LAS VEGAS — “Hollywood” Mike McVetta is set to make his first Only Bulls Open Wheel Showdown start at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway November 5-7.
McVetta will be competing in the second annual Larry Trigueiro Memorial $10,000-to-win supermodified portion of the Open Wheel Showdown.
McVetta will be one of a handful of East Coast supermodified competitors competing in the event. It will be a more than 4,000-mile round trip from his Northeast Ohio home in Medina. The Open Wheel Showdown is quickly becoming the modern-day version of the defunct Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway from 1977-2009. It annually drew supermodifieds from all over the country.
After watching the success that fellow East Coasters Dave Danzer, Otto Sitterly and Kevin Newton have enjoyed at the event, McVetta was tempted him to throw his name into the ring. All three previous Open Wheel Showdown supermodified races have been won by drivers who reside east of the Mississippi River.
“It’s a really cool event with the 300 cars they have across all of the divisions,” stated McVetta. “We’ve talked about it since the first year. Its just never worked out. The past couple of years we’ve had a race scheduled in North Carolina. It made a lot more sense to go there than all the way across the country. That race got canceled this year. It opened up the opportunity, everything aligned, so here we are.”
McVetta, like many, really doesn’t have an idea of what to expect with the newly repaved Bullring. He’s been doing his homework while trying to gather info that will help him tune his car to the freshly paved Bullring oval.
“I don’t know if anybody can really prepare for it this year. I think it’s a huge wildcard. I’ve watched it every year on SPEED SPORT 2,” McVetta said. “With the repaving its looking slick. I watched the ARCA race a couple of weeks ago and it looked like they struggled. We’ll see how it goes once we get some rubber down.”
There are distinct differences between the East Coast and West Coast supermodified engines and chassis. The rules package for this race is very relaxed in an effort to accommodate a larger field of cars. McVetta is aware of this aspect of the event.
“I’ve noticed the success that cars from our neck of the woods have had in that race. Everyone will tell you the west coast cars have been stuck with technology from 20 years ago, where we’ve been working for 20 years making our stuff better,” McVetta said. “This is mainly because there was a period where there weren’t any supermodified races on the West Coast. I think their engines are a little better. I think the aluminum 410s are a stronger piece. We’re excited to go out there and try our hand at it.”
The 42-year-old McVetta has been at the top of his game in recent seasons. Primarily competing with the ISMA-MSS Supermodified Racing Series, he has six wins with the series over the past four seasons.
He has been near unstoppable in the annual Great Lakes Classic at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan. He won his third consecutive event this past June. He would have to considered an early favorite to take home the $10,000 first place prize money next weekend.
“Our year started out pretty rough this year. We just had a lot of issues at the beginning of the year that really put us behind,” McVetta noted. “We really found our groove again after Berlin. We won the Great Lakes Classic again. We finished up the year strong. I’m hoping we can continue our streak of good runs and have a good showing in Las Vegas.
“We had a good season. But anybody that can close the season out with an Open Wheel Showdown win is icing and the cherry on top. That’s such a cool event with so many race cars out there and so many people tuning into it. It’s the modern-day Copper World Classic. Winning that race would be such a huge accomplishment.”
Watch the Open Wheel Showdown live on SPEED SPORT 2.
