VANCOUVER, Washington — The NorthWest Wingless Tour sprint car series, the premier non-wing sprint car tour in the Pacific Northwest, is now just hours away from its inaugural event at one of the country's most well known dirt tracks, Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash.
"This will be just the 12th known non-wing sprint car event held at Skagit Speedway, and only six drivers have earned victories."
Defending NWWT champion Theo McCarty of Hillsboro, Ore. carries a slim four point lead over Gaston, Ore.'s Corey Esteban going into the event and is coming off a second place finish in the season opening event at Cottage Grove Speedway on April 30th. Esteban finished sixth in that same race but made up points on McCarty during qualifying and heat race action earlier in the evening.
Kyle Mehner of Clackamas, Ore. sits third in the NWWT standings, 13 points back of McCarty and just three tallies ahead of Eagle Creek, Ore.'s Mark Nichols, who sits fourth after a strong main event run when he had to start at the rear of the field after missing qualifying and his heat race due to a practice crash at the start of the night.
Just about all of the visiting NWWT drivers expected to make the tow north have never raced on the 3/10-mile, high-banked clay oval and some have never even seen the place. With several local drivers much more familiar with their home dirt track planning to take off the wings themselves, it will prove to be an interesting challenge for all of the drivers taking part in the festivities this weekend.
Local area drivers planning to race without the wings include Mack Brown, Brock Lemley, Josh DeWitt and Bud Ashe. Lemley charged from 16th to finish 3rd the last time non-wing sprint cars ran at Skagit Speedway, the 2006 USAC/CRA 410 sprint car event. DeWitt travelled south to Cottage Grove, Ore. for the season opener and took home an impressive third place finish. Both drivers figure to be local threats to win on Saturday.
This will be just the 12th known non-wing sprint car event held at Skagit Speedway, and only six drivers have earned victories: Lealand McSpadden, Jay Smith, Brent Kaeding, Corey Kruseman, Damion Gardner and Jayme Barnes. All have won major sprint car and midget car events and championships, making this a good group of names for Saturday's main event winner to join.
Skagit Speedway local winged 410 sprint car and sportsman sprint divisions will also be in action, giving fans a full night of sprint car racing.
More information on the NorthWest Wingless Tour sprint car series, the premier non-wing sprint car tour in the Pacific Northwest can be found online at http://www.nwwinglesstour.com.
