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A.J. Diemel had a bit of a rough week for him. Expected to do well at Vado, he struggled on some nights and only made half the feature races, with a 10th-place finish being his best effort. Normally the Dale White-owned car runs right up front, but they were digging for speed most of this series.

Down from the 25 to 30 WISSOTA-area cars in the X Mod class of past years, there were only four on hand this year and half of them didn't arrive until midweek. The number of cars racing in this class did take a significant drop overall this year. As a result, it will be interesting if management takes note of this and perhaps updates their rules to keep the show from having two Modified classes.

Nate Reinke was the most successful of the four North Dakota drivers who raced at Vado. He made all six feature races and indeed, finished in the top 10 in all six also. His best run was fifth, and he wasn't forced to run a single B-feature all week to make the mains. Consistency was his hallmark but he still didn't run up front like he has in other years here.

Lucas Rodin was going to skip this series and head directly to Arizona, but decided since it was right along the way they should try it again. Rodin made five of the six feature races, only missing the opener, when he was stuck behind a group of squirrely cars who allowed him no chance to get past them. He did get a top-three finish on the opening weekend, but the rest of his runs resulted in double-digit finishes, not the kind of result expected from “The Nightmare.”

Scott Bintz showed up with his two-car team at midweek and ran the last four nights. He put Street Stock driver Jaden Christ into his second car, and it was the first time Christ had raced an open-wheel car.

Bintz made the first feature he attempted to run, but came up empty the last three attempts, not making it out of the B-feature any of the three nights. I believe he found himself under powered against many in the field. This class was out of control this year with what some of the drivers were running. Bintz also had trouble with other drivers running into him, getting in his way and dumping him as need be.

For his first time in an open-wheel car, Christ showed up big at Vado, making three of the four feature races, including the last three of the series. His best finish was eighth on the last Saturday show of the series.

The racing was good at Vado and it is a superior facility, but I see its relevance for the WISSOTA drivers to be waning. Back when the Wild West Shootout was held in Tucson and at Arizona Speedway, it was really a big deal for WISSOTA drivers, with so many there and so many doing so well. Now the rules seem out of wack for our Midwest Mod drivers. And, for both the Modified and Late Model drivers, it almost requires a different car to be competitive.

Don't get me wrong, it is still a great week of racing. But I do see the WISSOTA drivers running there even less in the future, particularly if their alternative in Arizona continues to grow.

Central Arizona Speedway

Don Shaw likes to keep Late Model racing alive in Arizona. He has a winter home there and often takes his Late Model to race during the cold winter months up north. But in the last few years, races for the Late Models and the race cars to support those races have wavered.

Right now, despite a booming population in Arizona, there are only two dirt tracks in the entire state that race on a regular basis. Unfortunately, that same urban sprawl has affected the properties former tracks sat upon.

Shaw put on his promoter hat in 2023 and resurrected the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw as a seven-night series of races featuring the Late Models along with several other classes of cars on a rotating basis. The racing was good while the crowds had a way to go for its first year. Shaw brought it back for 2024.

The event is a nod to Ernie Mincy, a promoter at this same Central Arizona Raceway. Mincy, back in the early 1990s, brought the first $10,000-to-win Late Model event to Arizona and indeed, to the entire western part of the country.

Shaw recognized the drivers from the Midwest, and particularly the WISSOTA drivers, wanted some place to race if they could in the winter, but the rules had to make it possible to run competitively. Shaw put together a rules package that attempted to balance out all the different types of Late Model rules and it worked in 2023, with drivers running under different rules packages doing well and winning.

So he maintained those rules for 2024, while also setting up what was called a Limited Modified class that gave the WISSOTA Mid Mods a place to race also. His other three classes are IMCA divisions, a nod to the classes that dominate the Arizona racing scene.

He trimmed the races to six this year, eliminating the Sunday show from the first week so that the racing was Thursday through Saturday for two straight weekends, with two Wednesday night practices. With the success of the crowds this year, however, he might have wished for at least one more night of racing instead of either off-nights or practices.

Let's start with the Late Models. Open-motored Late Models raced against the WISSOTA cars, some using spec engines and some using 525 crate motors.

The turnout of Late Model drivers has been impressive with nearly 40 different teams racing during the opening weekend. And the turnout of WISSOTA-area drivers has been powerful, with about two dozen teams pulling all the way to the desert from the cold and snowy Midwest to race. Drivers representing North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana are all on hand. Where the weenies from Wisconsin are, I do not know.

Many have brought the cars that they raced in 2023 before they redo the bodies, etc., but some are debuting brand-new equipment with lots of experimenting. It’s become a sort of a spring training practice atmosphere, which also pays money.

Let's do a quick rundown on what has happened so far during the first week of racing, during the Thursday, Friday and Saturday night shows.

The track itself is a big three-eighths-mile oval in Casa Grande that features long straightaways, tight but banked corners, and good lighting. There is no outside wall here and that seems to be a tripping point for many. I’ve seen more drivers fly off the ends here than perhaps at any track I can remember – much more than even Viking or Hibbing, or similar tracks. Apparently the edge is hard to see here and that results in many going over the edge. There is no saving the race car after that.

Lineups, by the way, are determined by drawing for positions. Passing points are used in the heats to determine who makes the feature and who has to run a B-feature.

So far, there have been 12 WISSOTA drivers who have made all three of the opening weekend feature races. And not surprisingly, the best showing so far has been from Tyler Peterson. If not for some bad luck, he could have won two of the first features so far.

Driving the same car he raced to a national title in 2023, he has his Rocket chassis with a motor built by his father and Corky Thomas. Tyler won the third night, after holding off challenges from Billy Moyer, Jr. and Ricky Weiss, a pretty formidable pair of foes.

TPO led the opening night feature and looked good when he folded the nose piece under the car and when it wouldn't turn, he went flying off the end of the track and was done. He also added a 12th-place finish the second night.

He said he has a new Rocket in the shop they got last year and has an open motor on order so he plans to race some of the open shows when they come to his area this summer.

Moyer, by the way, is driving Shaw’s open car this week with a plate in it.

The second best performance so far has been turned in by Montana's Michael Leach. Leach, who hung around Minnesota until the end of last year with Dave Cain, is driving a Longhorn chassis with one of those 525 crates. He has gained three top-10 finishes so far. He is a busy guy, also racing an IMCA Mod. He’s secured three top-seven finishes in that class.

Nearly as impressive and perhaps the surprise of the event so far has been the strong runs by Dustin Bluhm from Kindred, North Dakota. He has a new car this year, a Sniper chassis that Ricky Weiss helped him find, powered by a Sturdy spec engine. He has run well so far. Two top fives and a ninth-place finish have shown that he has lots of speed. He would have likely had a second on opening night, but ran out of fuel on the last lap, which cost him a few positions.

Dustin Strand has run strongly as well. Using a new Longhorn chassis with a Sturdy motor, he recorded two top-10 finishes — including an opening night run, where he challenged Moyer for the win. During the third night he finished seventh, after an early race trip to the pits to change a tire developed into a run from the back to seventh.

Two top-10s and a 12th-place finish have been the highlights so far for Josh Zimpel, one of the drivers that has been so successful racing a 525 in the past couple years.

Rusty Kollman was been one of the most consistent racers so far, making all three feature races while only having to run one B-feature to make it into the show. He is using an MB chassis and 525 crate, the same car he ran in 2023.

Shane Sabraski has made all three features so far while driving the MB chassis that is owned by Chad Fouquette. Fouquette bought the car a year ago from John Kaanta, but raced it perhaps three or so times. His best run was on opening night when he got fourth; bad luck has haunted him the rest of the weekend.

Sabraski told me that while he is just driving for Fouquette for this event, the West Metro team has ordered a new Longhorn Late Model that they will race once the Midwest season opens up. He also has a new Modified coming, while trying to sell the 2023 car. He also has his Super Stock, so just what, when and where he will race is up in the air at this point. He is leaning toward racing tracks that have the Late Models, and at least one of the other classes he races in the same night.

Cole Schill has made all three features so far as well, while running the same MB that he raced last year. So far his luck on the draw has been terrible and with a heavy track for the heats, he has been forced to run a pair of B-features to make the main. He has moved up considerably once the track slicks off.

Jason Strand has been running the same car he raced at Vado the previous week and has also made all three features, with a best finish of eighth.

Dave Mass has been battling mechanical issues so far, but has still managed to make all three features, albeit with the help of one provisional. Just when his car seems to be on the move, the motor will start barking and snorting. While he didn't finish the first two features, things improved on the third night, as he made the full distance.

Ryan Corbett has had a solid week so far, making all three of the mains with a best finish of 10th. He has also won two heat races, but has had trouble maintaining his position once the longer feature race has progressed. Corbett is running his MB Customs with a Pro Power motor again.

It has been an eventful week so far for Scott Ward. Ward has made all three features so far but there is much more to the story. After a heat win and eighth-place finish on opening night, he was involved in a wreck off the end of turn three on the second night, which damaged the front end of his car.

However, while the crew was dealing with that, Ward had a more important event to worry about. On Saturday morning, he flew back to Watertown, South Dakota to be a pallbearer for his good buddy Tim Waba, who passed away on January 15 after enduring a very aggressive form of cancer. Trevor Anderson and former racer Jon Tesch were also among the pallbearers.

Using a plane supplied by fellow racer Chad Olsen and piloted by one of Olsen’s buddies, they then attempted to make the return flight to central Arizona in time for Ward to race on Saturday! They were delayed however, and Ward missed both his heat race and a B-feature. However, promoter Shaw knew what was going on and when Ward finally showed up, he was granted a provisional starting spot in the A main. He then drove from 27th on the grid to a 13th-place finish. It was an emotional and crazy day all around for Ward.

Even more interesting, the Friday night crash damaged his primary car to the point that they shoved it into the trailer and rolled out a brand-new CNC-powered Longhorn they hoped not to race in this series. His feature laps were on a car that had not been raced before.

Shane Edginton has been so close to really hitting it big this week but so far, bad luck has plagued him. He ran well in a heat race on Thursday when his tire blew on the last lap, tearing much of the body off. He got a 13th-place finish on night two, and then for the killer, he was leading the feature on Saturday when his car suddenly shut down and he was done. He practiced with two different chassis, but settled on his MB Customs to start the week, with hopes that his luck will improve after a few days off.

Matt Sparby has made two features so far, driving a Rocket chassis with a Klein open motor and plate for this series. He reports that he will be returning to his Super Stock in the spring, feeling much more comfortable in that car. Caley Emerson, of Grand Rapids, is now working for Sparby and turning wrenches for him. Emerson reports that his son will likely be doing the racing in the Traditional Sprint that they have in 2024.

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