Minutes before the Open Wheel Showdown main event in Las Vegas, Troy DeCaire fitted a 14.75-inch Collino OvalTrack steering wheel to his Winged Sprint Car. It was Collino’s first steering wheel in the category, and it connected one night in Nevada with a family racing history that began on Argentina’s Midget tracks in 1953.
A steering wheel swap before the green flag
On November 7, 2026, DeCaire won the B Feature at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The speedway’s official results list him starting 18th in the No. 77L Winged Sprint Car for the $50,000-to-win main event.
Before the race, the crew examined the wheel’s construction, weight, and finish. DeCaire took particular interest in its 14.75-inch diameter and HexaGrip™ surface. He decided to run it in the main event. As the crew made the swap, he climbed into the car and tightened the mounting bolts himself before fastening his harness. Minutes later, the No. 77L rolled onto the track with the OvalTrack wheel.
What matters in an oval-track steering wheel
The wheel is one of the driver’s most direct points of contact with the car. A larger diameter can give the driver more leverage, while the wheel’s shape and grip texture affect hand position and contact through quick corrections. Weight, rigidity, cockpit clearance, and steering hub compatibility also matter when choosing a wheel for a Sprint Car or Midget.
1953: Américo Collino’s first Midget races
Américo Collino raced with the Ford Armando team in a Midget powered by a Ford V8-60 Flathead. Drivers of that era often built and modified their own cars. The work that happened in the shop was as much a part of racing as the laps on track, and it shaped the next generation of the Collino family.
1970: an offset Midget chassis
José Collino and Juan Carlos Bonetto built a Midget with a front-mounted Jeep flathead engine and a chassis offset to the left, toward the inside of the oval. The design used weight distribution and chassis geometry to suit a track dominated by left-hand turns. The family is still researching earlier examples overseas. José later developed a rear-engine Midget, a layout that subsequent rules restricted.
Building a first Midget at 13
Leonardo and José César “Bepi” Collino grew up around workshops and race tracks. Midget racing taught them chassis design, suspension geometry, steering, and fabrication. At 13, Bepi built his first Midget. That hands-on experience still informs how Collino develops and manufactures racing components.
More than seven decades later, watching DeCaire tighten the wheel in his Sprint Car brings that story back to the oval. The cars, tracks, and power levels have changed, but the work still starts with the same question: how can a part work better for the driver?
