WILMOT, Wis. — A 33-year drought came to an end for Greg Wilson as he scored an impressive victory to highlight the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association portion of the Roger Iles Tribute before a huge Kenosha County Fair crowd on Saturday.
Roger Iles was one of the original IRA competitors and supporters of individual teams as well as the entire series over the years though his business Carriage Auto Body. Ken Iles, his son, took over the business following his father’s passing and continued to show support for Wilmot Raceway and the IRA through the Fair Tribute to his father on fair night.
Starting 14th in the 24-car 30-lap feature field, Wilson took advantage of a caution on lap 14 which closed the ranks behind early pacesetter Jake Blackhurst.
Blackhurst led every lap from his front row spot due to winning the second dash. With eight laps to go, Wilson powered past Blackhurst using both the top and bottom of the third-mile oval.
At the checkered it was Wilson recording his third career IRA victory, but first at Wilmot, the birth place of the IRA over 50 years ago. Blackhurst took second in a tight battle with the final podium finisher Joe B. Miller. Blake Nimee rounded out the top five.
“The good Lord above has been testing me and our family,” said Wilson, joined by his wife and two daughters who help work on his pit crew. “They put up with a lot of my grumpiness. I’ve been coming here since I was 16 and I’m 49 now, and I always wanted to win here at Wilmot in front of these great fans and because of all of the sprint car tradition here. I have to thank the good Lord for this win.”
Mark Heinert won the Lightning Sprint feature and Tyler Kuxhouse topped the crate sprint car main event.