Weekly Notebook presented by FK Rod Ends
Notes: Return to Late Models with major goal
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Travis Denning (Nick Jensen photos)
When Travis Denning sold out his Late Model equipment a few years ago, the Sterling, Ill., driver figured he was through with the full-fendered division after spending most of his racing career in the high-profile class.
But after a few seasons concentrating solely on IMCA modifieds — including an impressive 16-victory campaign in 2022 when he finished fourth in the competitive IMCA points — Denning is back home again in the Late Model division, at least for now.
"I kind of grew up in a Late Model, so it was time for me to go back to one, I guess,” the 39-year-old Denning said. “So, kind of going back to your roots, I guess.”
The return to his roots has been successful as he’s clicked off three East Moline (Ill.) Speedway victories and has designs on an all-out assault on the overall IMCA Late Model crown. While the early-season standings are a bit unstable with some drivers enduring more rainouts than others, Denning has flirted among the top five in overall points and topped the Illinois points through May to put him atop DirtonDirt.com's Weekly Notebook presented by FK Rod Ends.
Denning has opened his Late Model season running weekly at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway on Fridays, splitting time between Maquoketa (Iowa) Speedway and 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, on Saturdays and East Moline on Sundays. But by mid-June the delivery company owner plans to commit more time to racing and compete as many as four times a week, including visits to Park Jefferson (S.D.) Speedway’s Thursday events.
“That’s where (IMCA points leader) Evan Miller is racing and (four-time IMCA champion) Cory Dumpert, like all those guys,” Denning said. “You gotta go race against those guys to beat them, you know?”
The bearded Denning has competed in about every flavor of Late Models over the years, running a Limited division at the now-closed Freeport Raceway Park (where he was a winner of the track’s high-profile Rebel event), shifting to IMCA spec engines by 2011 (when he was the division’s Rookie of the Year) and then driving open-competition engine Late Models (under DIRTcar, formerly UMP, rules) at Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Ill.
He added modified racing a half-dozen years ago — typically splitting time between modifieds and Late Models in the same seasons — and sold out his Late Model equipment a few years back.
“It was a deal where we were racing modified on Fridays, Late Model on Saturday and modifieds again on Sundays,” Denning said. “And it just got to be too much. So I just bought two modifieds and that's what I did. I had two mods in case I got tore up or whatever. Just more practical.”
But after a few years in modifieds, including that impressive 16-victory campaign, “the Late Model really started pulling on the heartstrings then, you know? So I’m like: It’s time to go back.”
He had to buy back Late Model equipment, but he’s using the same crate engine he used with his modified. The fact that modified equipment now rivals the costs of Late Models made it a little easier to make the move, along with the fact he “felt a lot more comfortable in a Late Model.”
Additionally, “times have changed, like, on our level, like on the IMCA Late Model level, where more of an average guy can be competitive vs. a guy in a modified. They’re racing (modifieds) six nights a week, five nights a week if they want. And if you're not doing that with them, you’re just not gonna be competitive.
“You can buy a Late Model for the same amount of money and you can race for more (money). … So there's not a cost difference like there used to be either.”
Returning to Late Models with a crate motor does require an adjustment, and Denning admits “the rush is gone” to some degree compared to full-blown powerplants.
"Kind of what we're doing now, with these IMCA motors, they’re only 450 or 500 horse or something like that,” Denning said. “And when I was UMP Late Model racing, my last motor I had was about 860 horses. So, you know, the horsepower is quite a big change. That changes the driving style. The cars, in my mind, the horsepower makes them more forgivable and now you don't have that. So, you know, cars just drive way different. You don't have the horsepower to get yourself out of trouble, if that makes sense.”
In his IMCA Late Model, “it’s kind of like you're on a Sunday cruise right now, vs. with 800 horse, you gotta get up on the wheel, or even with the modified, you had to get your elbows up on that.”
Along with an engine adjustment, Denning is also adjusting to a new Late Model chassis in piloting a BMF Race Car designed by Loudon, Tenn.-based racer Cory Hedgecock.
"It was one of those deals. It’s kind of a long story, but in the modified division, everybody wants the same two cars around here: a Performer or a Rage car. That's the only two types of modified they want. Late Model, you know, it's Rocket or Longhorn. Why wouldn’t you? Everybody’s got one,” Denning said. "So it's kind of one of those things where I really wanted to be different and I kinda started asking around, you know, and kind of looking around myself. I have had Black Diamonds in the past, I’ve had Barry Wrights, I’ve had a MasterSbilt. They said these cars are pretty good down there in the South and I'm like, ‘Well, nobody's really got one up here,' so I ordered one. And now there's like seven of them. It’s just one of those deals, too.”
Denning’s season started a bit rough. Before his BMF was ready, he borrowed the Late Model normally driven by Joe Ross, breaking a front bumper on a rough surface and causing a pileup at Davenport. His second night out (and his debut in the BMF), he hit an infield tractor tire. He also had a disappointment at Maquoketa on May 18, leading 19 laps from the pole before fading to fourth in the 25-lapper.
“I lost a three-second lead in lapped traffic. Yeah, that was a hard one,” he said. “It was just kind of a locked down track or whatever and we got lapped traffic and I just was trying to be patient — and was patient way too long and just got passed.”
Winner Evan Miller went by along with former IMCA champs Justin Kay and Matt Ryan. "I haven’t lost one like that in a really long time,” Denning said.
Is Late Models where he’ll end his career? Denning isn’t done with modifieds, but the future is fluid.
“I don’t know that answer to be honest. I’ve been driving another guy’s modified this year,” Denning said. “He’s kinda asked me to drive a couple different times. It's a lot different. (Mike Garland) built it in his garage vs. a factory car, I guess I would say. We've been working on that thing and it's been getting faster. It's pretty competitive right now. Realistically, that's the fun part: Trying to get faster.
"So, I don't really know. I don't know what that entails for me. I mean, I don't know how much really longer I'm gonna drive and, I mean, I might put somebody in this (Late Model), you know? So as of right now, I'm gonna finish the year out for sure.”
Weekly highlights
• Winning a tight battle with Derek Fisher and Tyler Collins, Avery Taylor of South Short, Ky., topped June 8's Jesse Dillow Memorial for Super Late Models at Willard (Ky.) Speedway, pocketing $2,507.
• Jesse Sobbing of Malvern, Iowa, had a two-victory weekend in non-touring IMCA Late Model competition with a June 6 victory at Park Jefferson (S.D.) Speedway and a June 8 triumph at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa.
• In a pair of Stateline-Eriez Circuit sweeps on June 8-9, Dave Hess Jr. of Waterford, Pa., won Super Late Models features at the tracks in Busti, N.Y., and Hammett, Pa., while Jason Genco of Jamestown, N.Y., swept Crate Late Model action. Hess notched his 99th career multidivision feature victory at Stateline.
• A pair of drivers ended Elkins Speedway dry spells at the June 8 event in Kerens, W.Va. Bob Gordon of Keyser, W.Va., notched his first Super Late Model feature at Elkins since Aug. 21, 2021, and Billy Beachler of Franklin, W.Va., notched his first Crate Late Models victory at the track since June 29, 2018.
• Bricen James of Albany, Ore., topped hometown driver Preston Luckman at Coos Bays (Ore.) Speedway for a $2,000 victory in the Tidal Wave 50. James also collected a $1,000 bounty on Luckman.
First things first
Recent first-time occurrences at the dirt track:
• Winning a 20-lapper at BAPS Motor Speedway on June 1, 16-year-old Lane Snook of Mifflinton, Pa., became a first-time winner at the York Haven, Pa., oval. Snook rallied from 23rd to second in the night's makeup feature.
• Surviving contact with Travis Brown, Todd Brennan of Zanesville, Ohio, on June 8 notched his first career victory at Tyler County Speedway. Brennan took the checkers ahead of Steve Weigle at the Middlebourne, W.Va., fairgrounds oval.
• Spencer Diercks of Davenport, Iowa, logged his first Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway victory on June 7, leading all but six laps at the quarter-mile oval.
• Winning June 8 at Hibbing (Minn.) Raceway, Johnny Broking of Grand Rapids, Minn., notched his first career Late Model division triumph.
Weekly news briefs
• Two Eastern Kentucky ovals last week announced suspension of operations. Isom's Mountain Motor Complex closed June 7 when promoter Donnie Adams abruptly cancelled that night's race; Darren Slone quickly took over promotions at the track, renamed Mountain Motor Speedway, and plans to continue weekly Crate Late Model racing sanctioned by the American All-Star organization. Campton's 191 Speedway, which reopened in September 2023 under new owners Norvell and Miranda Collinsworth after a seven-year hiatus, closed because "the hurdles that came after its opening were insurmountable" and weighing on the Collinsworth family.
• Pine Ridge Speedway in Guntown, Miss., cancelled its June 15 event while the track works on completing its new scoring tower and wall reconfiguration. The track plans to return to action June 22.
• Ken Knight of North Augusta, S.C., a former standout racer at I-20 Speedway, Newberry Speedway and other tracks, died June 8. The father of current Dirt Late Model racer Cla Knight was 66.
• Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., has placed a $500 bounty on Late Model points leader Justin Wells of Aurora, Mo. If unclaimed, it will grow by $100 for races scheduled through July 27. If no one claims it by then, Wells will receive $1,000. Wells must be running at the finish of a feature for the bounty to be claimed.
• Matt White-promoted Corinth (Miss.) Motor Speedway, which plans to reopen soon with racing on Saturdays, will run a combined Limited Late Model/604 Crate Late Model division along with a 602 Crate Late Model class. See the track's Facebook page for details.
• Buckshot Speedway in Clanton, Ala., has added a $3,500-to-win event for Crate Late Models to the scheduled on July 6. The Legacy Summer Scorcher 30 will be sponsored by Legacy Environmental Process.
• Reopening June 14 under new promoter Tim Neidig, Spoon River Speedway in Banner, Ill., plans to alternate Super and Crate Late Model divisions the rest of the season with 15 Super Late Model events remaining. Weekly Super Late Model events will pay $1,200-to-win.
• Thunderbird Speedway in Muskegon, Mich., has added Super Late Models to June 15's Randy Flater Memorial, a program highlighted by a 30-lap street stock event paying $1,100-t-win.
Weekly points
DIRTcar (Supers): Jim Moon of Grand Prairie, Texas, has 635 points to lead Ashton Winger (618) and Ronnie Cooper (606).
IMCA (Limiteds): Evan Miller of Silvis, Ill., has 540 points to lead Jesse Bodin (445) and Andy Nezworski (406).
POWRi (Limiteds): Alan Westling of Fulton, Mo., has 2,660 points to lead Tucker Cox (2,390) and Kyle Graves (1,870).
USRA (Limiteds): Matt Larson of Lake Elmo, Minn., has 2,477 points to lead Cade Nelson (2,222) and Jason McFadden (1,959).
WISSOTA (Limiteds): Tyler Peterson of Hickson, N.D., has 1,245 points to lead Kevin Burdick (1,116) and Cole Schill (958).
American All-Stars (Crates): Brandon Fouts of Kite, K.Y., has 340 points to lead A.J. Hicks (232) and Jack Brown (209).
Crate Racin’ USA (602 Crates): Josh Parkerson of Millspring, Miss., has 531 points to lead Colby Ponds (528) and Heather Lowe (513).
Crate Racin’ USA (604 Crates): Shannon Lee of Lumberton, Miss., has 481 points to lead David Williamson (465) and Sid Scarborough (443).
DIRTcar (Crates): Jim Moon of Grand Prairie, Texas, has 705 points to lead fellow Big O Speedway drivers Sloppy Hogg (610) and Ortanik Mikel (590).
Fastrak (Crates): Luke Hyre of Rock Cave, W.Va., has 289 points to lead George Casto (278) as well as Braeden Dillinger and Ryan Frazee (267 points apiece).
Upcoming weekly specials
Among non-touring and independent special events coming up for Late Models at dirt tracks around the country:
Muskingum County Speedway, Zanesville, Ohio (June 13): RUSH-sanctioned Crate Late Models will chase a $1,500-to-win purse on the undercard of the Ohio Sprint Speedweek event.
Cedar Lake Speedway, New Richmond, Wis. (June 13-15): The three-night Masters weekend posts Late Model features for $3,000-, $5,000- and $12,000-to-win. USMTS mods and USRA Limited Late Models are also in action.
Freedom Motorsports Park, Delevan, N.Y. (June 14): The Pete Loretto Memorial presented by Briggs Transport pays $4,000-to-win for the Super Late Model divisions with $7,000 in lap money and contingencies.
Skyline Speedway, Stewart, Ohio (June 14-15): The Rumble on the Ridge includes a regular Super Late Model program on opening night and a $3,000-to-win event for the finale; modifieds are in action two days, including the Greg Schilling Memorial on opening night.
Lake Cumberland Speedway, Burnside, Ky. (June 15): Veteran's Night includes a $2,000-to-win event for Crate Late Models topping a five-division card.
Fort Payne Motor Speedway, Fyffe, Ala. (June 15): The Ray & Charlotte Barksdale Memorial includes a $3,000-to-win event for 602 Crate Late Models; weekly divisions will also be in action.
Ultimate Motorsports Park, Elkin, N.C. (June 16): The Sidney Langston Memorial pays $15,000-to-win for unsanctioned Super Late Models with two Crate divisions on the undercard. Seven bonuses ($777 apiece) will be doled out.
