CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — Over 20 years ago, promoter Ernie Mincy started the Early Thaw series in an attempt to get Midwest drivers to race in January in Arizona.
The series grew, Mincy retired, and it eventually became the Wild West Shootout — now held in New Mexico.
Track promoter Brad Whitfield and Minnesota racer Don Shaw teamed up to bring back the Early Thaw series at Central Arizona Raceway with seven races over 10 days. Thursday night was the series opener with four divisions in action.
Late models had some difficulty getting their main started with tangles into turn one on the first try and again in turn four. Once underway, Dustin Bluhm led with Ricky Weiss closing, eventually using an outside pass in turn two to lead the last 17 laps of 30 for the win. Â
Weiss built a quarter-lap lead to win the yellow-plagued race with Jason Strand a distant second over Billy Moyer Sr.
The stock car main looked to be a win for Ryan Satter as he led by a considerable distance, but Anthony Madrid closed and was ready when Satter slid up the track in turn two as the halfway point was near. Anthony Madrid then made a similar error in turn four a few laps later when he and a lapped car bumped. That opened the door for Zachary Madrid to grab the lead which he kept to the end.Â
Following Zachary across the line were Trent Granger and 15th starting Scott Sluka.
The limited mods main was in two parts. Devin Fouquette led half of the race with Preston Carr applying intense pressure. Carr pulled alongside on the bottom, but was not able to finish the pass. When Carr used the top of turn four, he was able to gain the lead and pulled away to claim the win over Fouquette and 10th starting Lucas Rodin.
Sport mods finished the night. Ninth starting Clay Erickson used a turn four pass to win over Joe Docekal and Matt Sanders.
Racing continues the next three days before the three-day break occurs.