By David Sink
The latest ‘Risk On 360 Open Wheel Showdown’ entrant may have gone unnoticed. On November 1 Andy Alberding filed an entry for the 50K sprint car portion of the event. It may not have generated much fanfare, but for those who know, know.
The 48-year-old Oregon driver last competed in winged asphalt sprint car competition in 2019. Despite his four-year layoff, Alberding would have to be considered a contender for the win at the “Bullring” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway December 1-2, 2023.
Alberding has spent the last four years helping his son Kyle Alberding. The younger Alberding has made a name for himself in recent seasons from advice and lessons learned from his father. He has won some big pavement sprint car events the past few seasons including the Granite Super Sprints/NSRA ‘Wat of the Wings this past August at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington. The win was worth $10,000 for the younger Alberding.
Despite a four-year layoff, Alberding looks in shape and ready to wheel a winged sprint car in Las Vegas in a few weeks. When the Open Wheel Showdown was first announced, it got Alberding thinking about coming out of retirement.
“I guess its taken me four years to talk my self into it” laughs Alberding in response to coming out of retirement. “I was on the fence if I wanted to do the Las Vegas deal. I had a guy tell me he had a motor. He wanted me to try it out and put it in my car. I’m still on the fence even though I sent in my money.”
“I last ran in 2019. That year we won Diamond Cup and the Rory Price Memorial. I don’t really have any expectations. We talked all summer about whether we should do it. We talked about dragging the car to one of these other races to make sure I still know how to start it. We just got busy with Kyles racing, and it never worked out. The guys kinda talked me into it.”
“I don’t know what to expect since it’s been a long time. But I still feel like I can run competitively. I feel like I’m kinda in the game because of helping Kyle. But I haven’t sat behind the wheel in four years either. I’m not going to run in the middle of the pack. I think I can do it, or I wouldn’t be going”.
Alberding will be in his familiar blue number 76 in Las Vegas. “I haven’t touched that car since 2019 after the last race. I bought it from Norm Chamberlin and put it on jack stands. I pickled the fuel system and took the rockers off it. It’s been sitting in the corner ever since then on jack stands. It was kind of my museum piece because I drove for Norm for eighteen years. I thought worse case, if I never drive again, I have the last car he and I built together and its gonna sit here forever. But it is a beautiful car, and it should get out every now and then to see the sunlight.”
Alberding was asked if he could pull off the win, and collect the 50k, if some of it would find its way into a local casino. “We’re all racers and we’re not very smart. It’ll probably go back into next year’s project. No trip to the casino. Us going to this race is enough gambling for one weekend for me. I’m not much of a gambler” concluded Alberding.