MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Saturday night’s 60th running of the Champion Oil Williams Grove National Open at Williams Grove Speedway will pay the winner $75,000 for the second consecutive season.
Carson Macedo claimed the top prize last year.
The National Open has a history as deep as any short-track race in the country and its winners list reads like a who’s who of motorsports history.
Gordon Johncock, who won the first National Open in 1963, went on to win two Indianapolis 500s and is a legend in the IndyCar racing world.
Thirty-four different drivers have won the National Open. Seventeen of those drivers have been enshrined into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and 35 of the 59 runnings have been won by a driver who is in the Hall of Fame.
Unsanctioned through its early years, the 1978 National Open was technically considered a World of Outlaws race, although no Outlaw drivers competed that year. The All Star Circuit of Champions sanctioned the race for the only time in 1981.
The World of Outlaws began their long run as the sanctioning body for the event in 1989. Since that event, only the 1998 and 2008 events were unsanctioned, and in both cases that was because rain washed out the race on its scheduled date.
As many as 50 entries are expected for this weekend’s event with six former race winners among them.
Ten-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion Donny Schatz has won the National Open a record six times. Schatz, who won his first National Open in 2000 and his sixth in 2020, will look for victory No. 7 aboard the Tony Stewart Racing No. 15 sprint car.
Defending winner Macedo will wheel the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41, while four-time National Open winner Lance Dewease will pilot the familiar Kreitz Racing No. 69k machine.
Two-time winner David Gravel steers the Big Game Motorsports entry, with 2019 National Open winner Brent Marks driving the familiar Murray-Marks No. 19 car.
Aboard Gary Kauffman’s No. 48 sprinter, Danny Dietrich will look to become the 13th driver to win the National Open more than once.
Other contenders include three-time WoO champion Brad Sweet, who won for the first time at the Grove in July, Anthony Macri, who has a national-best 21 victories this season, Sheldon Haudenschild and Logan Schuchart.
National Open Winners
1963 — Gordon Johncock
1964 — Larry Dickson*
1965 — Henry Jacoby
1966 — Lou Blaney*
1967 — Bobbie Adamson
1968 — Bobbie Adamson
1969 — Gene Varner
1970 — Johnny Grum
1971 — Kenny Weld*
1972 — Kenny Weld*
1973 — Kenny Weld*
1974 — Steve Smith*
1975 — Bobby Allen*
1976 — Steve Smith*
1977 — Van May
1978 — Kramer Williamson*
1979 — Smokey Snellbaker*
1980 — Allen Klinger
1981 — Steve Smith*
1982 — Lynn Paxton*
1983 — Lynn Paxton*
1984 — Doug Wolfgang*
1985 — Doug Wolfgang*
1986 — Doug Wolfgang*
1987 — Joey Allen
1988 — Kenny Jacobs*
1989 — Stevie Smith*
1990 — Steve Kinser*
1991 — Stevie Smith*
1992 — Steve Kinser*
1993 — Don Kreitz Jr.*
1994 — Steve Kinser*
1995 — Mark Kinser*
1996 — Lance Dewease*
1997 — Sammy Swindell*
1998 — Billy Pauch
1999 — Mark Kinser*
2000 — Donny Schatz
2001 — Lance Dewease*
2002 — Lance Dewease*
2003 — Steve Kinser*
2004 — Donny Schatz
2005 — Donny Schatz
2006 — Doug Esh
2007 — Donny Schatz
2008 — Cody Darrah
2009 — Greg Hodnett*
2010 — Sammy Swindell*
2011 — Jason Meyers
2012 — Donny Schatz
2013 — Fred Rahmer*
2014 — David Gravel
2015 — Stevie Smith*
2016 — Danny Dietrich
2017 — David Gravel
2018 — Lance Dewease*
2019 — Brent Marks
2020 — Donny Schatz
2021 — Carson Macedo
*Denotes Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee