Davenport and Strand Repeat in Wild West Shootout While Carr is New Winner

 The midweek show is always the toughest for the Wild West Shootout. And so this pattern continued as the third race in this, the fifteenth edition of this special event, was held on Wednesday night, January 13th. 

The midweek show is always under the gun because of a very strict curfew and in an effort to rush things along as much as possible, sometimes some corners are cut. The poor X Mods get only six lap heats which is tough with big fields using passing points. Sometimes needed track prep is either not done or done in a modest way and sometimes it seems like they settle a little bit quicker on restart lineups when perhaps there might be some question as to their complete accuracy. All of this and more gives this program a feeling of a wild scramble without total control being exerted. 

However, the field of cars was just as strong as it was the past weekend and that is often not the case for the midweek show with one hundred and seventy drivers signing in to race in just the three classes with eight drivers turning their first laps of the week. 

The program format was exactly the same as the previous two shows as they had enough cars to warrant the four X Mod heats plus six in the other two classes. Double B Features wrapped up the preliminaries and just as they had done on Sunday, the Late Models hit the track first for their main event. Many of the spectators appreciated that on a work night plus it turned quite cool as soon as the sun set and it was just as miserable as an early Spring race in the Midwest on this night. 

The theme of the evening seemed to continue as the feature races were less than scintillating with not a great deal of passing and after the track rubbered up quite early in the Late Model main, the trick the rest of the evening was just to keep your race car in the rubber and make it hard to pass. 

For Jonathan Davenport, his great week of racing continued as he won his second feature of the series to go along with a second place finish and once again the rest was between the same two cars as he and Ricky Thornton Jr were the two dominant cars. However, while Davenport led all twenty five laps, Thornton Jr was not around at the finish after he and Brian Shirley got together while battling for second following a restart on the tricky berm in turn two and both cars would be eliminated from the contest. 

Tyler Erb made a strong run up through the field as for the first time this week he showed some speed and he was able to make his way to Davenport's rear bumper, following closely and hoping for a mistake. The action did get a bit spirited when Davenport tried to get passed a slower car to lap that vehicle and Erb made a bold move to the inside and tried to pass both cars. Davenport and Erb came together several times as they left corner four and no matter how hard Erb tried to push Davenport up the track, Jonathan would have none of it and fought off Erb's challenge. 

The rest of the way they ran in formation with Jason Papich getting a nice third place finish over Mike Marlar and Bobby Pierce who had gotten a piece of the Thornton Jr and Shirley tangle and finished with a badly torn up car that still ran good however. 

The X Mod feature saw several cars scrambling in a pack for the early lead with Scott Bintz, Cole Campbell, Brian Kakela , Preston Carr and Brock Gronwald all battling for the top spot. Carr, however, was able to find a hole and drive up into the lead but the other challengers were taking turns at the second spot as the shuffle continued. 

This race saw several different turns as a half dozen yellows slowed the action an it would seem that a different driver would move to the second spot following each restart but always it was Carr in the lead. Late in the contest Carr would get his severest challenge as Lance Schill would move into second and with a good run off turn two tried to get past Carr on the outside. However, there just wasn't quite room enough and the two made contact with Schill up into the wall and a broken front end for his efforts that ended his night. 

A six lap sprint to the finish would see Carr hold off a spirited run by Campbell with Gronwald finishing third. For Carr it was his first feature win ever in this series and his third strong performance in a row, despite that the concrete wall wiped out a good run one night. 

Speaking of a driver locked in right now, Modified racer Dustin Strand would be that person as he won his second Modified main of the series with a wire to wire finish. Strand, who is always very competitive in this series but has been plagued over the years by mechanical issues, so far has had none of that this year. He started third but with a great opening lap, drove past Fito Gallardo and Casey Skyberg to take the lead before a single lap was completed. He then led the rest of the way, always maintaining a few lengths over his challengers, no matter who they were. 

And he certainly earned the win as his most frequent challenger was none other than Rodney Sanders. Sanders tried every trip in his bag but no matter where he ran on the track, he simply couldn't cut into Strand's lead. Gallardo was also a steady presence up front until he slowed with seven laps to go with a mechanical issue. 

This set up a quick sprint to the finish and Strand was up to it as he put space between himself and Sanders and drove on to an uncontested win. Skyberg stayed right with the leaders and he now has had two solid runs with separate cars at separate tracks this week. Lucas Schott and Shane Sabraski filled out the top five. 

Of course, as most of you now know, much after the fact and long after the official results were posted, which is what I use to complete this report, Strand was disqualified for having and illegal right front brake shut off on his car. I would assume that he must have been "ratted out" by another competitor tired of getting beaten by him since this must have been overlooked by the tech people following his earlier win this week. More technical people than I would have to weigh in on whether this is enough of a competitive advantage to even make a difference but with some of the glaring issues relative to tech that seemed to have so far been overlooked this week, this decision has a bit of an "odor" surrounding it. 

All the pushing was successful as the final checkered flag waved just after 10 pm as much of the extra ceremonies etc were not held on this night, including the winners' riding of the bulls. The later starting time produced a quick track early with Thornton Jr turning the fastest time trial of the week to date at 14.535 seconds, the first of the three nights with the quick car under fifteen seconds.   

Thornton Jr Drives Past Davenport; Gillardo Wins Modified Thriller as WWS Continues

 Night number two of the Wild West Shootout took place on Sunday night, January 10th at the Arizona Speedway. The car count continues to rise for this mega event with seven new entries, several of which came over from Cocopah after their series concluded week one last night and one hundred and seventy three cars took the green flag for an event tonight, and that is with only three classes in action. 

A large crowd was in the stands for night number two and a very good one for a Sunday as quite often in previous years this race would be down some in spectators. Granted, it was not the gigantic crowd that was on hand for night number one but it was a very good one nevertheless and it would appear that this fifteenth addition of this race series will turn out to be the largest by far in event history, both in terns of racers and also in spectator participation. The weather forecast for the rest of the week is gorgeous and reports are that several more teams will show up for the next four races starting on Wednesday night. 

Among the racers we are missing this year is El Paso's Christy Barnett. While Sherm is again racing in the X Mods, Christy in just a spectator this year. The reason for that is explained by the large neck brace she is wearing as she has just completed the third operation on her neck. She is doing well and hopefully will be back behind the wheel soon. 

Quite an amazing story is Eleva Wisconsin's Calvin Iverson. Calvin is only three weeks removed from a ten hour heart operation that he recently had at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota yet here he is raced his Modified. And he is racing quite successfully too as he would finish fourth against a very stout field of Modified drivers later on this night. 

I spoke to Brian Osantowski before the program on Sunday as he was one of the drivers, along with Iowa's Logan Anderson, that headed over to this track after week one activities were completed at Cocopah Speedway for the IMCA crew. Brian raced here the last race of the series last year and feels that his car is capable of running with the X Mods. Brian was coming off a win on Saturday night at Cocopah and would later make a nice run through the field until a spin would effectively end his night. He is very happy with his new Razor chassis and has an aggressive schedule planned out that includes a race here on Wednesday before heading back to Somerton for three nights there and then zipping back here for the finale next Sunday. By the way, I spoke to him about the graphics and the inability to read the number on his race car mentioned here previously and he had already heard about it and planned to make some changes once he got back home to Nebraska. 

The race program would contain the same format as on opening night with four heats for the X Mods and six for both the Mods and Late Models. A pair of B features in each class would then set the twenty four car field for the mains. The Jeff Broeg approved B features would only continue to get bigger on this night with seventeen cars in the X Mod last chances, twenty in the Late Models and an astronomical pair of twenty six car fields for the Mods as their field grew to sixty seven on this night. At this point I think they are just too big and should be cut down into three races but that is just me saying and event promoter Chris Kearns is all about keeping the show flying and keeping it as compact as possible. 

The only change in the format would find the Late Model feature going off first followed by the X Mods and then the Mods. This was probably done for two reasons which would include allowing those fans that wanted to see the Late Models run but wanted to head home early on a Sunday night their chance plus it gave the Late Models the freshest track after it was "farmed" following the last B Feature. 

So the Late Models would come out to a fresh track and it would be the same two drivers that dominated the show on Saturday battling it out again for the win. Jason Feger would lead early but he was soon overtaken by Jonathan Davenport for the lead. Brian Shirley would challenge but quickly it was Ricky Thornton Jr who would power up to second and they would go at it once again, just like the previous night. 

Davenport was able to hold off Thornton Jr for a few laps but Ricky would slip past and unlike Saturday, Davenport would have no response as Ricky opened up some distance on the field. A late yellow gave Davenport one last chance but Ricky pulled away cleanly and won by a comfortable margin in what was a most impressive win. Mike Marlar would make a late charge that saw him get up to third and put a little heat on Davenport with Shirley and Feger completing the top five. 

One of the series most consistent racers running in two classes, Minnesota's Shane Sabraski, would dominate the X Mod feature. He would start on the pole and lead the entire twenty five laps and was never seriously challenged for the lead. A good battle for second between Parker Hale and Preston Carr was ended when Hale dropped out with mechanical difficulties and Carr, the Carrington North Dakota racer, had one of his best runs ever here in the Desert. 

Speaking of strong runs, Rob Moseley and Brennan Gave, with the benefit of only three yellow flags to bunch the field, made some of the biggest gains on anyone racing so far this weekend. Moseley came from twenty second to finish third in this main while Gave started even deeper, dead last at twenty fourth and raced up to fifth at the line behind Andy Bryant. 

For Sabraski, it was his seven hundred and fifth win of his amazing career, particularly amazing given that he is still a young man with many years of racing still left in him should he chose to continue in the sport. The reason he has so many wins is that for years he raced in two and for a number of years, in three divisions at the same time and was a big winner in all three classes. These days he limits his racing to his Mod and his WISSOTA Super Stock along with an occasional big money race in Randy Laage's Midwest Mod, the car he won with tonght. Even in a pandemic shortened year like 2020 was, Sabraski scored well over forty wins between his two cars, both of which if WISSOTA was keeping national points in last year, he would have won two more national titles. 

The Mods would wrap up the evening and produce the closest feature race so far during this series. And while Jake Gallardo would be scored the race leader for all twenty five laps, it was much more interesting that that statistic would make things sound. Jake did take the early lead but he was soon hounded by Rodney Sanders and when you have the defending USMTS National Champion putting the pressure on, you better race at your best. Sabraski would be only a few car lengths behind this duo as he searched the track trying to find a line that would give him an edge. 

Gallardo was pounding the banking while Sanders raced low and would try to beat Jake out of the corners but each lap down the chutes Gallardo would continue to edge back in front. Jake then switched lines so he ran low in turn one with Sanders on his bumper and would then race the banking in turn three while Sanders would try to sneak under him. 

Near the end of the race, the leaders would catch a lapped car and it would make the last lap a wild one. Hitting turn one, Gallardo opted to try and pass the slower car by going on the high side. Sanders looked for an opening down low and going into turn three, Rodney attempted to slide job both the slower car and Gallardo. He would accomplish this but then slipped up the banking while Gallardo made a cross over move and they tore down the front chute side by side. With the crowd on their feet, Los Cruces' Jake would edge out Sanders by less than a car length in a dandy way to end the night. Sabraski would finish a strong third and while this is billed as a Late Model special, the depth and quality of the Modified field produces some great racing every night. 

A correction must be made that my blind old eyes missed yesterday. They do indeed have a lap board as the board where they flash the time trial results for the Late Model qualifying is also used to count laps and post the top three in the running order. It is not great but much better than nothing and I flat out just missed it last night, so the correction must be made. 

Drivers now get a couple of days off before an open practice night and party is held at the track on Tuesday night followed by round three on Wednesday and typically the cooler evening temperatures and earlier setting sun produce the fastest speeds of the week. For those drivers chasing the grand posted for the quickest time trial of the series, this would be the night to shine. 

Davenport Opens 2021 With First Late Model Victory

 The fifteenth annual Wild West Shootout kicked off on Saturday afternoon, January 9th at the Arizona Speedway near San Tan Valley Arizona. This race, that started out rather humbly with the thought to give racers from all parts of the country something to do in the Winter and an excuse to get away from the cold and snow in the Midwest has grown at a huge rate, particularly when it moved here to the Phoenix area from its last home down in Tucson.  Tucson is a fun city to visit but the racing in that area has suffered over the years from some shaky track promotion which turned off the drivers and they lost much of their local fan base. It also seemed that many of the racers had more connections to the Phoenix area which also included the visiting drivers and their families and particularly the spectator participation has really taken off after the move to Arizona Speedway. 

So far this year it seems like the very early season races have all been big hits this year as it feels like both racers and fans have been waiting nearly a whole year to "bust out" and do things and that was reflected once again here this afternoon by the opening race which drew a tremendous field of cars and a packed grandstand full of fans. 

Car counts were very strong with forty six X Mods, sixty six Modifieds and fifty nine Late Models signing in for the opening night of action. The X Mods are a mixture of WISSOTA Midwest Mods, USRA B Mods and the Las Cruses rules for their X Mod class, which used to be the dominant provider for cars when the racing was held at Tucson. That is not the case any more however as that group is in the minority but their more open rules have caused things to become a mess in this class. You now see perfectly legal Mid Mods and B Mods but unfortunately a growing number are using this opportunity to "cheat" out their legal cars to X Mod rules with many now running tall spoilers and "tricked out" bodies that would never fly back home. This class is currently out of hand and needs to be reined in soon before it is perfectly crazy. I am told that next year Vado Speedway Park will be fully USRA sanctioned and then the X Mod rules will go away and perhaps some sanity will be restored as legal MidMods and B Mods seem to race perfectly well together without a lot of the other added sheet metal. It has gotten so bad that none of the local Sport Mods even show up and the entire field is made up of visitors so in that regard it is amazing that they have as many cars as they do. 

The Modified field is really a power house one this year with awesome numbers and quality perhaps unsurpassed for any previous series events. Every qualifying event is a battle ground for this class and certainly not one for the weak of heart. I do applaud that they use passing points here as opposed to the draw/redraw method which quite frankly is just not fair when dealing with large and balanced fields such as this one. At least under the passing points formula drivers have the ability to race their way into the main event, even if their draw is an unfavorable one. 

Of course, the Late Models could not be as progressive in that regard as they still are stuck in the  "old ways" with qualifying and then running the heat races straight up. But as long as we talk about this issue, it will never likely change unless someone comes along with lots of money for a series and brings along a few progressive ideas about making the racing more interesting, such as promoting passing rather than trying to discourage it. 

The Late Model field too is one of the strongest that they have had in years too. The World of Outlaw Late Model races next weekend in Florida took away four or five of the strong runners in this event but fears about the strength and numbers of the field in the aftermath of that decision were unfounded as there are plenty of the biggest names in the sport on hand plus a bunch of new and refreshing faces that have joined the field this year. All in all, there is just about everything that a race fan could want and that is whey this series just keeps getting bigger and bigger. 

Practice was held last night with I'm told blazing speeds attained and much money flushed down the drain also. At least two name Late Model teams had to change motors last night or today with problems already and folks, that's about one hundred grand spent to not earn a single dime! Late Model racing is definitely not a poor man's game anymore and that is probably why local and weekly racing in this class struggles these days. 

Qualifying events consisted of heats and B Features for all three classes. They like to move the program along here and thus the heat races and B Features are all jammed with many cars. Jeff Broeg would have been in his glory here with only two B's in each class which meant that most of the B Features had nearly twenty cars in them fighting for a very few spots. Difficult odds for most and also the formula for wrecks and such but it does help to move things along. 

X Mods came to the track first for their main event and it was two Minnesota drivers, Brock Gronwald and Parker Hale, from opposite ends of the state, battling for the lead in the early going. North Dakota's Preston Carr was challenging them on the high side until he overshot a corner, clobbered the wall and was done. 

Gronwald and Hale continued to press for the lead until they were joined by North Dakota's Jory Berg, making his first appearance at this event. He dove to the low side and was able to pass both his challengers for the top spot and then held on for the win. Several yellows slowed the action and following every one Gronwald press to repass, one time turning Berg sideways on the front stretch after contact but both raced on and Berg held on by a couple car lengths for the win with Hall followed by Shane Sabraski(running both open wheel classes) and Jake Smith. 

Here is where I get to brag just a bit as four of the top five cars and seven of the top ten were regular WISSOTA racers, the drivers that I get to see every week at home in the upper Midwest although winner Berg's car didn't look too much like it did at home with its big spoiler, engine cover and other somewhat radical looking sheet metal. I doubt that made the difference but that big spoiler probably didn't hurt. 

The Modified feature was dominated  by East Grand Forks Minnesota's Dustin Strand. Strand started on the pole and led the entire twenty five laps and he was strong from start to finish as he maintained a several car length advantage throughout, no one was truly able to press him and even restarts didn't bother him against the strong competition. 

Early on he was challenged by Tyler Wolff and Rodney Sanders and then Lucas Schott moved to the high side to take over second. It looked like he might provide the ultimate challenge but once he got to about three car lengths behind Strand, he just couldn't get any closer, no matter what he tried. Late in the race Sabraski was on the move and he drove past Sanders to get third and was coming on Schott when the checkered flag waved. Tyler Peterson rounded out the top five.

Once again I "honk my own horn" here as finishers one, three and five were WISSOTA weekly racers with five of the top ten also being from that sanction. 

"Super Man", Jonathan Davenport led all forty laps to win the Late Model main although he was under constant pressure from adopted Iowa son Ricky Thornton Jr from start to finish. Thornton Jr was all over Davenport, getting beside him several times and one time making a pass for the lead that was negated when Davenport crossed him back over before they reached the scoring line. Garrett Alberson had a good run early until he faded following a restart and Brian Shirley than make a strong push to get to third. 

Tyler Erb, Bobby Pierce and Mike Marlar were all slightly disappointing as they had strong starting spots but really didn't do a whole lot. Chris Simpson, one of those that had to change a motor, was steady in his charge and on the last corner he dove under Cody Laney to get fourth at the line. Laney was certainly the surprise of the event with a solid top five finish for the former Modified racer. 

Conditions are tough right now here in Arizona health wise and I was concerned right up to the last minute that this whole event could be cancelled due to the health concerns surrounding it. Masks are required both in the pits and in the grandstands and everyone was required to have their temperatures taken. 

They are serious indeed about the masks and I was told that security, after several warnings, told one team if they didn't mask up that they were going to escort them right off the property. The problem here is that this track is on government land thus all the rules of various governmental entities must be enforced. Someone with a "score" to settle against racing, the local track and their ongoing noise issues or any one of a hundred other reasons that makes a complaint for not following the masking rules could get this whole thing shut down. But still there are jack asses that roam the grandstands blatantly not following the rules and putting the whole show in jeopardy due to their own ignorance and selfishness. 

Opening night was a good one yet they will continue to push and try to get the show done just a bit earlier the rest of the week. It was about 11 pm last night, not bad, but with the early starting time I know that Chris Kearns and crew would like to be done just a little earlier. 

One thing that still surprises me about this speedway is that with all the big time races held here with sanctioning from USAC, ASCS and others, this track is one of the few around that doesn't have a scoreboard or at the minimum at least a lap counter. I can't believe with all the sponsor billboards at this track, some smart business hasn't yet caught on to the idea of putting their name on a scoreboard or lap counter.  

Knutson Remains Unbeaten in Cocopah Winter Nationals

 Round three of the IMCA TV Winter Nationals presented by Yuma Insurance was held on Friday night, January 8th at the Cocopah Speedway, once again under sunny skies and warm desert temperatures. While three new winners emerged as a result of the third straight night of competition, one of the big stories of the week so far has been the dominance of Iowa's Eric Knutson as he won his third straight Hobby Stock feature. And most impressive about the win was the way that he earned it, coming from the tenth row in the main event to get the victory. 

Other winners, all getting the first victory lane appearance of the year included California's Kevin Johnson in the Sport Mods, Iowa's Blake Adams in the Stock Cars and North Dakota Modified racer Casey (Deuce) Arneson. 

Things continue to roll along smoothly for this Winter series as they continue to break records every night in terms of competitors flocking to this "Diamond In The Desert" to race in January. The one night car count record only lasted for twenty four hours as it was broken again on Friday with one hundred and sixty four competitors signing in to race while the individual class record was once again broken in the Modified division as sixty six Modifieds from seventeen states were on hand to race. 

A tour of the pits before the races found that as promised, even though he was still and sore, Mitch Mohler Sr would return to Hobby Stock action following a trip to the hospital on opening night after a side slacking trip into the wall on the back chute, the result of a slimy race track that wasn't fully packed in yet when the racing began. and not only did Mohler return, he ran very well, running with the leaders throughout the Hobby Stock main. 

It was also noted that extra time was spent rolling in the track for the opening races of the night, which were the Hobby Stock heats after crashes resulted on both the opening two nights of action when the track wasn't ready for racing yet, even though the green flag was dropped. Tonight thoug Hh, eventual winner Eric Knutson was sent to the pits early after he inadvertently rear ended another competitor as the field tip toed around the track during the slippery opening laps(more about that later). 

Several crews made some unbelievable repair jobs to get their cars race ready for night three after the toll of racing back to back nights started to show on some of the cars. One driver, Stock Car racer Andrew Burg had the whole front end off his car but was one of the very few that didn't get it fixed in time and sat out the Friday night action. 

I also found out the heart breaking story on Alex Stanford, who appeared to have the Modified feature well in hand last night until he suddenly rolled to a halt while holding a commanding lead. It turns out that a minor wire broke on a connection for his MSD box and he lost all power when he lost his "juice." However, I guess it's not a minor issue when it ends up costing a grand in lost revenue. 

The race meet is starting to take a toll on the drivers or perhaps some are tired of having to deal with the same issues from some of their competitors but the gloves appear to have come off as the driving in some  of the classes started to get a bit rougher on Friday night and tempers appear to be shorter as a number of drivers were venting their feelings toward competitors as the result of several incidents, most that saw other competitors planted into the concrete. Most riled appeared to be the Sport Mod drivers with a couple venting their frustrations toward fellow drivers after collisions that saw contending cars go off on the hook following some aggressive racing by both sides. 

The top winner of the week so far has been Knutson and while he has run strong, he has a way of winning that doesn't make him appear that dominate yet he somehow finds his way to victory lane. Friday night the dynamics of the Hobby Stock feature were very exciting as the top two competitors so far in this class, Knutson and Steve Bitting Jr, were starting twentieth and twenty second following problems for both in their heats. Bitting Jr had a flat tire while Knutson had to go to the back as mentioned earlier for getting into another car. 

Once the green flag dropped in the Hobby Stock feature, Minnesota's Matt Olson took the early lead and in fact would hold the top spot for the first twelve laps. While he raced on top of the board, Knutson and Bitting were making a charge through the field and by the half way point of the race, Bitting was third with Knutson just one spot behind him. 

And just at the halfway point, leader Olson was sent spinning by another competitor in the fight for the lead and he was sent to the back for the restart, which didn't set well with him but he made a fine drive to get back into the top ten before the race was over. 

Brandon Bombardo, polished off bumper and all, then took over the lead but he soon had Knutson and Bitting challenging. A late yellow set up a four lap sprint to the finish and on the final green, Knutson dropped to the inside of Bombardo and the race was on. On the final lap Knutson eased into the lead down the back chute and Bombardo's last corner challenge came up short as Eric took his third straight win in the Hobby Stocks. Brett Vanous rounded out the top three with Bitting Jr right behind him. 

Bo Partain took the early lead in the Sport Mod feature which saw a lot of close racing during the first half of the event. While Partain maintained the lead, there was a wad of cars close behind him exchanging positions on nearly every corner. A minor slowdown for a flat tire brought out the first yellow and the restart proved problematic as the wad of cars turned into a wad of a wreck in turn three with Partain right in the middle of it. He proved to be the first of several pointing fingers and registering disgust with a fellow competitor as he took a trip on the wrong end of the wrecker to the pits. 

Kevin Johnson took over the lead at this point and he then turned the race into a dominating performance by himself as he pulled away from the field with the last half of the race going nonstop. By far the best part of this race was a great battle for second between Shane Paris and Brian Osantowski as they exchanged slide jobs on nearly every corner in a thriller before Osantowski finally claimed the spot for good. 

The Modified feature ran off nonstop once close personal friends Tanner Black and Kelsie Foley goThe t together, triggering a multi car mess in turn two just one lap into the race with Stanford having more bad luck as he ended up right in the middle of things and was done for the night. 

Arneson then used the outside line to take the lead on the restart and Casey, who likes to pound the cushion, found the track to be perfect for him as he pulled away in what was a dominating performance as he led the rest of the way and with not a yellow to slow things down, he was impossible to beat. Ricky Alvarado drove the wheels off his car but he simply couldn't cut into Arneson's lead and had to settle for second while a solid run by Braxton Yeager yielded the third spot to him. 

The Stock Car feature continued to produce the wild body rubbing, tire smoking action that we have seen from this class for three straight nights now. What seemed to be a dominating performance however, was completely changed by a yellow flag. 

Kyle Heckman, Thursday night's winner, started on the pole and immediately pulled away to a large sized advantage in the opening laps. However, a yellow changed all that as his large lead evaporated and when he slid up the track, Iowa's Blake Adams was right there to take over the top spot. The rest of the race found Heckman trying his hardest to reclaim the top spot but Adams would give him no openings and while Heckman hung around, there simply was no chance for him to make a move to reclaim the point. 

Adams made no mistakes as he drove on for the win with Heckman trailing him closely but having to settle for second while Partain partly eased his anguish from the Sport Mod results by claiming third. 

A mention must be made to the driving effort of Grey Ferrando and perhaps even greater work by his crew. Ferrando was one of those drivers "escorted" into the concrete wall by a fellow driver during his heat race and the entire front end on his car was twisted and torn. Somehow though, during the quick turnaround time they managed to get the car fixed and Ferrando drove the wheels off of it during a B Feature, coming from sixteenth to get the last qualifying spot for the main. However, the story doesn't end well as he was one of the first retirees in the main as he dived off the track at the turn one entrance with issues. 

A stunning sight, one that was so distinctive to this area that it was even mentioned by the announcer, will be a lasting memory of this night. While the first races were underway a low flying plane was making "dive bomb" runs over the vegetable fields that border the track. Seems that is southern Arizona they even crop dust the fields in January, a sight that would only be possible in an area like this. At home right now, a plane might be doing dive bomb runs also but they would much more likely be looking for someone buried in the snow!

Night number four of the Winter Nationals will continue on Saturday night and the odds of a rainout look to be minimal so the aggreged drivers from this night will get a shot at redemption on Saturday.   

Iowa and California Drivers Star In Night Two of Cocopah Winter Nationals

 The second night of racing for the 2021 version of the IMCA Winter Nationals took place on Thursday night, January 7th at the Cocopah Speedway under sunny and comfortable conditions(this part of the report will continue to be repetitive as the weather never seems to change). 

With some very good feature racing being held on this night, drivers from Iowa and California split the winnings with Hobby Stock and Sport Mod drivers going from the Hawkeye State while California drivers took home the top prize in the Stock Car and Modified features. And Hobby Stock driver Eric Knutson became the first repeat winner too. 

Last night, Cocopah is believed to have set a track record for its largest field of race cars for a single meet ever when one hundred and sixty one cars pulled through the back gate. Well, I'm pleased to say the positive vibes about this Winter series continue as the old record lasted for only twenty four hours and one hundred and sixty three drivers signed in to race on Thursday night with even more expected starting on Friday night for the weekend. With virtually everyone returning from Wednesday night with the exception of a small number that crashed out bad, eleven first time drivers also showed up on Thursday to boost the count. While the Hobby Stock field was slightly smaller than on Wednesday, the other three classes all showed modest gains which drove the number up to a new record. Drivers from all over the globe have been racing here this week so far with the Modified field alone being reported to represent seventeen different states which is impressive indeed. 

While the big car count is obviously encouraged, there can be some downsides to such a large field of cars to run through with a full program in all classes each night. The two most obvious problems can be wear and tear on the race track and the time that it takes to run off such a large show. 

But I'm very happy to report that the track made some very positive steps forward in both regards on Thursday and the show was much better overall in my opinion. 

Concerning the track issue it was obvious to all that the track took a considerable amount of rubber on Wednesday night, which had a detrimental effect on the racing for both the competitors and fans. The drivers hate it when the track is one lane and tough to pass on while the fans hate it just about as much because it makes for boring racing. With just as big a field of cars slated for Thursday and the program starting two hours earlier(part of issue number two to be discussed shortly), many people were worried just what the track surface would be like on Thursday, given that the racing would be held for two more hours in bright sunshine, they had watered the track just about as much as humanly possible on Wednesday and it still rubbered up. 

While the Hobby Stocks still take the sharp end of the stick in the early going as their track is still slimy when they start their heat races(although not as bad as last night), the track as a whole started out much drier than it was on Wednesday. However, after the qualifying was done, Thursday for the first time they misted the track on the high side before the feature races and that seemed to make all the difference in the world. The Hobby Stocks still all hugged the inside line but when the Sport Mods came out for their feature, they quickly moved all over the track led by eventual winner Josh Most who will always pound the cushion no matter what the circumstances. The track opened up and from then on the racing was great for the final three features, once again proof that a good racy track is key to putting on any kind of appealing race program. In fact I would say that the Modified feature was just outstanding with cars pounding the high side, some running low and others in the middle and one look at the starting and finishing positions would tell you just how much passing was occurring.  In fact, the four feature winners averaged a starting position of eighth in their mains with open wheel winners Most and Ethan Dotson both coming from the sixth row to win their respective events. 

It just goes to show that most of us so called "experts" don't really have much of a clue as it seemed with the increased racing in the day light, another big field of cars, maximum watering already having been tried and the history of what happened on Wednesday that we would be looking at another rubbered up mess and instead it turned out to be a great track and spectacular track for the mains. 

Addressing the other issue from Wednesday which was the late night, track management opted to start the show two hours earlier both for Thursday and for the rest of the meet. While that seemed like a good idea to race earlier in the more comfortable temperatures(it does get cool in the evenings here on the desert), and get the show over at a more reasonable time, the down side would seem to have been that it would be much tougher on the track but as we now know, that was fully incorrect and it was nice to get the program over at a much more acceptable hour. They also reduced the number of races by having bigger heat races and B Features and on this good sized track, it was fully capable of handling more cars for each event and in fact, made those races much more interesting.  

I spoke to Mitch Mohler Jr in the pits before the program on Thursday. He runs and Modified and is part of a two car team with Mitch Sr who races a Hobby Stock and was the driver transported to the hospital last night. I wanted to find out how he was doing as I saw the Hobby Stock was covered up with a tarp on this night. Jr told me that his father checked out OK at the hospital with all the X-Rays coming back good. Sr reported that his neck got whipped and he hit his hip on the side of the car when he shifted over as he stopped so abruptly when side slapping the wall, about the most dangerous way of contacting the concrete. Otherwise, he was just still and sore. 

Jr reported that his father had some bad memories of this type of accident as the family also races Sports Cars and Sr had the same kind of wreck as this at Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin but he was going much faster and was hurt quite severely so that was the first thing on his mind. But being true racers, Sr came to Cocopah to race and depending on how he feels on Friday, he may try to race as the car itself is not too damaged and they believe they can fix it. 

The feature races began with an interesting and closely fought for Hobby Stock main. Josh Cordova started on the pole and led the first six laps with much pressure on him. Just like Wednesday night, Knutson moved to the second lane and drove up from the third row, passing Cordova on the high side to take over the lead. But while he was able to put some distance on the field briefly, soon he was caught by Steve Bitting Jr who put tremendous pressure on the leader. Bitting was nailed to the rear bumper of Knutson and one mistake would have cost him. 

Bitting tried several times to alter his line on the track but each time Knutson was able to be him to the corners barely to hold on. In fact, one time they got together briefly on the back chute with Bitting loosening up Knutson who got sideways. But in a show of sportsmanship, Bitting then backed off, allowed Knutson to straighten out and then Bitting once again took off after the leader. It was a refreshing thing to see in these somewhat cut throat racing days as someone actually wanted to win the right way. 

However, Bitting could never quite find the speed that he needed for a pass and while he was nailed to the rear bumper of Knutson, it was Eric who became the first multiple winner of the week. Matt Olson finished a strong third. 

The Sport Mod feature, with only one yellow flag, was even a wilder event than the Hobby main had been. Brian Osantowski started on the pole and the initial lineup seemed to favor him running away from the field. And that's the way it worked out in the early going, only to have things come unhinged in a dramatic way. 

While Osantowski cruised up front with a healthy lead over Kevin Johnson, Josh Most was putting on a show as he was the first to find the cushion and he came tearing up through the field like a man on a mission. He started eleventh and moved all the way up to third and was slowing catching Johnson for second but both were significantly behind Osantowski as the laps ran down. 

However, that's when racing proved that once again, nothing can be too predictable. Osantowski came up on a slower car down the front chute and that lapper failed to heed the starter's signal to move over and instead pinched down on Osantowski as they racing into corner one. The two cars made contact and it was instantly apparent that Brian had suffered a flat tire. As he slowed dramatically down the back chute, Johnson and Most came up on the slowing leader and the lapped car and while Johnson hesitated briefly, Most laid back his ears and blew by both cars, taking over the lead on lap nineteen. He then drove home for the win as he opened up a bigger margin on Johnson. It was a stunning change of circumstances for both Osantowski and Most as Josh got the win in only the second time out in a new car he built for the California owners. Taylor Kuehl should also be applauded as she came from twelfth to finish a strong third.

More drama occurred in the Modified feature which saw drivers racing all over the three eighth mile oval as the cushion fully opened up for the first time all weekend and it was a pleasure watching the Modified drivers pounding the cushion and running dangerously close to the wall. Illinois driver Travis Denning started on the outside pole and took the early lead over Jesse Rogotzke. However, the action was on the high side as Alex Stanford was flying on the top of the track and he blew past Denning on lap five to take over the lead. 

Once in front, he quickly stretched his advantage as Stanford was setting a blistering pace. Also on the move were Ricky Alvarado and Jeff Larson , one running the low groove and the other up against the concrete and there was three wide racing all over the track. This was what we came so far to see!

But there were also others on the move and both Tanner Black and Ethan Dotson were to be heard from soon also. For Stanford, he was alone out front when the unthinkable happened as suddenly he slowed on the back chute, the victim of mechanical problems and he was done for the event. 

The restart was a shaky one as Alvarado got steered into the concrete wall in turn one and he too was done for the night. Denning inherited the lead but he couldn't hold it long as Dotson, who had passed cars on both the high and low side of the track, drove under Denning to take over the lead on lap fifteen. From then on he held the top spot and he was able to put distance on the field. Black never stopped trying however, as last night's winner completed a marvelous drive from seventeenth to second as he certainly has got this track figured out. Larson rounded out the top three. 

Stock Cars rounded out the evening with Tony Hill leading the first seven laps from the pole with his unique and distinctive looking car. But he was challenged by Kyle Heckman, who does double duty also driving a Mod, and Heckman slipped under Hill on lap eight to take over the lead as Hill's car started sliding up the track. 

Several yellows kept the field close but in the waning laps, Heckman was able to put distance on the field and drive home for the win over Nick Johnson and Bo Partain. While there was quite as much passing in this race, the field was frequently two and three wide for periods of time with plenty of paint swapping and tire smoke as cars rubbed each other frequently. In other words, a typical Stock Car main!

Thursday night's program was an excellent one and if the track prep crew can continue to find the "sweet spot", which isn't the same every day based on so many variables, then we can look forward to more outstanding racing as the week progresses. But Congrats to the management for recognizing the issues and taking action to try and improve things, which they certainly did. 

Tanner Black Cocopah Star

 Night number one of the IMCA Winter Nationals eight night run here at the "Diamond In The Desert", the Cocopah Speedway near Somerton  Arizona, took place under sunny skies and favorable temperatures here on Wednesday night, January 6th. The best and biggest field of drivers ever for this event assembled one hundred and sixty one strong in the four classes that were racing on this night to compete in a full racing program for all classes that saw the fans that were assembled here more than get their monies' worth of racing action. 

When the final checkered flag waved in the early morning hours of Thursday morning, the four winners that would be celebrating would be Tanner Black in the Modifieds, Andy Altenberg in the Stock Cars, Chris Toth in the Sport Mods and Eric Knutson in the Hobby Stocks. 

This series certainly has seemed to turn the corner in terms of popularity for the drivers as the number of participants took a huge jump here for 2021 with the numbers telling the story. As compared to last year's opening night event, the number of racers grew by a staggering fifty three with increases in all four classes. The most significant gain was in the Sport Mods where nearly two dozen more competitors lined up to race as compared to last year's event, all of which was completed long before COVID became the word. The Modifieds too gained quite a few cars while the fender classes had more modest gains but gains indeed. 

It would be a long night as a full night of racing, which would include thirty races between the four classes, would be the schedule for this opening night of racing. And despite the fact that the program started within mere minutes of the advertised time and no track prep work would be done during the evening at all, it still takes a long time to run that many races, even though there weren't a significant number of yellows and the one spin rule was also in effect to keep the show moving. In fact, testament to the smooth driving by the competitors was the fact that in all the qualifying events(heats and B features), there was only one event that saw more than two yellow flags and the four mains were clicked off with a total of ten yellows between the four including a nonstop Modified twenty five lap event. 

The evening did get off to a rocky start as early in the second race of the night, a Hobby Stock heat, Mitch Mahler Sr got clipped on the back chute by another car which turned his vehicle and sent him sliding flush on into the concrete wall, drivers side first, the worst possible kind of contact for a driver and the wall. Mahler was complaining of back pain and they transported him to a local hospital which meant that we had to wait while another ambulance came to do the transport. Later another incident in the pits, not reported by the tower to the fans, appeared to require another transport so it was a busy night for the medicos. 

As you might imagine, a lot of quality machines and their drivers were left on the sidelines by the time that all the preliminaries were completed and it was time for the feature events. The track, which had started off the evening as very slick and wet, had now turned black and shiny and the racers' tires could be heard squealing as they attacked the corners. Despite the fact that the track had slowed down considerably, speeds were still high on this fast track. 

Hobby Stocks took to the grid for their feature race first, twenty four strong, and it was pole starter Joe Peterson that led the first three laps. He was in hot competition with Steve Bitting Jr, Tim Gonska and Eric Knutson. Knutson used the high groove to move up and challenge for the lead and on lap four he edged past and took over the top spot. However, Peterson and Bitting Jr did not go away and continued to challenge him closely. 

The yellow waved three times in the opening nine laps which kept the field bunched as the "Delaware" restarts were used on this night which tends to keep the field more tightly packed. Knutson continued to ride the high side of the track with Bitting Jr continuing to test him on the low side. Meanwhile, Brandon Bombardo and Matt Olson, from row six, were on the move and raced into the top five. 

Knutson was under heavy pressure when the yellow flew one more time, setting up a five lap sprint to the finish. Bombardo powered around Bitting Jr to take over second and he was riding the rear bumper of Knutson. However, Eric would not be swayed and he continued to run his line and remain steady in the lead. Bombardo made one last attempt on the final corner but Knutson held his ground and crossed the line as the winner. Just as the winner crossed the line, a big wreck was triggered in turn four that saw both the checkered and red waved as a couple of the cars suffered significant damage. Bitting Jr finished third with Peterson and Olson next in line. 

With the hour getting late, the Sport Mod feature was cut by five laps and they ran a twenty lap finale. However, the number of laps was not significant for Christ Toth, who started on the pole and dominated the race. He led all twenty laps and built up a significant lead over the rest of the field. In fact, the only time the rest of the racers saw Toth was when the yellow waved. 

On each restart, Toth would be challenged by Fred Ryland and Austen Becerra and each time he would leave them to do their own battle, which Ryland won out on through each yellow. One driver on the move was Brian Osantowski who started thirteenth but using the high line charged into contention. While Toth was long gone, Osantowski pulled in to fight for the second spot as he got past Becerra and pulled in to challenge Ryland for second. However, he ran out of laps and had to settle for second as Toth finished up a dominating performance. Brady Bjella would finish fourth as Becerra slipped back a couple of spots at the end. Toth's only "thrill" of the race was when a lapped car spun right in front of him and Chris clipped him but did no damage to his car in what was a very close miss. 

The Mods were up next and by this time the track was taking rubber and the Mod main turned into a "rubbered up" event with one fast lane down low and to wander out of that lane meant a quick trip backwards in the field. Russell Allen appeared to jump the initial start but it was not called back and Allen took the lead while outside pole starter Chaz Baca Jr, who was thought to be the likely race favorite given his starting position, got shuffled back to third behind Black. And that's the way they ran for fifteen laps in that running order. Everyone tucked into the low groove and looked for mistakes by their competitors to hopefully jump a spot. 

Black began to put pressure on Allen who was struggling in the corners but Russell smartly blocked the groove and Black showed patience as he didn't use the "chrome horn" on the leader. Finally, on lap fifteen, Allen slipped up the track in turn one and Black quickly blew past him to take over the lead and once in front, he pulled away as the last nine laps were uneventful. 

Black crossed the line with a comfortable margin of victory while Allen managed to hold off Baca for second. Zippy Devilbiss and Ethan Dotson completed the top five in a race that saw only one driver not complete the event and only two a lap down. 

All twenty three Stock Cars on hand started the main event with North Dakota driver Rob Stenvold leading the first four laps. Andy Altenberg was hammering on his rear bumper looking for the lead but when a change took place, it was from a smooth move by Blake Adams who found an opening and drove past both drivers to take over the top spot. 

Adams secured the lead for a few laps and then he appeared to start to struggle coming off the corners and suddenly, Altenberg was all over him again looking for the lead. Lap after lap, Andy would challenge but each time Adams would fight him off. Several times Altenberg would get the prime inside lane but Adams surprised by finding just enough bite in the second lane to fight off the Minnesota driver. 

Finally, as the white flag was waved, Adams got just a bit higher off turn one and Altenberg was able to drive under him and take over the lead which he held to the finish in an exciting conclusion. Interestingly, Altenberg and Adams' race cars came out of the same trailer as they shared a trip to Arizona and Adams built the car that Altenberg drove to victory. As Adams slipped high on the final lap, Michael Steen made a late rush to get the second spot over Adams. Aaron Spangler and Tony Will, up from twelfth, also were closing at the end. 

Keeping the track in good racing condition does appear to be the major challenge to the management for the rest of this series. There will be a lot of race cars on this track the rest of the week with lots of laps to be run and a locked down race track does not make for optimal racing and tends to cause drivers to take some risks and drive perhaps a bit more aggressively. Despite the fact that they poured water on the track all day and it was so slimy that well over an hour of track packing was required at the beginning of the evening, the track still ended up rubbered up for half the main events so all are hoping that they have a successful strategy to prevent this from happening again. Because of so many cars and so much racing to be done, for the remainder of this series, the starting times have been moved up by two hours with a 5 pm green flag. This must be tough on a week night for the working folks of the area to get to the track but I'm told they must get the programs over earlier than Wednesday night. How this will play on the track, which will now be raced upon for a period of time under bright sunshine as opposed to starting after the suns sets is anyone's guess. 

Let 2021 Begin!

 I generally don't do reports on practice night events, but I am so anxious to put 2020 in the rear view mirror that I am more than ready to write my first report on the 2021 racing season. 

The IMCA Winter Nationals begins an eight night run over the next two weeks starting on Wednesday night, January 6th here at the Cocopah Speedway near Somerton and Yuma Arizona and Tuesday night, January 5th was a practice night for all five classes that will see action at the track over that time span. IMCA sanctioned Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks will race on seven of those nights with Sport Compacts and a pit crew competition set to take place next Wednesday night also. And all five classes were represented during the practice night. 

I first attended a race at Cocopah last January and was more than happy to get back out here with circumstances allowing that to happen. It is a looong drive from the Midwest for sure, but once out here the benefits more than make up for the long hours behind the wheel. After having seen all or parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and then on to Arizona, I was ready to see and here some race cars in action and ran into a surprisingly large number of people in the pits that I knew.

Great pleasure is given to talking about the weather here in the Yuma area, particularly if you are coming here to avoid some of the toughest, on average, weeks of the Winter. I'm told that Yuma brags that they average 350 days a year of sunshine so the odds of hitting a rain out are much less than just about any track in North America. And I can tell you that the forecast is for bright sunshine and 70 degree temperatures for the next ten days. Sure it does cool off at night, but not a big deal if you are used to putting up with sub zero temps this time of year normally. 

The pandemic is ragging in Arizona right now and I was very concerned that there might be some kind of last minute cancellation of the event based on the size of the crowds expected over the next ten days for this event. Fortunately, that didn't happen but they are making some special requests as a result of COVID 19. Masks are to be worn when moving out of ones own pit area and I wear mine all the time as I am circulating through the pits constantly. Compliance is spotty, just has it has been at most race tracks over the course of the Summer. Race folks aren't the greatest at following the rules some times but I feel that it's not too much to ask for me to wear a mask if it will help guarantee that racing will continue. I don't want to be the one blamed if racing gets shut down based on not following the rules. If I can get by wearing a mask while officiating basketball, I sure as heck can wear one while I walk through the pits and while seated in the grandstand. Promoter Brad Whitfield told me that he was trying very hard not to ruffle the feathers of the local authorities and I am all about helping in that regard. 

Speaking of Whitfield, he has done quite a job bringing this beautiful facility back to prominence. Cocopah Speedway is a very impressive racing facility but it has gone through some rocky times in previous years and even sat dormant for awhile but the last couple years have seen great growth and with that, more special events and a longer and more aggressive racing season. Last year around one hundred and thirty cars raced in this event and on Tuesday night, just about that many cars practiced with many more expected to join in the action starting on Wednesday. I was told about two hundred and fifty cars had pre entered with nearly one hundred Modifieds alone so the growth of this event has been very large indeed. The pit area has been expanded with the third level of pits being expanded with new fencing in the area that is actually on the level with the spectator parking lot and entrance to the grandstands. The pit area is very unique with three levels of pit parking in tiers with levels one and two actually being subterranean but level one in line with where the race cars enter the track as the track sits in a hole beside the water canal that runs right behind the track with the grandstands built into the side hill with long cement slabs for each row. It is quite impressive. 

I was not able to determine just who all the entrants were on this practice night but a quick scan through the names I was able to determine should include some familiar names to race fans from the Heartland. Among the drivers spotted were Brett Vanous, Eric Knutson, Brandon Bombardo and David Crimmins in the Hobby Stocks, Brady Bjella, Erik Laudenschlager, Josh Most, Cam Reimers, Shane Paris, Logan Anderson, Brian Osantowski in the Sport Mods, Andy Altenberg, Brock Badger and Blake Adams in the Stock Cars, and Modified drivers Brandon Beckendorf, Dalton Magers, Jesse Rogotzke, Aaron Johnson, Tim Ward, Jason Wolla, Bone Larson, Travis Denning, Casey Skyberg, Casey Arneson and Bob Moore. A number of others are also expected to arrive starting on Wednesday. 

I stood in line with Most to get a pit pass and he told me he is not racing his own equipment out here but a Sport Mod for one of his customers in California. This car was a bare frame last Friday but Most flew in and they assembled the car to race here. Josh has sold quite a  few cars to racers in the California area and this team will be running two at this meet. They were busy during practice as it seemed that several new teething problems were appearing. 

Shock specialist Andy Eckrich was on hand, having flown in to provide technical assistance to the Bone Larson team from Illinois. Andy tipped that he will be racing the "Kosiski Series" as many of us call it with some occasional IMCA racing also. He is just spending a short week here as he will be returning to Iowa on Sunday. 

Aaron Johnson races out of Brainerd MN but they love to travel to big events and visit new tracks. One of their highlights last year was their first trip to 141 Speedway in Wisconsin and they were quick to jump on the chance to race at Bristol and they got their entry in quickly. A "once in a lifetime experience" is what they are labeling it, and that very well could be true. They always get the cars of WISSOTA national champion(several times) Shane Sabraski when he gets a new car but they are running the same car right now from last year as Sabraski had such a good year in 2020 he decided to keep the same car again! He does have a new Lethal chassis ready to go and when he switches, so then will the Johnson team. 

Another Minnesota traveler on hand was Josh Rogotzke from Southwestern MN. He is another driver I see racing all over the place and he told me that the reason he gets to travel so much is that he works a job where they put in many hours in Spring and Fall but his Summers and Winters are free so that is why he is able to travel so much. I kidded him that I was missing his pit partner, that "wild and crazy" Zach Docktor from North Dakota who always seems to be pitted next to him, where ever the racing is. 

Brian Osantowski, a prolific racer from Nebraska and very successful one also, was among the Sport Mods entered. He is sporting some very different colors on his car, gun metal gray with numbers the same color but outlined in black. I have a feeling that he is quickly going to draw the ire of people like Jerry Van Sickel and Tony Paris among others as the numbers don't show up at all on the track and those two won't hesitate to say so. Perhaps I might have to do some "damage control" before the Midwest season opens. 

As usual, I had to make a stop at the trailer of the #77x Modified of Austin Kuehl. I first noticed them at another track in Arizona a few years ago and then again last summer at Spencer Iowa when they were touring the Midwest. And the reason I noticed particularly is that Austin's helmet is painted to look just like a Green Bay Packer helmet and of course I would notice that and even though Austin lives in the Phoenix area he has always been a Packer fan. And what's not to love about that? So we spent as much time talking football as we did racing, but that is all good too. 

Austin did tip that he is hoping that once college is done for him in the Spring, that he would be moving to the Midwest and driving a WISSOTA Late Model which is something I found very interesting. 

One last Item to mention. I got a phone call from Gary Webb last week. He was on the road as normal but called to tell me that he is having a WISSOTA spec engine built for 2021 because he feels that is an ideal motor package for the "Kosiski Series" which he plans to race in often this year. Also, he can then take off the carb plate and race some of the big dollar WISSOTA events if he desires. His brother Robert is retiring from his job so Gary will have a traveling partner and plans to travel to different tracks and races. He has two Kryptonite cars and also an open motor and crate motor so he is well prepped to run a variety of racing events. 

More tomorrow as Cocopah drops the green on Wednesday for real.