WWS returning to Central Arizona
After four years at Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park, Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout promoters plan to “bring the event back home” to Arizona in 2026 with six races at Casa Grande’s Central Arizona Raceway from Jan. 10-18.
The miniseries returns to the original track of the Ernie Mincy-founded Early Thaw, which began in 2001 and evolved into today's Wild West Shootout, a high-profile stretch of winter racing for Super Late Models that’s attracted some of the nation’s best drivers including Bobby Pierce, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Jonathan Davenport.
Central Arizona was part of the Super Late Model miniseries from 2001-08 and again in 2013 with Tucson and Phoenix-area tracks serving as hosts. The closure of Arizona Speedway in Queen Creek, Ariz., in 2021 sent the Chris Kearns co-promoted miniseries to New Mexico and while Vado’s facilities and racing impressed, higher elevation brought colder and windier weather, including a snow-cancelled event in 2025. Kearns thanked Vado owner Royal Jones for four successful years, but said that “from time we moved the event to New Mexico, we all knew that we hoped to one day get the event back to where it all started in Arizona.”
Casa Grande promoter “Brad Whitfield and his staff have done some incredible things with Central Arizona Raceway over the last few years with even more improvements on the docket,” Kearns said in a press release.
The 2026 schedule at the track 40 miles southeast of Phoenix lists races on Jan. 10-11, 14 and 16-18 with practices scheduled for Jan. 9 and Jan. 13. Purses won’t be revealed until later, but last season’s Super Late Model events had four $10,000-to-win events bookended by $25,000-to-win races.
“The return of the Wild West Shootout back home to Arizona, where it all began, has always been in the back of my mind. For it to become a reality by partnering with the Wild West Shootout ownership group is a huge honor,” Whitfield said. “It’s also a great tribute to Ernie Mincy. He got this event off the ground in the early 2000s here at Central Arizona Raceway. Again, I couldn't be more proud, and I can’t wait for January 2026 to get here!”
Modifieds and X-mods compete on the Super Late Model undercard.
