Duel in Desert to visit speedway for 10th year

This weekend’s Duel in the Desert at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s dirt track is a gathering of high-horsepower mudslingers from 16 states and Canada.

The final IMCA Modified event of the season and biggest in the West is expected to eclipse last year’s entry total of 178 drivers.

Qualifying begins today for Saturday night’s 40-lap feature races, which will pay Modifieds and Late Models division winners $5,000.

Jeremy Payne of Cave City, Ark., returns as the two-time reigning Modifieds champion.

The 10th annual event also marks a chance for Clark County schoolteacher Dan Fitzgerald to showcase his talent on the half-mile clay oval.

Fitzgerald, 32, is one of the top Modified racers in the Southwest and has added incentive in this year’s Duel.

His father and mentor, Dan Fitzgerald Sr., is being treated for renal failure. “Big Dan,” as the elder Fitzgerald is known, has been instrumental in setting up his son’s race cars and building the engines.

Fitzgerald, a graduate of Rancho High School and UNLV, finished 11th in the Duel a year ago. He has cut back his racing schedule this year and will have competed in fewer than 30 races for the first time since 1996.

In 2006, he won 31 of the 50 feature races he entered to finish second in the national IMCA standings.

He has maintained a top-20 spot in the IMCA Western Region for 11 consecutive years.

Racing begins at 5:30 p.m. today for Modifieds and Late Models.

The “Day after the Duel” on Sunday is for Legends Cars, Bombers, Super Stocks and Mini Stocks.

• GO KARTS — The SKUZA Supernationals go-kart event at Sam Boyd Stadium, which started Wednesday and continues through Sunday, features racers from around the world and at least four from Southern Nevada.

Matt Jaskol, Curtis Cooksey and Dylan Kwasniewski will race along with Dusty Davis, who at 15 will be the youngest competitor in Rotax Senior and TAG classes.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0247.