When Davey Hamilton Jr. announced in late July he would be promoting the Risk On 360 Open Wheel Showdown, it was more than just an event to him.
It was years of dreaming, planning, looking for sponsorship and thinking about all the possibilities and doors this event would open for him.
Hamilton announced the winged pavement sprint car event would pay $50,000 to win from a purse of $155,000. Winged sprint car racing on asphalt has never had a race with a purse of this magnitude. It was his idea and he has made that dream a reality.
The event will be Dec. 1-2, 2023, at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The organization and planning of this event have recently consumed almost every hour of the day. If Hamilton has it his way, the event will go off without a hitch and go down in history as one of the finest short-track events ever conceived.
But Hamilton will also race his familiar No. 14 sprint car in pursuit of the big prize.
“I do want to win it, and if I could, I’d finally start considering myself as one of the top winged pavement sprint car drivers in the country,” Hamilton said with a laugh. “We win a lot and are competitive everywhere we go. I’m still very humble about the fact that there is solid competition all around the country and Canada. Everybody had done a great job in their own right.
“I’ve won a lot of local stuff, but I wanna get some more big wins,” he said. “I’ve won some big sprint car races in the past for sure. It’s time I started showing my potential of winning some of the top races around the country. I’d definitely like to win the Open Wheel Showdown.”
Hamilton had an excellent season behind the wheel.
“I started the year out great and we got the non-winged Dave Steele 125 win in Florida. I picked up a bunch of other wins, including three Must See Racing wins,” Hamilton said. “I finally got a USAC Silver Crown win late in the year. This is the first time everybody in winged pavement racing can come together from a competition standpoint. If you can win this race, you’re the best, and your team’s the best — plain and simple.”
Hamilton won nine pavement sprint car features this season, the most of any driver in the country for a second consecutive year.
He is also coming off a second-place finish in the Pink Lady Classic at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway and a victory in the Sandi DeCaire Classic 41 in Inverness, Fla. Hamilton and his Kirk Morgan Racing team are at the top of their game heading into the Open Wheel Showdown.
Hamilton knows when race weekend starts, he will have to relinquish some of his responsibilities so that he can focus on being a driver, be he also realizes that isn’t completely possible.
“I will still have to do promotional things,” Hamilton explained. “I’m gonna be in victory lane shaking the hands of every driver before the start of the race. Making sure the sponsors are happy. I’m still responsible for some expensive property that is there. I gotta make sure there are no issues with the merchandise trailer and credit card machine. There’s still gonna be a lot going on.
“But from a racing side of things, I’m not going to have to worry about how the race show goes. I’m not going to have any say in that,” he noted. “I’ve handed that off to my officials. I told them that the weekend is going to be run how you guys want to. I gave them my ideas of how I want to do driver introductions for year one.
“It was my vision for how the format was, but from a technical standpoint, and how the show is run, that side of things is 100 percent on them,” Hamilton continued. “I’m only a driver. I have no control over race procedures. I’m not going to stop on the straightway if I don’t agree with something. It’s going to be how they run the show.”
When asked if all the extra responsibilities Hamilton has race weekend will hurt his chances at a win, he was quick to respond.
“I’ve had this workload on me since the race was announced in late July,” he said. “I won that USAC Silver Crown race after it was announced, won my first Must See Racing event after it was announced, won my second Sandi DeCaire race after it was announced. So, no it won’t affect me.
“Honestly, it’s pushing me to be a better driver. Once I’m in the race car, and have my helmet on, I shut everything else out. At that point I’m going for that checkered flag.”
With the number of cars the event will draw and the talented drivers in those cars, Hamilton realizes there will be some good cars going home without making the show.
“I was talking about that very subject the other day. It’s gonna be tough just to make that race,” he said. “We do have two provisional spots. From a driver’s standpoint I would not give myself a provisional, even if it’s my own event, if I don’t make the race. However, my team owner Kirk Morgan would probably think the complete opposite.” Hamilton joked. “I’m not thinking about that. I’m thinking about what I need to do as a driver to win that race.
“At the end of the day, a win in the Open Wheel Showdown would be an amazing accomplishment.”
The Open Wheel Showdown will be broadcast live by SPEEDSPORT.tv.