Weekend Review: Another First-Time World of Outlaws Winner

Aaron Reutzel earned his 1st career World of Outlaws win (David Biro photo)

For the second weekend in a row, three '410' Sprint Car races were ran in the United States. Just a mere 3,700 miles and 40+ hour drive separated two of them from the third...Despite the sparse racing, it was also our first three-race weekend since Florida Speedweeks with one event being completed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The World of Outlaws were first to hit the track on Friday night as they visited the thrilling Thunderbowl Speedway in Tulare, CA. The unique venue usually levels the playing field, creating tight battles between the Cali regulars and the World of Outlaws tour drivers. Lo and behold, it was Clute, TX native Aaron Reutzel that picked up the hard-fought win (his 1st career with the series) after trading sliders in the closing laps with Cory Eliason. Donny Schatz, Dominic Scelzi and Carson Macedo completed the Top 5. Do yourself a favor and watch the race highlights, you won't be disappointed: https://youtu.be/t6HX4wUEUwI

Why is the win not surprising? It's hard to imagine saying that for any driver that picks up their first career win with The Greatest Show on Dirt. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but here's a number of reasons why Reutzel should have been one of the favorites.

Aaron Reutzel is a former ASCS National champion. He has won out west before - picking up a Winter Heat win in 2015 in one of his first career '410' starts. Later that year, he scored a Top Five finish in his first career World of Outlaws start. That same season, Reutzel went on to win the prestigious Peter Murphy Classic at the Thunderbowl Speedway. He's also made some noise the last few years at the Knoxville Nationals - last August he earned Hard Charger honors at the Marion County oval.

Reutzel is in his first year teaming up with Josh Baughman to form Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports. The newly formed team will begin their assault on the All Star Circuit of Champions in less than a month when their season kicks off at Atomic Speedway on April 6th.

The World of Outlaws were scheduled for a doubleheader in Tulare, but rain claimed the second leg of the back-to-back shows.

Lincoln Speedway in Central PA ran their second consecutive afternoon show on Saturday. Danny Dietrich recovered from his misfortune just one week prior to pick up the win. "Double-D" moved forward from his 4th place starting spot to take the lead on Lap 14. He would lead the final 11 laps as he went on to claim his 39th win at Lincoln Speedway. Rounding out the top five were Lucas Wolfe, Greg Hodnett, Brian Montieth and Kyle Moody.

Less than 24 hours later, the historic paperclip known as Williams Grove Speedway kicked off their season opener with a special Sunday afternoon race featuring a 2pm start time. After finishing runner-up one day earlier, Lucas Wolfe displayed dominance from the pole position as he led every lap en route to the win. Just how dominant was the Mechanicsburg, PA native? A late-race caution erased Wolfe's lead of nearly 10 seconds! The win was Wolfe's 17th career win at Williams Grove. Finishing in positions 2-5 were Greg Hodnett, Caleb Helms, Freddie Rahmer and Brock Zearfoss.

Port Royal Speedway postponed their opener (scheduled for Saturday night) earlier in the week due to snow accumulation and forecasted cold temps. They'll try to get their season kicked off again this weekend.

Weekend Winners:
Mar. 9th - Aaron Reutzel [WoO] - Thunderbowl Speedway ($10,000)
Mar. 10th - Danny Dietrich - Lincoln Speedway ($4,000)
Mar. 11th - Lucas Wolfe - Williams Grove Speedway ($3,600)

2018 Wins List (410's):
5 - Donny Schatz
3 - Sheldon Haudenschild
1 - Aaron Reutzel
1 - Chad Kemenah
1 - Chad Trout
1 - Danny Dietrich
1 - Lucas Wolfe
1 - Tim Shaffer