DirtonDirt.com Dispatches

Dispatches: Win makes Shirley's emotions flow

July 1, 2024, 4:25 am

From staff, track, series and special reports

Brian Shirley celebrates at River Cities. (Emily Schwanke)

Among latest notes and quotes from around Dirt Late Model racing heading into the Fourth of July weekend including World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series, DIRTcar Summer Nationals and other coverage. Also find a listing of live-streaming video from specials around the country:

Meaningful triumph

Brian Shirley’s voice cracked. His eyes welled up with tears.

If there was any question about the personal significance of his $12,000 victory in Sunday’s 40-lap World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series feature at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., his emotional reaction as he spoke about it afterward provided the evidence necessary.

How did Shirley’s first win of 2024 anywhere — and first WoO checkered flag since June 3, 2023, at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway — make him feel?

“I don’t know,” Shirley began, fighting his emotions. “To be honest, just … very happy. Very happy that I got a sponsor and a team owner that believes in me more than probably I believe in myself.”

It’s been an especially frustrating, soul-searching season for Shirley and his Bob Cullen-owned team. Successful nights have been rare as the 43-year-old veteran from Chatham, Ill., has struggled to find his rhythm. Prior to Sunday, he had just four top-five and eight top-10 runs in 17 WoO starts and and a modest eight top-five and 16 top-10 finishes in 46 starts overall.

The search for speed led Shirley and Co. to make a recent change from Rocket Chassis to Longhorn. A return to victory lane didn’t come overnight, but he showed signs of a resurgence over the past week-and-a-half on WoO’s Heartland Grand Tour with four top-five finishes in six events, including a season-best runner-up finish on June 25 at Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City, Iowa.

Everything finally came together in North Dakota to give Shirley his first win since a World 100 preliminary score last September at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

“And just all the hard work … a lot of hard work this year,” said Shirley, who led the entire feature and beat Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, by 0.905 of a second. “We’ve had a lot of downs, and my guys, Anthony (Martin) and Caden (Ludwig), all our sponsors … just truly everybody. It’s just been one of them rollercoaster years. It’s a little emotional because we put in so much work, so much work. I’m glad to see it pay off, glad to be with the people around me.

“Gotta thank my wife, my kids, my dad, everybody back home that takes care of my responsibilities, because I just had to put so much, like, into racing (to turn around his season), so a lot of stuff back home on my part has slacked and my dad’s picked that up for me. It’s a good night.”

And Shirley gave one more shout out to his car owner for sticking with him.

“I gotta thank Bob Cullen,” he said, “because everything he’s done, he does it for me.” — Series and staff reports

Making a statement

Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C., is showing no signs of falling into a summer slump like the one that doomed his World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series title hopes one year ago. He just keeps rolling along like the championship contender he clearly is.

The 32-year-old open-wheel modified transplant pushed his series-leading 2024 win total to five on Saturday night as he captured the tour’s 50-lap debut feature at Norman County Raceway in Ada, Minn. It was also his second victory worth $15,000 in a week following his score on June 22 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway.

“This thing’s just really good right now,” Hoffman said of his Tye Twarog-owned Longhorn Chassis. “I’ve got enough confidence that I can beat these guys. I don’t feel like I’ve ever had that in my Late Model career.”

Hoffman put together a sterling first season as a national tourer in ’23, earning WoO Rookie of the Year honors and finishing fifth in the points standings. But he won just once and fell off noticeably with his finishes starting at this exact point in the schedule, losing the points lead on June 27 and soon after finding himself out of serious contention.

Saturday’s victory left him firmly in the title battle, sitting second, just 14 points behind, to four-time champion Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., who finished third at Norman County. His performance at a track he’d never visited before illustrated how much he’s developed in his sophomore campaign.

“Tonight I just went back to my notes from (Mississippi Thunder (Speedway) actually,” Hoffman said, referring to the Fountain City, Wis., track where he won a WoO feature on May 3. “It’s nothing shaped or anything like Mississippi Thunder, but I was like, ‘Well this works. I’m gonna go for it again.’”

The setup might not have made Hoffman the absolute fastest in the field, but he showed the savvy to outlast several rivals and emerge as the cream of the crop when it counted. Kyle Bronson of Brandon, Fla., blew a tire leading on lap 23 and defending WoO champion Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., broke a motor while in front on lap 26, opening the door for Hoffman to power past Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, to assume command for good on lap 42.

“I got a couple of gifts there with those guys falling out. It sucks for them,” Hoffman said. “I was back to seventh at one point and I was getting frustrated there, but eventually the track came back to me. When you get back there, you feel like you’re screwed and can’t get back to the lead, but it all played out there and it was pretty good. I found the middle lane there and could start hammering on it. I was able to drive by (Devin) there.

“I felt like there at the beginning I was kind of pacing myself, and obviously them guys kind of swarmed me. I just kept my tires underneath. I felt like there at the end that was kind of what saved my ass. I was able to just kind of manage, and then once the racetrack finally slowed down and got where I could roll the middle like I did last week at Brownstown, it was pretty dang good.”

Hoffman was concerned over the final laps because he hit a piece of debris around the time he took the lead. A caution flag on lap 49 that set up a green-white-checkered finish prolonged his worry, but he triumphed by 1.048 seconds over Moran, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series invader who felt he would have been “a sixth-place car” if not for several drivers ahead of him experiencing bad luck.

“The caution as you take the white flag definitely sucks there,” Hoffman said. “It got the wheels turning of what I need to do to block a slider (from Moran) and still carry enough speed off the corner. The racetrack came in better than I think a lot of us expected, but it was a fun place to race.” — Series and staff reports

Party time

No one could deny that Kyle Hardy of Stephens City, Va., was pumped up over winning Saturday night’s 51-lap Jimmy Spence Memorial at Winchester (Va.) Speedway. His demeanor in victory lane made that fact abundantly clear.

“I’m not gonna go to sleep tonight,” the 31-year-old Hardy bubbled with enthusiasm while leaning against his Sommey Lacey-owned Rocket Chassis amid a crowd of post-race well-wishers.

Hardy’s $6,091 triumph was his second straight in the Jimmy Spence Memorial, a Super Late Model event which honors the former area racer and owner/operator of Champion Auto Sales who died on Feb. 1, 2020, at the age of 68. But this one carried extra significance because of how he pulled it off.

Last year Hardy started on the pole and controlled the race’s entire distance. This year he started seventh and had to work his forward to seize the lead from Kenny Moreland on a lap-14 restart and then beat Tyler Bare to the finish line by 2.554 seconds.

“To put on a show like that when I felt like I was down and out a little bit … we just got an unreal feature setup for this place,” said Hardy, who doubted his chance of reaching the front of the field at the third-mile oval. “Man, I just can’t believe we won from seventh tonight. I really thought we were just gonna have to escape with a top-five. Just truly unbelievable.

“Everybody knows how hard it is to pass here. You just have to have a superior race car to pass, and our cars just keep doing it week-in and week-out.”

After Hardy and his team “threw a little something at it tonight” in an aggressive bid to find the speed “to beat them guys with them (CT) 525s (Chevy engines)” that “just make so much speed,” he moved forward quickly to position himself for his winning move.

“I knew on that (lap-14) restart, I pulled my belts tight a little bit and Kenny left me a lane, and that was the worst thing he could’ve done,” Hardy said.

The victory continued Hardy’s run of success over the past two seasons at Winchester — he’s won five times since May 2023 to earn over $27,000 — and pushed his overall 2024 checkered flag total to 10, including eight wins in Crate Late Model action. It also capped his eventful day that began with a scare when his father passed out due to apparent heat exhaustion and he “didn’t know if we were gonna be able to race.”

Thankfully, Hardy’s father was OK and in attendance at Saturday’s program and able to partake in the victory celebration, which his son indicated would likely go on for a while.

“Last year we won this deal I didn’t shut my garage till 9:30 in the morning and went to bed. We stayed out there all night,” said Hardy, who reported on Sunday afternoon that the revelry at his shop didn’t last quite as long but still stretched until after the sun came up. — Track and staff reports

Highland happiness

Jason Feger has so much confidence when he rolls into Highland (Ill.) Speedway he doesn’t need his best equipment to contend for wins at the quarter-mile oval.

After “a rough couple nights” on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals circuit, Feger on Saturday shelved his primary race car and employed the oldest chassis in his stable to go along with “the littlest motor” he owns.

Though the latest, greatest equipment isn’t often the deciding factor at Illinois bullrings, Feger made that frugal combination work for him as the Bloomington, Ill., driver pocketed Saturday’s $10,000 top prize.

“This track sure has been good to me," Feger said in victory lane. “I love getting to come here. They have amazing fans. Can’t wait to come back for that World of Outlaws show” on Aug. 14.

Three of Feger’s last 14 victories have now come at the Highland oval. The 46-year-old cashed $5,000 on the MARS Championship Series on May 18, and last August, he won that same amount also on the MARS tour. Saturday’s win is also Feger’s third Summer Nationals victory in his last five starts on the miniseries.

Other than wresting the lead away from hometown racer Chad Zobrist, who appeared strong while leading the opening 13 laps, Feger looked like his comfortable self around Highland despite the track "being a little different.”

“It was a little greasier than normal, but the car was really good. … It was sure awesome to see (Zobrist) running up front for a while,” Feger said. “That guy has been at it for a long time. He kind of got out of equipment for a long time. It was just cool for me. When I started coming here a long time ago he was one of the men to beat. It was really cool to see him have a great night. I feel good for Chad. He’s a great guy.”

Feger made the eventual race-winning move rounding the frontstretch to take the 14th lap. Zobrist slipped up the track ever so slightly to leave enough room for Feger to pounce. Feger was his strongest on the bottom, but made the top work to his liking while navigating tricky lapped traffic.

The only other hurdle he had to clear was for Ashton Winger’s caution with three laps remaining.

“Definitely didn’t want to see that yellow,” Feger said. “I knew I had a big lead. When you have the 96 and 1 behind you, you know they’re great drivers. And anything can happen. Honestly, I felt really good on the top. It feels faster. When I was passing cars, I thought that’s where I needed to be. But I just figured it was safer to protect that bottom. We were really good down there, too.”

The victory vaulted Feger atop the week No. 3 Summer Nationals standings also as eight points now separate he and overall miniseries leader Tyler Erb. Feger is actually 25 points behind Erb for the overall Summer Nationals title, but “that (feat) is not really in our mind,” Feger said.

“We’re whooped right now,” Feger said. “This has to be one of the worst summers ever as far as heatwise. Not really too many rainouts. Everybody’s so hard on equipment right now just because our cars are so hooked up and so fast, it’s a lot of maintenance. We’re tired. I’m sure everybody else is tired. Our main focus needs to be taking care of our cars so when the big money shows are around.” — Series reports

Hell Tour success

Garrett Alberson is still chasing an elusive victory on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. He checked off a different box on his resume Friday night, though, with a career-first triumph on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.

Authoring a flawless performance, the 35-year-old driver from Las Cruces, N.M., led the entire distance to win the 40-lap feature at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway. The checkered flag earned him $10,000 and provided — in his words — “a big confidence booster” as he continues his pursuit of a breakthrough on the Lucas Oil Series.

That Alberson’s first Summer Nationals victory came at the quarter-mile Farmer City oval made the evening even more special.

“Man, this is huge,” said Alberson, who took advantage of an idle weekend from national touring with the Lucas Oil Series to jump on the Hell Tour in his car owner Ken Roberts’s home state. “From the moment I got in a Late Model and figured out what the DIRTcar Summer Nationals was, I wanted to win a race here so bad.

“I’ve watched like hundreds of videos growing up of all the racing here at Farmer City and always wanted to come here. I’ve always loved the way this track drives. The flow and the momentum it’s got going on. I’ve always loved just getting around here.”

Alberson entered Friday’s action having already enjoyed success at Farmer City this season, winning a weekly show on May 3 and finishing third in May 10’s 74-lap Lucas Oil Series A-main. He proceeded to put together a perfect night, setting fast time in his qualifying group, capturing a heat race and coming off the outside pole to lead the entire distance.

And when a caution flag flew on lap 33 to wipe out his edge of over 2 seconds, he handled the restart with aplomb despite a quartet of heavy hitters — four-time Summer Nationals champion Shannon Babb, Tanner English, reigning series titlist Ashton Winger and six-time 2024 winner Tyler Erb — grouped behind him. He pulled away in his Longhorn Chassis to defeat Babb, the Hell Tour’s all-time winningest driver and a Farmer City expert, by 0.863 of a second.

“I feel like restarts have been one of my struggle points this year,” said Alberson, who last month saw his golden opportunity for a first-ever Lucas Oil victory slip through his fingers after losing the lead to Ricky Thornton Jr. on a late restart in a Show-Me 100 preliminary feature at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. “For some reason I was in a good head space today and I kind of knew where my strengths were and didn’t let go of my game plan.”

The triumph came in Alberson’s 10th career start on the Summer Nationals, spread across three seasons (2016, ’20, ’21). His previous career-best finish was second in ’21 at La Salle (Ill.) Speedway and he also had top-five runs that season at Farmer City (third) and Highland (Ill.) Speedway (fourth). He said adding his name to the circuit’s list of winners was “really big.”

“The guys on this deal are so tough and it’s always got a good mix of people,” remarked Alberson, who registered his third overall win of 2024. “I kind of feel like I’m one of the guys or something like that. To win a race like that is really cool.” — Series and staff reports

Winning for Hayden

Hudson O’Neal drove halfway across the country from his home in Martinsville, Ind., to compete Friday night at Thunderbird Speedway in Muskogee, Okla. It wasn’t to chase big money but to support the legacy of a young Dirt Late Model standout who was lost too early.

With his schedule open thanks to an off weekend for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, O’Neal accepted an invitation from Oklahoma’s Ross family to race in an APEX Healthcare Partners Sooner Late Model Series-sanctioned event run in memory of their son Hayden, who died in a 2022 four-wheeler accident after winning the Sooner Series title in 2021-2022. According to the Ross family, O’Neal’s setup assistance after they purchased one of his old Rocket Chassis in late 2021 “played a crucial role in helping Hayden win two championships.”

O’Neal honored the late racer in the best way possible, driving to a $6,600 victory in the 20-lap Hayden Ross Memorial. He survived some electrical issues after his Longhorn car’s starter wire was knocked off when he jumped the cushion in turns one and two en route to a flag-to-flag triumph.

And the driver O’Neal led across the finish line? Eli Ross, the 16-year-old brother of Hayden Ross who took over the family ride after his sibling’s passing.

“I enjoy the Ross family and Eli is filling (Hayden’s) shoes really good,” O’Neal said after the race. “We are proud to be a part of (the memorial race). I hope we can stay part of the family for a long time.”

O’Neal, who has a sponsor, Merrill Bonding Co., that is based in Sallisaw, Okla., did not make the trip for the race with plans to enter any other events while in the region. The next races listed on his schedule are July 5-6 Lucas Oil Series dates in Ohio at Portsmouth Raceway Park and Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio. — Series and staff reports

Survival at Macon

Winning on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals is a tough proposition even when things go your way. And things decidedly didn't go Jason Feger's way most of Thursday's 44th annual Herald & Review 100 at Macon (Ill.) Speedway.

The fifth-starting driver from Bloomington, Ill., didn't make much progress early, then found himself outside the top five from laps 27-44 with Tyler Clem of St. Petersburg, Fla., leading most of the race. Feger ran into trouble on lap 42 when Ryan Unzicker spun in turn two, sending Feger's car bounding into the air over Unzicker's nosepiece. Feger finally settled into third in the second half of the race, but he ran into more trouble when the leaders were trying to lap series points leader Tyler Erb on the 75th lap.

Clem got into the rear of Erb's machine in turn three, getting sideways to collect second-running Ashton Winger of Hampton, Ga., Feger, and fourth-running Tommy Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill. Suddenly the cars running first through fourth were piled up on the track, handing the lead to fifth-running Morgan Bagley of Longview, Texas.

With Feger and the others falling to the rear of the lead lap, Feger — the driver called the Highside Hustler by his fans — decided to to go work in the high groove. He rallied back into contention, taking second from pole-starting Dillon McCowan of Urbana, Mo., on the 82nd lap, then rolling around Bagley on the 85th circuit to grab a lead he'd never give up.

"It makes it tough" losing positions, Feger said, calling it "a heck of a race. I'd much rather battle it out not having to go to the back, but man, what a lot of fun."

Feger usually counts on the high groove to be potent at the tiny fifth-mile oval, but he thought the track surface's moisture down low favored that line most of the way.

"Once I fell back like that, I mean, you try to be patient early, but then 25 (laps) to go or whatever, I'm like, 'Man, I've just got to make something happen.' So I got old school, got up there and Highside Hustled a little bit, and that's what the fans here at Macon love," Feger said. "That's what got us to the front and it feels good.

"Man, it sucks for Tyler (Clem) and Ashton (Winger). We were having a great battle and I was really good actually all race, I just couldn't get the restarts to go my way. You'd get stuck on the outside and you'd lose (positions) and just try to be patient. It just wasn't working out being patient tonight, because Ryan spun out right in front of me. I don't know what exactly happened with Tyler and Ashton. I think just lapped traffic, just (a) tough battle."

Feger survived a similarly eventful Castrol FloRacing Night in America event on May 28 at Macon, finishing second to Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz. He came out on top this time.

"Another crazy race here at Macon," Feger, whose previous Herald & Review 100 victory came in 2022, said in victory lane. "But that's what makes this place special, man. It sure is exciting. It's always racy." — Series and staff reports

Prolific flagger

During his lengthy career in the flagstand, Bob Smith of South Webster, Ohio, prided himself on looking professional. Smith always donned a uniform, freshly cleaned for every race, with washed and dried flags to match.

"I'm just a neat freak. That's the way I've always been my entire life," Smith said. "If you're going to be standing in front of those people, you don't won't to look like you just came off of skid row. You want to look neat."

The dapper Smith, who spent 47 years flagging or officiating at dirt tracks, including 33 years at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park, recently announced his retirement from the sport. Along with many seasons in the flagstand at Portsmouth in other tracks, he served as the flagger during 1985's National Dirt Racing Association along with several major events in the ensuing seasons at tracks in Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia.

"I've enjoyed it and met a lot of really good people," said Smith, who began at Portsmouth in the track's first season in 1991. "I came across a few that were a little difficult to deal with, but that's part of it if you're going to be an official. I would always lay things out to the drivers in the drivers meeting and always felt I was fair. My conscience is clear with everything I've done."

When he helped a high school friend with his race car in 1969, the 1964 graduate of Minford (Ohio) High School first got involved in racing. His first track job came as a track official in 1975 at Southern Ohio Speedway in Wheelersburg, Ohio, then became the track's chief starter two years later. Besides Portsmouth and Southern Ohio, Smith also served as a regular flagger at Atomic Speedway (formerly K-C Raceway) near Chillicothe, and Checkered Flag Speedway near Ashland, Ky. He also made multiple appearances in the flagstand at Mountain Motor Speedway in Isom, Ky., and Perry County Speedway in Hazard, Ky. In total he worked at 47 racetracks, flagging mostly dirt cars on the oval but also tractor pulls and a benefit lawn mower race.

Smith, who spent six years in the U.S. Navy, also worked 41 years as a truck driver for Conley Trucking and the late Delmas Conley, a Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer. Smith still works part-time at Hill View Retirement Center in Portsmouth as a transporter and mail runner. After leaving Portsmouth's flagstand in 2019, he moved to the race director position, working in the tower where Lenna Smith, his wife of 56 years, also worked for many years.

"If she outlives me," Smith joked, "just go ahead and drape my flags over the casket cause the race is over."

The Portsmouth staff wishes Smith the best in his retirement, thanking him for his many years of service.

"He means a lot to us," track co-owner Jenny Coleman said. "He was devoted to our family business and we appreciate him and all the time he gave up to stand on that flagstand and later (up) in the tower." — Chuck Greenslate