RPW Exclusive: Devil’s Bowl, Hunter Stratton Hit A Home Run With The ‘Battle At The Bowl’

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – WEST HAVEN, VT – When you think of big crowds & an electric atmosphere in dirt racing, your mind probably wanders to the Knoxville Nationals, the World 100, the Kings Royal or maybe even Super Dirt Week.

Well, Sunday night at Devil’s Bowl Speedway had both.

The event was the Battle at the Bowl, which is the brainchild of Hunter Stratton.  Stratton is the brother of Albany-Saratoga racer Neil Stratton and son of veteran driver Hector Stratton. Both wheelmen have deep roots in racing and saw Hunter’s vision come to life on Sunday.

If you haven’t been on social media leading up to the event, you missed announcement after announcement of drivers committing to the event with its unique format.

Sunday night was a Big Block vs. Small Block Challenge, and while most tracks who run Big Blocks as their headline division have Small Block’s mixed into the field, this night was a little different.

Teams were allowed to race both engine types in the event. However, you raced in each designated class with that engine combination until the consolation races, trying to get into the big feature event.

The format went off like this…time trials to set the heat race lineups (8 laps each). Then, there were two 25-lap features…one for Big Blocks and one for Small Blocks, each paying $1,500-to-win.

The top six out out of each advanced to the ‘Pole Shuffle.’ However, if a driver placed top six in both features, he had to pick a car to use and stay with it for the rest of the night.

The Shuffle was run with a Big Block vs. Small Block battling for positions one and two at the end. Then came the 50-lap $10,000-to-win feature event.

“The Idea for the format probably started three years ago,” Hunter Stratton said. “I wanted to put together an event to get more involved in racing. I wanted to do something different and unique. I’ve been going my whole life with my dad and brother racing, every big race i went to was the same…redraw, 100 laps for $10,000. We wanted something the drivers could have fun with along with the fans.”

That’s when the question of where to hold the event began to take place. It was in the off-season that Devil’s Bowl Speedway owner Mike Bruno and Hunter sat down.

“When were trying to set our season up, I talked with Hunter.” Bruno said. “He was looking for a place to host his concept, with a new idea. We had to iron out some things like rule packages, promotion and such but we wanted to make it big and special for the fans.”

After the heats and features were over, there were some big story lines such as Kenny Tremont not qualifying in his big block along with Stewart Friesen who chose his small block. However, some drivers had their choice of either like Brett Hearn & Demetrios Drellos.

Then came the pole shuffle which even confused some of the drivers, even Matt Sheppard.

“I don’t know what it is to be honest.” Sheppard said after winning the 25-lap Big Block feature.

When all was said and done, the shuffle produced two of the sport’s biggest names going at it for the pole…Sheppard in a Big Block and Stewart Friesen with a Small Block.

“I think there was a little confusion with the pole shuffle because the drivers did not have it right in front of them.” Hunter said. “The drivers having to choose what car to run put people in and out of it. For example, when Jessey Mueller chose his Big Block, that put Allison Ricci in.”

At the end of this portion of the event, Stratton was pleased.

“At the end of the day, as long as we all got to see one-on-one match-ups, it’s a win,” he said. “You got Stewart Friesen and Matt Sheppard battling it out for the pole. It doesn’t really get any better than that.”

When the checkered flag flew at the end of the 50-lap big main event, it was the hottest driver in the Northeast for the past couple of years, Matt Sheppard, taking the win and the big $10,000 pay day.

However, all the time and effort Stratton & the Devil’s Bowl staff put into promoting the event paid off with one of, if not the biggest crowd the track has seen in years.

“This feels great,” Stratton said. “Mike (Bruno) had a goal to be out of here by 10 or 10:30pm. Although we didn’t get that, it was okay being the first year of a unique format with different events. With nobody used to it, from the drivers down to the track staff, it went over smooth. The stands were packed. I’ve been going to Devils Bowl my whole life and I have never seen that many people there. There was excitement in the air along with souvenir trailers booming. I hope everyone got to enjoy the racing.”

Bruno echoed those exact same sentiments.

“This was a big deal for all of us at Devil’s Bowl Speedway,” Bruno said. “This was the biggest crowd I’ve seen at the place since I was a kid! People have been telling me they have never seen this place packed like this ever. To have a Big/Small Block show go that good, I was pleased.  It would have never happened if it wasn’t for all the support from the drivers and fans, believing in what we do. Our staff worked very hard.  Everyone did.”

All the years of planning and thinking of how to get away from the status quo for Hunter Stratton paid off on Sunday. A massive crowd and picture perfect end of summer weather along with a full parking lot, long concession lines and electricity in the air.

If you were there to witness this one-of-a-kind event, you were lucky. If you missed it, I feel bad for you, because it was an amazing show. Devils Bowl was the perfect place to test this concept out and the perfect facility to be able to pull off such an idea.

The sky’s the limit from here and there’s only one way to go for the partnership between Stratton and Devils Bowl…up. Sure the event had it’s issues, but nothing is ever 100% perfect the first time around.  However, just like fine wine, it will only get better with age, and time will tell for the ‘Battle at the Bowl’