Gilbertson Tops Winged Sprint Car Return To Mobile

Johnny Gilbertson in victory lane at Mobile International Speedway. (David Sink photo)

From David Sink

MOBILE, Ala. – Tampa, Fla., driver Johnny Gilbertson held off Dave Mader III to win Saturday night’s 360 winged sprint car feature at Mobile Int’l Speedway.

Gilbertson led the final 20 laps to score his first career victory at MIS and claim $2,500 for his efforts. It was the first time winged sprint cars had competed at the historic half-mile oval since 2019.

Butch David took the lead from his pole starting spot at the green. He immediately had Gilbertson breathing down his neck for the lead, however, followed closely by Mader III.

Gilbertson was finally able to wrestle the top spot away when David encountered heavy lapped traffic on lap four.

Over the final 20 laps, Mader III was able to catch Gilbertson on multiple occasions as he struggled with lap traffic. Mader III was able to get alongside Gilbertson several times during the second half.

The yellow flag flew on lap 23 for third-running Butch David, who lost a right front tire entering turn four. After that, Gilbertson cruised to a 4.166 margin of victory in clean air the final two laps over Mader III, with Brandon Blenden rounding out the top three.

“The car was pretty good,” explained Gilbertson I victory lane. “I was trying to conserve tires because we ran the same tires tonight as we did at Citrus County (Florida) a couple months ago. That (No.) 18 (Mader) snuck up on me one time and surprised me. I knew I had to step it up.

“We had that caution with two to go and it cooled the tires down enough so that I could push them a little hard the final two laps.”

The only serious incident of the night occurred on the final lap of heat race No. 1. Todd Fayard made contact with JR Wood that pushed Wood into the infield, where he tipped the car on its side. Wood was OK, but was unable to start the feature event.

The finish:

360 Sprint Car Feature (25 Laps): 1. 77-Johnny Gilbertson; 2. 18-Dave Mader III; 2. 32-Brandon Blenden; 4. 13-Todd Fayard; 5. 67-Blake Mallette; 6. 6-Chase Wood Sr.; 7. 21-Butch David; 8. 83-Blake Carrier; 9. 56-Stan Smith; 10. 94-Parker Davis; 11.  27-JR Wood (DNS); 12. 121-Todd Bliss (DNS).