a move to the front as significantly as he was able to do and after fighting his way past Hoefelman and Chris Elliott, he closed on Hughes. With twenty two cars still on the track, as the race reached its closing stages, the two leaders started to get into lapped traffic which was problematic as the other cars were running the same line as the leaders. By Hughes used all his veteran experience as he made some outstanding moves to slip up under the slower cars and not give away track position as Thornton Jr hoped for a mistake. Ricky made one last power move around the bowl on the final corner but he came up several car lengths short as Hughes drove on for the win. Elliott finished third with Hoefelman and Anthony Roth completing the top five.

The final checkered flew at about 10:15 pm, even with the computer issues and a couple of tangles that took considerable time to clear. In fact, in one of them they actually had to remove the left rear wheel from Jeff Taylor's car to part his machine from that of G.W. Egbert.

I thought the racing was very good from start to finish with many close, exciting races and a top notch program from start to finish. I was very impressed and can only hope the rest of the weekend can stay at this level. We will have to squeeze in the Friday night show to beat some incoming weather but , cross your fingers, hopefully I will have more to report tomorrow.

Seibers Sits on the Biggest Stool at the Toilet Bowl

Technically speaking, I believe all the colorfully decorated commodes given to the winners of Saturday night's fifteenth annual Toilet Bowl at the Clarksville Speedway were probably the same diameter, but David Seibers' highly unusual trophy gave him special meaning as the winner of the Late Model feature. Only the top four classes receive these special awards so the Late Model, Modified, Crate Late Model and Street Stock winners all receive probably one of the most sought after awards in dirt track racing. And while no TP(not Terry Phillips) was given to the winners, in Seibers' case he received five thousand crisp dollar bills that could be used in an emergency.

Saturday night was another cold, cloudy and damp night at the speedway but Willliam Scogin was rewarded for his weekend persistence as a great crowd was on hand to see the second full night of racing. The decision to move the starting time up by three hours was a very good one with the final checkered flag waving just at 10 pm which would have made for a very late night otherwise.

Of course, the main reason that the program ran as late as it did was due to the  fact that after a very abbreviated four class program on Friday night, the gates swung wide on Saturday and virtually anything on four wheels was found to have a class that it could compete in. And rather than belabor you fine followers of this page with a blow by blow account of every single class and the winner, let me wind up the weekend by just throwing out some random observations and thoughts.

They were very lucky to have gotten the show completed as when I got up very early on Sunday morning to head back home, rain had fallen and i wasn't far down the road before the rain turned into snow. To say that the trip home was an adventure would be an understatement with the most harrowing part of the journey navigating a multi car pileup just South of I-74 on I-57. But I made it with all wheels still on the car.

The pit area was jammed to the limit for Saturday night's show and the reason was that the number of classes literally exploded overnight. From four classes, plus Mod Lites racing on Friday night, the number increased to a mind boggling ten classes racing on Saturday night! And apparently one class of small cars wasn't enough as along with the Mod Lites, they also raced the Dwarf car too. Among the other additions were the Mini Modifieds, Pure Mini Stocks, 602 Crate Late Models(apparently one Crate class isn't enough) and Pure Street Stocks. One hundred and fifty three "big cars" raced along with about twenty more of the "small cars."

The format also changed for some of the classes too. While the Late Models still just did a B Feature after the quickest eight of each of two groups were automatically locked in, the Mods, Streets and Crates(big engine crates that is), ran heat races to set their running order. While they were only six and eight laps in length, hardly enough time to do much passing, their finishes did set the running order for the mains so they were of importance.

And with eight classes of cars running group time trials, you can imagine that would take some time. And yes, you would be correct in that assumption. While starting a half hour late with the timed hot laps due to the fact they had to have multiple driver's meetings for so many different classes running under different procedures and it took a while to sign in so many last minute arrivals, it was two and a half hours after the first hot lap session before the first real race hit the track. However, no one in the grandstands seemed the least bit upset so I guess it's just what you're used to that matters. I've got to believe, though, that a first time fan who would have arrived just when things were advertised to start and then had to sit there through one hundred and fifty minutes of two to six car groups of cars making a few laps at at time would have walked out the gates long before the first real race started. In my part of the world, if a show started that far behind schedule the promoter would probably be hanging by his thumbs from the flag stand, but again, it's what you're used to that matters.

However, don't read into my comments about the organization of the program. Other than the delay with taking the first green flag, the rest of the program was moved along at a rapid pace with one race immediately following the previous one. It's just that it takes a certain amount of time to run off that many classes and as long as everyone has to qualify, it is going to take some time.

The Mini Mods were a most diverse group of cars. Abut half the field looked like Pro Stocks with full bodies and the other half of the field looked like open wheel Modifieds that had been freeze dried. But they were fast and put on a good shop. My word, there were also three drivers that towed all the way down from Canada to race in this class.

All four of the potty class winners started on the front row with three of the four starting on the pole. However, with the format that is used and a race track that was worn out from who knows how many hundred laps on it, the results were not surprising.

There were two double winners for the weekend. Ashley Johns won the Crate Late Model feature both nights and both nights he started on the pole. T.J. Herndon was also a double winner and again he started right up front both nights. He had a fright on Saturday though. After jumping into the lead, a quick yellow slowed the field and his car burst into flames as he dove into the infield. Apparently the motor back fired and caused a quick "flame out" that was quickly extinguished. He jumped back into his car and then proceeded to dominate for the win. The quicksilver Street Stocks are an impressive class with many nice looking and sanitary rigs.

On what was a cool, cool weekend, many tracks would have pulled the plug by midweek and the staff at Clarksville deserves a round of applause for sticking to their guns and getting in the entire programs.

Shirley Uses Traffic To Unclog the Toilet Bowl Backup

Friday night, March 1st, found me at the opening night action of the fifteenth annual Tuckasee Toilet Bowl Classic at William Scogin's Clarksville Speedway just across the state line in Tennessee after passing through Kentucky. Hard to believe that this is the fifteenth annual version of this race as I distinctly remember being here for the first annual Classic and it does not seem like it was that many years agao.

I have not been to Clarksville for a few seasons now but have been to a number of these races over the years with this race often being the first outdoor event for most of the drivers and many of the fans. Tonight the drivers were racing for trophies with tomorrow night's big winners getting the "thrones."

In action on Friday were four classes of racing cars, headed by the MARS/Schaeffer's Oil Iron Man Late Models running under UMP rules, along with the UMP Mods, the UMP Pro Crate Late Models and the Quicksilver Street Stocks, a new traveling series for this class in the South. Tomorrow the Iron Man Series will also co-sponsor the Modified class too. Mod Lites also raced on Friday but, forgive me Mod Lite fans, I did not do any "homework" on that class.

As I said, I have not been to Clarksville for probably three years at least, and I was pleasantly surprised to find some nice improvements to the track. The Clarksville track has been at its present location for quite some time, and was truthfully starting to look a little "long in the tooth." and with so many new, high dollar homes popping up all around the track, It seemed likely that Scogin would just continue to race with his track like it has always been until an offer to buy was just so good that it couldn't be passed on, and at that point the track would cease to exist and another housing project would pop up, eliminating the dirt track drag strip and other wheel event activities on the grounds. I couldn't help but notice that another housing project is under construction right next door to the track with the bulldozers on site already, laying down the groundwork for more new homes in this seemingly booming area where traffic everywhere has turned into a nightmare.

And while the eventual loss of the track is probably still an option at some point, that possibility hasn't stopped Scogin from making some nice improvements to the track. A new concession building has been built in turn one to service both the pits and grandstand spectators and on the other side of the nice sized building are new restrooms that were badly needed. A new high rise aluminum grandstand is now in turn three, replacing the old board grandstand that was getting mighty rickety. And aluminum grandstands now line the entire front stretch. These might have been in place the last time I was at Clarksville, but my poor memory fails to offer a definitive answer to that question. n any regard, they are a nice improvement over the old wooden grandstand that offered a back view of the pit area.

Car counts for opening night were twenty seven Late Models, twenty three Crates, twenty nine Modifieds and twenty six of the Streets, a class that more resembles a cross between Stock Cars and Pro Stocks with some nicely appointed cars with some rather slab sided looking bodies on them.

Track management and the sanctioning body threw a last minute surprise to the race teams and fans both when they highly modified the race program at the last minute. The posted order of events in the pits at the MARS trailer showed group qualifying for all four classes, followed by heats and B Features if necessary and then the main events. However, at the last minute they changed their mind and dropped all heat races. After the group qualifying they ran a B Feature for the Late Models and Mods and then went directly in the feature races, thus speeding up the show considerably.

At first I was a little "peeved" but as the evening wore on and it got down right cold and damp out, suddenly it didn't seem like a bad thing at all. Especially when it was 11 pm before the final checkered waved at it was, and it would have been much later given the likely yellow flag slowdowns that would have marked a number of features.

As it was, it was still 8:30 before the first race hit the track after the group qualifying was completed for the four classes. The first feature race of the season at Clarksville, the Mod Lites,  quickly brought on the first protest of 2019 as a pit crew member stormed the flag stand after his driver was put to the back on a restart for spinning out. It didn't take long to get back to the "happy days" at all!

Crate Late Models then hit the track with the main lined up with the quick qualifier on the pole. No surprise there. This event featured a twenty minute time limit but the drivers surprised and did a good job of racing, with there being just two yellow flags.

Of course, one of them featured more controversy as leader Evan Taylor, who had overtaken pole starter Ashley Johns and was leading a close battle as they fought through traffic, was clipped by a lapped car that refused to yield and Taylor spun, triggering a yellow. Taylor was eliminated with front end damage but for some reason the lapped car, feeling he had been abused by Johns, pulled up beside him under yellow and then slammed right into the side of his car, inexplicably.

Fortunately, Johns' car was OK and he was able to continue while the mindless back marker went to the tail, but only after he was "dressed down" in front of the crowd by promoter Scogin. The rest of the race went smoothly with Johns holding off Matt Cooper and Chase Walls.

Following next were the Modifieds with twenty two of them taking the green flag for their main. This one was pretty "cut and dried" as pole starter Allen Weisser led from start to finish with Tyler Nicely following pretty close, particularly in the last five laps after a late yellow. The Mods behaved themselves with only three minor yellows to slow the action. However, a pattern that was set early by the Crates was followed pretty much the rest of the night with after a lap of so to shuffle out things, everyone dove to the bottom of the wide red clay track and lined up. Fortunately, there was one "renegade" that chose to try the outside. Lucas Lee had started tenth and he went to the top right from the start, intending to live or die by running higher on the track. He was occasionally joined by Ray Bollinger Jr, who was driving a second car for Hunt Gossom instead of his own machine. Lee was able to gain ground on the high side in turn one but the other end of the track was slow on the top side and gaining ground was a slow process. However, he kept it up and eventually was able to gain some positions, particularly when the cars in front of him got bottled up with their tailgating.

At the end, Weisser led to the finish with Nicely's last lap attempt to go around him coming up short. Trent Young finished third with Lee making it all the way up to fourth and he was still gaining ground at the end.

Late Models were up next with twenty three of them taking the  green, including at least three provisional starters having earned their way in through some process that was unexplained. This race proved to be the most interesting of the night, largely because it went green for the vast majority of its thirty laps which allowed the leaders to catch the back of the field, and with everyone hugging the bottom, the cars in front started to have to make some choices on where and when to try and pass and that made the show much more interesting.

Allen Weisser led the majority of the first twenty six laps of the Late Model race as he was hunting a spectacular doubleheader win, having already taken the Modified feature. However, he was receiving heavy pressure from Robby Moses and a smooth running Brian Shirley was exhibiting much patience as he gradually worked his way to the front. The back cars were causing much trouble and it was exciting watching the top three as they tried to negotiate the track and get by the slower cars while still protecting their line.

Michael Despain  was on hand to call the Late Model racing action but due to a pa system that was not too powerful, about the only thing that could be heard that he had to say was the post race interviews of the top three finishers.

Things broke Moses' way as the Red Seas parted and he walked into the lead but Shirley was all over him. Then in more lapped traffic, Shirley made his move and dove to the front but Moses and Weisser were still battling for second in tight formation. Action, things got a little too tight and as Weisser tried to dive under Moses, he clipped Robby and spun him out. A displeased Moses went to the back and the last four laps of the race were finished.

Shirley held of Weisser, whose second place finish was severely tainted by the late race altercation and quick qualifier Josh Putnam finished third.

The Street Stocks wrapped up the evening with their fifteen laps main. Sponsored by Quicksilver, they had a bit more trouble than the other classes with more wrecks, more yellows and more DNF's than the other classes. However, T.J. Herndon, who started on the pole, led all the way and fought off Tony Cruse and Dale Nelson for the win. With Herndon's win off the pole, that marked four of the five feature races won from that position if you're keeping score, but no surprise due to the system used to set the fields and a track that was very much inside "hub" strong and very few willing to step to the top and work on that lane. Perhaps on Saturday with longer races set, this might happen.

In this part of the country, any fears to the contrary were quickly alleviated when  Bubba Vandygriff was announced as the driver of the #116 Street Stock as I just knew there had to be at least one "Bubba" in the pits racing.

The previously announced format for Saturday night's show included heat races but we will have to see if that actually happens. Truthfully, with four more classes scheduled to join the show on Saturday, I wouldn't be adverse to eliminating the heats from the program for another night since they're all about qualifying here anyway. Also, the program will be moved up four hours from the scheduled time, ostensibly due to cold conditions but more than likely trying to beat the rain which is supposed to arrive around Midnight. They didn't announce this change much and it was hard to hear the announcer anyway, so I hope that everyone is aware of this this and doesn't show up to find the program mostly over by the time they arrive.

Speaking of the crowd, it was surprisingly good considering just how cold and dismal the day had been. And track officials did their best to hustle the program off, staring the timed warmups just when advertised and keeping the show moving as best they could. 

Weiss Wins a Bizarre Wild West Shootout Finale

On a mostly sunny but cool late Sunday afternoon, the thirteenth annual Wild West Shootout concluded at the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway between Queen Creek and San Tan Valley. It was one final shot for all three classes for the glory and cash of feature wins plus point titles(and bonus cash) were on the line in all three classes.

With several of the race cars done for the week due to various mechanical issues and a few of the drivers heading home early to avoid an impending snow storm in northern New Mexico, the car counts were down slightly in all three classes. However, with one hundred and eighteen cars signing in to race, there was plenty of talent in all three classes and the only noticeable difference was that there was only one X Mod B Feature and one less heat for that class.

Like the Toilet Bowl in Clarksville Tennessee and a few other big races, the winners of the feature races and the point champions all receive some very unique, one of a kind, trophies that are probably just as valuable in the long run as the cash they win. Especially impressive were the whiskey barrel trophies that the point champions won and all three feature winners on Sunday got their pictures taken and they had the chance to ride on a pair of Wild West steers. However, only Cole Searing showed that he has the moxie of a Wild West cowboy as he jumped right on to his steer while the other two feature winners and point champions struggled to mount up.

Drivers and crews battled right down to the wire as they made every attempt imaginable to get their cars back on the track for one more race before everyone packs up and heads home. Austin Kuehl, who flipped his car wildly earlier in the week, surprised when he returned to run the Sunday portion of the event and Jess Brekke, who spent all day Saturday working on his car while he missed both ends of that doubleheader, got his car repaired and raced one more time, rather than head back to Devils Lake North Dakota raceless this weekend. Justin Duty missed the second half of Saturday's show with a blown engine in his Late Model. However, they changed it and he was ready to race Sunday, only to plow the wall in time trials and end his Wild West Shootout. Don Shaw, who swapped cars because his new car was just not up to speed and then lost a driveshaft in his other car, had more problems in qualifying Sunday and missed that chance. However, he returned for racing later and would eventually qualify for the main event.

Track officials called for the wheel packing to begin a little earlier on Sunday than scheduled, recognizing that many people hoped to either get home early for the dreaded Monday morning work call or to get on the road early on their many hour drive home. With the qualifying complete and everything ready to go, they called for the show to begin early and many of the spectators that cut it close to the scheduled 5 pm start, found out that they had missed the makeup Modified feature that was rained out on Saturday night when the first green flat dropped at about 4:20 pm.

That makeup feature race provided a great three car battle for the lead and the win. With Ricky Thornton Jr on the pole, one would assume that if he could keep his car running, he would be the favorite as mechanical issues have cost him dearly this week. However, while Thornton Jr did take the early lead, he was soon challenged by Darrell Nelson for the top spot and then soon after that by Rodney Sanders. A great three car battle broke  out for the lead, only to see Thornton Jr again bail for the pits as they were racing three wide. Later we would find out that his motor was running hot and he was trying to save it, a plan that would later prove to be the smart choice.

Nelson then edged ahead of Sanders and despite Rodney's best efforts to squeeze back in front, Nelson would hold on for the win. Dustin Strand, still using a borrowed motor after two of his own failed him this week, drove from nineteenth to finish third with Matt Leer and Kody Scholpp completing the top five. Strand's run was even more impressive given that the race went nonstop for twenty five laps.

Nelson has been impressive all week but Sunday he finally got that feature win, trophy and black hat that he had been desiring. Nelson is driving an MB Customs car that Jimmy Mars raced last Fall in some area  events in the Wisconsin/Minnesota region and sports and engine from Tim's Automotive Machine in Bloomer Wisconsin, a combination tough to beat in "Cheesehead" country.

The X Mod feature was equally impressive with a great three car battle for the lead right down to the wire. In the early going, it was Canadian Austin Hunter and Cole Searing going wheel to wheel for a number of laps as the front row competitors remained locked together. Eventually, Searing was able to edge into the lead but he had Hunter challenging on the low side in every corner. Suddenly, Carriington North Dakota's Preston Carr came flying to the front as he was driving a very aggressive line on the high side of the track and making it work as he quickly reeled in the two leader.s

While they were busy battling each other, he continued to pound the cushion and with a bold move, blew past both of them to take over the lead. However, lapped traffic would be his downfall as he got stuck on the high side of some slower cars and slid high up against the turn four wall, which cost him two positions. Searing took back the lead and held off Hunter while Carr was just able to nip Sketter Estey at the line for third.

For the second straight year at the WWS, Searing has had a remarkable week. Three feature wins last year during the series seemed remarkable but this year, against an extremely strong field, he even upped that with four feature wins and the point title for the series. And even more remarkable is the fact that he just drives this car for the WWS and few other specials while focusing his Summer racing on his WISSOTA Super Stock, in which he has finished in the top five in national points the last two years.

It was another good year at the WWS as the WISSOTA Midwest Mods completed the week by gaining the top eight spots in the main and if it weren't for the huge delegation of northern cars in both the open wheel classes, there wouldn't be much else to run. And the northern group also brings their fans in droves too.

Rare too was the fact that on Sunday, not only did the X Mods run a twenty four car non stop twenty five lap main, but the nineteen car B Feature also went green to checkered!

Thornton Jr's decision to pull off in the first feature of the afternoon and save his motor proved to be a good one when he was able to win the nightcap for the Modifieds and become the only double feature winner in the division all week. Early on, it was Tyler Wolff and Dereck Ramirez battling for the lead until Thornton Jr moved in to challenge them. Wolff slid high, Thornton Jr took the spot and then did the same to Ramirez to take the lead. Once in front, he gradually pulled away and even when Rodney Sanders raced into second, He didn't have anything for the leader.

A late race yellow set up a three lap sprint to the finish but Thornton Jr pulled away for the win over Sanders and Ramirez. Strand and Nelson completed the top five with their solid runs and Nelson claimed the point title for the week, a proud moment for him in his long and distinguished career racing in the Minnesota and Wisconsin area.

The finale was the fifty lap Late Model main event as the field all chased the fourteen grand top spot while Bobby Pierce could harvest another twenty five grand in bonus money if he could take the win. And after redrawing to the pole, it seemed like Pierce was indeed in great position to earn some extra bucks. After Brandon Overton led the first lap, Pierce slid under him in turn one and took over the lead.

He then started to slip away from the field as he was running strongly. Scott Bloomquist, who started sixth, was on the move too as he used his low line to drive up to second but he was still a ways behind the leader. However, it seemed that mechanical issues were the only thing that could stop Pierce all week and once again it happened to him when he suddenly slowed down the front stretch on lap twenty eight, trailing rear end lube from his car. A quick check in the infield by his father Bob and it was the end of the night for "The Smooth Operator."

Bloomquist inherited the lead for the restart and he quickly pulled away from the field. Ricky Weiss had made some strong moves as he came from eleventh to race into second but he had nothing for the leader. However, then the unthinkable happened which gave this race its bizarre conclusion.

Bloomquist had already taken the white flag and was racing down the back straightaway by himself. However, going into turn three, R.C. Whitwell had spun his car which slid up the banking and when Bloomquist couldn't get stopped or turned fast enough, he slammed into the side of Whitwell's car hard. Bloomquist was able to get his car fired, but it had heavy body damage but didn't seem to be affected otherwise. However, per track rules, if you stop on the track you automatically go to the back and Bloomquist, without arguement, went to the tail of the cars on the lead lap.

Weiss inherited the lead with only two laps to go and he easily held off Brandon Overton and Brandon Sheppard for the win with Chase Junghans and Jimmy Mars completing the top five.
While Weiss was happy for the win, he seemed more stunned than anything else in victory lane as did much of the crowd and the Bloomquist "haters" seemed to even feel that he was deserving of the win except for bad luck.

So, the Wild West Shootout ended on a strange note but the finish will certainly give folks plenty to talk about over the course of the rest of the Winter for those not lucky enough to be headed for Florida.

It was a late arriving crowd on Sunday but it turned out to be a very good one for a date that typically doesn't draw quite as well as some of the other nights. Overall, the crowds were spectacular this year even with the weather issues and this racing series continues to grow by leaps and bounds every year. Dates for next year's event were announced on Sunday with Jan 11th, 2020 through Jan. 19th encompassing the six race series and rumors that the event may move to another track next year seem to be unwarranted A special "shout out" should go to all the track employees who worked above and beyond this year as they battled with the weather issues to make this the great event that it is as well as track management and the promoters who made the best of what was handed them by the weather. . 

Dillard Gets Impressive Win as Pierce's Hopes Blow Up(Literally)

Track officials led by Kevin Montgomery and the track prep crew did a great job following the afternoon race number four of the Wild West Shootout as they prepared the track for the night show. With the afternoon event getting done even earlier than planned, the hopes were to be able to start the evening event just a bit earlier than scheduled but it did some extra time to get the track ready for the evening race as they did some pretty major excavation to the surface which had to endure a tough afternoon of racing on it.

So, racing did not begin until just at the original advertised time of 6 pm, even though they had hopes to start perhaps up to an hour earlier than that. In retrospect, the hour difference would turn out to be huge later as events played out. It was not enough that the promoters had to worry about all the issues involved with the doubleheader program but now an additional monkey wrench was thrown into the works as rain was on the way. Seriously!!! What has happened to the sunny, warm weather that this event used to be graced by as rain as caused multiple problems for this series over the least couple of years. It's not supposed to rain in the desert, is it?

In any event, forty five X Mods, forty six Mods and forty three Late Models signed in to race on Saturday night with several casualties over the course of the week now being eliminated from competition for various reasons. And a couple of entries would be missing Saturday night racing as they made repairs for one last shot on Sunday.

Once again Bobby Pierce was quickest overall qualifier and would set the pace for his heat race which is certainly one of the keys to his success so far this week. The X Mods and Mods would go back to a draw/passing points format for the evening show with only the fender cars qualifying.

Heat races clicked off quite nicely and things were moving along at a smooth pace as the qualifying events continued. The track started to narrow up and the racing was somewhat uneventful. That is, until the water truck came out and misted the upper groove and that immediately opened things up and improved the racing exponentially, making for some very interesting . In fact, the second X Mod B Feature, won by Sketter Estey, may have been one of the best races of the entire week.

So things looked optimistic as the main events started. It was early, the track appeared fast and it looked like some good main events were on tap.

And then it happened. Just as the X Mod feature started, it started to rain. Light at first, it never truly was more than a hard mist for most of the time. The X Mods tried to race their way through it but the track started to get slick and after six yellows in the first six laps, they were finally forced to throw a yellow flag for conditions. I felt sorry for the X Mods and they continued to circle the track for what it seemed like forever. It was raining just enough to make the track  too slick to race on but wasn't truly what you would call a real rain either. So on and on the X Mods went, until they finally waved them to the infield. They almost got started once but just as they were ready to chase the maintenance vehicles off the track, the intensity picked up just a notch again. Finally they sent the X Mods to the pits.

Still we waited, as management was intent on getting the races in and after about forty five minutes of delays, during which many in the stands headed to their vehicles in the parking lot, the cars were called back on to the track to continue. The early scrambles of yellows had shook up the running order and by the time they got racing again, it was Cole Searing who had taken the lead. He was chased by Josh Cain but Searing was strong and never gave up his command of the event as he became a repeat winner this week. Skyler Smith had another strong run as he finished a strong third with the other #16 of Jason VandeKamp next in line and Steve Muilenburg completed the top five.

After a rushed victory lane ceremony the Late Models rolled on to the track. By this time the wind, which seems to switch directions at a moments notice out here, was blowing strongly right into the grandstand and watching the Late Models was a miserable experience with most fans huddled under their hoods, hats or other protective devises.

This was a potential money night for Pierce, as he was on track for his fourth feature win of the week which would have put him in line for a significant bonus and also bettered his chances for a weekend sweep. Pierce quickly grabbed the lead from Jimmy Mars and he looked to be in good shape early. He maintained a slight lead as he led Cade Dillard with Scott Bloomquist moving up to third.

Pierce's night turned into a nightmare as he blew a tire heading into turn four with seventeen laps in the book and he rolled to a halt, visions of dollar bills flying away like resolutions dropped on January 2nd. Dillard inherited the lead and things really got interesting then as Bloomquist sized him up and looked for an opening. The pressure was on for Dillard as he negotiated his way through lapped traffic.

Two big moments came up for the leaders as the laps rolled off. The leaders came up on Terry Phillips as they raced down the back chute with Dillard going high and Bloomquist trying to slip by on the bottom. Dillard was able to get to the banking through in turn three and fought off the challenge.

And then, with just a few laps left, Chris Simpson slowed on the front chute as he prepared to exit the track. Dillard dived to the inside of him and nearly got run right into the infield by accident but he managed by inches to slip through. He controlled the last couple of laps as he drove home for the popular win over Bloomquist and Hudson O'Neal. Ricky Weiss and Brandon Sheppard completed the top five while Pierce was able to race his way back up to ninth.

It was a very emotional victory lane ceremony for Dillard who was overcome with the realization that he has just won his most important feature race to date.

The Modifieds were last on the card on Saturday night and they tried to get their main event in also. However, after entering the track and making some preliminary attempts to start the race, the rain picked up just a little and at this point, everyone was ready to call the long day complete. The Mods will run their main off at some point on Sunday along with the finale for all three classes, with all classes running for their biggest purses of the week. Ricky Thornton Jr is slated to start on the pole for the Modified race after missing the afternoon show due to changing a motor.

Interesting to note from Saturday nights show: Terry Casey made the Late Model feature in what has been his first week of driving in the last eight years. Also, Cole Anderson had his best finish in the X Mods on Saturday. Anderson is a former winner in the Super Late Models on asphalt and a former winner during Speedweeks at New Smyrna Beach in Florida along with being a ARCA competitor before leaving the blacktop as being too expensive and moving to dirt which he said is much more fun!!!

Afternoon Delight For Ricky Weiss

Saturday afternoon, January 12th was the first half of an unusual day/night doubleheader at the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway as the Wild West Shootout continued. Caused by an unfortunate rain out last Sunday, the doubleheader was the best way to get all six of the series events completed, giving the Late Model drivers a full chance to earn all the bonuses available for feature wins and also giving the Mod and X Mod drivers the maximum chances to race in this mini series.

However, it would be a very taxing day for everyone from the drivers and crews and fans to all the employees of the track who would be working some long hours both in getting ready to Saturday's doubleheader, having just raced the night before in a program that was one of the latest running ever in this series, to putting in all the hours during Saturday plus then getting things ready for Sunday's finale. It was a grueling day indeed.

Doubleheader events like these are rare indeed and usually created by some sort of weather phenomena although I can remember "back in the day" when some tracks would run day/night doubleheaders, often as part of a holiday event. Either way, they are fun but also stressful too.

The short turn around from Friday night's show had the unsung people of this whole enterprise, the pit crews, working ferociously on their cars to get them ready as the pit area was a beehive of activity. Many of the crews were asking each other when was the last time they were up so early in the morning on the night after another race! However, there was plenty of work to be done.

Another unsung group was the track prep crew who one wonders when in the world did they ever get any sleep at all this week? The track would have to be redone after Friday night's show plus extra prep would be needed throughout the day on Saturday with the demands to the surface from daytime racing. And then later in the evening the weather would throw another monkey wrench into things and even more stress would be placed on the prep crew for an entirely different reason.

Noted as I toured the pits during the morning was the fact that Chris Simpson had rolled out a back up car after his hard trip into the turn one concrete on Friday night. That car was just covered with a tarp and pushed off beside the trailer.

Also noted was the fact that Sketter Estey had repaired his X Mod after a wild flip on Friday night and that he would be back in action for Saturday afternoon's round. They told me they traveled too far to just sit and watch so they did the best they could to straighten out the car, which I'm sure will need more complete repairs at Mark Roine's TRC Race Car shop on Minnesota's Iron Range when they get home before they head to Humboldt Kansas to defend their B Mod title would last year. With only father Kelly Estey and members of the Jerry Vesel crew, who they shared a transporter with on the way down for help, they did quite an amazing job putting the car back together.

Sketter was hurting a bit himself as he felt that he either bruised or broke some ribs in the Friday night crash as he was more than a bit tender but he would later still tighten up the belts and go at it again.

The other two cars involved in big flips on Friday night did not fare so well. The cars of Jonathan Olmscheid and Austin Kuehl respectively, either got shoved into the trailer for the rest of the week or they loaded up and headed home.

Matt Gilbertson has proven himself to be the most versatile driver on the grounds this week. Reporting to "The Valley of the Sun" with just his helmet bag, first he drove the back up X Mod of Lance Schill to a fine feature race finish. When Schill wrecked his own car and took over Gilbertson's ride, Schill sent home for his Modified, which Gilbertson then drove to a top five finish too.

With Stoney Kruk taking over the Modified for this weekend, Gilbertson today took over the ride in the second X Mod from the George team out of South Dakota that Cole Searing has been driving for along with Brandon George in the second car. Once again, Gilbertson put on a fine show as he secured a top five finish in his third different car of the week with the only common denominator being that all three cars sported MB Customs chassis and that Gilbertson's own personal race car is also an MB.

Saturday afternoon's program would sport an unusual format in many respects. While the Late Model portion of the show was unaltered from normal, the Mods and X Mods would time trial and then both classes of cars would be split in half with no heats and two feature races for each group, started straight up from qualifying. This was done to help speed the show up, hoping for a quick afternoon program so that there would be more time for track prep between the two shows and for the most part, it worked out just fine and did save considerable time.

Things started out a bit shaky though as the X Mod and Modified drivers, many of them perhaps qualifying for the first time in their careers, needed a little time to "get their groove on" and figure out just how things were supposed to work. It didn't help when a water truck pulled on to the track right in the middle of a group qualifying session to do some track misting, not realizing that the group waiting to qualify was qualifying against the group that had now run on a totally different track! But eventually things were ironed out and the program started to flow better.

In fact,I'm thinking that next year they might consider using this format for the midweek show for a couple of reasons. The qualifying is something different for these two classes and something, that while I would dread to see it used too much, might be kind of fun for these drivers. But much more importantly, it gives every driver in the pits a chance to race a feature event and with the competition being so tough, there are a number of drivers that don't make a feature race all week. And this would be their chance to have a crack at it. I hope management would consider this for next year. 

Despite the best efforts of the track prep crew, the racing surface quickly became just what you might expect for day time racing on a sunny day. It managed to retain a wide racing surface for the first events but gradually got blacker and blacker with the low groove the preferred line. However, the racing slowed down considerably and so did the wrecks and yellows with at least two of the feature races going green to checkered. The lower speeds were much easier on the equipment and the successful driving styles were much different than at the previous shows.

With over twenty X Mods in each of their feature events, that would sound like a formula for disaster, particularly on a black and slick track. However, that was not the case at all with one of their two mains being a green to checkered finish. After having shown signs of speed but with mechanical issues plaguing him, Brock Gronwald, the "Brockstar" from Fergus Falls Minnesota drove to a win over this year's most successful X Mod driver once again, Cole Searing. Searing put on considerable pressure after Austin Ellis' bid to win the race ended when he tattooed the back stretch wall and Gronwald, who is "cushion pounder" normally, settled for the middle groove which teased Searing but he could never make a successful pass. Missouri's Steve Muilenburg finished third with Schill and Gilbertson next in line.

The non stop X Mod feature was dominated by New Mexico's Jaime Torres who started on the pole and drove away from the field, winning by nearly a straightaway over Minnesota's Skyler Smith, who just got into town to race this weekend's races as Matt Sparby brought his car down for him. Lucas Rodin, having a good week also, finished third with sore ribbed Estey next in line and Jason VandeKamp completing the top five.

The Modified mains also saw some different drivers grace victory lane. Perhaps the best drive of the entire day was carried out by California's D.J. Shannon. He started ninth in the first main event, the other feature that ran off nonstop, and he came charging through the field. Despite the fact that the track was pretty much low side dominant by the time the Mods raced, Shannon found a way to pass cars readily and charge to the front. Rodney Sanders had started on the front row and had built up a considerable lead but after Shannon got into second, he quickly closed in and Sanders was no match for him as Shannon blew past and opened up a big lead. It is very seldom indeed when you see Sanders with a lead like he had and then to be tracked down and passed. It was an impressive performance by Shannon. Joe Duval, who started on the pole, ended up third. Dustin Strand, who wasn't even going to race after suffering motor problems in both his engines, was offered a "loaner" motor at the last second and they were scrambling around in the pits until the last second completing the swap. However, he was rewarded for his trouble with a fourth place finish ahead of Bumper Jones.

Darrell Nelson started on the pole for the second main and it looked very much like he might secure his first win of the week. However, his car was just a touch off in the corners, enough so that Dereck Ramirez could get under him and then drive away for the win. Tyler Peterson had his Black Widow running well too and he grabbed the second place ahead of Nelson with Jake Gallardo and Alex Stanford completing the top five.

Of course, the big question in the Late Models was whether or not Bobby Pierce could win his fourth straight main event and harvest more of the bonus money being offered. However, that issue was truly settled early when, despite the fact that he held the pole for the first heat after being quick qualifier, he let Brandon Sheppard beat him in that heat. With track position being so important for the main, a third row starting spot would later make it hard to get to the front.

Speaking of Sheppard, he then redrew the pole for the feature on a track that started taking rubber in the low groove but he couldn't keep his car anchored to the bottom and Ricky Weiss was able to get under him and take over the lead. Once in front, Weiss led comfortably the rest of the way to beat Sheppard, Simpson, Chase Junghans and Pierce for his first win of 2019, a year in which much is expected of him. One only yellow was required in the race, for a medical emergency in the pits and surprisingly, only four drivers dropped out of the main, despite the tire burning exercise it turned out to be.

It was a quick show, just what management was hoping for so as to have more time to reinvigorate the track and from a spectator standpoint, a decent show for an afternoon event. There was no dust in the stands nor for the drivers, normally the largest concern for a day time race and certainly a better option than to just go with a five race series. For that the promoters should be thanked, as adding the extra race made for much more work for them. It should be mentioned that a big afternoon crowd was on hand and many more than I would have predicted, if asked. 

Pierce Continues To Roll In The Desert

Friday night, January 11th was round three of the thirteen annual Wild West Shootout at the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway and for the first time ever in the history of this event, a driver dipped into the rich bonus money offered as Bobby Pierce won his third straight main event during this Winter series. With the tough competition that this series draws, the bonus money seems like it would be hard to earn, and indeed it has been for the years that it has been offered with to this point, no one able to harvest any of the extra money. That is, until Friday night when Pierce cracked open the bank for an extra ten grand with his third straight win and he is now half way home to the quarter million dollars on the line if he can win three more feature races here.

Friday night is typically the night when the car count is one of the highest of the entire six races series and so it was again this year. A total of eighteen drivers made their first appearance of the series so far and both swelled the pits and increased the competition level. With forty eight X Mods, fifty one Mods and forty six Late Models, it was the largest car count of the week so far with the Modified car count even topping any night from last year's run.

The difficulty level in the Mod class was also ratcheted up with Kenny Wallace, the Gallardos, Jimmy Ray, Alex Stanford and Zane Devilbiss making things that much tougher to both make the main and to indeed walk home as the winner. With that being said, both of the open wheel classes saw first time winners to go along with the sweeping Pierce.

As far as updates on cars being wrecked from Wednesday night and efforts to repair them, here's what shook out. Two out of the three cars that flipped were back in action on Friday. Both Casey Arneson and Kody Scholpp got their Mods fixed and both made the main event on Friday night. In fact, Scholpp made one of the best drives of the night, coming from twenty second spot to finish sixth in the main.

However, the X Mod of Adam Unrau, the other car to flip on Wednesday, was literally junked. They stripped off all the usable parts and pieces, picked up the frame and literally threw it in the trash back behind the track so If you're looking for a starter car for the Mods, there's one all waiting for you!

In other moves for Friday night action, Don Shaw gave up on his new car and rolled out the car that had served him so well last year. After a rocky start when he lost a driveshaft in time trials, he was able to rebound and qualify for the main. Ricky Weiss also rolled out a second car to use on Friday and he finished just out of the top five. Dustin Strand, who finished a smoking second in the Modifieds on Wednesday did indeed lose a cylinder that wrecked a piston so he was on motor number two on Friday. Unfortunately, just as he took the lead in a Modified heat, he had more motor trouble and his night was done.

With bigger car counts, management did go to a double B feature qualifying format but they still only ran four heats in each class. That made for a dozen or more cars in every qualifying race of the night and with only eight laps and passing points being used for the open wheel classes, it makes the heat races pretty brutal and every driver's mentality is to go to the front now which results in some wild action but also some torn up equipment. In fact, the double wrecker tows had to be used twice in the heats alone.

Pierce's win tonight was his toughest challenge of the week so far. He actually had dropped back to fourth early in the race after starting on the pole but he was able to fight his way back past Jimmy Mars and Hudson O'Neal and then set his sights on the front running Kyle Beard. Beard was having a great run and looking strong but Pierce gradually reeled him in as the race ran a number of consecutive green flag laps.

Beard's undoing was when he came up on a lapped car down the back chute and he couldn't decide whether to go high or low around the slower car. Eventually he dropped to the low side but he killed his momentum and Pierce stormed around the banking and had just enough room to squeeze past on the high side and take over the lead. Once he got in front he was able to stretch his advantage to take the win over Beard, O'Neal, Brandon Sheppard and a fading Mars.

Rodney Sanders has started out a little bit show this week but he got things going again in a positive direction Friday night with his first win of the week. He and Ricky Thornton Jr battled in the early going as they swapped the lead back and forth until Thornton Jr's car lost power and he was done for the night. There were several restarts during the race and on each one Darrell Nelson would challenge but Sanders would fight him off each time. Nelson had to replace the rear end in his car after breaking it on Wednesday night but he again ran strong.

Most spectacular was Tyler Wolff who started in the eighth row and in no time at all was in the top five and still going forward. However, he lost control and spun in turn one with a trip to the tail of the field his reward. However, that didn't slow him down and once again he made a strong drive back up through the field. He made a spectacular move down the back chute between Nelson and Devilbiss to take over second and he maintained that position to the finish. Nelson, Matt Leer, with his best run so far with his new MB and Devilbiss completed the top five.

The WISSOTA domination of the X Mods was finally ended with a strong run by Josh Cain who led nearly the entire event for the win. The point champion at Las Cruces, Cain started on the outside of the front row and after a brief battle with Lance Schill, took over the lead and maintained it through several yellow flags. Schill, who put the front end of his car back together after clobbering the wall on Wednesday night was finally rewarded with his first solid finish.

Things went from back to worse for WISSOTA two time champion Sketter Estey. He was battling for second when he hooked a bump in turn four that rolled his right rear tire off the wheel and in the resulting slide, his car turned over on its roof where it was then clipped by another car passing by. It was a scary looking wreck but Sketter was OK. However, his title winning car from last year did not look good and his week of racing may have ended prematurely. As the defending champion of the big B Mod race in Humboldt, he will want to either get this car fixed correctly or perhaps put a new one together.

Cole Searing made a charge from twelfth to get to third and it looked like he might get his third straight win too, but once he got to third, he couldn't challenge any farther. In fact, he had to fight off a determined challenge by Austin Ellis to even claim that spot with Steve Muilenburg, from twentieth, to complete the top five.

Besides Estey, Jonathan Olmscheid and Austin Kuehl both went for wild rides as the open wheel cars had another tough night of it and the numerous wrecks drove the show seriously late into the evening; much later than programs here typically run.

Tomorrow will be a grind for drivers, crews, fans and track workers with a doubleheader event slated. This rare combination, the result of a rain out last Sunday, will see the first round of racing begin at Noon with the evening show to commence as quickly as possible so as to beat off the chance of more rain coming in on Saturday night.