DirtonDirt.com Dispatches
Dispatches: For Roberts, 'it's good to be back'
Casey Roberts leads the way. (Anthony Neff)
Among latest notes and quotes from around Dirt Late Model racing in mid-July including action from the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, Schaeffer's Southern Nationals and more (look for Lucas Oil Series coverage from Huset's Speedway in separate stories). Also find a listing of live-streaming video from specials around the country:
Return of Roberts
Amid thanking sponsors, crew members and supporters while sharing details of Sunday's Schaeffer's Southern Nationals victory at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., Casey Roberts ended his victory lane interview with four meaningful words.
"It's good to be back," the 47-year-old Toccoa, Ga., driver said.
Indeed one of the Southeast's most successful racers from 2006-20 most prolific and successful racers who has been away from the track most of the last four seasons grabbed his first checkered flag since 2019 and first Southern Nationals triumph since 2017.
His credentials are unquestioned with four Southern All Star East championships (second winningest all-time driver), three Ultimate Southeast Series titles (winningest driver) and a 2018 Southern Nationals championship (Sunday's victory was his 13th on the series, fourth on the all-time list).
Roberts led all but one lap of the Sunday afternoon event that made up Saturday night's rainout, but he was self-deprecating in victory lane about the body damage to his car after the $10,053 payday.
"It feels like home down here," said Roberts, whose previous Southern Nationals victory also came in Screven's annual Rebel Yell event. "I hadn't raced in quite a while there till this year. From the looks of the car there, I still can't drive. So we're keep working at it and maybe I can keep it out of the wall."
The damage came from Roberts doing what "I had to do that to (avoid) giving up the lead there. Around that lapped car there, I about cost us the lead," he said.
Roberts, whose previous victory came April 27, 2019, in Ultimate Southeast action at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga., isn't racing as much as he once was — he's made seven feature starts this season — but he's grateful to former Gainesville, Ga., driver Gus Simpson for providing capable equipment.
"Hat's off to (car owner) Gus Simpson, man," Roberts said. "He believes in me there and gave me a car and lets me race when I want. Between my work and stuff, I can't do a whole lot of racing, but I sure do like being behind the wheel." — FloRacing
Making strides
Sammy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., hit another milestone in his burgeoning Dirt Late Model career on Saturday at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis.
The 20-year-old son of retired Hall of Fame driver Jimmy Mars captured the 3/8-mile oval’s 40-lap Month of Money feature for the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Challenge Series, giving him a career-high $5,000 payday as well as his first-ever touring series victory.
Mars had already won four times previously this season — three features at Cedar Lake and one at his hometown’s Red Cedar Speedway — but three were weekly shows paying no more than $1,500-to-win and the other was a $3,000-to-win special at Cedar Lake. Breaking through in a WISSOTA touring event marked his most significant triumph yet since his father and uncle, Chris Mars, tapped him as the pilot of the brothers’ MB Customs house car.
The newest Mars racer is feeling increasingly at home in the seat of his family’s flagship machine.
“I mean, obviously there’s pressure,” Mars said when asked about driving the MB Customs No. 28 that saw so much success with his father behind the wheel. “Just to perform, for not only myself but all my hard-working crew, my dad, Chris, Jeff, Mike, and then everybody back in the shop who put in so much time and effort into our program here making sure we get up and down the road.
“It’s just, we got a really good car,” he added. “This MB Customs is bad fast. Everything’s clicking right now.”
Mars had to show off his machine’s speed in winning Saturday’s headliner. He started outside the front row and quickly jumped to the lead, but by lap 11 he had slipped back to fifth place and his chances seemed to be on life support.
“I was a little bit in panic mode,” Mars said. “I got to fifth there and I was like, ‘Oh, jeez, am I gonna be able to come back from this?’ We had a restart there and I got put on the bottom and I was able to get up to third there (on lap 21), and then I really just honed in on hitting the bottom every lap, making sure I had speed there.
“I was trying to run the top but there just wasn’t much moisture up there and it was pretty thin, so I didn’t want to burn my right-rear tire off just driving up in the slick. So I had to move around a little bit, make my car work where it needed to work, and it worked the best on the bottom.”
Mars went on to grab the lead on lap 33 from Dan Bargender with a low-side pass and went on beat the Chippewa Falls, Wis., driver by 2.417 seconds.
“That bottom just came in and I was kind of jumping over the (infield) tires a little bit, but it worked out,” Mars said.
Mars did experience some mixed emotions over defeating Bargender, a fellow MB Customs campaigner he knows well.
“Dan did a really good job. I’m happy for him," said Mars, whose upcoming schedule includes this week's XR Super Series doubleheader on Monday-Tuesday at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway and double-duty during Aug. 1-3's USA Nationals at Cedar Lake. “I’m happy to win, but I feel bad I had to steal it from him because he did such a good job and puts in such time and effort.”
Nevertheless, Mars acknowledged how big of a night it was for the MB Customs brand with another MB racer, A.J. Diemel of Elk Mound, Wis., finishing third.
“Between me, Dan, A.J., that’s the shop 1-2-3,” Mars said, “so you don’t get any better than that.” — Series and track reports
Feger wins finale
Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., was all smiles in victory lane Thursday at Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Ill., after capturing the 24th and final feature on the 2024 DIRTcar Summer Nationals. But the four-time series race winner couldn't help wondering if he could've won even more races if he'd solved an issue with his car a month ago.
"I feel like we've been really fast this summer, but definitely it wasn't the Hell Tour we were looking for. We just got off the first couple of weeks," said the 46-year-old Feger. "We actually found a bad right-front shock that had went out on us probably from Kokomo (Speedway) being so rough in the feature" in a June 10 XR Super Series event before the Summer Nationals began.
"But we didn't really realize it," Feger added. "I mean, it wasn't like it was really bad, but I knew something was off and we couldn't figure it out. You know, when you're running every day like this, it's hard to do (find it). And it's not like we were in that shop all the time. So we were just inconsistent ... We had been way more consistent. So that was frustrating."
Feger still turned in solid numbers with four victories and 14 top-five finishes in 15 starts on the circuit. His first three home-state victories came at Lincoln, Macon and Highland over a five-race stretch June 23-29. With the series over, he's got his eyes on other big events coming up, including next weekend's Prairie Dirt Classic on the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway.
"I mean, obviously, I wish we could start over and bring our A-game, you know? We worked hard and kept digging and we figured out what was wrong," Feger said. "You know, we've got a lot of money coming up these next three weeks, a lot of racing and a lot of money. So hopefully the car is fast, but the competition is gonna keep getting tougher. Hopefully we can just keep the car up front and maybe put ourselves in position to win a big race." — Series reports
Number change
The father-and-son duo of Jesse Lay of Walton, Ky., and his son Austin Lay have driven No. 33 cars in recent seasons, but when Slicker Graphics revealed this season's designs, "I thought we needed to do something to make the cars different to help track officials in identifying the cars," the elder Lay said.
The solution? Jesse Lay decided to switch to No. 63 for 2024, a season where Lay has gotten a late start because he'd been awaiting the arrival of a powerplant.
“The No. 63 has always had a close meaning to our family over the years and if I hadn’t chosen the No. 33, I probably would have used that number," said Lay, who finished 10th in his first outing of the season July 13 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky.
The No. 63 and No. 33 of the Joe Lay & Sons-sponsored team plan to be in action Friday for the Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series event at MRP Raceway Park in Williamsburg, Ohio, at the fourth annual Dustbuster 40, a $7,000-to-win and $1,000-to-start event at the quarter-mile oval. Austin Lay is sixth in series points while his father will be making his first series start of the season.
The family's connection to the No. 63 comes from a racer who was neighbors with Joe Lay, Jesse's father, years ago.
“There was a guy named Gene Crittenden who was a real hotshoe in this area back in the early 1970s. He and my dad became friends and Dad started going to the track and helping Gene, so that kind of got Dad involved in racing and Gene ran No. 63 on his car,” Jesse Lay said.
In 1970, the 36-year-old Crittenden was killed in a single-car wreck at the former Tri-County Speedway in West Chester, Ohio. Joe Lay witness the wreck, but that didn't thwart his love for racing.
“Dad and Sonny King started racing together and later on (former Florence promoter) Press Sandlin got involved in the Lay racing efforts, and Press owned cars that were driven by Joe Lay, Jack Rice, and Vic Rouse among others,” Jesse Lay added. All the cars were numbered with the 63.
So in deciding to distinguish his car from Austin's, the No. 63 was a natural choice.
“After Press passed away, we ran the No. 63 on the car that season as a tribute to our close family friend, so I thought, 'Why not bring that number back and put it on my car? Austin said he would even drive my car with the No. 63 on it," said Jesse Lay, a three-time Florence Speedway champ and former race winner with the American Late Model Series, Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series and Northern Allstars. "We have got the No. 63 back on the car now and, who knows, I may just keep that number on my car and just end my driving career using that number in the next year or so.” — Michael Despain
Streaming schedule
Among upcoming Dirt Late Model special and sanctioned events available via live streaming:
Thursday, July 18
• Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. ($10,000-to-win) — FloRacing
• Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals at Senoia (Ga.) Raceway ($7,544-to-win) — FloRacing
• Tri-State Late Model Series at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. ($3,000-to-win) — FloRacing
• DIRTcar Summer Nationals at Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Ill. ($6,000-to-win) — DIRTVision
Friday, July 19
• Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. ($10,000-to-win) — FloRacing
• Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City, Ala. ($7,553-to-win) — FloRacing
• Malvern Bank West Series at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. ($5,053-to-win) — FloRacing
• MARS Late Model Championship at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway ($5,000-to-win) — FloRacing
• Northern LateModel Racing Association at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, S.D. ($2,566-to-win) — Dirt Race Central TV
• WISSOTA Challenge Series at Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wis. ($2,500-to-win) — XR Plus TV
Saturday, July 20
• Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. ($53,000-to-win) — FloRacing
• Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga. ($10,053-to-win) — FloRacing
• Ultimate Heart of America at Richmond (Ky.) Raceway ($7,500-to-win) — Pit Row TV
• Northern LateModel Racing Association at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, S.D. ($6,600-to-win) — Dirt Race Central TV
• Malvern Bank West Series at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. ($5,053-to-win) — FloRacing
• MARS Late Model Championship at Federated I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo. ($5,000-to-win) — FloRacing
• American All-Star Crate Series at Laurens (S.C.) County Speedway ($5,000-to-win) — Dirt Rich TV
• WISSOTA Challenge Series at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis. ($5,000-to-win) — Dirt Race Central TV
Sunday, July 21
• XR Super Series at Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa ($15,000-to-win) — XR Plus TV
• Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals at Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway ($10,053-to-win) — FloRacing
• MARS Late Model Championship at Adams County Speedway in Quincy, Ill. ($5,000-to-win) — FloRacing
• WISSOTA Challenge Series at Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, Minn. ($3,000-to-win) — Dirt Race Central TV
