TULARE, Calif. — For the first time since 2019, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is set to invade California in the spring.
The three-week visit begins this weekend at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway for two nights of racing on Friday and Saturday.
While David Gravel currently leads the World of Outlaws standings, a talented crop of local talent will be awaiting their arrival with hopes of winning one for the Cali Clique.
• New Tarlton Motorsports pilot Mitchell Faccinto is eyeing his first World of Outlaws victory.
This past weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway, Faccinto earned his first victory in the No. 21 in only his second night with the team.
Faccinto’s feature debut with the nation’s top series came at the Thunderbowl back in 2015 and he’s since made eight more main event starts, earning a best result of eighth at Silver Dollar Speedway.
While the 29-year-old is yet to win a 410 event at Tulare, he owns a trio of 360 triumphs, highlighted by a Trophy Cup preliminary victory in 2018, at the track.
• Reigning NARC Fujitsu General Sprint Car champion Dominic Scelzi is another potent Californian seeking an inaugural Outlaw victory.
The Fresno, Calif., native owned Tulare for the first half of 2021, winning the first six winged 410 and 360 sprint car events of the season there. One of Scelzi’s seven career top-five finishes with the Outlaws came at Thunderbowl in 2018.
• Two-time Outlaw feature winner Shane Golobic plans to chase more victories this weekend at a track where he’s certainly capable.
Golobic is one of only two drivers to earn back-to-back Trophy Cup titles and he’s the only one to do so since the famed event moved to the Thunderbowl in 2005. The 30-year-old driver has yet to crack the top-10 with the Outlaws at Tulare, but he’s finished in the top five in his last six NARC starts there, including a victory in the Peter Murphy Classic.
• While California has plenty of potent gassers capable of an upset, the Outlaws are the best for a reason and won’t go down easy.
Gravel leads the Outlaws into California atop the standings and the 70-time feature winner has had a mixed bag of results at the Thunderbowl.
In 11 starts, he’s collected a pair of wins but also finished 12th or worse on six occasions.
• Rolling into the weekend tied for second in points is 10-time series champion Donny Schatz.
Schatz has picked up a trio of victories at Tulare and been generally consistent with 18 top-10s in 26 starts.
• A pair of Californians turned Outlaws in Brad Sweet and Carson Macedo are still searching for their first series victories at the three-eighths-mile.
Sweet struggled earlier in his career with the Outlaws at Tulare, but the three-time and defending champion has since improved to the tune of top fives in five of his last six starts.
Like Sweet, Macedo had a difficult time producing results at the Thunderbowl at first but has adapted well with four top-10s in his last five main events.
The native of nearby Lemoore, Calif., also scored a 360 victory at Tulare just this past November following the Outlaw season.
• A handful of drivers who don’t quite fit in either the California local or full-time Outlaw category will also be capable a claiming a checkered flag.
Well before he expanded his racing portfolio across the country, Rico Abreu honed his skills in California and has experienced a bevy of success at the Thunderbowl.
The first two Outlaw victories of Abreu’s career came at Tulare, and he’s the only driver to ever sweep all three nights of the Trophy Cup, pulling off the feat in 2019.
• Last year’s All Star Circuit of Champions titlist, Tyler Courtney, will be making a rare appearance in the Golden State.
“Sunshine” competed in the 2021 Trophy Cup to make his Tulare debut and notched a best finish of seventh on the opening night of the three-day event.
• Roth Motorsports brought in Kerry Madsen to run a mix of West Coast and Midwest events in the No. 83 this season and the pairing is fresh off a runner-up in the pairing’s debut at Keller Auto Speedway.
The Australian hasn’t competed with the Outlaws at Tulare since 2016 and he’s earned a trio of series top-fives in 15 starts.
• KCP Racing pilot, Gio Scelzi, will be back in his home state for the West Coast swing as a part of their true outlaw schedule.
The 20-year-old is yet to crack the top-10 at the Thunderbowl with the Outlaws in a pair of attempts, but he does have wins there with both NARC and the Sprint Car Challenge Tour 360 sprints.
• Tanner Thorson is expected to try and make his first Outlaw feature start at the Thunderbowl.
This year’s Chili Bowl champion has plenty of laps on California’s dirt ovals and will be adding to that tally on the West Coast swing as he continues to get reacquainted with winged sprint cars in the Reinbold-Underwood machine.
Thorson finished second in his first Outlaw main event start at Silver Dollar Speedway in 2015 and it remains his best result with the series.