LAS VEGAS — Bryan Gossel recently confirmed that he will be one of a handful of drivers who will compete in multiple divisions during this year’s Only Bulls Open Wheel Showdown at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway November 5-7.
The Fort Collins, Colorado, driver will be participating in the $50,000-to-win winged sprint car event as well as the $10,000-to-win Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts non-winged sprint car event.
Competing in multiple sprint car events on the same weekend is nothing new for Gossel. He is one of the most versatile sprint car drivers in the country. It is not uncommon for Gossel to run 410-winged dirt, 360-winged dirt, winged pavement, non-winged pavement, USAC Silver Crown dirt and pavement events in a single season.
His attempt to compete in both sprint car events at the Open Wheel Showdown will be old hat for Gossel. In fact, he attempted to do World of Outlaws and ASCS 360 winged dirt sprint car events on the same night at Dodge City, Kansas, earlier in the year.
When the announcement came that non-winged sprint cars had been added to this year’s OWS Gossel was all in.
“I’m already there, and investing the time to be there, so it now gives me twice the opportunity to make some money,” explained Gossel.
With the track being recently repaved Gossel, like many others, has many questions entering this year’s event.
“Are they gonna put a lot of VHT on the track? I’m assuming they will because they normally have. Is the car gonna roll? Just figuring out what they’re doing to the track is challenging. We put the same set-up on it last year that we had run in 2024,” Gossel explained. “The car wouldn’t even turn because it was so tight. The VHT could have definitely made the car way stuck. Normally new pavement makes a track super-fast. Just figuring out what they will do to the tack is part of the strategy you have to do for this race.”
Attempting to do multiple races should be easier this time around for Gossel.
“We handled everything, but the speed of the show made it challenging. We did have some issues. The left front brake on the outlaw car wasn’t working and I pulled in. With these events being spread out over two days that will make it way easier,” Gossel said.
“The level of competition has gotten so good in recent years. I was talking to my crew chief Scott recently and he said I think we’re gonna be surprised with the caliber of the non-wing field. There are some California West Coat guys that are really good non-wing pavement guys that we’ve never heard of. Hopefully, it’s gonna be great racing and good competition.
“Realistically a top five in both races is my goal. But a top 10 would be OK. Winning is the ultimate goal. Aaron Willison has some stuff figured out that nobody does on the winged side of things. Kody Swanson is Kody Swanson. How can we catch up to these guys is what asking myself.”
