It came on lap 85, a brief collision of culture that left Don O’Neal ecstatic and Jimmy Owens fuming.

It was the Sunoco Race Fuels North-South 100 last Saturday, a crown jewel that played out in front of a Florence Speedway crowd that was crazy large. It seemed that everyone on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line had wandered across the Kentucky hills of Boone County to watch this one.

Owens has been uncanny this year, a picture of consistency as he steadily built an insurmountable Lucas Oil MORE

The night was hot and still, allowing the summer to fully drape itself across your shoulders. The Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track echoed with the sound of the UMP DIRTcar Summernationals, the cars stretching their legs as they rocketed around the historic Indiana half-mile.

I glanced at the small wooden observation stand located just off turn four and made my way up the steps, the boards creaking their objection. There was an open spot along the rail, and the rumble of the next heat race filled MORE

Brian Birkhofer rolls down the highway, eyes front. I-80 Speedway in Nebraska is the destination, with his Muscatine, Iowa shop growing steadily smaller in the rear-view mirror. It’s another racing weekend, another road trip, another chance for Birky to ply his trade as a professional race driver.

It’s been an unusual season thus far for the 40-year-old racer, at least by his standards. The man with over 170 career victories has this year triumphed only twice in 22 starts, an uncharacteristic MORE