CONCORD, N.C. — The World of Outlaws World Finals got under way with qualifying on an unseasonably cold Wednesday at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Three nights of racing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights will wrap up the season for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series and the Super DIRTcar Series big-block modifieds.
Seventy-four late models, 53 sprint cars and 45 modifieds signed in for qualifying, which set the fields for Thursday and Friday nights programs. Fans from 49 states and six countries bought tickets for the four-day affair at the four-tenths-mile dirt track.
• Thirty-two of the 53 sprint car drivers entered have won at least one 410 sprint car feature this season. Those 32 accounted for 160 feature victories.
• Four-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series point leader Brad Sweet, who also co-promotes the High Limit Racing Series was spotted spending a great deal of time chatting with World of Outlaws Series Director Carlton Reimers.
It may have been one of the most important conversations of the weekend.
• This week marks Anthony Macri’s second weekend back in the family-owned No. 39m entry.
And it’s been quite the week so far.
On Tuesday night, the No. 39m lost an engine during the Prelude to the Finals at Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina. On Wednesday morning, the team transitioned to one of their two backup engines.
And on Wednesday night, Macri qualified eighth out of 26 cars in Flight B of qualifying at the World Finals.
• One sprint car driver in the field that even the most-savvy of fans were unfamiliar with was 16-year-old Dutch driver Wout Hoffmans.
Driving the Shophouse Racing No. 17 owned by Adrian Berryhill, Hoffmans made his World of Outlaws debut at Devil’s Bowl Speedway last month. Hoffmans races a unique type of race car known as F1 stock cars in his native Netherlands.
• Shark Racing brought three cars to the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Wednesday through Saturday.
Jacob Allen returned to the seat of one of his father Bobby Allen’s machines, with Logan Schuchart and Tanner Holmes also wheeling Shark Racing entries.
• Veteran sprint car racer Justin Henderson is wheeling Don Kreitz Jr.’s familiar No. 69k sprint car during the World Finals.
• California racer Cole Macedo is wheeling Dietz Motorsports No. 14 sprint car, owned by Phil Dietz, who is crew chief on the Jason Johnson Racing machine wheeled by Macedo’s older brother Carson.
• Bill Rose Racing is not be competing at the World Finals. According to Rose’s twitter post, he is being treated for an “unexpected medical condition.”
• Eighteen-year-old Pennsylvania hot shoe Drake Troutman is driving Chris Bragg’s No. 7 late model during the World Finals this week. He started with a third-place finish Tuesday at Cherokee Speedway.
• Knoxville Raceway promoter Jason Reed and longtime Interstate Racing Ass’n headman Steve Sinclair were among those walking the pits on Wednesday.
• Veteran sprint car mechanic Rob Hart was turning wrenches on the No. 24d wheeled by Danny Sams.
• Bill Wright, coordinator of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum, tipped that the Hall of Fame is investigating building a second suite tower outside of turn two of Knoxville Raceway that would be similar to the Bryan Clauson Suite Tower.
• Pennsylvania’s Shearer Racing brought two sprint cars to the World Finals with Brent Shearer driving the No. 12x and Hall of Famer Lance Dewease wheeling the No. 12 machine.
• Gio Scelzi will secure the World of Outlaws’ Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award this weekend. He will be the second driver to win the award driving the KCP Racing No. 18, making the team the third to win the honor with two different drivers.
Ian Madsen claimed the title driving the No. 18 in 2018.
Dave Helm and Kasey Kahne Racing each previously guided a pair of drivers top rookie honors.