Saguaro Speedway
$250,000 builds hype, sweetens Tucson's pot
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt.com senior writer
USA Raceway hosts the Wild West Shootout. (photofinishphotos.com)
Veteran promoter Chris Kearns has lofty aspirations of making January’s week-long Wild West Shootout at USA Raceway in Tucson, Ariz., into a can’t-miss event on the Dirt Late Model calendar — and with the plans he announced Monday for the 2016 edition of the miniseries, he’s well on his way to realizing that goal.
Adding to the event’s purse increase that was unveiled last month, Kearns revealed that next year’s Wild West Shootout at the 3/8-mile oval in the desert — featuring six complete nights of competition from Jan. 9-17 — will include the Keyser Quarter-Million Challenge, which gives drivers a shot at a gargantuan $250,000 bonus for sweeping all six full-fendered features.
The incentive program backed by Coopersville, Mich.-based Keyser Manufacturing also offers entrants a $100,000 bonus for winning five of the Shootout’s six features and a $50,000 bonus for capturing four main events. Along with the enhanced nightly payoffs ($5,000-to-win shows on Jan. 9, 10, 13, 15 and 16 and a 50-lap finale on Jan. 17 with a $10,000 top prize), that’s some attractive financial rewards to lure the nation’s best Dirt Late Model drivers to the Southwest for midwinter action.
“It’s just about making it a huge event,” said Kearns, a 46-year-old from Santa Maria, Calif., who promotes the Wild West Shootout through his Chris Kearns Presents company. “We like doing different stuff, coming up with creative ideas that build a lot of hype, and we feel this Keyser Quarter-Million Challenge is gonna be unbelievable.
“We want to make the Wild West Shootout a true destination event for racers and fans from all across the country and this is the next step toward that for us. It’s not gonna be a one-day crown jewel … it’s gonna be a whole-week crown jewel.”
The exciting news comes nearly seven months after Kearns oversaw a successful 2015 Wild West Shootout at USA Raceway despite finalizing details of the miniseries less than two months before its start. The season-opening extravaganza averaged just under 50 cars per night (high of 52 cars, low of 46) and drew solid crowds for the entirety of its run.
“Honestly, for only having seven weeks to promote this year’s event, it went so well that we’ve almost set the bar kind of high for ourselves,” Kearns said. “I don’t know what else I could’ve expected (this year). We had great crowds, great pay-per-view (live broadcast on DirtonDirt.com), great car counts. With guys like (Billy) Moyer, (Jimmy) Owens, (Darrell) Lanigan and so many others, the competition was unbelievable. The racetrack surfaces were incredible all week long.
“Really, it’s hard to make it much better. It’s actually a concern for us — how do we try to top it? But we’re going to try. Bigger purses and the Keyser Quarter-Million — not to mention having more time to promote the event — is how we hope to do it.”
Kearns knew that the Wild West Shootout needed a purse boost to continue its growth, so that became his first order of business when making his plans for 2016.
“The whole goal with the added purse is to bring more cars and reward the ones that have been there,” said Kearns, a veteran track promoter from Santa Maria, Calif., who promotes the Wild West Shootout through his Chris Kearns Presents business. “When I saw the quality of the field we had this past year, I knew we needed to boost the purse for 2016. We also want more Late Model guys to come from across the country to make the event bigger and better and we know it’s expensive to tow all the way to Arizona, so we’re trying to do something to help them out and make sure more of them are there.”
Discussions with Keyser Manufacturing’s Scott Keyser, meanwhile, produced the Keyser Quarter-Million Challenge, a unique promotion unprecedented in Dirt Late Model racing’s history.
“The whole goal with the bonus program is to create hype,” Kearns said. “I think there’s no doubt it will get everybody’s attention.
“We have to thank Scott Keyser and Keyser Manufacturing for stepping up and making it possible for us to offer big bonuses like this. They’re just such incredible supporters of Dirt Late Model racing. We couldn’t do this without them.”
Keyser, whose firm has been a contingency sponsor of Kearns-promoted events for nearly a decade and backed the Wild West Shootout for the first time in 2015, is excited to put his company’s name on the Keyser Quarter-Million Challenge.
“We came on board as a sponsor with Chris and the Wild West Shootout (in 2015),” Keyser said. “The event was very successful and we wanted to do something big to take it to the next level. What better way to do that than offer a huge bonus for the teams traveling to participate in this event? There is a chance for a driver to walk away with an extra $250,000 in their pocket — it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Kearns sees the Keyser Quarter-Million program adding more intensity to the Wild West Shootout proceedings.
“I know the racers like the kind of laid-back approach of the whole Wild West Shootout as opposed to when they’re running for points with their sanctioning body,” Kearns said. “But obviously, when there’s this kind of money on the line, they’re gonna take it real serious.”
Collecting the bonus money won’t be easy for a driver to do, of course — especially with the variable of the event’s format thrown in the mix. Kearns said the Wild West Shootout will once again not include time trials; drivers will draw for heat-race starting positions and passing points will be used to determine the transfers and feature starting spots.
“I know some of the guys complained about the passing points, but we all know the same guys finish in the front no matter what my format is,” Kearns said. “The cream rises to the top. We’ve seen it in the past and I’m sure we’ll see it again.”
Kearns is looking forward to watching Dirt Late Model racing’s stars bid for the Keyser Quarter-Million bonus money during the 2016 Wild West Shootout. No driver has won four of six features since USA Raceway began annually hosting a half-dozen January Dirt Late Model races in 2010, but Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., won three events in 2010, ’11 and ’12 and both Lanigan and Owens captured two features earlier this year so the miniseries does have a history of multiple-race winners.
“I think it’s probably doable,” Kearns said of the Keyser Quarter-Million. “At least the $50,000 (for winning four) probably is … but just to think they have a chance at $250,000 is pretty incredible.”
Regardless of what happens in January, Kearns believes that head-turning bonus will help the Wild West Shootout gain the attention that firmly puts it on the division’s national map.
“I know that racers and fans both either heard about it or watched it on DirtonDirt (in January) and thought, I got to go to that next year,” Kearns said. “They were thinking that before they heard about the raised purses and about the bonus, so now, after hearing this news with more than five months still to go before the (2016) Wild West Shootout, everybody has plenty of time to make plans to be there.”
