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Parker Anderson surprised when he showed up at the last minute on Saturday, so late, in fact, that he missed the draw. In a last minute effort, he brought what used to be his Modified but has been converted to an X Mod to race, the car now actually belonging to the Factory 43 guys. Anderson had a rough trip out; he was not feeling so well and the trip provided some scary moments on the highways of America.

Kaden Woodie has an arsenal of cars out here to race over the next three weeks and he is running a BHR in the X Mods this weekend.

A number of other racers also roamed the pits during the first weekend. Among those I talked to were Aaron Wilson, who reports that he will likely race his Late Model again in 2026 along with something else, perhaps, and that Tom Karis has sold his Super Stock and will instead run the Limited Late Model class that Red Cedar will be offering on a weekly basis in 2026.

Adam Hensel is helping the MB crew this week and tells me that he has his Late Model again in 2026 to race where and when he feels the need.

Cody Carlson is helping the Adams team this week and while his plans for 2026 are unsure, the smart money is that he will return with his Modified for another year.

Don Shaw has sold off all his racing equipment. Could it be possible that he is actually retiring from the sport to the quiet life of a race promoter? We shall see how that plays out.

Among others I spotted, who I didn't get to yet, included Jody Bellefeuille, A.J. Diemel and Cole Searing. Undoubtedly, there are others as well.

For Wednesday’s midweek show, Taton Hansen was added to the field in the Modified class, while James Trantina III arrived with his X Mod. Iron Range racer Skeeter Estey caught a ride in a West Coast car that had started out this week as a Mod but was converted over to an X Mod.

WISSOTA drivers had their best night yet on Wednesday, with a full dozen of the X Mod drivers making the main event. The evening was probably highlighted by the entertaining battle for the win in the class between Smith and Adams, with them exchanging slide jobs on the final couple of laps and Smith coming home the winner.

Rodin finally found some good racing luck and he completed the sweep of the top three spots by WISSOTA drivers. Bintz was also in the top five, while Stieh and Tofte made their third straight main event of the week. Christ, Davis, Anderson and Woodie all made their first feature races of the week, with half the starting field comprised of WISSOTA drivers.

Trantina had bad luck as he was involved in a huge wreck in turn one that included nearly a dozen cars and ended with both Trantina’s and Ken Schrader’s cars laying on their sides. There were no injuries to report, but there was a lot of damage.

Blake Adams made his third straight Modified feature, although his 10th-place finish was the poorest of the week to date. Rodin made his second straight feature, while Jegtvig made his first.

It was a rough night for the Late Model contingent with only Laela Eisenschenk making the show. For her, however, that was a good night and the first feature she made.

Things went from bad to worse for Tyler Peterson. After thinking his week was done with terminal engine woes, they later figured out the problem was not that bad. Unfortunately, that diagnosis proved wrong as his motor let go with a cloud of smoke on his first lap on the track. Laela finished 17th in her first outing.

During the final three nights of the series, there was a lot of success to report on for the WISSOTA contingent.

They continued to rock the world in the X Mod class, with two winners and numerous top-five finishes. Five drivers made the feature all three nights, including Scott Bintz, Jake Smith, Curtis Stieh, Lucas Rodin and Parker Anderson.

They were led by Smith, who showed both speed and consistency with a first, second and third-place finish in the final three shows. Needless to say, he was also the point champion for the week, which earned him another $1,000. He certainly passed more drivers than anyone on the grounds in any class.

Stieh was a revelation, as I had never seen him run this fast and so consistently, highlighted by a runner-up finish on the final night when he couldn't quite hold off Smith.

Rodin also had a strong second half, with a first and third among his finishes. He, too, was one of the drivers who had to make some drives from deep in the pack each night.

Bintz was steady all week with four top-10 finishes among his efforts for the week. Anderson got things sorted out during the second half of the week and was faster each and every night he raced. Tofte made five of the six features ran, as did Jaden Christ. Christ only missed the last night because he was involved in the most nasty crash of the week, one that also eliminated Brennan Davis for the rest of the action.

Adams was leading the points after three nights but left after they cracked a piston in the Modified motor. Don't be surprised to see his name pop up in Florida next month.

Despite being involved in the same grinding crash as Davis, Brandon Rehill fixed his car and he made two of the last three features. Second-year driver Kodet was named the “Hard Luck driver” of the division and received a gold nugget trophy as his prize.

The second half star in the Modifieds was Dustin Strand, who made two of the three shows and finished in the top five in both, including a best finish of third on Saturday night. All this was done with his WISSOTA motor providing the power. Also making shows were Blake Jegtvig and Rodin.

Saurer jumped in Klein's car for one night and made the feature, while Tyler Peterson drove Brennan Gave's car one night and made the show.

Amelia and Laela Eisenschenk made Wild West Shootout history on Sunday when they became only the second set of twins and the first female twins to make the same feature race when they both qualified for the Late Model feature.

It was a rough second weekend for Sam Mars; after making his second feature of the week, he hurt the motor on Saturday and they headed home early. Gunner Frank and Cole Schill ran all three shows and came close to making features, but came up short.

Schill’s car owner Paul Mueller told me that he is taking all three cars he ran here back up to North Dakota, with Late Model racing in Arizona in a sad state of affairs. Paul will run his new Longhorn after installing a 525 motor for WISSOTA, with Blake Doppler running the second car.

Cory Crapser flew down for the second half of the event to help out Stieh in the pits. They had one of his cars. Cory tells me that he is ahead of the game this year with his new Rocket Late Model and Cyclone Modified all ready to go, other than stickers and doing the tires. He reports that Dylan Goettl, who has ran the last few years under other sanctioning, will be switching his car over to run WISSOTA in 2026 and that Nick Koehler, having had a terrific 2025, will be set to go with the same Cyclone Midwest Mod.

Chad Mahder also flew in for the second half of the series to help Tim Isenberg. Mahder tells that he will be running Late Models again, but whether he races with his old car or a new car is yet to be determined. Open motor racing is out of his price range and he will be sticking to WISSOTA races and focusing on specials.

Matt Gilbertson took one off runs in the George Late Model and X Mod, but I missed him in the pits.

Among others I saw in Arizona enjoying the racing and weather were Corky and Joe Thomas, Scott Paulson and Larry Jans, but I didn't get to talk to any of them.

There was quite a contingent of fans on hand from the Dakotas and Canada, and I sat right down the row from Joanne Dieterle from Jamestown. The number of familiar faces both in the crowd and in the pits has changed dramatically from what this race produced in New Mexico. While Vado is a great race track, CAR has proven to race much better than I ever thought it would. I didn’t talk to anyone that was unhappy to be here.