STOCKTON, Calif. After a long winter, the wait is coming to an end for 410 sprint car fans in California as the Northern Auto Racing Club opens its highly anticipated season this Saturday night with the annual Salute to Leroy Van Conett at the Stockton Dirt Track.

The first of 29 races scheduled for NARCs 66th season of competition, the Salute to Leroy Van Conett honors one of the all-time greats. A Galt, Calif. native, Van Conett was an eight-time NARC champion, winning his first title in 1969 and scoring his last in 1984.

Among his many career sprint car victories were a Gold Cup win and 65 NARC triumphs, and it all resulted in Van Conett entering the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1999. Van Conetts NARC championship total has been surpassed only by fellow Hall of Famer Brent Kaeding.

Justin Sanders, the defending NARC series champion, won last years Salute to Leroy Van Conett after making a late pass around former series champion Sean Becker. Sanders also won the NARC season finale at Stockton in spectacular style last November, beating Cole Macedo late to win the annual Tribute to Gary Patterson and win the NARC championship in walk off fashion.

Sanders, driving the Mittry Motorsports No. 2x, will look start his title defense with a win at the track where he saw much success last year.

Several other top racers will be on hand. Among them will be the rising star from Oregon, Tanner Holmes, who will be splitting time this season between his familys car and the potent Tarlton Motorsports No. 21, which he will be piloting on Saturday. Holmes won his first NARC 410 race last year and looks to quickly add to his total this season. With Macedo behind the wheel, the Tarlton Motorsports team nearly won the NARC title last year against Sanders.

A number of other aspiring drivers have been knocking on the door of their first NARC win, and opening night at Stockton Dirt Track is that first opportunity this season for drivers like Gauge Garcia and Dylan Bloomfield, a pair of drivers who led NARC main events last season but fell short.

Ashton Torgerson is one of the drivers who will compete for NARC Rookie of the Year honors. A former Tulsa Shootout winner in micro-sprint competition and having raced midgets and 360 sprint cars, Torgerson recently moved up to the 410 ranks and will be one of the young guns to watch.  Other NARC rookie of the year candidates include Landon Brooks, who will be driving for the veteran Bates-Hamilton Racing Team.

Other top drivers expected to compete include 2024 NARC rookie of the year Caeden Steele, Billy Aton, Dominic Gorden, Tanner Carrick, Bud Kaeding, Tim Kaeding, Shane Golobic, Kaleb Montgomery, Angelique Bell, Jarrett Soares, Jennifer Osborne, Tyler Thompson, Sean Becker, D.J. Netto and many others.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. Slated to get underway in two weeks on March 16, the new racing season at Williams Grove Speedway might find fans working to catch up on offseason ride changes.

The Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint oval track champion for two years running, Freddie Rahmer is back behind the wheel of his fathers familiar No. 51 machine for the campaign.

Rahmer vacated the seat of Rich Eichelbergers No. 8 at the conclusion of last season after taking the crowns.

The Salfordville speedster is no stranger to his dads mount, having also scored two Williams Grove track championships in the car as he got started in the sport.

The Eichelberger No. 8 in the meantime quickly found a new jockey for its wheel.

Brock Zearfoss will be Eichelbergers new hired pilot, coming back home to race at Williams Grove on a weekly basis after spending several years racing on the road with national touring series.

Both owner and driver have set a goal to win the track title at Williams Grove.

The Stehman No. 23 machine, formerly driven by Devon Borden, has picked up Chase Dietz as pilot for the season at hand.

Dietz picked up one win at Williams Grove last season aboard his own No. 2D while piloting the Zemco No. 1 elsewhere in the area.

However, Dietz changed homes over the winter months to take on the No. 23 chores and along for the ride has come former Zemco mechanic Tommy Carl.

Borden meanwhile has taken over the reigns of the Grove Racing No. 45 based out of Ohio.

Borden and the No. 45 will compete at Williams Grove several times this year, including for the return of the All Stars Circuit of Champions to the track on June 6 as part of the Lynn Paxton EMMR Legends Classic.

Elsewhere, Ryan Smith will pilot the Don Kreitz Jr. No. 69K in select Williams Grove races throughout the year while Daryn Pittman will jockey the car in World of Outlaws races as he has done the last two seasons.

And stepping up from 358 sprint competition for at least some 410 action at the speedway this year will be Doug Hammaker.

The defending oval 358 sprint champion, Hammaker will be the wheel man for the return of the Kline No. 22 sprinter to area wars as car owner Sandy Kline reenters the fray.

The Williams Grove opener pays $5,500 to the winner of the 25-lap affair.

Its rare to find an accomplishment that Scott Dixon hasnt achieved during his storied NTT IndyCar Series career.

However, Sunday uncovered a new item that Dixon can add racing without radio communication with his crew for an entire race.

As bizarre and unheard of that is in a time where technology continues to reach new heights, the six-time champion was on his own during the majority of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, IndyCars opening round.

No radio for the entire race, Dixon affirmed. It was kind of tough just to see what we were doing, kind of mileage-wise. I knew it was going to be a lot tighter, obviously; once the first caution happened, it was going to be a strict kind of two-stopper.

Known as The Iceman, Dixon again lived up to his nickname with a cool and collected drive that saw him finish runner-up to teammate and winner, Alex Palou. According to Dixon, radio communication kind of worked on the warm-up laps and kind of for the first 10 and that was about it.

He believes the issue is what cost he and his Chip Ganassi Racing team a victory, which wouldve been the 59th of his career.

We caught that traffic with about five or six cars and lost about two or three seconds on that in lap, so that was a bit of a nightmare, Dixon explained of his final pit stop.

Yeah, I dont know. Car was good. I think pit stops were really good. I think all around, we had good speed. I think anytime that we had clean air, we could definitely stretch out, but spent most of the race in dirty air.

Its kind of the first time Ive ever done a whole race without a radio, so that was interesting. Glad we got some good points and a nice one-two for the team.

Without communication with his No. 9 team, how was Dixon able to know when to stop for service?

He relied on his fuel light.

You have a fuel light so you can run you know when the car is going to run out, Dixon explained. I didnt know if they could hear me, so I was just telling them Im just go to run to the light and see what happens.

Ultimately I think for me, it was just one lap too long. I should have pitted maybe when I saw the 10 (Palou) car coming in.

While it may not have been a victory, races like Sunday is another moment in Dixons career that simply placed him a cut above the rest.

BARBERVILLE, Fla.  David Gravel and Big Game Motorsports are on another level.

The 2024 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car title was something they worked hard for. It eluded them for three seasons straight. But they have no plans of taking their foot off the gas after finally capturing the championship. They want to go on a run for the record books. Not just one title, but many.

The easiest path toward winning a championship is winning races, and thats exactly what they did this week at Volusia Speedway Park.

First, it was Sundays dominant drive when Gravel led every lap. Monday dished out more of a challenge to the Watertown, Conn., native. He lined up third and slipped back to fourth on the opening circuit, but it didnt matter.

Gravel methodically worked the Cody Jacobs-prepared No. 2 forward. Back to third on Lap 5. Up to second on Lap 11. And ripping the lead away from Giovanni Scelzi on Lap 15. That was all she wrote. Gravel opened the lead, survived heavy traffic, and took the checkered flag with nearly a two-second advantage to sweep the Bike Week Jamboree.

Confidence has been high, Gravel said. All off-season it was high. After DIRTcar Nationals, it was high. To sweep the weekend feels really, really good. Now were going to a lot of different places, different sizes, places we havent been very often. Its going to be a wildcard. Its going to be a battle and fight every night no matter what.

It was a significant victory for Gravel. His second straight elevated his career total with The Greatest Show on Dirt to 105, equaling him with Joey Saldana for seventh most all-time. It was also his seventh World of Outlaws triumph at Volusia, tying him with Brad Sweet for the second most.

Its early, but Gravel has already built a 44-point advantage over Logan Schuchart as he looks to defend his title. He and Tod Quirings team want to put together a stretch of sprint car racing that wont be forgotten, and they look to be well on their way. They have two wins, five podiums, and a 2.33 average finish through six races.

For us, were trying to build a point lead early, and so far were doing that, Gravel said. Im really excited for this season. I think its going to be pretty special. We did a lot of special things last year, but we keep wanting to do special things.

Behind Gravel it was a wild battle for second as the race wound down. Schuchart eventually emerged over Scelzi and Carson Macedo. It was he and the Shark Racing teams third podium of the year, which already equals their total from the entire 2024 campaign. They came out ready for a rebound season, and so far theyve delivered.

I felt really good there, Schuchart said. Had a cool little race with Gio (Scelzi) and Carson (Macedo), and I actually felt like we were catching David there at the end, definitely aggressive. Very happy for our team. I felt like we learned a lot here in Florida to start the year. Definitely a much better start than last year, and I feel like we have some speed.

Scelzi slipped to third after leading the opening 14 circuits aboard the KCP Racing No. 18. It was his first podium of the season after struggling last month.

I saw it getting dirtier in (Turns) 1 and 2 especially across the middle, which means the bottom is obviously throwing up to the middle, Scelzi said. I didnt really go down there until I got in traffic behind David and stuck with him for a bit and then kind of just made a block move on myself and let Logan by me. Just proud of my guys. This is a huge rally from DIRTcar (Nationals) to here. Im proud. Its easy to get discouraged early in the year. It is a long year, but Charlotte creeps up on you.

Carson Macedo and Jacob Allen completed the top five.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[3]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen[5]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel[10]; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 9. 83-Michael Kofoid[11]; 10. 7S-Chris Windom[22]; 11. 17B-Bill Balog[8]; 12. 23-Garet Williamson[17]; 13. 14-Spencer Bayston[9]; 14. 39M-Anthony Macri[21]; 15. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[19]; 16. 13-Daison Pursley[16]; 17. 6-Zach Hampton[20]; 18. 27-Emerson Axsom[12]; 19. 44-Chris Martin[23]; 20. 88-Austin McCarl[13]; 21. 28M-Conner Morrell[25]; 22. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[18]; 23. 2C-Cole Macedo[7]; 24. 26-Justin Peck[14]; 25. 15K-Creed Kemenah[24]