(Photos by Charles Wickam) – Last weekend, the ever intrepid Charles Wickam went to Battleground Speedway in Texas to take in some of the wildest four wheeled machines in the world, winged sprint cars. These direct drive, alky burning, V8 beasts hook to dirt tracks so hard and pull so hard out of corners that they will pull power wheelstands onto the straights. Charles caught more than a few killer images with cars coming off of corners with either one or both front wheels off the ground. The men who drive these things certainly have a special set of driving skills and they also have balls of steel. The whole “balls” part comes to light when you get to the photo sequences of cars flipping and flying through the air at high speeds. Add to the fact that the fuel tank is located directly at the driver’s back and you can see where we’re going with this line of thought.

There are lots of great pit shots and action photos from the muddy banks of Battleground in this gallery. Pay particular attention to some of the photos that capture the cars coming off of the turns from behind. You can see the massive difference in tire size from right to left on these cars. Why? Because they are intended to go fast and to go left and that’s about it. With that huge stagger the car naturally wants to make that left hand turn. The added bonus for gearheads and fans is that the cars make those left hand turns in crazy sideways drifts that the drivers use to set themselves up for the next straight or to carry as much speed through the turn as possible. It is a skill set we’d love to try and learn sometime!

Thanks to Charles for the great photos! 

Hit the link below and get some mud in your teeth with this awesome ASCS Sprint Car gallery!

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