CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — In 2001 the promoter of Central Arizona Raceway, Ernie Mincy, created a January series for late models, calling it Early Thaw.
Thinking Midwest late model teams would come to a much warmer Arizona for the opportunity to start their season, Mincy thought of the series which is now known as the Wild West Shootout.
Owners of the Wild West Shootout are Chris Kearns, Matt Curl and Jason Babyak. Kearns raced years ago in the Santa Maria, Calif., area and his efforts has built the series to an amazing level. Curl is the director of race operations, promoter, and owner of the very popular Fairbury Speedway in Fairbury, Ill. Babyak is a recent addition to the group and is a representative at Schaeffer Manufacturing Co. and does many things to support Kearns.
Ernie Mincy had the series for seven years at Central Arizona Raceway until a five-year long closure by the fairgrounds resulted in two years of no Wild West series until the dirt track in Tucson reopened.
When the series was in Tucson, the owner was Kevin Montgomery and he asked Kearns to be the race director. A few years later, Montgomery and Kearns became partners and the series continued to grow. Tucson was the beginning of the series being labeled the Wild West Shootout.
The event moved to Arizona Speedway in 2017 as a better opportunity was available at the track built by Jonah Trussel. The status and support grew during this five-year stretch, which ended when the state decided they wanted the land back and the track closed.
That meant another move, this time to Vado Speedway Park in New Mexico. Fans and drivers spoke highly of the facility, but the January weather made things difficult.
After four years at Vado, the series will return to its birthplace in January 2026 when Central Arizona Raceway hosts the series, 25 years after Ernie Mincy started January late model racing there.
Kearns sees it this way, “Without Ernie Mincy’s vision and courage the Wild West Shootout would probably not exist.”
The 2026 purse will be around $375.000 as the series has outstanding sponsorship. The unique trophies are created by Kearns. The turnout of fans figures to be huge as the track is close to the destination city of Phoenix.
But the return of Wild West Shootout to Central Arizona Raceway would likely not have happened if a change in leadership at the track had not occurred.
November 5, 2022, was the date when the return of the WWS to Casa Grande started to become possible. It was that date that Central Arizona Raceway raced under the leadership of a new promoter, Brad Whitfield.
A field of 175 cars jammed the pit area on his opening night, a sign of the level of support that Whitfield has received since he signed the contract to run the three-eighths-mile oval. It is Whitfield who made numerous improvements to CAR that led to the Wild West Shootout returning to the Grand Canyon state.
With support from Jerry Petty, Whitfield has remodeled much of CAR and he is not finished. Changes include new catch fence, added bleachers, improved track exit, new flagstand, new ramp to assist fans and next month a scoreboard will be added.
Adding a wall around the track perimeter and adjusting the banking proved to eliminate numerous yellows caused by sliding off the track. New billboards from turn one to turn four were quickly filled by sponsors. Every step improved the facility.
Whitfield’s effort isn’t just putting WWS on the track schedule, but the Western World Championships featuring USAC sprints is held the last weekend in October. High Limit Racing will return next March after selling out this year, and the huge Winter Nationals for IMCA classes continues its run in the second half of January.
Ernie Mincy died in February of 2024 but he’ll be watching from above when the idea he started will be home 25 years after the series was born.
