Sheppard First Repeat Winner at WWS

The first evening race of the six night series for the fourteenth annual Wild West Shootout at the F K Rod Ends Arizona Speedway was held on Wednesday night, January 15th. And for the first time this year, there was a repeat winner as Brandon Sheppard led all laps to earn his second straight win in the Late Model class. Other winners on Wednesday, both for the first time here in 2020 were Tanner Mullins and Zach Benson.

They still seen to be struggling just a bit with track prep this week with consistency and a wide racing groove the trouble spots. A combination of a cloudy day, the two hour later starting time and not much wind perhaps served in concert to provide a race track that was much wetter than it had been for each of the two previous events and it produced a lightning fast track that provided some hair raising fast laps but also made passing tough and proved to be tough on the equipment, particularly motors and driveshafts with seemed to be either going up in smoke or flying out on the track with alarming regularity.

A few new drivers showed up on Wednesday night with a half dozen new X Mods, some from as far away as the Dakotas, New Mexico and Missouri. A couple new Modifieds, from California and Kansas arrived and the most notable in the Late Models was Rick Eckert, who got to drive on this night after helping his car owner Allen Murray for the opening weekend. Steve Stultz, a local racer who had his motor go up in smoke last weekend, bought a car from Brian Birkhofer, lock, stock and barrel and was racing that car with a #78 plastered over Birky's #15. Justin Allen, Chad Olsen, Joe Duvall and Birky's hauler were among those on the grounds that didn't open up on Wednesday night. Logan Drake returned from California with a new motor in his Modified after blowing up while running very impressively on opening night. Later, during the course of the evening we saw the motors of Justin Rexwinkle and Matt Sparby suffer some concerning problems while Dustin Strand and Terry Phillips both lost driveshafts and Earl Pearson Jr was involved in a heat race crash that rocked his world pretty severely.

Promoter Chris Kearns made it clear at the driver's meeting that this night, as a midweek show, is most important to get done in a very prompt manner and attempt to reduce the noise complaints from neighbors, which are apparently getting more profound by the year. In fact, the rumors persist that this track will soon be either overcome by real estate development or forced into some sort of land use action like that simply because the complaints will have had success. I guess only time will tell on that matter. The goal was to try and get the show done by 9:30 pm, a hefty goal given that three classes were running full programs and the start time was not until 6:30 pm which they did meet . And in fact, they might have reached that goal except that they opted to move quite a bit of dirt after the Modified feature in an attempt to provide more passing for the Late Models. The amount of dirt they graded no doubt gave the Late Model teams pause, and while the groove seemed to move around a bit more in their feature than perhaps it normally would, I didn't notice any other significant changes that would have justified such a significant delay.

All three of the feature races saw wire to wire wins with the eventual victor having led all laps. However, that is not to say that the mains were bad shows as there was a lot of passing and fighting for position and even a couple threats to the leader, but no changes actually took place.

Sheppard started on the outside pole and took an immediately lead over Cade Dillard and Jimmy Mars. The later two battled back and forth for that spot while Ricky Weiss and Brian Shirley moved up also. Dillard would eventually secure the second spot and in fact he began to make some time on Sheppard until he plunked the first turn wall and was done.

Sheppard then pulled away on the restart as the battle was for second and that race for position allowed Sheppard to pull away unchallenged. He didn't even need "Joe" on this night as he would eventually open up nearly a full chute on the field. Mars and Weiss had a good battle for second with Mars flexing some strength at the end and taking the spot, certainly the highlight of his southern trip so far. Shirley and Chase Junghans, from twenty third, would complete the top five.

Tanner Mullins, 2019 NCRA champ, was up to the task in the Modifieds Wednesday, as he led from start to finish to win the main event. Truly, he was never challenged in the race as he was able to maintain a few car lengths on the field throughout the event. The star of the event, in my mind, was young Calvin Iverson, as the rookie Modified driver kept the heat on Mullins throughout the event and engaged in a great battle for second with Jake O'Neil.

As Mullins remained comfortably in front, Iverson and O'Neil went back and forth for second with O'Neil finally claiming the spot and although he settled for third, Iverson showed me much on this night. Also, his motor was smoking heavily all night , seemingly ready to blow at any second, but it held firm all night and they will now take the off day to figure out what is making his car into "old smokey."

Lucas Schott and Rodney Sanders battled back and forth for fourth all race with Schott fighting off all challenges for the position as somewhere Sanders has lost the edge that he maintained last week in New Mexico and is now searching to find out what has changed.

Unheralded Zach Benson, from Princeton MN, led from wire to wire to win the X Mod main event. Benson, relatively new at the sport but a strong runner in east central Minnesota, fought off challenges from both Josh Cain and Sketter Estey to take the win. Cain and Estey moved up from the fifth and sixth row to be the primary challengers to Benson after some wild early scrambling in the main event that created much excitement and changing of positions.

Estey would fight off Cain and then set sail after Benson and he was reeling in the leader as the laps ran down. A late yellow when Steve Muilenburg stalled set up a three lap dash to the finish but Benson hit his marks, was quick off the bottom lane and held off Estey for his most impressive win ever. Lance Schill had his third top five finish of the week and was joined in the top five by Troy Hovey.

The Modified field was down a bit for this midweek show but both the X Mods and Late Models maintained to the mid forty number of cars. I knew the crowd was a good one for the midweek show which historically is the smallest of the six nights and I was not surprised when they announced it as the largest Wednesday night crowd in the event's history. To that I say good for them. I'm happy that people are supporting the series and even coming out to the midweek shows. With good weather seemingly in the forecast, as opposed to at home where everyone is getting ready to break out the long handles and snow shovels. more records may be set this weekend.

"Joe" the Big Winner as WWS Continues

It was night number two of the fourteenth annual Wild West Shootout contested on Sunday at the FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway and the big winner was "Joe." While a relatively unknown figure in the world of dirt track racing, he made the move of the night to ensure the Late Model feature race would go home to his team. Other winners on the night would include Rodney Sanders and Josh Cain and we will talk a little more about "Joe" in just a bit.

It is only the second night now of the WWS but already the carnage is starting to add up and the parts and engine bills to the teams are starting to go through the ceiling. While it feels like the first couple of programs have been pretty smooth and clean, there have also been a couple of major crashes and a lot of engines that have gone up in smoke. At the current rate, there won't be a lot of cars left to finish off next weekend's events.

Let's take a look at a list of  some of the damages before we move on to the races themselves on Sunday. David Vennard, who pulled all the way down here from Canada to race his Late Model, was the driver to get on his lid during Saturday's show. He told me that he was just down here to get laps and had no allusions that he would be a serious contender. However, he also said that he didn't expect to get planted on his roof on opening night! They were stripping down the car on Sunday and with a new clip needed, they were planning on a trip to Tennessee to get the car fixed.

The other car involved in that wreck, the car of Iowa's Nick Deal, was having furious work done on it in the pits. The biggest damage was caused by the fire that started after the collision and the crew told me that all the wiring and hoses would need to be repaired. They had already made much progress on the car and they hoped to have it ready for the practice night on Tuesday.

The other driver who was involved in a wild Late Model wreck on Saturday was Jay Morris. They were also working feverishly on that car and would actually get it ready to race on Saturday, something I would not have thought possible based on the way it looked when I first arrived in the pits. In fact, Morris would late make the Late Model main.

Motors seemed to be a big problem so far with many going through the ceiling on this high speed track. Don Shaw, who was absent for the Saturday program, returned to racing on Sunday with a new power plant under his hood. Shaw actually missed the show on Saturday due to the fact that he flew back to Minnesota to attend the wedding of his dear friend John Seitz' son in Bemidji. But he probably couldn't have raced anyway as he blew a motor during the Friday night practice session.

It has been a tough early season for Shaw as he has lost two motors already so he has spent about a hundred grand to race for five to win! Sounds like federal government math. Anyway, he found a motor that he acquired from Ricky Weiss that had about nine hundred laps on it and was due for re freshening so he dropped it in his Victory chassis as he has temporarily parked his Rocket. The evening actually went well for awhile as he led laps in the feature race before he started to lose traction and he eventually dinged up the front end and pulled off.

His best buddy on the track, Matt Sparby, also had to replace a motor after blowing one on Friday night too. He missed the Saturday show to get that accomplished. He is a Late Model newbie and as such is taking baby steps in the sport so he uses a 525 crate motor in his car, which he replaced with one from Shaw's stock pile.

Other moves saw Duke Erickson replace a motor after blowing on on Friday and Kyle Beard also replaced a power plant. Beard later ended up getting stuffed hard into the wall in turn three.  Bobby Pierce switched cars to another of his Platinum series.

Matt Gilbertson's Modified looked like a lost cause when I passed by his pit but they were able to somehow get the car running in time to race and in fact, Gilbertson would later run strong and take a top five finish out of the evening. The carnage would continue as Fito Gallardo blew a motor at the checkered of his B Feature and would miss the main event while defending WISSOTA national champion Cole Searing would explode a motor in his X Mod. Scott Greer, who had a bunch of problems with his car on opening night managed to get rolling, only to get involved in an accident and tear his car all up once again. Cade Dillard had an eventful evening also as he broke in his heat, managed to scramble his way back through a B Feature even though he spun out once, but then dropped out of the main early with more problems.

After racing their Mods at another series earlier this weekend, both Jake O'Neil and R.C. Whitwell showed up on Sunday to race. O'Neil had his own open car while Whitwell caught a ride in one of Justin Rexwinkle's cars. O'Neil would have an outstanding feature drive, going from twenty second to sixth while Whitwell would be out early.

Now on to "Joe" and the move of the night. The Late Model feature would start twenty five cars after Jason Papich won the Dash and like his team mate Tony Toste did the previous night, Papich eschewed the grand for the win to start in the back of the main event.

The track seemed to have a groove that was moving around on this night as I think that most would say it was better for the racing on Sunday than the previous day. Shaw would take the early lead using the high side and would lead the first ten laps over Brandon Sheppard who was uncharacteristically working the low side. However, that line started to come in and when Shaw started to lose grip in the corners on the top side, Sheppard moved past him to take over second.

Chase Junghans was on the move and he raced up to second and was running close behind the leader. Ricky Weiss, after pacing himself early, started to make a move to the front and cracked the top three. Suddenly, Bobby Pierce started to pick up the pace rapidly as he was up pounding the wall where few others were racing at this time as most had migrated to the low side.

Pierce was coming up very fast as he got by Weiss, then Junghans and was closing rapidly on Sheppard as he all out, wall banging style, for which he is known, was working for him even though he was abusing his car to get to the front.

And here is where the race hero, "Joe", stepped up and changed the whole race. "Joe" is actually the pit crew member of Sheppard who wields the "sticks" in the infield and signals his driver where the competition is coming from and where Sheppard needs to be on the track. Just as Pierce was ready to make the high side move and blow past Sheppard for the lead, B-Shepp got the signal from "Joe" to move up the track and he did so just in time to block Pierce's run.

Now Sheppard was plenty fast in his own right, and with him now in the correct groove, he moved back away from the field and then drove on for the win. Pierce had used up his tires and Weiss was able to get past him and close on Brandon, but the groove wasn't quite wide enough in the upper lane that was now taking rubber and he settled for second. Junghans and Brian Birkhofer rounded out the top five. The discussion about whether or not drivers should be allowed to have crew members telling them where to race on the track is one for another day, but I think you already know how I feel about that. On the bright side, the thousands of dollars that used to be spent on a two way radio system so that the drivers could block each other has been replaced by a pair of yard sticks at great savings to the teams!

After a bad Saturday night, Rodney Sanders was back on point with another win in the Modified feature. He had a task early, as Travis Saurer was driving the wheels off his car early and fought off every challenge from Sanders in the opening laps. Eventually though, the dominance of Sanders came through and when he found the fast lane which was low in turn one and high against the wall in turn three, he began to drive away from the field. Lucas Schott and Dustin Strand bot showed again that they are tough this week with Schott smoothly moving up from eleventh to finish a strong second and Strand got fourth. Sandwiched between them was Tyler Wolff with Gilbertson completing the top five.

There was quite a bit of scrambling in the X Mod event that saw defending USRA national champion Kris Jackson the early leader. However, Jackson was receiving plenty of pressure from Lance Schill while Josh Cain was charging up after starting eighth. Jackson couldn't hold the bottom and Cain was able to slide under him and take over the lead.

Things got further jumbled when Jackson got sideways and Zach Benson, who had started sixteenth and raced all the way up into the top five, spun to avoid the sideways Jackson and was penalized to the rear while Jackson was able to keep going and hold his spot, not a popular ruling by the Minnesota delegation. Later Brock Gronwald would have to pit with a flat tire and Skeeter Estey would also spin but got bailed out by a ruling that called for debris on the track even though it seemed that debris was caused by Estey's spin that tore tin off another competitor.

In any event, Cain was not bothered by all the other goings on, and he finished off the win following a green, white and checkered finish. Clint Johnson very quietly moved up from seventh to take the second spot with Schill, Mark Smith(minus door) and Grant Hall completing the top five.

A new term was added to the lexicon of the announcing team on this night as several yellows were called for cars that were "over rotating" in the corners. I guess drivers no longer spin out in the corners, their cars just "over rotate."

In any event, the opening night pa system problems were solved and we could clearly hear the announcers and the race driver interviews and it is always a pleasure to listen to Ben Shelton on the mic. Drivers now have one day off from the action before another practice session is planned for Tuesday night (yikes, more blown motors?) and racing resumes on Wednesday night.

Shirley I Don't Jest; Brian Wins WWS Opener

On Saturday afternoon, January 11th, the fourteenth annual Wild West Shootout kicked off at the FK Rod Ends Arizona Speedway under bright sunny skies and cool  but tolerable conditions. Once again this desert bonanza for the racing fan would feature three classes of cars in competition with full shows scheduled for six nights over the next ten days with a racing format ideal for both the competitor, fan and for those looking for something in between where they can get their racing fix while also having a little "me or family"time folded in.

Racing would be the Late Models under no sanctioning rules but using pretty standardized rules including the harder tires, USRA sanctioned Modifieds and X Mods with each of the different sanctioning bodies running under their own set of rules with each competitor in this class declaring just which rules they are running under and then being 100% compliant to those rules.

Race Director Kelly Carlton made that very clear at the Driver's Meeting held before the first program today and I must note that Carlton runs a very good meeting. He keeps the meeting brief, only talking about those issues that must be addressed, explains things clearly and as opposed to all those thousands of Driver's Meetings over the years where everyone strained to hear what was being said over the noise of the pits, he was using a microphone and everyone could hear clearly. What a concept! Carlton also made it clear that one of the things that track officials would not do was pull fenders etc. during yellow flags and for that statement I almost ran up and gave him a kiss on the cheek! In my world there is nothing more frustrating than the delays when everyone decides to stop on the track to have a quarter panel or fender tweaked. Body damage is a part of racing and if a driver determines that it is bad enough to require attention, that is what the work area is for and that's exactly the way Kelly put it.

I was wondering what the previous weekend's events at Vado would do for the car counts at Arizona Speedway. and it appears that they really had no dramatic effect either for the good or the bad. About a dozen drivers that I would call true travelers are here in Arizona while the rest apparently headed back home to prepare for Arizona. A couple others may have been here except for circumstances such as Bloomquist's surgery, Moyer's crash etc. However, there were also a large number of Late Models on hand here that didn't race at Vado with an especially big group of Oregon racers on hand. In total, there were forty six Late Models on hand for the opening night, exactly the same number as there was for last year's show.

Remarkably, the car counts in the other two classes continue to remain strong despite a number of potential reasons why they should be dropping precipitously. For example, the Modified rules they run under here at not used at any track anywhere near this area with the closest tracks that run the so called "open rules" being in New Mexico and California and a look at the Arizona Speedway point standings from 2019 show that out of sixty one drivers listed in track points from last year, point champion Anthony Madrid is the only driver competing here this weekend! Yet the car count for the opening night 2020 actually exceeded last year's number with forty three Modified signing in to race.

The X Mods are much the same story. Only three of the nearly sixty cars shown in the Sport Mod point standings from this track are racing here this weekend, yet over forty of the X Mods, which race closest at Vado, are in the pits for opening night. A handful of local Sport Mod drivers are racing over at Cocopah in their six night series this weekend and that might explain why the X Mod numbers are down three from opening night last year. Truly, it might be time to examine why the X Mod rules haven't been addressed as even WISSOTA star Sketter Estey looked at the rules and feeling that the X Mods have a distinct advantage over the other rules packages, converted his car over from a WISSOTA Midwest Mod to an X Mod although it didn't work out for the best for him as he got passed by two WISSOTA  MidMods near the end of their feature on opening night. And the pay for both the Mods and X Mods is not that great over the entire event and as Estey said, "you have to look at this event as a vacation with some racing including, not as just a race series." In total, one hundred and thirty cars signed in to race in the three class program which is just about the correct number of classes for an event like this.

Track prep guru Johnny Stokes from Mississippi was brought in to help with track prep for this race series for the first time. Although the red clay tracks in the South are much different than the dirt spread over the Arizona desert, management seemed to feel that Stokes could help with the racing surface, which I have to say wasn't in need of improvement from previous years in my mind.

In any event, the track was quite heavy for the practice night I'm told and did get a bit choppy in the corners but it was considerably different for Saturday's opening event. It was drier and the lower two classes seemed to be able to race all over the track. However, it was quite top side dominant for the Late Models and despite moving a lot of dirt away from the outside wall following the heats, the Late Models still were "married" to the top side, making passing a bit tough but also making "slide jobs" available and at the very end of the Late Model feature the track started to take rubber. While the track may be work in progress, that doesn't mean that the racing wasn't exciting. In fact, the events of this night were about as wild as it gets with many thrilling moments and unfortunately a couple of grinding crashes that may have shortened up the field before some of the drivers barely got started. And for a third mile track, this facility really carries a lot of speed and is definitely a "elbows up" track which is always exciting for the fans but perhaps not so much so for the drivers. Perhaps it was just me, but it looked like the corners had been redone with the track just a bit wider and the banking on the corners slightly reshaped from previous years.

The format remained the same for this year's events with both the X Mods and Mods using the passing points formula while the Late Models remain stuck in the 60's as they qualified in groups of three and then raced straight up in the heats. They do start early enough here with qualifying so that the advertised start time of the event is not compromised but an examination of the heat races would show that while there is much passing and exciting moments aplenty in the lower two class heat races, the Late Models get in line quickly and a stirring battle for position is the rarity, not the rule.

Heat races and a couple of B Features set the race lineups for the three main events and on this night, it was one of three over the course of the series where the Pro Power dash was held for the Late Models that failed to make the main. Tony Toste pleased the crowd no end when he opted to turn down the grand for the win and instead would tail the Late Model feature, stating that "he came here to race, not to watch."

The X Mod feature was up first and it might have been the best of the three mains. Twenty four cars raced twenty laps and the main went nonstop, green to checkered. Sketter Estey jumped into the lead over Mecl and led most of the event, but he was receiving much heat from Brock Gronwald, who had dazzled in last week's Vado events too. The two Minnesota drivers battled back and forth with Estey using a lot of race track to keep Gronwald behind him.

There were also a lot of good battles farther back in the pack as drivers like Lucas Rodin, Cole Searing and Cole Haugland moved toward the front. Estey was starting to get loose in the corners as the race wore on and Gronwald was all over him. Finally, Brock got a good run down the back chute and slid up in front of Estey to take over the lead. In the last few laps he proved that he was the fastest car as he put some distance on the rest of the pack in his Lethal chassis. Near the end Lance Schill got past Estey to steal the second spot with the final rundown showing two Minnesota and three North Dakota drivers in the top five, all from the WISSOTA sanctioning group minus Estey who was not running their rules for this week. USRA drivers Kris Jackson and Clint Johnson filled out the top ten. And quite frankly, if is wasn't for the WISSOTA drivers and fans in the lower two classes, primarily from Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Manitoba, they wouldn't have much of a show here.

It was another Minnesota driver that won the Modified feature as Lucas Schott led all twenty five laps to win that event. While he led the entire contest, he was pressured most of the distance and an excellent three car battle that featured Jake Gallardo, Dustin Strand and Tyler Peterson kept the event interesting. There were four early slow downs of the action but the last twenty laps ran under the green and the four up front separated themselves from the pack and provided plenty of excitement. A lapped car at the end saw Gallardo make the right move as he was able to edge past Strand for second with Peterson and Mitch Keeter completing the top five.

The Late Models ran forty laps for their opener and it was Ricky Thornton Jr that led most of the event. He got the jump on Brian Birkhofer at the start as everyone fought to get to the top groove which was still racing faster for the Late Models. Mike Spatola made some bold moves to slide into second with Brian Shirley moving from sixth to third. Later, Shirley would take over the second spot and become the primary challenger to Thornton Jr.

A late race yellow flag would bunch the field after Birkhofer stopped with a flat tire and when Spatola bobbled on the green, it set off a wild scramble that saw several of the drivers loose some spots and some, including Frankie Heckenast , benefit.

Still, Thornton Jr was in control and minus a mistake, he seemed to be in control. Unfortunately for him, that mistake did take place when he got just a bit high in turn three, the berm sucked him in toward the wall and Shirley was right there to motor past him and take over the lead. Brian led the rest of the way and Heckenast made a strong late race move of his own to take second from Thornton Jr who was a very disappointed driver following the event. Brandon Sheppard made up much ground during the race to finish fourth after being the quick qualifier earlier, with Chris Simpson completing the top five. ''

With this high speed track, there were a couple of grinding collisions and several motors that seemed to blow apart during the course of the evening. Two separate incidents during a Late Model heat saw Illinois driver Jay Morris nearly leave the grounds as he vaulted over the wall in turn three but did return to the track. Later in that same event, David Vennard ended up on his roof after a collision with the car of Nick Deal bursting in flames as a result of the accident also.

Modified motors of Logan Drake and Tony Martin both blew spectacularly and Canadian Scott Greer was battling issues all night.

The show was crisply run off with the final checkered flag waving before 9 pm in front of one of the largest opening night crowds yet so it appeared that the previous weekend of racing at Vado had no effect on this event. One thing that this speedway has a crying need for is a scoreboard and it's hard to imagine that with all the major races held here including many USAC and other Sprint events that some business hasn't stepped up and sponsored a scoreboard so we could at least know how many laps are left in a race and who is leading for those that have trouble following the action! Also, the pa system was miserable on Saturday with Ben Shelton having been better off if he would have used a megaphone or perhaps put everyone in the audience on a speaker phone call!

Baca Dominates Mods at Cocopah

Night number two of the Winter Nationals for the IMCA cars was held on Friday night, January 10th at the Cocopah Speedway South of Yuma Arizona. And for the second straight night, while the sun shown brightly all day, once again as soon as the sun set, the temperature dropped and most of the fans were bundled up like it was a Midwestern opening night. But at least the sun had shown and with the wind much less by evening and the program moving quite a bit smoother than it had on opening night, it was not near as cold out by the time the last checkered flag flew.

For the crews in the pits, there was not the time to even consider the weather as opening night had been a rough one for a lot of the teams and there was some wild activity taking place as teams tried to get their cars back on the track for racing action after suffering a variety of maladies on opening night.

Among those that I witnessed was a motor change by California Modified racer Jerry Flippo and Stock Car driver Leslie Gill. Gill didn't even get the chance to race his Stock on Thursday night after blowing a motor on practice night but they secured another motor in Lubbock Texas, had it transported to the track and lashed it in their Stock Car so they were ready to pull double duty as they also were running a Mod. Others that were hustling just to get their cars ready and on the track as heat races were called to staging included Regan Tafoya, John and J.C. Parmeley, Javier Navarro and Ty Rogers.

Several drivers made their first appearance of the week including New Mexico Modified driver Dillon Hill who last week was running an open Modified at Vado and now was debuting an IMCA car with his Super Man design on it.

Car counts were remarkably similar to opening night racing with the exact same number of Modifieds drawing a number while the Sport Mods was up slightly with an infusion of new drivers from California and both the Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks were down slightly. One car that won't be action for sure the rest of the race meet is the Stock Car of Race Fisher. This car was sitting in the pits and I'm sure they are still trying to figure out how to even get it on a trailer. Involved in the wild two car wreck last night, the back half of the car is folded up like a cheap lawn chair and it won't be back on any race track anytime soon. With the smaller car count in the Stock Cars and a couple of more grinders taking place Friday night, track officials may have to make an emergency phone call and rustle up some more cars for next weekend so they have enough for a full show.

One driver that was missing on Friday night was Thursday night winner Ricky Thornton Jr who opted to attend the practice session at Arizona Speedway where he will get to run a Late Model for a six night stand that begins on Saturday at the Mesa area track so this class was wide open for the taking on Friday night.

A B Feature was needed for the Sport Mods for the first time along with a couple for the Mods while the other two classes qualified on the draw/redraw format for their main events. The track seemed just a bit better on Friday night with the groove being wider early and more passing taking place in the early going than on Thursday night. By the end of the night however, the surface did start to take a bit of rubber which made the Modified feature a bit dicey for those front runners trying to work their way through traffic. While the track was different the head starter was not, and it must be frustrating for those drivers that spin or other wise stop on the track briefly that while they are trying to get their cars refired, he throws the yellow so quickly that they are almost doomed to be sent to the pits for any heat race irregularities, particularly when this big three eighth oval provides ample time for spinners to fire up and go.

The Hobby Stocks were up first for their main event with all seventeen that were on the grounds taking the green flag. After Nathan Deragon took the lead briefly, it was Minnesota driver Tim Gonska who drove around him to take the top spot. Once in front, Gonska fought off challenges from both Josh Cordova and then Eric Knutson to take the win. Knutson made a late charge and closed to the rear bumper of Gonska but he chose to drive a clean race and rode the rear bumper of Gonska rather than boot him over like some would have done. Four yellows slowed this race but the last ten laps ran off nonstop. The "Alaska Squirrel" by way of North Dakota, Brad King and Scott Tenney would complete the top five.

The Stock Car honors went North across the border as Brendan Labatte scored a popular win. Chanse Hollatz was the early leader but Labatte drove around him to take over the top spot and then powered away from the field. The race took a decided turn early when Thursday night winner Troy Jerovetz got turned on the second lap and had to go to the back of the pack for the restart.

While Labatte pulled away from the field with the last nineteen laps going green, Jerovetz gradually worked his way back up through the field while settling for fourth at the finish. Gene Henrie, Steffan Carey and Kevin Roberts also finished in the top five.

For the second straight night the Sport Mods over tried the patience of the Race Director and after six yellows, their main event was cut by three laps and finished under a green, white and checkered procedure. Things started out with a bang as contender Tyler Inman was turned into the wall on the front chute and was out of the event early. Miles Morris, who started on the pole, built up a big lead early as the first nine laps were run off nonstop after the first yellow. He built up nearly a full straightaway lead on the field, but then it started to rain yellow flags and getting laps in was a challenge.

Meanwhile, Cody Thompson, who started seventh, was using the frequent slow downs to gradually work his way up through the field and by the time the race reached its midpoint, he was up to second. On the green, he drove around Morris to take over the lead and that was it as he pulled away in what ended up  being a seventeen lap event. Morris slipped up the track in the late going and Manny Baldiviez snuck past him for second. Rogers and David Pitt completed the top five.

Last up was the twenty five lap, twenty five car Modified feature. After a two lap side by side battle with Braxton Yeager, Chaz Baca took over the lead and that was the show as he put on a dominating performance to take the win and earn a grand for his run.

He pulled away from the field during an extended period of twenty green flag laps, building up nearly a full chute on the field until ge hit lapped traffic. Then things got dicey as his pace was slowed and Yeager and Tom Berry were both able to close up on him.

However, Baca showed great patience, going when the opportunity to pass was there but not risking anything and he soon found his margin built back up as Yeager and Berry battled hard for second, weaving through the slower cars. It all blew up on Berry though, as he pushed too hard in turn four and spun with only three laps to go and he then called it a night.

The final sprint saw Baca pull away again on a clean track and he drove home for the win with Yeager pulling in a strong run to secure second. Veteran Marlyn Seidler had another strong run in his Vanderbilt car and finished third, with Lance Mari and Bobby Hogge IV completing the top five.

The show went a lot smoother than opening night with not nearly as much time consuming track prep needed and the program was completed a full hour sooner than on Thursday night. The crowd was also quite a bit bigger than for opening night but that seems only logical given that no one had to get up and go to work on Saturday morning where as the predicted late night on Thursday surely kept a few from making the trip out. There were no repeat winners from Thursday night and it appears that the balance will make that hard to happen, particularly in the classes with more cars entered.

Different Ride But Same Result as Thornton Jr Wins Again

Night one of the Winternationals kicked off on Thursday night, January 9th at the Cocopah Speedway near Somerton Arizona. After a relatively small number of cars were on hand for practice on Wednesday, many more showed up on Thursday for the first full night of the six race series featuring the IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and the Hobby Stocks.

When all was said and done, the IMCA Mods, which featured the largest field of cars and had the highest purse, saw a regular winner of special events throughout the county win one again as Ricky Thornton Jr, driving a second car for Kollin Hibdon, led all twenty five laps to record the win. Other winners on opening night included Troy Jerovetz, , Shelby Frye and Josh Cordova.

But before the feature racing could begin, a lot of activity was ongoing in the pits early on this day. Missouri's Jardin Fuller blew up a motor during practice on Wednesday night but fortunately they had a spare so they swapped power plants on Thursday. Not so lucky was Stock Car driver Texan Leslie Gill who also blew up on Wednesday but without another motor, his car sat out already before ever getting the chance to even race at all. Later on this night Michael Johnson would swap a motor so that his Sport Mod efforts could continue.

One hundred and nine cars signed in to race on opening night with the Modifieds producing nearly half that field and only their class needing to run B Features before the four main events. While Track Manager Brad Whitfield and Promoter Benji Lyons had the program ready to go with the first heat race lined up on the track ready for opening ceremonies even a few minutes before the advertised starting time, the heat races had a tough time maintaining any momentum. The track was considerably different than it had been for the practice night, just another reason why many teams opted to save their tires etc and not run the practice session. It was dry and slick but with a strong wind blowing in toward the main grandstand, the track was slow to clean off and it took quite a while to clean off the racing surface. Meanwhile, it was heavy coat weather in the stands and unfortunately, the wind made it more than a little dirty for the fans also.

The Modifieds did the best job of maintaining racing action during their heat races and following quite a long track prep session, they came back to run two tough B Features which set the field for their main and then it was time to go feature racing. A one spin rule was in effect Thursday to try and move the show along but the flagman was so quick on the yellow that he didn't give the drivers much chance to move if they made a mistake so the yellows were not fewer in number, just more drivers eliminated from events quicker.

The Hobby Stock feature was up first and twenty drivers took the green flag for that event. Jimmy Robinson was the early leader but it only took Josh Cordova six laps to move up and then make the pass for the lead which would eventually hold up for the win. Late in the race Cordova was challenged by Brainerd Minnesota's Tim Gonska who had several opportunities to challenge for the lead. Each time Cordova would move up the track and break Gonska's momentum as Gonska would have to back off. One last attempt would not work and track champion Cordova would take the win over Gonska, North Dakota's Brad King, Eric Knutson  who move all the way up from eighteenth and Jason Beshears.

In victory lane Cordova admitted to being exhausted as he said the power steering went out on his car early in the race, making it a handful to drive. I wonder how sympathetic drivers like Parnelli Jones and A.J. Foyt would be to this as they drove Sprint Cars in long distance races without the use of power steering, but that indeed was back "in the day."

Not racing here on a normal basis, the Stock Cars had the smallest field of cars and after wrecking several of them during the main, one wonders if they will have enough to get through another five nights of racing. Troy Jerovetz led all twenty laps to win the main event but he had Steffan Carey literally beating on his rear bumper the last five laps or so, trying to get by. Carey inherited second when Chanse Hollatz suddenly dropped out of the race while running close behind Jerovetz. Gene Henrie, Andy Altenburg and Tony Hill completed the top five.

During the feature, a wild wreck on the front chute saw a couple of car very badly damaged and J.C. Parmeley tossed for rough driving as only eight of the starting field were around for the finish.

The Sport Mod feature had an even wilder finish. It was a tough contest which was shortened to ten laps due to multiple yellows as the evening drew longer and colder by the moment. Six yellows in eight laps was about as much as Race Director Whitfield could stand so the call went out to cut it off at ten laps. Shelby Frye had led from the start with tough pressure from Tyler Inman. Meanwhile, Cody Thompson, Chris Toth and Michael Johnson were working their way up through the field and coming in a hurry.

After the last restart, Thompson made  hard charge, passing Inman for second and closing on the leader. Racing into the last corner, he got way too hot in the turn and clipped the leader, sending her spinning, causing the entire field to scramble and total hell broke loose. As cars scrambled to avoid the spinning cars and race to the checkered, Toth came from fourth to cross the line first with Johnson just behind him but there was much sorting out to do before a winner was announced.

The ruling was that since Frye had the lead until she was turned in the last corner, she was awarded the win and based on the finishing order, it appeared that they scored the race back to the white flag lap with Inman credited with second ahead of Toth, Johnson and Miles Morris. Neither Toth nor Johnson were happy as they buzzed their tires upon leaving victory lane but truly it seemed the decision was the fairest one that could be rendered. Thompson, meanwhile, was DQ'd for rough driving. Not a very noble way for the defending national champion to kick off 2020.

Last up on the schedule was the Modified feature; twenty five cars for twenty five laps. This was a good race and saw the yellow waved only one time. Tim Ward and Thornton Jr battled early before Thornton Jr took over the top spot. Jake O'Neil raced his way into second and appeared that he would catch Thornton Jr but then Ricky found a quicker way around the track and while he didn't pull away from O'Neil, Jake couldn't close up any further either. Kollin Hibdon hung in there for quite a few laps in third but eventually Jeff Taylor, Bobby Hogge IV and Marlyn Seidler started to move up.

Thornton Jr continued to hold the top spot, O'Neil had nothing for him and Ricky drove home for another win in another different car. Taylor made a late charge to get third followed by Tom Berry, from sixteenth, and Hibdon.

Yuma Insurance breathed a sigh of relief as Thornton Jr, scheduled to run a Late Model most of the next two weeks, won't be a candidate to sweep and take home the twenty five grand offered for a clean sweep. Ricky may next be in Cocopah next Thursday which would be an open date for him.

Apparently IMCA allows a driver to switch cars in midstream if he has issues as John Parmeley wrecked his brand new Shaw Modified in a heat race and they then rolled out his old car, he started in the back of a B and he managed to qualify for the main event.

I should have expected him to be here but I didn't really consider it so it was a pleasant surprise when IMCA West Coast Director Paul Vetter showed up to say hello. He will be on hand for all three races this weekend.

The tribe is very busy right now as they are building a new convenience store directly across from the casino that looks like it will have a road that goes directly to the race track. They were continuing to work on the approach roads to the track right up to race time once again on Thursday.

Along with also being a desert track, Cocopah reminds me in one other way of Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track and that is the fact that fighter jets keep buzzing right over the track at all times of the day and night. For locals who live here they don't even notice it but for me it's either an eye grabber or if caught off guard, a "holy crap!" moment.

I'm told that the Yuma area averages only about four inches of rain a year, yet the scenery looking from the grandstand out over the back chute is about as lush as it gets. The crowd on Thursday was a bit on the small side but not unexpected I would guess and crowds should get bigger as the weekend approaches. 

Cocopah Kicks Off Winter Nationals

Wednesday night, January 8th, I got my first look at the Cocopah Speedway, located on the Cocopah Indian Reservation North of Somerton Arizona and near the large city of Yuma. This would be practice night for the Yuma Insurance sponsored Winter Nationals. This is a new event in its current format, with six races at this track over the next ten  days. A Thursday, Friday and Saturday night program of the four classes on hand will be held for the next two weekends  with activities such as another practice and a pit crew contest to keep things going during the "down" nights at midweek.

IMCA sanctioned Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks will be competing all three nights with this series being the first national, regional and state points races of the 2020 racing season. While the three support classes are receiving good money to race also, the top focus is on the Modified class.

Yuma Insurance, the presenting sponsor of this event, is putting some extra money on the line for the Modifieds and if one driver is able to win all six feature races over the next two weekends, he will receive an extra twenty five thousand dollar bonus! Five wins is worth fifteen thousand dollars and four wins will earn a driver five grand. This is certainly some big money but based on the level of competition that I saw at practice last night, it seems unlikely that anyone can sweep all six features, but then again, that's the fun of it to see if someone can pull off the unexpected.

All four classes practiced on Wednesday night with by far the largest number of drivers on hand being in the Modified class. Just over forty Modifieds took to the track for practice on Wednesday with drivers from all parts of the West and Midwest on hand. There were drivers on hand from as far away as North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, Oregon, Wyoming and Alberta Canada on hand making laps as well as regional drivers from Arizona and California.

Not all of them had  working transponders but among those that did, the quickest lap was turned by Tucson driver Jake O'Neil. Others that appeared very fast included R.C. Whitwell, Tom Berry, Tim Ward, Terry Hurt, Casey Arneson, Lance Mari and Justen Yeager. With all those and many others on hand, you can see that winning six in a row is going to take a herculean effort and probably a little bit of luck.

As nearly always is the case, there were a few drivers that appeared to have some serious issues during practice. That would include some heavy smoking from the cars of Marvin Mueller and Mike Magee while it appeared that the motors of Missouri's Jardin Fuller and Texas Stock Car driver Leslie Gill suffered some real serious issues as well.

For fans that might be interested, it was noted that Tim Ward and Nebraska's Hurt were in Rage chassis while Berry was sporting a Razor chassis for this event.

The other three classes also practiced but the numbers in those classes was dramatically smaller largely due to the fact that most of the drivers to likely race in those three classes are more local and probably didn't feel the need to have to practice in the same type numbers as the Mods. Also, there aren't nearly as many weekly competitors in those classes as the Mods and in fact, Stock Cars don't race here as a part of the weekly program so all in those classes have to be from out of town which would likely hold down the number.

It was noted that Stock Car drivers were on hand from as far away as Texas, Iowa, Minnesota and Canada with Chanse Hollatz, Troy Jerovetz, Andy Altenburg and Brendan LaBatte all pulling a long distance.

A sampling of the Sport Mod drivers on hand found Iowans Tyler Inman and Cody Thompson, both in Razor chassis, turning some of the fastest laps in that class. Inman told me he is just racing this first weekend as he has to fly back home and take some final tests next week and hopes to return for the series next month.

I am off to quite a roll here early in 2020. After not having been to a new track for two years, I have now visited two tracks for the first time ever here in the first ten days of the new year. And I might add, both tracks are first class facilities that I have seen.

Cocopah Speedway is built in the side of a bluff, across the highway from the Cocopah Casino which is also owned by the tribe. I was originally told it was a half mile track but it didn't look quite that big to me and in fact, the announcers for the practice night were calling it a three eighth mile which seemed just about right to me.

The track is wide and semi banked with also quite a bit of banking down the back chute which looks like it goes downhill all the way into turn three and then the drivers race uphill down the front chute, but my eyes might have been playing tricks on me in that regard. In any event, the track was quite heavy and fast for practice and while it did roll up just a bit in the corners as practice continued, the drivers had no trouble negotiating the track.

Just as last week in New Mexico, this track also checks off most of the boxes that you would want to see offered by a dirt track. The parking lot is huge, the grandstands are spectacularly large with concrete all over for easy walking purposes on sidewalks and the concourse area. The track has very good lighting and an excellent pa system for both the fans and in the pits. It has a nice scoreboard with VIP suites at the end of the grandstand. The restrooms are very nice and in one of the few tracks that offers such things, even nice restrooms in the pits and thankfully, no satellites necessary. The concession area is large and has lots of offerings.

I'm told that when the tribe took over management of the facility, they ripped out all the wooden spectator bleachers and replaced them with wide cement slabs and the seating is almost unlimited. Surprisingly to me, with the wide cement slabs, I would have thought that lawn chairs would be the hot "setup" here so I was surprised to find out that they are now allowed and it's simply blankets on the cement slabs. The cement slabs are wide enough that I would have thought they would be the way to go and you see more and more people finding spots at tracks to sit in lawn chairs, but chairs that have legs are not allowed here.

The pit area has been expanded since their last race last Fall and offers an interesting three tiered set up for the racers. The top tier is up on the flat surface and in line with the spectator parking lots while the second tier is cut into the side of the bluff with the lower tier in the valley just West of the racing surface itself. The parking spaces are all lined off and maximum use is obtained from the space they have, which was a concern coming into  this event if they would have room for all the competitors. Portable lights are everywhere in the pits to aid the racers.

This track offers a very scenic and divergent view of the whole facility from the hillside grandstand or parking lot.  Just behind the track is a cement irrigation ditch that is full of water. In fact, the track sucks water out of this ditch to water the track and parking lots. But on one side of the track, the terrain is brown with the earth cracked from the heat of the sun and across the drainage ditch the landscape is lush, with lettuce fields as far as the eye can see ready to be harvested and next to the lettuce, orange groves with the oranges turning color and nearing harvest also. It is an amazing example of how water can turn would look to be un plant able soil into productive cropland. 

Dillard Becomes Another New WoO Winner; Sanders Sweeps the Weekend

The first big race for Late Models at the all new Vado Speedway Park in Vado New Mexico wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with another three division program at the three eighth mile facility. This would be the day that the largest payoffs of the weekend would be offered in all three classes and the finale to an excellent weekend of racing with virtually all the feedback from drivers, crews and fans on hand being positive with their first exposure to this new desert land facility.

Car counts were down just a bit for the finale as a hard weekend of racing took its toll on some of the cars while a few drivers from a distance that weren't having the most successful of weekends headed home just a bit early. The only results of the slightly smaller field of cars were that there were one less Modified heat and no B Feature and one less heat for the X Mods. On a day when many people were anxious for a quick show, this was probably not bad news to them in any way as the slightly shorter program did in no way compromise the quality of the show.

Royal Jones rolled out a new Modified for Sunday after destroying one on Saturday night that also saw Monte Bolton head for home with damage while Don Shaw parked his Late Model after two bad nights and brought out his Moyer Victory car instead. The efforts still didn't click though, as he missed his second straight main event of the weekend.

For the third straight day, track officials and WoO adjusted the original race format and moved the Late Model Feature from last in the program to the first of the main event, a move applauded by virtually everyone on hand, no matter which side of the track they were located. Particularly on a day when the Late Model would be running a long distance, seventy five lap main event and with the early start time, it seemed very wise to run off their feature before track conditions could possibly be compromised by a lot of other feature laps on the track by the other classes. They also did have the track wetter than the two previous nights in an attempt to overcome this potential issue.

Late Model qualifying produced some surprises with some different drivers starting up from for the heat races, including Boom Briggs who stunned the crowd when the Pennsylvania veteran turned the quickest lap of the day. The heat races were bitterly fought events with much less give and take than was seen the first two nights with Briggs, Ashton Winger and Jason Rauen among those that made up the eight driver redraw for the top starting spots in the feature. Matt Cosner and Ivedent Lloyd took provisionals and twenty six drivers took the green flag for the main.

For a race that produces only one lead change, it was a much more interesting race than that statistic would indicate. The track was slightly different in character on Sunday with more drivers moving up the track as the top side seemed to be most dominate to produce speed. Brandon Sheppard out dueled Billy Moyer Jr to get the early lead but was challenged by Chris Madden and Cade Dillard as the latter two spent much time fighting with each other and swapping the second spot. Dillard was fearless as he hammered the concrete wall in his challenges of Sheppard who typically spends most of his races also trying to beat down the walls.

Madden suffered from electrical woes following a yellow flag and while he did get his car started, he was forced to the back of the pack which ended his chances of a win. A bad crash in turn four, the hardest by far of the weekend, saw both Billy Moyer Jr and Bobby Pierce go over and while Pierce was able to restart the race and eventually get a top ten finish, Moyer Jr's new Capital race car looked to be the big loser of the incident. Winger had the whole side of his car torn off too but he soldered on in the race.

Sheppard appeared to be getting just a little bit slower on the cushion while Dillard was picking up the pace and with about fifteen laps to go, the two leaders exchanged a couple of thrilling side jobs that had the crowd on their feet with Sheppard maintaining the lead while Dillard slipped back as traffic hindered his efforts.

It appeared that Sheppard had built up a good enough lead to hold on, that is until Briggs slowed with nine laps to go and triggered the yellow. Sheppard led the field back to green and he hugged the wall as he fired in turn four but it simply took him too long to get up to speed and Dillard cut under him, had a huge run and beat Brandon back up to the top in turn one to grab the lead. From then, he pulled away for the fifteen grand top prize and most importantly, his first ever WoO Late Model victory. Sheppard hung on to second with Darrell Lanigan continuing his improvement as she finished a strong third. Dillard became the third different winner of the weekend while Sheppard had to settle for his third straight runner up effort. Scott Bloomquist, suffering from a number of physical issues, really gutted it out on a demanding track to finish fourth and Ricky Weiss, who had to run a B Feature after winning last night, came from seventeenth to fifth.

What a great start it has been for the season for Modified driver Rodney Sanders as he won his third straight main event and swept the weekend. Once again he had to come from behind though as he started on the third row and used another patented charge to race up to second early and then stalk Bumper Jones for the win.

Jones got off to a strong start and had built up some distance on the field, but yellow flags slowed him down and allowed Sanders to trail him. In fact, several times Sanders was about to make passed when subsequent yellows allowed Bumper to hold the top spot. It was fun watching the "mind games" as Sanders took turns taking both the low and high side for the double file restarts and you could tell Bumper was trying to figure out just where Rodney was going to try him for the pass.

Eventually the dominance of Sanders took over and he was able to get under Jones in turn four as the track started to give out on the high side and most went to the bottom where some were better at holding the groove than others. Sanders then pulled away for a relatively easy win while Fito Gallardo got past Jones late in the race for second. Mitch Keeter and rookie Calvin Iverson completed the top five. Jake Gallardo used his dad's X Mod to finish in the sixth spot.

It was quite an eventful day for young Gallardo. Wrecks and mechanical issues eliminated both Jake's Late Model and Modified from competing on Sunday so he was left to borrow his dad's X Mod to have something to race. He did enter both classes with the car and his afternoon was quite an interesting ride. He did come from thirteenth to finish sixth while racing with the Mods.

Meanwhile, he blew by the field in his X Mod heat like the rest of the pack was on jack stands and won with ease. However, he was then disqualified for not having a rev limiting chip in the car. This set him back to fifteenth on the starting grid for the X Mod feature but he blew through the field nearly as fast as he had in the heat race. After Dillon McCowan and Greg Gorman battled for the lead along with Clint Johnson and Brock Gronwald, Gallardo made easy pickings of them as he drove past them and ran off into the New Mexico sunset.

The only question was whether he would be also able to pass the tech inspection and this time he got a green light from them as his win became official. McCowan, Johnson, Gronwald and Josh Cain completed the top five.

For the second straight day, the crowd was treated to a display of paramotors as the buzzed around the track facility before the racing began. A half dozen or so of them dipped around the track, dropping to nearly track level at times and dipping their way around the light poles and buzz bombing the adjacent freeway.

The early race starts were lauded by all in attendance and there was definitely something to be said about being able to complete a full three division program by 8 pm at the latest. The beauty of it was that track conditions weren't compromised a bit by the early start.

Many fans from far distant parts of the country were on hand for this weekend as it was the first true opportunity for Royal Jones and his crew to showcase their new gem to the world. Hopefully the numbers worked out for them so that this race weekend will become a staple on the racing calendar for the Late Models and Modifieds. The crowd was a good one on Sunday although I don't believe it was quite as big as Saturday night's throng. Thanks to Royal, Rue and all the folks at Vado for their hard work this weekend.