Pahrump Valley Speedway draws largest number of cars this season

Dan Snowden raced in the Sport Mod class for the first time in 10 racing nights and put himself in the standings with his victory Sept. 12 at Pahrump Valley Speedway.

Snowden picked up 39 points to land in 18th place for the season. Joel Dean, who has not missed a racing night since the Feb. 1 opener, remained comfortable in first place after taking sixth. In between Snowden and Dean in the Sport Mods were Joe Wabsis, Jake Snowden, Josh Stringer and Alex Murphy.

It was a busy night at the speedway, which included a memorial to longtime speedway fixture Dusty Park, who had died earlier in the month.

“We had a total of 66 cars on the track, and that’s probably a record for any memorial we’ve had here,” speedway owner Chad Broadhead said. “Some of the cars didn’t even race; they came to pay their respects.”

But plenty of cars did race; in fact, Broadhead said he had to close the gates.

“We couldn’t let more people in, and we couldn’t let more cars in,” he said the next day at a Celebration of Life for Park held at the speedway. “All of the classes were full. We had 85 cars last night, our record high car count since we reopened the track.”

Especially crowded was the Dwarf class, which included 19 drivers. Leading the way was Dustin Loughton, who finished ahead of John Isabella and Kane Williams to take the checkered flag. Adam Teves finished fourth, and Race Shelton ran fifth.

Another 17 drivers competed in the Mini Stocks. Chris Shelton moved into the top 10 with his first-place finish, placing ahead of RJ Smotherman and Brandon Jones.

Tanner Reynolds, the only driver in the class who has not missed a race this season, is comfortably ahead in the season standings with 358 points after finishing 10th.

Bryan Wulfenstein’s victory in the Modifieds moved him into fifth place overall, with Clifton King just five points behind after finishing second. Rick Durica shaved five points off of Brady Gladd’s season lead by placing third, followed by Dann Perry and Shaun Moore.

Three Wards finished among the top four in Hobby Stocks, but it was Jared Ward expanding his lead in the class with another first-place finish. Adam Tiscarao placed second to pull within two points of Debbie Ward, who finished third. Fourth-place Jay Ward, who raced Hobby Stocks for the first time this year Aug. 1, placed for the fourth consecutive week and moved into sixth place in the standings.

In Super Stocks, Dale Daffer and Ron Moffatt left the speedway tied for first place in the season standings after Daffer placed fourth, two spots ahead of Moffatt. Tyson Talkington took the checkered flag, moving into fourth place in the standings after his third Super Stock race of the season.

The Coupe field expanded with Red Kowal and Jim Ralleo competing for the first time this season. But that didn’t change the results, as Mark Daub outdueled Daniel Bruner. With no other Coupe driver racing more than three times this season and Daub and Bruner not missing a race, they have been one point apart in all but two races, leaving Daub leading the season standings 327-317 over Bruner.