Dirt trackers ready to sling mud

Kids love playing in dirt. Maybe it's because Mom always told us not to.

Some adults still have fun mucking around in dirt, none more so than racers who love to speed on it, slide on it and fling it skyward with big ol' tires.

The Southern Nevada racing season ends this weekend with a big drag race on the asphalt quarter mile and two nights of wrasslin' in the magic mud of Las Vegas Motor Speedway's dirt track.

The wide, half-mile oval dirt track hosts only a few events all year, but when it does the races are packed with entertainment.

Tonight and Saturday night, the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) will race in Las Vegas for the first time, closing its season with the Las Vegas Sprint Car Nationals.

The 600-horsepower, open-wheel Sprint Cars use giant wings affixed atop roll cages that if turned upside down would seem to provide enough lift to get a 747 airborne. In racing, the wings put added downforce on tires to keep them glued to the track, enhancing speed.

It would be enough to show up to watch Jason "Ragin' Cajun" Johnson of Louisiana cruise to the season championship -- and $60,000 prize -- against regular ASCS competitors.

But that's not how the LVMS dirt track rolls. It costs several thousand dollars in water, equipment and manpower to properly prepare the racing surface. When the speedway stages a race on the magic mud, it goes over the top.

Some of the greatest dirt racers of the past few decades have decided to cap their seasons with a foray into Las Vegas, where they will join about 80 other teams from throughout the country.

It's a special night of racing whenever World of Outlaws legends Danny Lasoski, Sammy Swindell, Donny Schatz and Joey Saldana show up to churn the dirt. Those superstars are entered in the race.

There's another guy who Lasoski says will be in the pits and is likely to race. You've probably heard of Tony Stewart.

Schatz, who won an ASCS race last weekend in Tucson, Ariz., drives for Tony Stewart Racing. Another member of the team, Jessica Zemken, is entered.

The star power of the event is only one reason to bundle up and enjoy a cool night of flying dirt clods.

I was reminded two weeks ago that racing is exponentially more exciting when it's on dirt, clay or a mixture of both.

That refresher course came during the IMCA Modified championship race of the Duel in the Desert when Missouri's Terry Phillips came out of mid-pack and flew to the outside of the oval to run what is called "the cushion," where dirt isn't as hard as in lower grooves. He seemed to have rockets in his exhaust pipes as he slid sideways toward concrete guardwalls to gain speed coming out of the banked corners and sailed to a come-from-behind win.

"Dirt track racing is the most entertaining short-track racing you can see," said Lasoski, who will drive the No. 33 M&M Labor mud-slinger this weekend. "It's the best bang for your buck you can get."

The quality of the speedway dirt and field is what brought Lasoski and his family to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving week.

"We'll go out and find a turkey leg somewhere," he said Tuesday while en route.

If he wants another leg this weekend, fried turkey parts will be sold on the dirt track midway.

This weekend is also a great way to cap your racing season and get ready for more holidays.

Enjoy the chill in the air and tour the Gift of Lights spectacle behind the big oval's grandstands.

Turkey legs, colorful lights and dirt racing -- it just doesn't get any better.

Jeff Wolf's motor sports column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247. Visit Wolf's motor sports blog at lvrj.com/blogs/heavypedal/ throughout the week.