LAS VEGAS — Californian Eric Humphries is eagerly looking forward to next weekend’s (Nov. 6-8) Bitnile.Com Open Wheel Showdown Presented by askROI at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Humphries anticipates he could be battling for the $50,000 first-place prize money.
Humphries is no stranger to winged asphalt sprint car racing. He’s been good, really good. He is a three-time King of the Wing National champion. He has won multiple times with the series over the years. At times, he’s been downright dominant.
But the last couple of years he’s focused on winged dirt sprint car racing and his family. He’s put focus on being a dad and helping his children with the different sports they have pursued.
“I think I’m going into the Open Wheel Showdown with 12-13 shows under my belt. That’s the most I’ve run on pavement the last few years,” explained Humphries. “What ended up happening is I got heavily involved in baseball with my oldest kid. He made the all-star team, and I became the all-star coach. I didn’t even get going until May because of all of that.
“We took a year off about two years ago,” said Humphries, 39. “I had to focus on the family business. Being a dad is what happened to me as well. I’ve been going racing with my boys and working on the family business. I’m pretty much retired from dirt. I feel to be good on dirt you gotta race 30 to 40 times a year. I can’t do that anymore with being a dad, racing with my boys, and enjoying life. But I feel like I’m better on the asphalt. It’s second nature to me.”
Humphries believes he has what it takes to contend in the Open Wheel Showdown.
“I feel good about our equipment and where we’re at, as a team,” Humphries said. “I think we size up good against the guys who are coming. But that’s a tall order to win the thing. We’re gonna do what we can to be there at the end. It’s such a long race. It’s 100 laps. You can be fast the first 50, but it’s the last 50 that matters.”
Humphries returned in a big way in 2025. He has won twice with Speed Tour, including a victory in the $10,000 Pink Lady Classic at Meridian (Idaho) Speedway in September. Many of the same drivers he will face off against at the Open Wheel Showdown were at the Pink Lady Classic. He also won a non-wing race with NCMA at the Harvest Classic at Madera (Calif.) Speedway.
“I took a couple of years off and stayed quiet. But we updated all our stuff. We are in a different car now,” he explained. “We got a Grip Chassis. But we still got our Beast stuff. We’ve updated our motor program. My brother is still very much a part of the crew chief side of things for our Harvest Supply Racing Team. I got Jeff Gardner with Rev Con Suspension with us now. Our program is good right now.”
Humpries finished in the top 10 in the inaugural OWS. He finished fifth last year.
“We have a lot of momentum going into the Open Wheel Showdown,” Humphries noted. “It’s going to be a tall order to win it. There are gonna be so many good drivers there. I love this race. You got the best of the best in the country. Where we’re at now, I feel good about another top five. But I think we’ll be contending for a win.”
Watch the Open Wheel Showdown on SPEED SPORT 2.
