By Richie Murray
Mesquite, Texas (June 21, 2023)………Devil’s Bowl is back on!
The USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship will return to the legendary Devil’s Bowl Speedway half-mile dirt oval in Mesquite, Texas on Thursday night, September 7, for a one night only show paying $6,000-to-win and co-sanctioned by the ASCS Elite Non-Wing Sprint Car Series.
The event, originally washed out by Mother Nature in April, has been rescheduled for early September, and will present an action-packed tripleheader weekend with Devil’s Bowl on Thursday followed by back-to-back nights for USAC and ASCS Elite at Arkansas’ Texarkana 67 Speedway on Friday-Saturday, September 8-9.
The Devil’s Bowl event will mark the first visit by the USAC National Sprint Cars to the venue, and to the Lone Star State, since 1985 – 38 years ago.
In all, four such events have been held in the Lone Star State, the first of which came at Houston’s Meyer Speedway in 1959 where hometown hero A.J. Foyt tamed the field under the “Midwest” division moniker in what was the last series event held in the decade of the 1950s.
Don Branson edged Jim Hurtubise to the finish line by a mere two feet at Meyer the following year in early 1960. Rufus Jones, better known as Parnelli, got his revenge in October of 1960 at Meyer Speedway when he became the third-straight USAC Sprint Car driving champion to “walk-off” with a feature victory in the final race of the season.
The hiatus lasted 25 years before USAC Sprint Car racing returned to Texas in 1985, which presented a unique USAC vs CRA (California Racing Association) challenge, pitting the top talent from the national scene versus the best of the west. Rick Hood trailed Steve Butler for 29 of the 30 laps before roaring from behind in the final turn to beat Butler to the checkered flag.
One thing each of the four USAC National Sprint Car winners in Texas have in common is that they are USAC National Sprint Car champions. At least four past USAC National Sprint Car champs are expected to be on hand for September’s Devil’s Bowl event, including Brady Bacon (2014-16-21-22), Robert Ballou (2015), C.J. Leary (2019) and Justin Grant (2022).
However, they’ll have a host of others intending to get their first taste of a Texas victory, including 2023 USAC Eastern Storm champion Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.), Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.), Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.), Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.), Jake Swanson (Anaheim, Calif.), Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio), Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.), Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.), Carson Garrett (Littleton, Colo.) and many more.
Perhaps, like the others who came before them, a win in Texas could be a boon toward a USAC National Sprint Car championship.