The start of a new season always brings change, whether it be new faces in new places or old faces with new looks. Ryan Beat was both at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Coming off a runner-up finish in the 2025 Championship Off-Road Pro 2 standings, Beat showed up with a different livery on his truck from usual. While still backed by Bilstein, he replaced the familiar white-yellow-blue base with olive drab and yellow. Along the front wheel well was the iconic shark mouth nose art made famous by the Flying Tigers of World War II.

The First American Volunteer Group wasn’t the first to use the shark face, but turned it into arguably the most famous aircraft nose painting in history. It’s been replicated by both militaries and civilians, the latter including racers like rally raider Yannick Panagiotis and NASCAR driver Cody Ware.

Wheatland wasn’t the first time Beat used the shark nose. After running the first half of 2025 with a predominantly blue truck, he switched to the white one and added the nose art in what was basically a blend of his old and new liveries. Colors were then added for the season finale in Glen Helen. Another major difference was the addition of Rockstar Energy as a sponsor.

With such a livery, it only seemed fitting that Beat’s truck was as quick as a P-40 (not literally, of course; the thought of a short course truck going over 360 miles per hour is terrifying) in Wheatland. Although he started second behind Cory Winner, he quickly pulled ahead at the start and led every lap to win.

Defending champion Keegan Kincaid was second. Like Beat, he traded in his blue livery for a yellow-white-black truck resembling his father Jeff’s truck.

“We’re like racing on pavement with water on top. It was pretty gnarly,” said Beat. “My spotter was keeping me in the loop with what’s going on behind me and knew that Keegan’s coming. Sometimes, it’s not always about being the fastest but just maintaining the racing and doing the smart thing and not throwing it away. I’ve done that plenty of times in my career and trying not to do it again.”

With the Pro 2 win in hand, he then hopped into a purple-and-black Pro 4 truck. Beat has not driven in the class in over a decade, and it was evident as he finished a distant sixth on Saturday. By Sunday, however, he looked far more comfortable.

After running behind much of the leaders in Race 2, including getting tangled with Kyle Greaves, Beat worked his way past him for fourth with two and a half minutes remaining. Adrien Cenni then spun while running third, moving him up to third and securing a podium.

“We both backed it in the fence and I don’t know what happened,” Beat said of him and Greaves getting stuck together. “It’s just so slick and we were trying to race. You can only follow somebody for so long before you got to try to get elbows up and try to go.

“Having so much fun in the Pro 4 class. It’s something new and different for me. Just learning, man. Every session out there, we’re changing the truck and learning and having fun. Hopefully, we can get to do some more.”

At the front, Johnny Greaves—who reassured everyone he has no plans of retiring—held off Jimmy Henderson in a frantic battle for the victory, denying him a weekend sweep. Several drivers were able to win their class on both days, especially in Sportsman where all but four categories were swept.

The weekend was sans Connor Barry and CJ Greaves due to injuries sustained over the offseason. Drake Mittag more than admirably filled in for Barry as he swept Pro Lite, while Kyle Greaves—who previously subbed for Johnny in 2025—finished second in Pro 4 as his cousin’s backup on Saturday.

Winners

Pro

Class	Saturday	Saturday
Pro 4	Jimmy Henderson	Johnny Greaves
Pro 2	Ryan Beat	John Holtger
Pro Lite	Drake Mittag	Drake Mittag
Pro SPEC	Draxton Szymik	Wyatt Miller
Pro Buggy	Billy Buth	Cole Bernloehr
Pro SxS	Jeb Bootle	Jeb Bootle
Pro Stock SxS	Cross Kirchmeier	Cross Kirchmeier

Sportsman

Class	Saturday	Saturday
Pro Am SxS	Code St. Peter	Carson Hill
Pro Am Turbo SxS	Ty Lueckemeyer	Ty Lueckemeyer
Super Stock Truck	Nick Byng	Nick Byng
Stock Truck	Colt Wierzba	Colt Wierzba
Sportsman SxS	Sam Phillips	Chad Emling
1600 Single Buggy	Connor Schulz	Connor Schulz
1600 Light Buggy	Evan Hockers	Evan Hockers
Mod Kart	Lincoln Mandsager	Lincoln Mandsager
Short Course Kart	Ryker Smith	Miles Pakenham
Youth SxS	William Holtger	Paxton Shamblin
570 SxS	William Holtger	William Holtger
200 SxS	Gaborik Geyen	Gaborik Geyen
170 SxS	Jojo Pakenham	Jojo Pakenham

Featured image credit: Bilstein