LAS VEGAS — When 21-yeat-old Utah driver Natalie Waters arrives at this year’s BITNILE.com Open Wheel Showdown Presented by askROI, she will do so with an extra bit of confidence.
Waters is coming off her career best winged sprint car finish and will bring a new Big Willy Chassis with her to the November 6-8 event at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Waters has yet to make the OWS winged sprint car A-main, but she’s been awfully close on both occasions, only missing the cut-off by one or two positions at most.
She admits her confidence is high entering this year’s event.
“We qualified fifth at this year’s Pink Lady Classic in Meridian, Idaho, against the same guys, and that was huge,” explained Waters. “We’re really excited to get back down there with this new car. It’s nothing but the best. Will’s (Big Willy Chassis builder) helped us a lot. With this new motor, it’s definitely a stronger motor than what we’ve had in the past. Being able to go there without motor issues and not having to figure things out in our third year there, our confidence is high heading into OWS with this car and new motor.
“A couple of years ago I was in a transfer spot and blew my motor. Then after I blew the motor, a guy comes running down and tells me I got the provisional. But I couldn’t race because we didn’t have a motor,” she continued. “This last year the top six transferred and I finished seventh. The thing that sucked was that the first-place guy was so far ahead I didn’t see him. When I was counting cars, I thought I was sixth and in the show. When I got to the pits everyone was telling me I was so close. That was a little bit of heartbreak to find out we finished seventh. We’ve been so close every year.”
Waters ventured to Vancouver Island, Canada for the Neil Montgomery Memorial at Saratoga Speedway in August. When the dust had settled, she found herself with a podium finish in the richest pavement sprint car race in Canada.
“We hauled all the way up to Vancouver Island, had to take the ferry and do all that fun stuff,” Waters said. “We struggled at first but got things figured out. We qualified good. The way they do the pill draw we ended up starting on the outside of the front row.
“It poured rain all weekend, so we didn’t get much track time. That track is really tricky. It reminds me of a road course,” she continued. “It’s got a weird dog leg and has a wall around the inside. You can’t really see the exit of the corner. I held my line and followed the guy in front of me. He’s a local driver with a lot of laps there. On a restart I kind of messed up and got passed and finished third. Finishing on the podium was a cool moment for me.”
In addition to on-track success, Waters races for a cause. She is a spokeswoman for “Racing to end Bullying.”
“We wanna make the show this year. That would be huge for us. You watch these long-distance sprint car races every year, and it becomes a survival game,” Waters noted. “Just to make the show and finish would be a really good start for us. Staying on the lead lap would be huge. Running top five, and then top three, would be our next goals. I’m really excited for this year.”
