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Top Ten Hottest Drivers of the Week

10. Chris Shirek: Chris Shirek earned a $5,000 bonus for taking the NOSA Northern Tour Mini-Series Championship Saturday night at the Dacotah Speedway in Mandan, ND. Going into the five-race Mini-Series, Shirek's goal was just to make all five A-Mains. He accomplished that goal, and also did a little bit more. Shirek really shined at both of the events held at the River Cities Speedway, getting his first ever World of Outlaws Heat Race win back on June 19^th, after passing Joey Saldana on the outside for the lead. However, problems in the A-Main would relegate Shirek back to a disappointing 21^st place finish. However, this past Friday night Shirek would finish strong, moving from his 18^th place starting position all the way to finish 7^th earning him the KSE hard-charger award and propelling him to the NOSA Northern Tour points lead. In the process, Shirek would go by heavy hitters like Danny Lasoski, Chad Kemenah, and Jac Haudenschild, a feat reminiscent of Jessica Zemken's run at Ohsweken. Shirek held on to that point lead with a 17^th place finish at the Dacotah Speedway on Saturday night. It seems Shirek really seems to shine when the Outlaws come to town, and if Shirek could gain some real consistency, the 2005 NOSA Champion could log his second Championship and become some real competition for Mark Dobmeier every week in Grand Forks, ND.

9. Todd Daun: The 2008 Wilmot Speedway 410 Sprint Track Champion recorded his first IRA win of 2009 at his home track in Wilmot, WI. With an impressive field of 40 cars on hand, the IRA had one of its most competitive nights of the season. After qualifying ninth, Daun was able to hold onto the last transfer spot in his heat to earn a starting spot on the outside of the second-row of the 22-car A-main Feature. After taking the lead on lap-five, Daun got all he could handle from IRA point leader Billy Balog in an all-out duel for the lead for the rest of the race. After exchanging the lead multiple times, Daun would come out on top, finishing ahead of Balog and the 2008 Knoxville 360 Nationals Champion Wayne Johnson to get the win in front of his hometown crowd. An impressive feat, with Daun showing that he is still the man to beat at Wilmot.

8. Adam Wilt: For those who felt bad for Wilt a few weeks ago when a battle for the lead ended with the young 410 Sprint rookie flipping over the outside retaining wall, Wilt doesn't need your sympathies anymore. Adam scored his first ever 410 Sprint win Friday night at the William's Grove Speedway. Wilt led all 20 laps of the first of two features run at the Grove, throwing his name into the hat with all the other sensational rookies that 410 winged sprint car racing has seen in 2009. Wilt joins Aaron Ott as the second driver to record his first ever 410 win at the William's Grove Speedway in 2009. Wilt is a promising talent, and if they haven't already the Posse faithful will soon be calling him FOAW.

7. Mark Smith: The William's Grove Speedway saw two new winners Friday Night. While Mark Smith wasn't looking for his first ever 410 Sprint win, or even his first ever win at William's Grove, he was looking for his first win of 2009 at the Grove. In the second feature on Friday Night, Smith would finally get himself to victory lane at the Grove, and recording his second win of 2009, the other being at Port Royal. After finishing seventh in the first feature event, Smith found himself starting fourth in feature number two, getting by William's Grove point leader and defending track champion Todd Shaffer for the lead with five to go. Along with the win, Mark Smith set a new William's Grove Speedway 20-lap Track Record of 6:08.588, less than two-tenths better than the previous record held by Lance Dewease. With the win, Smith moved into second in William's Grove Track Points, now sitting 270 points behind Todd Shaffer.

6. Keith Baxter: Baxter has been real hot as of late at the Skyline Speedway. Friday night, Baxter got his fourth win of 2009 and his fourth win in the last six races at the Skyline Speedway. Baxter had taken three feature wins in a row in July before bowing out to Danny Smith and Aaron Higgins the next two weeks. However, Baxter returned to victory lane Friday night picking his hot streak right back up. Baxter didn't do it the easy way either, coming all the way from a 13^th place starting spot, to earn not only the win but the Hard Charger Award as well. In his charge to the front, Baxter would move by Skyline Point Leader Aaron Higgins, K-C Raceway Point Leader and ASCoC winner Jimmy Nier, and FAST leader Craig Mintz, leaving no doubt that he was the best car on the track on this night. Baxter proved that Central Pennsylvania isn't the only place that sees drivers win from outside the first five rows.

5. Greg Wilson: With Attica Raceway Park seeing one of its largest car counts of 2009, at 38, Greg Wilson, the two-time All-Star Circuit of Champions Points Title Winner was on top at the end of the night. Wilson took the lead from the outside of the front row at the start of the race and led most of the feature, until receiving a challenge from Phil Gressman with four to go. After actually losing the lead, Wilson would battle back to the top spot two laps later, leading the last couple of circuits for his first win of 2009. In what has been a very disappointing season for Greg, this has to be the confidence builder that Greg needs, picking up the win on what was likely the most competitive field that Attica has seen all year. Maybe with the monkey off his back, Wilson can look to getting an All-Star victory before the season comes to a close and gain some momentum for the 2010 season.

4. Tommy Worley Jr.: Worley made a sweep this weekend, going to victory lane both Friday and Saturday nights, the only driver to record to 410 winged sprint wins this week. On Friday night, Worley recorded his first Midwest All-Star win of 2009 and the second of his career, taking the checkered flag at the Bloomington Speedway in Indiana. Worley took the lead at the start over veteran Danny Smith and then would have to hold-off "The Hurricane" Randy Hannagan, as the two battled side-by-side in the closing laps, with Worley holding the outside, keeping his momentum up and keeping the lead to the finish, holding off a former Ohio Speedweek Champion, and 2009 World of Outlaws Feature winner. On Saturday night, Worley would head back home to run at the St. Francois County Raceway in Farmington, MO. Worley would pick up his fifth win of the season in Farmington, and third in a row, fourth feature win in a row if you count the win at Bloomington. Worley is on one of the hottest streaks in the country right now, and is another one of the young guns hinting at a bright future for sprint car racing in the coming years.

3. Craig Dollansky: With the addition of Bonzai Bruns to the #19 Team, they've seemed to have gotten thins figured out now. Dollansky picked up his third win of the season with the World of Outlaws on Friday night at the River Cities Speedway, and the third in less than a month. After beating Donny Schatz off the start in the fourth heat race to earn a heat race win, Dollansky would draw the number one pill for the dash cruising to victory and a poll starting position for the A-Main. Dollansky would lead from flag-to=flag in the A-Main Feature, with his Kasey Kahne racing Teammate moving from sixth to second to make it the second Kasey Kahne Racing one-two sweep in two weeks with the rolls reversed in the order of the Ironman 55 finish. Saldana seems to be picking back up after a horrible July, just as Dollansky is finally getting things going after a terrible first half of the season. The "Crowd Pleaser" is now closing in on the Sides-Lasoski battle for fifth in the points. It would surely be a remarkable turn-around if Dollansky could finish 2009 in the top five in points.

2. Donny Schatz: Schatz got career win number 100 with the World of Outlaws in his Home State of North Dakota on Saturday night, becoming only the fifth driver in history to reach the century mark with the Greatest Show on Dirt. After finishing fourth in the first feature of the weekend at the River Cities Speedway, Schatz, just coming off of his fourth Knoxville Nationals win in a row, would not be denied a trip to victory lane during the World of Outlaws second trip of the season to North Dakaota. After starting fifth, Schatz would quickly move to fourth behind Hafertepe, Meyers and Lasoski. Soon, however, Schatz would move past Meyers and Hafertepe, and then quickly real in the "Dude" in lap traffic, taking the lead on lap 22 and never looking back. It was Schatz's twelfth win of 2009, putting him just one win behind Joey Saldana's series leading thirteen. It also allowed Schatz to extend his point lead to 92 over Jason Meyers, in his bid make it four World of Outlaws Championships in a row. And right now it will be very tough for anyone to stop that from happening.

Hottest driver of the Week- Tyler Walker: The first champion of 2009 has been crowned, with Tyler Walker claiming his first Golden State Challenge King of California Series Championship. On the final night of the GSC season at the Placerville Speedway, Walker would cement his claim to the Title by going to victory lane for the record-setting ninth time in 2009. Tyler broke Tim Kaeding's previous record of eight wins in a single season set in 2004, getting the ninth win on the last race of the season. In what has been an excellent points battle, the GSC brought three drivers to Placerville with hopes of winning the Title. But when all was said and done, the three drivers would finish the night in the same positions that they had come into the race in, with Walker winning the Championship by 26 points over defending Champion Jonathan Allard and by 35 points over 13-time GSC Champion Brent Kaeding. With the incredible season they had in 2009, it would be great to see Scott Chastain bring that car and Tyler Walker out on the road with the World of Outlaws in 2010. Let's hope that Tyler runs strong when the World of Outlaws heads out to the West Coast so the possibility of the 24 car being added to the World of Outlaws roster in 2010 remains a real possibility.

Honorable Mention: Greg Hodnett, Mark Dobmeier, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Mike Linder, Colton Heath

Tyler is one of the hottest 410 drivers in the nation. cant wait to see him back at Skagit in ten days...

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

Tyler is definitely kicking some major butt this summer.

What age does it have to be before you call someone a young gun? Tommy Worley has been racing for awhile now and is right on the age 40. I'm glad he is getting noticed though!

I was looking for his age, and I couldn't find it anywhere, and I saw some people on a message board saying that they hoped he would run with the outlaws soon, so I assumed he was younger. My mistake.