LAS VEGAS — The third running of the Bitnile.com Open Wheel Showdown Presented by askROI at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is only days away.
For event promoter Davey Hamilton Jr., it’s been a lot of long days and many hours spent at the track since mid-September.
Hamilton is a perfectionist and he oversees virtually every aspect of the November 6-8 event. But Hamilton is the first to admit this has been a very unusual year regarding the Open Wheel Showdown.
“It’s not necessary for me to be here that early,” explained Hamilton. “But I want everything to be so perfect and continue to grow like it has been. I go to the race track every single day to see what they’re doing, learn, and meet new people. I am taking notes to see what needs to be done before our event.
“There’s so much that goes into this one race. Even yesterday I spent two hours printing probably 2,000 different papers and documents that are for the teams to have. We have contingency decals. So, we had to put together 250 different bags with 20 or so different company’s stickers in them. It sounds easy but it takes hours, if not a whole day.
“And there are so many banners that need to be hung. I have been doing everything myself. My help won’t start arriving until Sunday. There is a lot to it, but I take pride in this event, and I want everything to be perfect with it.
“This has been a weird year. I’ve been dealing with some personal things that’s made it tough. We have had a lot of people back out as far as helpers go. Our entire hospitality truck, everybody backed out. The chefs, helpers, drivers, everybody. Thanks to the Bitnile group they plugged in people to get it out here.
“The guy who handles my media is dealing with some personal stuff as well. It’s just been a weird year where there have been problems with people. We’re still going to make the most of it and see how it goes. It would have been nice coming into this year with no hiccups.”
Hamilton is also a competitor in the winged sprint car portion of the race. Perhaps nobody wants to win this race more than Hamilton. He has made no secrets of wanting an Open Wheel Showdown trophy on his trophy mantle. He finished third in the inaugural 2023 running. But his dreams of an OWS victory might have to wait.
Hamilton was involved in a very serious accident in a Must See Racing event at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway on October 3. A parts failure sent him hard into the outside retaining wall. He received a neck injury that forced him to withdraw from a scheduled Indy NXT test and hasn’t been in a race car since that crash.
“To be honest, there is a concern with me even racing this year. It may not even happen,” Hamilton acknowledged. “Nobody’s gonna know until Thursday, including myself, if I’m even able to run the event. Regardless, I’m gonna be there as a promotor. Hopefully, I’ll be there as a driver too. If I can’t go as a driver, it’s gonna be a tough weekend for me. I put my entire life into this event 365 days of the year. I’m gonna get in the car Thursday and make some laps and see where we’re at.”
