When Davey Hamilton Jr. announced plans to promote a winged sprint car race on pavement paying $50,000 to the winner, the news sent shockwaves through that segment of the motorsports industry.
The inaugural Open Wheel Showdown will run Dec. 1-2 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The winged sprint car portion of the three-division card sports a record $155,000 purse with each of the 26 feature starters guaranteed a minimum of $2,500.
A $10,000-to-win midget event and a full slate of Speed Tour supermodified racing are also on the card at the three-eighths-mile paved oval.
For years, the Little 500, run annually at Indiana’s Anderson Speedway, was the richest pavement sprint car race with $25,000 earmarked for the winner. However, Evan Margeson established a new standard in late September when he banked $30,000 for winning the Pink Lady Classic at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway.
With three open-wheel classes, the Open Wheel Showdown has a Copper World Classic feel, and that is by design. Hamilton has long aspired to promote a reincarnated version of the event that ran at Phoenix Raceway from 1976 through 2009.
“I have been working on this event, believe it or not, for years,” said Hamilton. “I grew up watching Turkey Night and hearing about the Copper World Classic. I just wanted to see a modern era; all open-wheel racing event happen. It is finally happening. I have put so much into making this event possible.”
More than 60 winged sprint cars are entered for the 100-lap Open Wheel Showdown and the event will be streamed live by SPEEDSPORT.tv and SPEED SPORT 1.
“About four years ago, I started to entertain the idea and put together a business plan for it,” Hamilton explained. “I couldn’t understand why big-money races exist for dirt guys and not for pavement guys. It’s something I’ve dreamed about ever since I started racing winged sprint cars.
“I used to race on the West Coast in pavement sprint cars and midgets,” Hamilton continued. “But the good money wasn’t there. These cars are expensive to run, and I wanted these guys to get an opportunity to run for something they deserve.”
Racing a winged sprint car on pavement is something Hamilton knows well. He is a former King of the Wing and Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series champion. In addition, he won three Must See Racing features this season.
Hamilton has led the nation in pavement sprint car (winged and non-winged) feature victories the past two seasons.
At 26 years old, Hamilton will now try his hand at promoting races. His grandfather, Ken Hamilton, promoted Meridian Speedway for many years. His father, Davey Hamilton, has owned a traveling supermodified and sprint car series in the past.
The youngest promoter among the Hamilton family didn’t anticipate the response his Open Wheel Showdown has generated.
“This is year one. I’m astonished how much excitement and interest this event has generated,” he said. “The plan is for it to be bigger every year. However, we all need to work together to grow and make it better every year. Those who want to support year two, and not the first year, are exactly why our sport is in decline. We all need to come together now. I have worked my tail off to put everything into this to give teams an opportunity. I already know the changes to do in years to come. But those who don’t want to support year one shouldn’t come year two either.”
Hamilton has assembled an all-star cast to officiate the midget and sprint car events while Speed Tour will oversee the supermodified division.
“I have 30-plus employees for this event. These are some of the best in our sport and we are all working together to make it right,” Hamilton said. “There are some things that we will learn from. I don’t even know how much Open Wheel Showdown merchandise to have this year because we have no numbers to go from. Year one will be the hardest. If everyone just understands this and works together, that is what will make this event grow.”
Representatives from the Little 500, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Lorain Raceway Park, the 500 Sprint Car Tour and Anderson Speedway are among those who will be tasked with working the event.
Of the early sprint car entries, Kody Swanson may be the biggest name. Swanson has had an incredible open-wheel career with seven USAC Silver Crown championships and three Little 500 victories. Swanson has also been a winner with USAC, CASA and the 500 Sprint Car Tour. He’s raced a winged sprint car on pavement since 2013 when he won a Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series feature.
“It’s $50,000 to win,” Swanson said. “We know there are going to be a lot of good cars there. You go hoping you have a chance. I support the effort Davey Hamilton Jr. has made to support pavement sprint car racing in that way. I’ve been to the Las Vegas Bullring before and it’s a fun little race track. Plus, it’s fun to race sprint cars and midgets in December.”
Bobby Santos III, who has enjoyed success running winged sprint cars on pavement, filed the first entry for the Open Wheel Showdown.
“I was hearing about what Davey was trying to do,” Santos said. “It’s everything us pavement racers are dying for and want, a high-paying sprint car race. We see all these big-paying dirt races and we think why not us. Davey’s doing that for us. We should all be excited and put our best effort into helping promote this thing and make it big. Being a part of this event was important to us. This will only help elevate pavement sprint car racing across the country. Hats off to Davey for giving us this opportunity.”
Other notable entrants include Hamilton himself, Nathan Byrd, Byran Gossel, Justin Grant, Davey Hamilton Sr., Jesse Love, Colton Nelson, Kyle O’Gara, Tyler Roahrig and Aaron Willison.
As the Open Wheel Showdown draws closer, the event’s potential impact becomes clearer.
“The more I dive into this I keep going back to Turkey Night and the Copper World Classic. Those were two huge events that brought people together from all over. We need events like this in today’s world to keep our sport thriving,” Hamilton concluded.
This story appeared in the Nov 22, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
