What in the World is WeBe racing?

By MJ Dodson, Owner of WeBe Racing

WeBe Racing...most off road motorcycle racers in the Southwest know what this organization represents.

Family environment. Fun courses. Great crew…the positive attributes keep coming to mind. How did WeBe Racing accomplish this? By starting 20 years ago with Brett and Wendy Craig. Building a great racing series from the ground up. Putting in the time and effort to make their fledgling adventure blossom into the four corners premier Hare Scramble race series. What's a Hare Scramble? It's a racecourse with an average length of 8 miles, wandering through tight trails over varying terrain. Whether splashing through a river or navigating around trees, the racing action is never lacking. Racing in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah over a 7-month period challenging the racers to always perform their best. From the sand at The Dunes OHV Park just south of Farmington, up to the beautiful slopes of Powderhorn Ski Resort, WeBe Racing strives to deliver unique racing locations. 2017 opened a new chapter for WeBe Racing with James and Chelsea Wagner purchasing the race series. They forged ahead for the next 6 years. Bringing a new outlook and fostering a great environment for the next generation of racers, the Wagners made WeBe a thriving enterprise. Participants are never too young or old. From 3 years up to 60 plus, there is a racing class for everyone. Rounding the corner of riding fast for 20 years, WeBe starts its next adventure with a new family guiding its future. The Dodson family is excited to get the 2023 race season underway. Riders of all abilities are welcome. From the fastest Pro to the beginner just starting out, we invite everyone out to experience this great race series. With a possible new race location in the schedule and plans in place for some fun and unique events, the future of WeBe is bright for another 20 years to come. Stop by the website, weberacing.com, to view the schedule or check out some great pictures while there. You can also check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We'll see you at the races!!!

"WeHaveEverythingEveryoneLovesSpinning"

Wheels Museum is a 501(c)3 organization in the Albuquerque Rail Yards dedicated to collecting, preserving, and creating educational exhibits about the history of transportation in Albuquerque and New Mexico with emphasis on the impact on the development of the area. Our collections embrace the history of the railroads, the impact of the rail yards on Albuquerque, as well as automobiles, horse and wagon, and other modes of transportation. Insider fact: WHEELS (an acronym for “We Have Everything Everyone Loves Spinning”).

Wheels Museum is open Monday – Thursday from 9 am to 12 pm and on Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm, and closed Sundays. Note: As museum hours are subject to change without notification and may be different during special events, please call (505) 243-6269 prior to your visit.

Wheels Museum is currently housed in what the Santa Fe Railyards once referred to as The Storehouse, a long and narrow structure built in 1914, in which was kept an enormous inventory of all manner of parts and supplies for the larger maintenance shops and the entire Santa Fe railroad system in general. Please call (505) 243-6269 or e-mail: info@wheelsmuseum.org for more information.

April 8, 11 am. “Historic Albuquerque” Ronn Perea will present old Albuquerque anecdotes including delightful stories about our beloved Alvarado Hotel and the politicians, actors and entertainers who stayed there. This is a free event but, of course, donations are always appreciated.

April 22, Wheels Museum Day trip to Rancho De Chimayo Restaurante, El Santuario de Chimayo and the Santa Fe Plaza. Call Leba or Janet at (505) 243-6269 for more information. The museum is a 501C3 non-profit community organization whose mission is to create a transportation museum at the downtown Albuquerque Steam Locomotive Repair Shops.

May 19-May 23, Train trip to the Grand Canyon. Only a few spaces left.Scheduled through Amtrak Vacations, call Leba or Janet at (505) 243-6269 for reservations and more information.

May 27, 10 am. “Railroad Time” Historian Roland Penttila introduces you to Sir Sanford Fleming and describe how missing his train got him thinking about time and how we understand it. His work led to the world time zones and the standardized use of time that was a boon to the emerging industrialized world.

Reservations (505) 243 6269. Admission is free, but of course, donations are gratefully appreciated.

Membership Categories with Annual Rates:

Individual – $30

Senior – $20

Family (2 adults & their minors) – $55

Do you have a few hours each month to help the Wheels Museum? Volunteers are needed so the Museum can be open more; run the model railroad trains, also help needed with events, marketing, fund raising. Call Leba Freed at (505) 243-6269.

Interview With David Swope

Dave: What do you think about being down south here in Las Cruces and the southern hospitality?

Bobby : We moved here January 1 (from Bosque Farms) and got thrown right into the big fire of the Wild West Shoot-Out. Yes, we have noticed. It's a small-town hospitality. Everybody has just been super friendly, super helpful. We're really enjoying it so far. It's been a great place to spend the winter.

Dave: What are some of the short-term items that you guys are going to be working on?

Bobby : As far as track improvements, you bet. We are just finishing clearing all the licensing hurdles and inspections. We're just about to start construction on a new giant tech building in the pits and it's a dual-purpose thing. We need to update the tech shed, so we can do better tech inspection on the race cars. But also, this gives us an opportunity to really step up in that area. We will soon have real bathrooms instead of porta-potties and we will have showers in the pits. We will have a concession stand and a new check in booth for transponders and [pill draw]. It will have a couple of windows so we can cut down on the lines.

Dave: This place is just so popular. Car count is amazing.

Bobby : I ran the numbers for the banquet. We had over 500 different race cars check-in last year. So, it's just getting bigger by the day. We get people who are putting this on their bucket list.

Dave: You've had some practice sessions, when does the season officially start?

Bobby : [The Winter Meltdown] is our opener. We decided to just go ahead and make the opener the Meltdown because it's a big event and we can put a lot of push into this. This is the kind of event that will draw some people who aren't regular Saturday night fans and introduce them to what we do here and see if we can hook them.

Dave: What are all the different divisions you have?

Bobby : Oh gosh, we have 9 regular divisions plus a traveling division that comes through. We start out at the entry level with a Pure Stock class. We move up from there to USRA Stock Cars, USRA B-Mods and USRA A-Mods. We also have INEX Legends, we have the only track in the region that runs the Legends. We have our Late Model class. We have 305 Winged Sprints. We have 360 Non-Winged Sprints and a few times a year some 360 Winged Sprints with a traveling series. Since we have a couple of visits a year from the 360 Winged sprint. All three of the Sprint Cars are with the POWRi Series.

Dave: Sounds like it takes a team to run this whole thing.

Bobby : Yeah, I'm the rookie here. After I took the job in October, we came down for a meeting with all of the crew. The thing that just I walked away with was that Royal Jones pulls such loyalty out of his employees. The average person has worked for Royal at a racetrack has been here a minimum is 10 years and the average is probably like 14. These people run this track by remote control. They've done it so long and so well. They don't need me to run the track. They need to promote it because it needs nothing in that regard.

“High’s The Limit” for Larson and Sweet’s New Series

Story By Spencer Hill

Photos By Mark Funderburk | High Limit

The High Limit Sprint Car Series makes its debut in 2023 as one of the most anticipated racing series to hit the market in sprint car history. The series is co-owned by 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Kyle Larson and four-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Champion, Brad Sweet. Their goal was simple: add high-dollar events to the annual sprint car racing schedule to attract big names.

After a couple dry runs late last year, the High Limit Sprint Car Series is now set to crown their inaugural series champion. The series originally set out to run 12 races this season, with the season opener being held as a non-points event at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, CA on March 21st. Unfortunately, due to a record amount of rainfall in California this year, the event was forced to be cancelled and the season will now kick off at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, KS on April 11th as drivers battle for a $50,000 pay day.

In addition to every High Limit race paying a minimum of $23,023 to win, several unique twists have been added to make the series stand out even more.

One of those twists will be the DURST Dice Roll where front row started for the A-Feature will be offered a choice to “roll the dice” and start further back in the field for an opportunity at extra winnings. The dash winner will be offered the dice roll first. If accepted, the driver will roll two dice with the combined value determining their new starting position, between 2nd and 12th. If they can win from their dice roll position, they will be rewarded with that many more thousands of dollars in victory lane. (ex. 6 + 6 = 12th place start for a chance to win an extra $12,000) If the dash winner declines the DURST Dice Roll, the other driver on the front row will be the final driver with the option to roll.

Another unique twist for the High Limit Series will be the use of a “choose cone” rule until 10 laps to go in the A-Main. After the lineup is deemed correct from the scoring tower, a cone will be placed on the front straightaway and allow drivers to choose the inside or outside row for a double file restart to resume the action. If the race has 10 laps or less remaining, then they will revert to single file restarts.

Fans will also be delighted to hear a pair of familiar voices calling the action this year as father/son duo, Dillon and Vince Welch have been named the official announcers for the 2023 High Limit Sprint Car Series season. For the Welch family, it’s a rare opportunity to be the newest unique aspect of the High Limit Sprint Car Series. Dillon and Vince are veterans in the NASCAR broadcast circle. Although they have teamed up to work pit road together on a broadcast before, this year’s High Limit Sprint Car Series will mark the first time in racing history that a father and son will exclusively share the booth to call the action on track.

For more information and a full schedule of events, go to www.highlimitracing.com

Personally, I’ve been around the motorsport of drag boat racing for most of my life. My dad, Dick Welch, was a drag boat racer and event organizer all the way back to my single digit days. Dad had a 10 second, 100 mph, liquid 1/4 mile, Wesco v-drive flat bottom, back in 1971. This boat was my first “good” ride in a drag boat and afterwards I was hooked! A couple years later dad went to a single seat, unblown gas Sanger hydro, called “Black Jack”. During this same period, dad was VP and Race Chairman for the Houston Drag Boat & Ski Club and was involved in the forming of the Southern Drag Boat Association (SDBA). The SDBA has been organizing and promoting drag boat racing ever since.

In about 1974 my dads medical career had transferred our family to Phoenix Az. About the same time, Firebird Lake, was being built in the southern Phoenix suburb of Chandler. Dad got involved and was even offered a position with the organization building the lake. But it was not lucrative enough to pull him away from his career in the medical industry, so he just volunteered his knowledge and some time to help get the facility going. Dad ended up making the first official timed pass on the lake at the first gathering on Firebird, circa 1975. I have vivid memories.

Since then many drag boat racing events have happened at Firebird. It has been the site for the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series, World Finals, for the better part of the last 15 years. Rumor has it that the original lease of the Native American land had expired and the land has been annexed by the state to expand on the amazing highway system for the drivers in the Phoenix metroplex. I’ve been told by the current SDBA owner and Series Director, David Carroll, that he has been told that last years 2022 SDBA Nationals would be the final race ever at the facility. It was only the second SDBA race at the lake.

If it holds true, the pictures you see here will be the last by me at the iconic boat racing facility. And I might be one of only a handful of people that were at both the first and last race there. But Drag Boat racing will live on with the SDBA. Lake Lucas in Wheatland was just built a few years ago and now carries the torch as the premier drag boat racing facility. As well there are still several river and lake based H2O tracks that are excellent for the sport.

When it’s comes to spectating at a motorsports event there isn’t much better than drag boats, in my opinion. sprint cars and nitro dragsters are in the mix as well! If you get the chance, don’t miss out. Every motorsports fan should see at least one Top Fuel Hydro make a pass!

Farmington New Mexico is the granddaddy of rock crawling for the werock grand nationals and home of rock crawling events. But is also the home of Loren Healy and he’s one of the best in the world to date. It's been a busy couple of years for me in Ultra4! I helped Ford launch the new 2021 Ford Bronco, won my fourth consecutive Ultra4 short course race at the 'Big House' in Crandon, Wisconsin, won the 2021 El Rey de las Bajas in San Felipe, and I teamed up with Paul Horschel to win the 4400 class at the 2020 Baja 1000.

Off-Road is my whole life -- my passion, my hobby, and my career. I'll be here 'til I die.

2019 Archive: Loren is one of Ultra4 Racing’s top drivers and is a two-time King of the Hammers. What landed him on the Hall of Fame Impact Award list for 2019 is his performance at this year’s Ultra4 Stampede, where he came back from a spectacular crash in qualifying to win the main event in his 4400 car and also win the UTV class in his

Polaris Turbo S. Winning one class at the highly competitive short course Stampede is a fete. To win two classes in the same day in two different vehicles that are so mechanically and physically different is what made us take notice. Healy’s Polaris Turbo S UTV has 180 horsepower, his Ultra4 car pushes 800+. Healy’s ability to adjust to two entirely different race vehicles and come away with wins in both on the same day is a testament to his skill as a driver.

2023

Congratulations to Vaughn Gittin Jr., Loren Healy, Eric Davis & Jesse Amyx and the whole Fun-Haver #FordBronco crew on winning the Spidertrax Off-Road 4600 Class in the 4 Wheel Parts #EverymanChallenge at the 2023 Progressive King of The Hammers, powered by #OPTIMAbatteries