The World of Outlaws 410 Sprint Car Nationals at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Dallas, Texas, Part 2

 A trackside report by Mark Roden

21 April 2023

01 April, Saturday Night: Day 2 of a Sprint / Indycar Race Weekend Double-Header

This report details the second evening of racing at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in south Dallas.  The racing format was roughly the same as the previous night, except that they started a bit later.  I spent the earlier part of the day at Texas Motor Speedway photographing the practice and qualifying sessions of the Indycar series on their second event of the season (separate report is in progress.) 

I made it back to the hotel with enough time to watch a bit of the NASCAR Truck Series being broadcast live from TMS and, importantly, to have a quick rest before going trackside again. 

I learned a lesson from the night before and ignored the parking attendants, pulling in as close as possible to the pit credentials trailer parked at the very end of the track’s main parking area (I lost a lot of time waiting in line to buy the Friday night pit pass, enough to become trapped outside the infield until after the sprint car heats were over.)

I didn’t explore the pits this time, walking straight across and into the infield.  Since no cars had passed, it was still muddy from the water truck that was wetting things down before the runs started.  I had to be careful, it was not a smooth surface.

I found my way over to the concession booth and bought some water before I did anything else.  Another lesson from the night before.  I chose turn 1 as my starting point and met up with some vested photographers.  I am pretty sure that I was supposed to be wearing one as well, but no one ever said anything to me.  In fact, no one ever said a word to me about anything, vest or otherwise.   

If I had known they were running a later schedule I would have spent some time in the pits, but I had several good photos from Friday, and so my main goal was to catch the qualifying session for the Sprints.  Sprint cars have almost no electronics in them, and so they need a push start.  We could see them being pushed in from outside Turn 2 (they also push from Turn 3, where the “pedestrian crossing” is located.) 

Once the first car was ½ way around the track, the next one would come in and be at speed before the first could catch it.  There was a constant roll of cars on and off the track; once their qualifying lap was complete, they skipped over the embankment of Turn 1 and back to the service road, and then a short distance from there to their pit slot. 

Pre-Qualifying Prep:

Around 6:45PM they put out a call to all drivers to do what they call “packing the track.”  This involves making several runs to pack down the mud that is created when the water truck sprays the thick clay base.  This went on for a good 30 minutes, maybe more.  When it was time for the qualifying to start, there was a horn blast which could be heard across the entire facility, along with a verbal call to line up.

Sprint  Car Qualifying:

I was shooting from Turn 1 and had planned to stay there for most of the evening.  Each end of the track has its unique qualities.  For one thing, the backstretch is about 15 feet higher in elevation than the front straight, making the T1 / T2 transition slightly uphill and the T3 / T4 slightly downhill.  The backgrounds are different as well.  I wanted to have a variety of shots at different angles and using differing backdrops over the course of the two evenings.  Qualifying allowed me to keep a fairly steady rhythm going; as soon as one car flashed by I could hear the next one coming.  Standing on the apron, I did a lot of hip-swivels; it was a real workout after a while.

After qualifying was finished there was a gap in the action of about 20 minutes during which the drivers inspected the track riding scooters or on foot, looking for discrepancies or ruts in the surface.  Soon the first heat started, and the night’s racing action was underway.  There was a total of 3 heats.

From here the schedule worked the same as it had the night before.  Following the sprint car heats there was just a couple of minutes of inaction, and then the Limited Modifieds fired engines and hit the track for 2 heats. 

I did notice some different cars from the previous night.  Here are some images from these heats and the Factory Stocks heats.

And once again, the next phase of action involved the Toyota Dash and the Last Chance Showdown to set the field for the final day of racing at the Sprint Car Nationals (see part 1 of this report for a bit more detail on how this works).

The Limited Modifieds were set to go with their A Feature.  It had already been a long day (6AM start), so I figured this was probably the last of the infield I could take.  There are things like concrete blocks to sit on, but my back was beginning to hurt and those blocks, well they’re not exactly comfortable.

I exited the infield right after the Modifieds were finished.  In retrospect, this probably was not the best move, as the lighting is poor outside the track, and I was not able to pass until after the feature anyway because the pit access road was what I needed to use to get back to the parking area.  Still, I watched the Sprint feature from outside and slowly trekked along the backstretch until I reached that pit access road.



I did snap a few very grainy pics of the Sprint feature, none of which are very brilliant but will serve to document the action.  I was also ready to get back to the hotel, download the days’ work, and get some sleep before the action re-started a few hours later (6AM hard start).

The next full report will detail the Texas Indy race, which was happening during the same weekend as the Sprint Car Nationals.



This report is coming soon.

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