PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Must See Racing Sprint Series Presented by Perfit-Parts.Com is preparing for its biggest weekend of racing with this weekends Southern Shootout looming.
The series will visit Five Flags Speedway on Friday night October 3 and will conclude the weekend with a visit to Montgomery (Ala.) Motor Speedway the following evening.
This will be the first time unrestricted 410 winged pavement sprint cars have raced in the area since Must See Racing last visited Montgomery Motor Speedway in 2021. It has been since 2014 that MSR last raced at Five Flags Speedway.
Teams will be racing for a combined weekend purse of nearly $64,000 including bonuses and other incentives. The winner will receive $10,000 for finding victory lane each night.
The all-time track records could be in jeopardy at both tracks this weekend. Must See Racing bills itself as being the Fastest Short Track Cars in the World, and for good reason. Must See Racing in the only 410 pavement sprint car series in the world that doesn’t utilize restricted or detuned 410 engines.
Brian Gerster established the all-time track record at Five Flags Speedway on April 11, 2014, with a lap of 13.046 seconds around the famous half mile.
Bobby Santos III established the all-time track record at Montgomery Motor Speedway on April 3, 2016, 15.038 seconds (122.090 mph). A $250 bonus will be awarded to the fast qualifier each night.
This weekend’s events have drawn interest from some of the top drivers in winged pavement sprint car racing. Santos III headlines a list of some of the best from the Midwest and Southeast. Santos III has been hot in winged competition this season. He has won twice with Must See Racing thus far in 2025. He also picked up a par of $10,000 to win unsanctioned events at Dacono, Colorado in July.
Sixteen-year-old Florida standout Colton Bettis is also entered for this weekend’s Southern Shootout. The teenager got off to a hot start in the spring and hasn’t slowed down. He currently leads the nation with nine pavement sprint car feature victories in 2025. He will be making his second MSR start of the season.
Joe Ligouri, who is the current series points leader, is looking to finish off his season with a third MSR title. Liguori is winless so far in 2025 and would like nothing more than to finish his potential championship run by adding another career MSR feature victory to his season.
Langley, British Columbia hot shoe Aarron Willison is set to return to Must See Racing competition after two podium finishes with MSR over Labor Day Weekend. Willison was victorious with MSR at Sandusky in on July 23. He was the inaugural Open Wheel Showdown champion and runs strong in big money races.
Davey Hamilton Jr. makes his return after a busy season that has saw him split time between sprint cars and the Indy NXT series. The multi-time MSR winner will be a strong contender all weekend.
A significant number of Floridian drivers are entered for this weekend’s events including Scotty Adema, Shane Butler, J.J. Dutton, Johnny Gilbertson, Steven Hollinger, Mickey Kempgens, Daniel Miller, Tommy Nichols and Dylan Reynolds.
Other expected entrants include Todd Bliss, Butch David, Bobby Komisarski, Kevin Mingus, Alby Ovitt and Joey Schmidt.
