SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. – Chris Kearns had a very busy January.
Promoting the Wild West Shootout, which covered a 10-day span, then jumping right into the initial Wild Wing Shootout event, Kearns literally lived at Arizona Speedway for much of the month.
While preparation for the Wild West Shootout started shortly after the 2020 version was completed, the on-site work can only be started as opening day nears. As team leader of both events, Kearns is the person who lives and breathes Wild West racing once the calendar is turns to a new year.
The Wild West Shootout that is headlined by super late models is promoted by Kearns, Michael Rigsby, and Matt Curl while the inaugural Wild Wing Shootout was under the promotion of Kearns, Jonah Trussel (Arizona Speedway promoter), Michael Rigsby and Matt Curl.
Two other people who play a major role in the events are Jolene Kearns (Chris’ wife) and Jason Babyak, who took care of a myriad of things before, during and after each race day. One of those tasks is getting every driver and employee paid after each race, nine times in a 16-day stretch. The Wild West Shootout portion also has Ben Shelton playing a large role in event preparation.
This year’s Wild West Shootout event was record setting with the car count obliterating the old record. The fourth of six races drew 187 entries in the three divisions, super late models, modifieds and x mods. This year’s average was 172, a large increase over last year’s average of 120.
There also seemed to be better super late main events than before with mods and x mods certainly holding up their end of things also. It is generally thought that one super late model main was the best ever in this series.
You might think the team leader would be thrilled with the big car count increase, but not necessarily so with Kearns.
“All in all I think it was a success,” said Kearns. “The car count was a little overwhelming. I don’t need that many cars to put on a great event but I appreciate how that many racers wanted to come and race for us. If you take the percentage of keeping that many teams happy for six nights, I think we did pretty damn well. I got pretty much only compliments from the fans, so I think it was a success.
“I think this year was a fluke with car count,” Kearns further explained. “No one got to race a lot last year, no one knows how much they are going to race this year. I think it’s a 140-car event and I’m totally fine with that. I don’t see this year’s turnout happening again, I really don’t. We try to pay these guys well, but it has to be expensive for them. They are not only out here spending money, they aren’t home making money.”
The crowd size was in line with previous years despite the question of how would the COVID-19 situation would play out with fans. Two days before opening night’s practice session, the county’s wishes were met when a mandatory mask rule was installed and numerous hand sanitizers stations were placed around the facility. Temperatures were checked before fans could enter with three EMTs on site. Compliance by fans and teams on the mask rule was very well supported, as everyone understood what was needed to not create issues with the county.
Only a three-day break following the Wild West event gave Kearns a chance to catch his breath, and then Wild Wing Shootout began its initial year with a Thursday night practice before three nights of racing for winged 410 sprint cars and IMCA modifieds.
“I was a little disappointed with the sprint car count, but I was happy with the caliber and we had a pretty good main event for Arizona at that time of year,” Kearns said. “We had some phenomenal hitters, I was happy with the support, the crowd, not the weather on Sunday. For the first year, it was good.
“The late model and modified people have learned that I do whatever it takes to get a show in and I needed the sprint car people to see that. Travelers like Dewease, the GSR team out of Indiana, I don’t want people to look at the weather and think there is a chance I will cancel so they don’t go. I knew racing Sunday was a bad idea, but in the big picture of building the event, it was worth the hit to race on Sunday. We rushed it through which took away the pizzazz of the final race. I don’t want a race to just be a race, I want it to be an event.”
Kearns hopes that much like sponsorship has helped grow the Wild West Shootout, the same will happen for the Wild Wing Shootout.
“The sponsorship on the Wild West is amazing which allows us to keep putting back into it,” Kearns said. “That’s how you build an event. That’s how we made the Wild West so big, but I think since we are in January many are looking at us and we give back which helped us with sponsorship on the Wild West. I’m hoping it happens on the Wild Wing side.”
Kearns works very hard to make January special and some of the seemingly little things he does show his determination. The track has no running water, so they have to go the portable route. A nicer facility on wheels is available for women, and Kearns spent $200 on decorations for the inside. He spent $1,600 on large, heavy duty trash bags and paid someone to replace trash bags inside the barrels all around the property before they overflowed. Drivers were given nice looking western style face masks for their post race interview instead of wearing some generic looking thing, something that was important to Kearns.
The 2022 dates for Wild West Shootout are set for Jan. 7-16 and the Wild Wing Shootout will be on the following weekend. And one guarantee you can take to the bank: with Kearns serving as the leader of the group, both events will continue to grow and be very well presented.