10/26/2022
Midwest Wingless Racing Association
Top 20 Countdown For USAC MWRA in 2022. Positions 6-10
As winter grows closer, and before the USAC MWRA Banquet on Saturday night November 19th, we salute the top 20 in Midwest Wingless Racing Association points for 2022 with positions 6 thru 10.
Number 6
Oak Grove, Missouri’s, Brian Beebe has been a mainstay competing in non winged sprint racing for many years driving his 37b. Beebe uniquely enough always runs with a 360 motor against primarily 410 engined drivers, but always finds a way to compete favorably against those more powerful machines. After finishing 5th place in MWRA points for 2020, Beebe took a step back from competition in 2021 to get his “house in order” literally. For the 2022 season Beebe was poised to once again be a contender in the MWRA. While ultimately finishing 6th place in points after a accident in the feature during the last night of competition for points at the Helm Memorial cost him another top 5 finish in the final standings. Superlatives for Beebe in 2022 included 2 top 5 finishes, and 6 top 10 finishes, in the 8 feature events he started.
Number 7
Transplanted Michigander Brad Wyatt of Kearney, Missouri, is a veteran of both pavement and dirt in open wheel competition. His versatility in sprint cars once again proved to be helpful as he worked his way to a 7th place finish in the final standings driving his number 41, his second top 10 finish in the series in the last 3 years of competition. Wyatt would start 8 of the 9 points paying feature events in 2022, while garnering 4 top 10 results on his way to finishing 7th place in the final standings.
Number 8
One of the top young guns in Heartland Sprint Car Racing, Nixa, Missouri’s, Wesley Smith, running the Helm 12 in MWRA, and the WSR 44 in other series, was once again a force to reckon with in 2022. Racing in 6 points paying features with MWRA this season, after finishing 3rd place in points in 2020, and 2nd place in 2021, Smith would finish 8th place this time around. Among the results for this entertaining driver who loves to run the cushion if possible, Wesley would win 3 times with this USAC series in 2022. Smith would find victory lane at U.S. 36, Nevada, and Bethany, to give him 9 total victories in the MWRA over the last three seasons, only one behind career leader Wyatt Burks with 10. While also finishing on the podium 5 out of the 6 features he ran with the MWRA in 2022.
Number 9
Veteran open wheel chauffeur Warren “Wo Jo” Johnson of Overland Park, Kansas, returned to sprint car competition in a big way racing in the MWRA in 2022 with Rick and Deb Smith in their iconic number 90. After racing sparingly over the last few years, Wo Jo would knock off the rust to finish in the top 10 in MWRA points coming in at number 9 in the final standings. Johnson would race in 8 feature events in 2022, and after meshing with Smith, a 3-time winning car owner in the WAR series over the last decade, Wo Jo would finish in the top 10 in 4 of the last 6 feature events they ran with the MWRA in 2022.
Number 10
Tonganoxie, Kansas, racer A.J. Gilbert had a great rookie campaign with the MWRA running the DGR Deuce in 2022. Gilbert, a veteran of both modifieds and midgets, won the Valley Speedway Midget Championship in 2019, and for 2022 took his talents to the sprint car ranks to run with his father. The learning curve racing in a new series, with a new type of car was a challenge. But, the Kansas racers were up to it, and fought all the way to the final night of competition at Valley Speedway for Rookie of the Year honors running against midget rival Chad Winfrey. Before coming up 70 points short in the final tallies. Gilbert would start every feature for the MWRA in 2022, with a career best 7th place finish for the first year driver with the MWRA as his best result.
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Article Credit: Ray Cunningham
