DONNIE HAGAR SECURES FTI PERFORMANCE $30,000 PRIZE
Eliminations for the FTI Performance $30,000 purse resumed Sunday morning at the Moser Engineering Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After a long week of racing, it was time to crown a final champion in the Fling Winner’s Circle.
The Laris Motorsports Insurance Pro final saw Donnie Hagar line up alongside Braydon Heroux where Hagar used a .004 to take home the $1,000 bonus check and Pro Champion trophy before combining into the Super Pro field at five cars.
In the quarterfinals, Hagar, Nicholas Contreras, Alonso Sanchez, Cooper Chun, and Tim Wurtz remained. Sanchez fouled out by two thousandths to the .013 and one above of Chun, while Hagar again let go “double 0” off the bottom against Contreras with a .002 to earn the semifinal bye run. Wurtz took a solo trip down the track in his ‘63 Corvette roadster.
Two West Coasters staged up next to each other at three cars in Wurtz’s matchup with Chun. Chun had the advantage at the line with a .009 and tightened it up at the finish line to eliminate Wurtz, while Hagar ripped a .006 on his single.
Hagar and Chun met in the door car versus dragster final where Hagar was .003 and .014 above for the win to secure the FTI Performance $30,000 purse from the Laris Pro side of the field in the Sandlin Family Racing ‘85 S-10, having never driven the truck until the day prior. His reaction times in the last four rounds combined off the bottom were .015.
The next stop on the Flings Race Series tour will take place back on the east coast at GALOT Motorsports Park in Benson, NC for the Strange Engineering Spring Fling presented by Optima Batteries April 23-27 featuring three $50,000-to-win main events. It will be a gate entry event with no capped car count.
SATURDAY – LUKE BOGACKI BECOMES TWO-TIME SPRING FLING MILLION MILLION
Saturday’s main event at the Moser Engineering Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries at Las Vegas Motor Speedway saw 296 entries of west and east coast talent come together to race for $325,000.
In the Brodix Run for the Money time run session preceding the first round of the Fling Million, Jeff Serra earned $50,000 in 4.6 seconds by laying down a perfect run with a .000 bulb and running his 4.61 dial-in with a zero. He follows Steve Witherow, who earned the $50,000 perfect run bonus at the 2020 Bristol Fling Million. “That was better than a win right there. It was just electric.”
The Laris Motorsports Insurance Pro final saw the big-time matchup of Brian Cireddu and Charlie Lockhart, both former Pro winners at the Fling. Lockhart was .006 take .015 to win the $3,000 bonus over Cireddu and combine into the quarterfinals of the Fling Million, halting Cireddu from backing up his 2023 Million Pro Bonus win.
In round six Garrett Griffith, Chad Sandlin, Gary Williams, Jeff Serra, Kyle Cultrera, Luke Bogacki, Charlie Lockhart, and Mike Barber met on the ladder. After breaking his S-10 during the first round Griffith switched to the Malibu and carried it all the way to the quarterfinals where he fell short with a .017 package to the .011 total of Bogacki, who had dropped his entry in the roadster a round prior. Lockhart turned it two thousandths red off the bottom to Sandlin, while Williams redlit by .003 to the .007 of Barber. Serra and Cultrera were separated by six thousandths with the advantage and the winlight going to Serra as he put it dead-on nine to the .005 breakout of Cultrera.
In the semifinals, Sandlin bowed out by way of a .001 redlight to Bogacki, while two Shane Thompson-owned dragsters lined up on the other side of the ladder. Serra put together .012 together to knock out Barber who was .010 and .028 above.
Bogacki and Serra were .003 and .006 respectively in the final but it was Bogacki who captured the victory to become the 2024 Moser Spring Fling Million Champion and the first-ever two-time Fling Million winner.
FRIDAY – FTI PERFORMANCE $30,000 FRIDAY TO RESUME SATURDAY FOLLOWING SPRING FLING MILLION SATURDAY
The third and final $30,000 event was contested on FTI Performance Friday at the Moser Engineering Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Nearly 400 drivers staged up for the first round in hopes of making it count before Million Dollar Saturday.
Racers’ cooperation allowed eliminations to move smoothly despite obstacles of wind and some light rain. The LVMS track crew and the Fling Team made their best efforts to maintain a safe racing surface, but windchill brought the temperature of the track lower to the point where the decision was made to postpone the remainder of $30K eliminations to Sunday.
First round of the Silver State Million Dollar Saturday will follow the Brodix Run for the $50K Friday morning, where $50,000 will be on the line for a perfect run. Best package awards include Brodix SR20 cylinder heads, $2000, and a 2025 Spring Fling Million entry. If a perfect run is not made during the time run session, the driver with the first perfect run during Million eliminations will win $10,000.
Race fans can tune in 8:20 a.m. PST for the Brodix time run session before the first round of the Spring Fling Million.
THURSDAY – KRIS WHITFIELD CAPTURES LARIS MOTORSPORTS THURSDAY 30K WIN
Another $30,000 champion would be crowned on Laris Motorsports Insurance Thursday at the Moser Engineering Spring Fling Million presented Optima Batteries at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A consistent car count of around 400 single-entered drivers returned to take their shot at parking in the Fling winner’s circle on day three.
The Laris Pro final was over on the starting line with the advantage going to the ‘66 El Camino of Mark Faul over the ‘95 Oldsmobile of Richard Mason. Faul collected the $1,000 Pro Bonus and champion trophy before combining into the quarterfinals of Super Pro.
The five remaining drivers on the ladder included Preston “Peeps” Pennington, Phillip Pennington, Kris Whitfield, Bob Cireddu, and Mark Faul. Faul turned it just .005 red and ran it down to be dead-on six to advance Whitfield. The all-Pennington sibling match-up was double red with the lesser of the two redlights falling in Phillip’s favor. Cireddu was dead-on nine in his bye run.
In the semifinals, Pennington used a reaction time advantage to secure a spot in the final over the final remaining door car of Cireddu, while Whitfield was .005 on the bye to earn lane choice.
Whitfield locked Pennington out of his first Fling event win to take the Laris $30,000 Thursday big check back home to Littleton, CO. Whitfield’s track record at the Flings includes a $3K win at the 2013 Spring Fling Vegas, a $30K win at the 2022 Spring Fling Million, and three final round appearances at various Flings over the years.
With high mile per hour headwinds throughout the day, the LVMS track crew and Fling Team members maintained a safe racing surface. With winds expected to persist through Friday and temperatures predicted to drop, it was decided that Million Dollar Friday and 30K Saturday would be reversed with the intent to run the Fling Million in better conditions. Moving forward, in Friday’s event drivers will race for the FTI Performance 30K and at least $200,000 on Million Dollar Saturday.
WEDNESDAY – SEAN SHAFFER RACES TO SILVER STATE $30K WIN AT THE SPRING FLING MILLION
Silver State Wednesday at the Moser Engineering Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries at Las Vegas Motor Speedway saw nearly 400 single-entered racers stage up for the first of three $30,000 events for the week. Clear skies and temperatures in the mid-70s made for a full day of great racing ahead.
The two finalists in the Laris Motorsports Insurance Pro Field included Karisa Windley in her ‘67 Camaro and Chad Sandlin in the former Fling event-winning ‘85 S-10. Windley was consistently double “00” to teen on the tree in the later rounds and used a substantial reaction time advantage against Sandlin to secure the Pro champion trophy and $1,000 bonus check.
The quarter final lineup included Greg Hicks on a solo, Josh Luedke versus Pro Bonus winner Karisa Windley, and Ken Sweo against Sean Shaffer. Luedke advanced past Windley after running closer to the dial, while Shaffer was .018 total to the .018 bulb of Sweo to move on. Hicks put up the best reaction of the round, a .001, on his bye run.
Five thousandths separated Hicks and Luedke at the hit, and by way of Luedke’s .001 breakout Hicks earned a place in the final. In his solo shot down the track Shaffer turned it just one thousandth red to lose lane choice.
In a heavyweight match up of west coast hitters, Hicks bowed out with a .003 redlight in what would have been his first Fling event win. Shaffer was .010 and took a free ride to $30,000 which made for his second trip to a Vegas Fling winner’s circle after a $50K win at the 2020 Fall Fling West.
TUESDAY – DYLAN HOUGH GOES BACK-TO-BACK TO WIN AMERICAN RACE CARS SHOOTOUT
Day one of the Moser Engineering Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries at Las Vegas Motor Speedway gave racers the opportunity to shake down their cars and sharpen their tune-up before a crucial week of racing ahead on Advanced Product Design Tuesday.
Four hundred drivers participated in the test and tune session that ran in conjunction with the eliminations of a 32-Car Shootout where the winner would walk away with a 2024 American Race Cars complete rolling chassis valued at $60,000. For the first time in the shootout’s history, the dragster featured a Riggeal’s carbon fiber one-piece body.
The eight remaining drivers in shootout competition included Garrett Griffith, Matt Grayson, Dylan Hough, Clinton Fossceco, Timmy Markoglu, Hank Pramov, Mitchell Marcy, and Shane Carr. Griffith was .013 total in his ‘02 S-10 to knock out Grayson, while Fossceco turned it just one thousandth red to 2023 Tuesday Shootout champion Hough. Pramov was .006 and dead-on seven to eliminate Markoglu. In the last pair, Marcy was .013 and .001 under needing to take .005 or less to the .014 dead-on four of Carr.
In the semifinals round where two door cars and two dragsters remained, Griffith laid down an even better lap after putting together .009 total to the .017 package of Carr. Pramov had a .005 advantage at the hit but broke out by .006 to advance Hough’s .019 package.
The door car versus dragster shootout final was a matchup of east coast and west coast young-guns and former Fling event winners. Hough used a .014 package to stop Griffith’s streak of spectacular runs to capture the Tuesday 32-Car Shootout victory for the second year in a row, also following his $100,000 Saturday win at the 2023 Spring Fling Million.
TUESDAY
MOSER ENGINEERING VEGAS SPRING FLING MILLION KICKS OFF 2024 SEASON
The 2024 high dollar bracket race season will kick off with the first of the Flings. The first event of the 2024 season fires up this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Moser Engineering Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries. From April 2-6 drivers from across the US, Mexico, and Canada will battle for the huge jackpot and ending up in the Fling Winner’s Circle.
Three $30,000-to-win races will be contested on Silver State Refrigeration Wednesday, Laris Motorsports Insurance Thursday, and FTI Performance Saturday with Silver State Refrigeration Friday featuring the Million main event that guarantees a minimum of $200,000 and up to $1,000,000-to-win to Friday’s winner depending on the number of entries.
The Spring Fling Million Triple $30K’s will look slightly different this year, becoming a single entry format in which a driver can only go down the track once per round. Car sharing is permitted in an effort to make the trip more cost effective for racers traveling out of state. The objective is to maintain reasonable car counts each day to create a more enjoyable time for racers and their families. The Fling Million will remain the same as 2023 where doubles are permitted in an effort to strive for a larger car count to payout ratio.
“Our Fling Team has been working around the clock to improve each event. We are rolling out some changes that we hope will make for a better experience for our racers and for everyone watching from home,” said Flings promoter Peter Biondo.
There will be over $60,000 in product and cash giveaways for all on property. The drivers with the best losing packages in rounds 1-4 each day receive $500 and a small Fling check on the spot during the Triple $30K’s and $1,000 during Friday’s main event. The Fling Kids Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday will produce prizes for the whole family like Razor scooters, RC cars, toys, and gift cards.
