Johnny Herrera Sweeps Inaugural Turkey Bowl At Vado Speedway Park

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / JOHNNY HERRERA RACING – VADO, NM – Proving yet again that he is far from retirement, Johnny Herrera made the trek to the inaugural Turkey Bowl this past weekend at the new Vado Speedway Park and walked away with the weekend sweep aboard the Mesilla Valley Transportation/Morton Excavating No. 45x.

Johnny’s first visit to the three-eights-mile oval, Herrera was very impressed with the new dirt track, “Vado is a beautiful facility. The way they’ve done the track, the pit layout, everything is nice, and it actually doesn’t race as big as it is. Even being a three-eighths, we weren’t very far off the gear we ran at the old track.”

With the track receiving nearly an inch of rain just 24-hours prior to the race, track conditions were rough and fast; playing well to Herrera’s driving style. Battling with John Carney II and Wes Wofford on Friday night, the wily veteran worked the choppy racing surface to perfection for his first of two $2,500 paydays.

“For what they had to work with, and it being cold, the track was good. It was rough in spots, but I like tracks like that. They’re a challenge to race on. I tried the bottom a few times, but the top in the rough was just better for the way we had the car.”

Holding off Royal Jones for the win the following night, the top was still the preferred way around for Herrera.

“The second night it got a little slicker on the bottom, but once it did, we all started moving up and running above it where it was soft, but the end result was still the same. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed getting to go race close to home with my family. Big thank you to Royal Jones for letting me borrow one of his engines, and Ranger for all the help this weekend getting everything put together. Hopefully, we can go back and race again.”

Wrapping up his 2019 season, Herrera will focus his attention on the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl National presented by General Tire, as he swaps roles to car owner.

The 2019 season marks the 35th year of racing for Johnny Herrera which includes over 140 victories in various forms of Sprint Car competition.