Aztec Speedway drops the green flag to start its 70th season

Steven Bortstein, Farmington Daily Times
·2 min read
Jimmy Hambrick (#61), Katie Barthel (K8) and Abby Harpole test their cars on April 9, 2022, prior to the start of the racing season at Aztec Speedway.
Jimmy Hambrick (#61), Katie Barthel (K8) and Abby Harpole test their cars on April 9, 2022, prior to the start of the racing season at Aztec Speedway.

AZTEC — A full slate of action is set to begin Friday at 8 p.m. as Aztec Speedway features a variety of cars to officially open the 70th season of live auto racing at the historic track.

International Motor Contest Association modifieds, as well as northern sport mods, stock cars, compacts and hobby stocks will all be featured on the opening night program. Dwarf cars and mod lite cars will also be in action.

The Friday night opening program will be followed by a second night of action, beginning Saturday at 7 p.m.

Sport compact drivers like Waylon Hale, Andrew Klokke and Kaison Zufelt, who all finished at the top of the standings in their division last season, are all expected to be back behind the wheel this weekend.

In addition, stock car drivers like Farmington's Allen Bradley and Jeramy Hughes are all slated to start, along with Tony Hill from Cortez, Colorado.

Bradley won a pair of races last season at Aztec Speedway and finished among the top five in nine of 10 starts during the 2021 season. In his first two races this year, held earlier this month at Desert Thunder Raceway in Price, Utah, Bradley finished 13th and 14th respectively.

Hale will be looking for his first win of the year as well when he gets into his sport compact on Friday night. He's finished in the top five three times from four races this year, competing at Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Arizona.

Last year, Hale won eight races at Aztec Speedway.

Also on tap this weekend will be the return of POWRi New Mexico Motor Racing Association Non-Winged Sprint Cars. One of the leading based auto racing sanctioning operations in the state, POWRi has 13 racing events scheduled for the 2022 season while staying, including four at Aztec Speedway.

The non-winged sprint car season in New Mexico opened on April 2 at Vado Speedway near Las Cruces. Dustin Cormany, from Peoria, Arizona, won the main event that night, followed by Rickey Hood from Phoenix and Rick Ziehl from Las Cruces.

Ziehl won two of his three races last year at Aztec Speedway and is expected to be a formidable contender yet again this weekend.

For more information about this weekend's racing action, check out the official Aztec Speedway page at MyRacePass.com.

Pits open at 5 p.m. each day and the grandstands open at 6:30 p.m. nightly.

Steve Bortstein can be reached via email at SBortstein@Gannett.com, via Twitter @DTSBortstein or on the phone at (505) 635-2680. Support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Aztec Speedway opens for historic 70th season of auto racing