The stakes will be raised in Las Vegas on December 1st and 2nd with the Riskon360! Open Wheel Showdown heading for the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with the world’s best pavement open wheel racers competing for a record $50,000-to-win Winged Sprint Car purse. $10,000 will be on the line for Midgets while the Speed Tour Super Modifieds battle for $5,000 to win. Over 100 teams from across North America are expected at the .375-mile short track in search of the lucrative prizes of over $250,000 up for grabs.
The Riskon360! Open Wheel Showdown is promoted by Davey Hamilton, Jr., who will also be competing in the Winged Sprint Car portion of the event. RiskOn360! Global Success Conference takes place November 19th and 20th at the Ahern Luxury Boutique Hotel following the F1 weekend. Renowned investor Todd Ault, with deep ties to supporting motorsports in North America, will be the featured speaker at the event.
SPEED SPORT will have live pay-per-view coverage of the Open Wheel Showdown. Both General Admission and Pit Passes will include access to the main grandstands all weekend.
The Winged Sprint Car main event on Saturday night is a 100-lap contest paying $2,500 to start while Midgets race in a 50-lap feature for $1,500 to start and Super Modifieds battle for 40-laps and $1,200 to start. Friday action features heat races and qualifying for the Winged Sprint Cars. Thursday will be open for practice for the Winged Sprint Cars only.
Double-duty racers in Sprints and Midgets will include the all-time winningest USAC Silver Crown driver Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif., 2023 Little 500 winner Jake Trainor of Medway, Mass., and 12-time USAC Silver Crown winner Bobby Santos of Franklin, Mass.
“What they’re doing for sprint car racing is huge,” Santos said. “Typically, when you go to a Winged Sprint Car event you can honestly count on one hand the guys you’re going to be racing against for the win. In this event, you’re going to have 20 guys with a legitimate argument that they could win this race.”
The nearly 75 paid Winged Sprint Car entries reads like a who’s who of the past, present, and future of the division.
Davey Hamilton, Jr. will be joined by his 11-time Indianapolis 500-starting father Davey Hamilton, Sr. Former star of The Bachelor Arie Luyendyk, Jr. makes his Winged Sprint Car debut, carrying on the legacy of his two-time Indianapolis 500-winning father. Three-time King of the Wing national champion Eric Humphries of Chowchilla, Calif. and 2023 Must See Sprint Car champion Jason Blonde of Litchfield, Michigan bring Winged championship gold into Las Vegas. The last eight winners of the wingless Little 500 are entered, featuring Swanson, Santos, Trainor, and Plymouth, Indiana’s Tyler Roarhig.
Canadian drivers Aaron Willison, Jason Conn, Richie Larson, Brad Aumen, Ryan Litt, and Geoff Wade are also entered along with numerous teams from Idaho, California, and Florida. In total, 11 states are represented on the entry list.
Multi-car Midget efforts from across the country will travel to the Open Wheel Showdown as well such as Tim Bertand Racing from Connecticut and Indiana-based teams from car owners Jeff West and Nick Bohanon. All three outfits are bringing all-star casts to race for the $10,000 victory with Santos, Tanner Swanson, and Trainor competing for West. Bohanon and RMS Racing will field two-time defending USAC National Sprint Car champion Justin Grant of Ione, Calif. Kody Swanson is the captain of the three-car Bertand Motorsports squad.
2014 USAC National Pavement Midget champion Kyle O’Gara of Camby, Indiana, California’s Cody Jessop, Idaho’s Michael Daniels, and Washington’s Garrett Mclees and Tony Seidelman are also entered.
“Having a $10,000 to win, $1,500 to start midget race for us pavement racers is unheard of,” O’Gara said. “This not only gives us something big to chase up front, but it gives all teams a chance to go to the race track and not lose money. We all know there isn’t a lot of money to be made midget racing, so if you can go to the track and break even at worst case, that’s a win in a lot of team’s books.”
Davey Hamilton, Sr., 2023 Harvest Classic winner Bryan Warf of Meridian, Idaho, and Indiana’s Nathan Byrd are entered to race double-duty in both the Speed Tour Super Modifieds and Winged Sprint Cars, taking on one of the largest and most diverse Super Modified fields on the west coast in several seasons.
The longest tow of the entire Open Wheel Showdown will come from Oswego, New York’s Dave Danzer. Danzer travels West on the heels of a $20,000 victory in the 67th Oswego Classic in September. Mark Sargent, son of the Hall of Famer Marshall Sargent, will compete as well.
Pit pass sales and assigned hauler parking opens on Wednesday before on-track activity begins on Thursday with Winged Sprint Car practice. Practice begins at 2pm and runs until 8pm. On Friday, pit gates open at 9am with grandstands opening at 12:30pm. Time trials for the Winged Sprint Cars are set for 2:45pm. Opening Ceremonies are at 5:00pm with the 12-lap Winged Sprint Car heat races to follow.
Saturday’s championship night includes qualifying for the Midgets and Super Modifieds and all features. Open Ceremonies are at 4:30pm followed by the Winged Sprint Car Dash, C- and B-Mains, and the 100-lap feature. It will also include the 50-lap Midget and 40-lap Super Modified features. Grandstands open at 12:30pm
General Admission Tickets are on sale though the Las Vegas Motor Speedway ticket office and online. Details can be found at both www.LVMS.com and the Open Wheel Showdown website. Adult tickets are $25 and kids 12 and under are free!
Pit Pass sales will be available at the gates on race weekend and include access to the grandstands. Pit passes are $150 for a three-day pass or $105 for a two-day pass.
The event will be telecast through Speed Sport with a monthly access pass available to view both nights of the excitement live!
Registration is moving quickly for the inaugural Open Wheel Showdown, with just 75 spaces available for the Winged Sprint Car division. Drivers can learn more at www.OpenWheelShowdown.com
