For fans of Winged Sprint Car racing, the long wait is over.  The weekend winged shows, at Manzanita Speedway brings in not just winged racing, it offers a top of the line product….The O’Reilly World of Outlaws and it is the season opener for the premier Sprint Car division in the country. It marks the first Outlaw show in Arizona since October of 1999.

When the World of Outlaws is mentioned the first name to come to mind is the ageless Steve Kinser who will be seeking his 19^th World of Outlaw championship this year and could score his 500^th career WoO victory this season.

There is much more to the Outlaws than just Kinser. One of the big stories is the return of Craig Dollansky. Craig suffered a broken back in an Infiniti Pro Series race last year and feared that the injury could end his career. He has made a quick recovery and has a legitimate shot at taking Kinser’s crown.

Steve Sinclair, spokesman for SLS Promotions which is putting on the Friday/Saturday night events bubbles with enthusiasm over the response from fans. He is also elated with the number of drivers who will be full timers on the Outlaw circuit. “We have about six rookies to go with all the veterans and we are expecting the pits to be full both nights,” he said.

Among the youngsters  is Kraig Kinser who becomes the third generation of the Kinser clan to race at Manzy. Bob Kinser, Steve’s dad, was in the 1968 Western and came from deep in the pack to finish third. Of course Steve has owned Manzanita with his many wins in the Western but has not won in his last three outings.  Before that he was formidable as he won the Western seven times with his first win coming in 1982. In addition he has won four other WoO shows on the high speed half mile track.

It will be no cakewalk this weekend. Paul McMahan took part in tire tests at Manzy last week and ran eight laps that were quicker the one lap record of 15.34 set by Jac Haudenschild in 1998. That lap translates to 117.34 m.p.h.

Other top names expected include “The Dude” Danny Lasoski  who drives for Tony Stewart, Daryn Pittman, Dean Jacobs, Shane Stewart, Joey Saldana, Jason Sides, Tim Shaffer, Jason Myers, Brian Paulus and Brian Brown.

The winners of the last two Winged Western World Championships will also be part of the field. Tyler Walker swept the two day show in ’98 and Donny Schatz did the same in the 1999 Western.

Erin Corcker, a very fast young lady, is also planning to run the entire Outlaw series this year.

Ricky Hood, perennial SCOA champion, and Calvin Landis are among the Arizona drivers who will be taking on the tough field.

Gates open each evening at 4:00 p.m.