BUZZ SODEMAN MORE COLUMNS BUZZ SODEMAN / SPECIAL TO THE PVT Auto racing continues at the quarter-mile dirt Pahrump Valley Speedway Saturday, starting at 7 p.m. Advertisement

On a Saturday evening, when the residents had a choice between bull riding and stock car racing, many choose to cheer on their favorites at the Pahrump Valley Speedway.

The first heat race brought memories of the song, "Slip Slidin' Away," as the then greasy track had a slow morphosis into an excellent tacky racing surface.

Ten heats of racing, 100 laps of action and all but one of the races was a flag to flag romp by the various victors. I think in all the years that I have been a track scribe, I have never witnessed such domination on any racetrack by nine drivers.

So let's cut to the chase and recap the night's highlights, beginning with the main events.

While modified feature winner Todd Nunnally wanted to celebrate his victory, second-place finisher Rick Durica wanted to discuss what he perceived as Nunnally's less than hospitable driving style.

Nunnally actually had to overcome a spin out in turn one and a restart at the back of the pack to claim the main event trophy.

Early leader Jeff Talley exited the track with unknown maladies after losing the handle on his potent modified, gathering up Mark Allison and Levi Kiefer, who was debuting his new (is the paint even dry yet?) seat.

Bullhead City's Dave Jurist ran third, with Bryan Wulfenstein, in Kiefer's old mount, getting a top five.

Allison claimed a green to checker heat win disposing of Jeff Tooley, the current track points leader and recent winner in Tonopah. Wulfenstein was the only driver left in heat two as attrition claimed Jurist with a busted tie rod and Talley, who seemed plagued by an unknown ailment.

In a conversation with a group of Southwest Mini Modified drivers in the pits before the cars took to the track, we were discussing the dominance displayed by Eric Slusher, who has some spectators scratching their heads as to legality.

The drivers assured me that Slusher has built his racecar exactly to specifications as outlined in their division. Almost in harmony, they said that to bring their cars up to the standards of his car, they would have to come up with about $1,000. Until then, Slusher will continue to dominate as he did in their main event and the real battles are for second through fifth.

The greasy surface hindered Slusher's chances for a sweep but he was clearly dialed into the surface for the main. Keith Young kept the rest of the pack at bay as he made his Pinto just about the width of the front and backstretches in the early going.

Once the other competitors were able to negotiate around the Ford product, Young was relegated to third place.

Last season's Mini Stock champion, Rick Gast, finished second. Michigan transplant Tom Buckwater outlasted several of the cars caught up in the game of attrition and was fourth, with Erik Mastin fifth as he was the last to retire from the race.

Bubba Ray has been able to prove that despite all the necessary modifications, his car continues to run with the best of the also rans. Heat winners were Don Wilde, in his Pinto station wagon, and Ray.

Apparently not everyone reads my articles as every time Wulfenstein wins a race, there's a murmur through the stands about his legality. His race car is as legal as the brothels in this town and county. I have to admit that it's not a matter of whether or not Wulfenstein will win but how many cars will he lap and in how short of time.

The youngster started in sixth place and three laps into the race had moved to the point.

At the end of the 25-lap feature, he had lapped the entire field and this is not a knock on the other drivers; he's just that good and his car is set up that well. It should be pointed out that 200 pounds of weight have been added to his car to slow him down and that isn't happening.

For most of the race, Eric Henderson had the only car remotely capable of challenging the youngster's quest for his eighth visit to victory circle, but he eliminated himself from the competition after visiting the infield. He left via The Hook.

Once Henderson exited, everyone moved up in the finishing order. Longtime competitor Dale Daffern moved into second while rookie Jonny Petaros survived contact with the frontstretch wall to claim third, in a car campaigned for many years by Milos Petaros. Wulfenstein and Daffern were heat winners.

Congratulations to Chad Broadhead, a racer who's been around the block several times, who captured his first ever feature win.

Broadhead battled for the better part of half the race before settling on first and stretching out his lead.

Birthday boy and high school graduate Jonathan Burch kept the heat on Broadhead until the checker but settled for second. Third place went to Michael Brown in the racecar previously piloted by Terri Little.

Kelby Coultas and Steve Creech, traveling companions from Las Vegas, rounded out the top five. Little consolation for Burch, he took a heat win, as did Brown.

In a Nevada Cam Coupe race that nobody seemed to want to claim the checkered flag, Las Vegan Jim Ralleo decided that if no one wanted to step up to the plate, he would. Jim Banks, in his first visit to PVS, appeared headed to victory, until he slithered his way into the pits almost in the shadow of Chris Hewitt, who also had several laps in clean air.

Terri Hiser, putting near contact with the wall between turns three and four behind her, would hold on to second without the entire rear sheet metal of her car which had flew over the wall.

Another first time visitor, Casandra Staple, inherited third. If awards were given for Best Appearing Car, Banks and Staple would have easily shared the award. Banks won the heat race, winning by at least half the track.

Last, but certainly not least, were the outlaw karts and the future legacy of this sport we love so much. Now, it gets a little confusing but here is what I think took place. I believe they ran the heat that was won by Shane Nunnally with Matt Talley in second and Shane's sister, Haley Nunnally, rounding out the top three.

Then in the feature, run immediately after the heat, Haley Nunnally, behind the wheel of last season's track champion car of Taylor Bonetti, claiming her first feature win followed by her brother and then Talley.