DirtonDirt.com Dispatches
Dispatches: Chris Simpson rebounds at Wheatland
Chris Simpson heads for victory. (photosbyboyd.smugmug.com)
Among the latest notes and quotes from around Dirt Late Model racing on the first weekend in October including Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association action at Lucas Oil Speedway (most coverage of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series appears elsewhere). Also find a listing of live-streaming video from specials around the country:
One spot better
Chris Simpson of Oxford, Iowa, finished in the second spot the first two nights of the MLRA Fall Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., and after struggling in Saturday's Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association time trials, he figured any hopes were lost.
"We timed really bad," Simpson said. "(Crew member) Chad (Simondsen), after I qualified, I threw my steering wheel and hit him in the head. I was really pissed off."
As it turned out, Simondsen was OK, and so were Simpson's hopes. Recovering in prelims with a runner-up finish in his heat race after starting fifth, Simpson rallied from his eighth starting spot to win the 50-lap feature and $10,000. He took the lead from his brother Chad Simpson on the 19th lap and led the rest of the way.
"We don't change much" with suspension setups, Simpson said, " but we probably changed more just to try and qualify better because we didn't qualify the greatest last night. But obviously we made it worse. So we just kind of went back to where we were the previous two nights and it worked out."
Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, won the first two nights, but after winning a heat race, he wasn't a factor in the main event, eventually retiring after 30 laps while drawing the race's long caution.
"I don't know what happened to Ryan," Simpson said. "I figured if he finished, he'd probably be in the top three. It'd have been fun to battle it out with him. We were both good all weekend, so to top off with $10,000, I'll take it."
It was a solid ending to the weekend for Simpson, who noted he missed his daughter's homecoming but hoped the five-figure payday would ease that.
"It's a good way to end it," he said. "We've been working hard all year and had speed and just kind of stupid stuff happened. Last time we were here we broke a power steering line on warmup night and it kind of ruined our points deal, but we'll take it." — Series and track reports
Double sweep denied
Mike Palasini Jr. of Leland, Miss., swept last season's Gumbo Nationals weekend at Greenville (Miss.) Speedway, and he was making another bid at it in Saturday's $10,000-to-win finale of the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series weekend.
But 2016 race winner Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, the runner-up to Palasini on Friday, made sure another sweep wasn't in the offing. Starting outside the front row, Erb got by the third-starting Palasini on the second lap and raced to a 50-lap victory.
“The track was a lot different (than Friday) for sure, I just had to get the start when Mike (Palasini Jr.) restarted next to me on that initial start,” Erb said. “It was like ‘Man, I really don’t wanna follow him. This isn't good.’ He got me on the first (restart). I didn’t have nothing to lose and got the top of (turns) one and two and was able to swing by there. Didn’t get tied up with the lapped cars and just tried to keep it out of the fence there ... it was awesome, I love coming to Greenville.”
Erb, who captured his 17th overall feature victory of the season, is a fan of the quarter-mile oval.
"Yesterday we were one spot short, but this racetrack, it's really fun," he said. "There's a lot going on, a lot of movement, shaking and things happen quick. I'm glad to be able to come back after, you know, six or seven years and I appreciate everybody that came out, you know, for two or three days and supported us. It means a lot."
Did he leave it all on the track in winning by nearly six seconds over Payton Freeman? (Palasini ended up third).
"It was kind of rubbered up right in the top there the last, I don't know, 10 or 15 laps," Erb said. "So if you run much harder you might wreck, you know? It really got messed up there in three and four. So, I don't know, we didn't get to that point, you know, we were able to survive (restarts and) it all played out today and I'm just happy to be here." — Track reports
No time to waste
Ethan Dotson had no plans to lollygag in Friday's 38-lap Jerry Goodwin Challenge on the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala. The 25-year-old modified-turned-Late Model standout wanted to get to the front as soon as possible.
That's exactly what he did as Dotson's ASD Motorsports Longhorn Chassis got rolling on the top side. He blew past early leader and series points leader Brandon Overton on the backstretch of the seventh lap and led the rest of the way in the first of two HTF events on the weekend where NASCAR competition is being held at the big track across the highway.
"This place is super fun," Dotson said after his $5,038 victory. "I just knew I had to be aggressive on the starts to get (up front). From where I was starting, this place is kind of hard to pass, so I was just wanting to get by Brandon as fast as I could so I had a chance at it. Then I could control the pace of the race."
Dotson, who won his first career HTF race last season when he was driving for Coltman Farms Racing, scored his first victory with the Carolina-based ASD Motorsports team.
"I just can't thank John Henderson enough for giving me an opportunity whenever I didn't really know if my Late Model race career was over with. So I can't thank him enough," said Dotson, who also thanked his crew and Longhorn Chassis among others.
Dotson was chased to the checkers by teenager Trey Mills of St. Augustine, Fla., who notched his second top-five finish of the season with the series and first since April 12.
"Ethan had that top going down there. I was just kind of kind of trying to follow him because he had a really good line going," Mills said. "And with that restart with a couple of laps to go, I got around Overton and was just kind of dogging the top in (turns) one or two. Then I moved down to the bottom in (turns) three and four. He could just maneuver lapped traffic a little bit better than I could, but our car is really, really good right now."
Mills added that "it's been a minute since we've been on the podium, but hopefully tomorrow night we can be one spot better."
With $15,000 on the line in the Red Farmer Tribute, Dotson has his eyes on the prize — and a weekend sweep. Can he do it?
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't think so," Dotson said. — Series reports
Odds and ends
Recent news briefs related to Dirt Late Model racing:
• Millstream Speedway in Findlay, Ohio, on Sunday is hosting its first Late Model event in many years. The Super Late Model event pays $2,500-to-win including a $500 bonus from KC Engineering.
• Topless Outlaw Dirt Late Model Series founder Michael Robinette is passing the Tennessee-based Limited Late Model tour onto Scott Pass for the 2025 season, he revealed in the PPM Winner’s Circle Podcast. The 5-year-old tour is expected to continue with few changes under the leadership of Pass, a former Warrior Race Cars employee who know works at B&B Performance Engines. Robinette is stepping away after taking a new job that will consume more of his time. Cory Hedgecock is the tour’s all-time winningest driver and Austin Neely is hoping to lock up the 2024 series title at the Oct. 26 finale at Senoia (Ga.) Raceway, Robinette’s last as the tour owner.
• Mudlick Valley Raceway in Wallingford, Ky., has been taken off the market and will continue under ownership with the Jent family into the 2025 season, the track announced.
• Hidden Valley Speedway’s Oct. 12 Halloween Madness event will be a Super Late Model race paying $1,200-to-win. The race at the Clearfield, Pa., oval was originally advertised as a Run What you Brung outlaw-style event.
• Facing increases in insurance, Brad Whitfield announced he’ll no longer promote Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Ariz. Whitfield promoted Cocopah events for six seasons including IMCA Late Models in 2020. Whitfield is focusing his promotions on Central Arizona Raceway in Casa Grande, Ariz., which recently announced Jan. 22-25 and Jan. 29-Feb. 1 dates for the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw Memorial that includes Late Models.
• Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., has released its 2025 schedule under the promotions of Vic and Christa Hill with Super Late Model specials on April 12 (Scott Sexton Memorial Spring Thaw) and Sept. 11 (Scott Bloomquist Memorial Scorcher). The track also plans nine Saturdays between April 26-Aug. 23 for weekly divisions including a combined Crate Late Model/sportsman class.
Love and hate
Doing the math at Lucas Oil Speedway — at least in Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association competition — it seems Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, has loved Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., about five times. The rest of the time? Not so much.
"It's a love-hate relationship here," said Gustin, who won Thursday's MLRA Fall Nationals opener at the 3/8-mile oval for a $5,000 payday. "Sometimes we're almost unstoppable here and other times we don't make the show. Hopefully, we can just keep it rolling and be here the rest of the weekend."
In Thursday's 30-lap feature, Gustin regained the lead for good on lap 21 and held off Chris Simpson over the final nine laps to find victory lane for his 11th career MLRA victory, five of them coming in Wheatland. Gustin and Simpson battled much of the race with Gustin's outside pass the final position swap.
"I seen (Simpson's) signal guy move him down, so I figured we were just gonna crack the whip and run the cushion and hope for the best," Gustin said. "It all worked out."
Simpson ended up having a little groove regret after the race.
"Ryan was below me and I was like if Ryan's good down there then I can be really good down there," Simpson said. "I moved down on that restart, but I probably should have run that top one lap, just to stop him from getting a run.
"Either way it was a good race. I was a little better than him in (turns) three and four. I think we might have had something on that last lap, but (a car) was in the way. But we'll take it. It's a three-night weekend. To get second tonight is still a good night for us."
Track champion Justin Wells of Aurora, Mo., made a 13th-to-third charge and paid tribute to two-time MLRA champion Rex McCroskey of Springfield, Mo., who died last week at the age of 67. Wells had a miniature No. 64 sticker — McCroskey's number — within his yellow No. 49 on his car. He remembered McCroskey outrunning him nearly 20 years ago in Wheatland.
"I led that thing almost to the end and No. 64 passed me," Wells said. "I just want to say, 'Rex, thanks for being a good guy. We're gonna miss you.' He was a good racer."
MLRA competitors chase $5,000 on Friday night with a $10,000-to-win finale set for Saturday — Lyndal Scranton
Streaming schedule
Among upcoming Dirt Late Model special and sanctioned events available via live streaming:
Friday, Oct. 4
• Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Imperial, Pa. (FloRacing)
• Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. (FloRacing)
• MARS Championship Series at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway (FloRacing)
• Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala. (Hunt the Front TV)
• Mississippi State Challenge Series at Greenville (Miss.) Speedway (SASdirt TV)
• Malvern Bank East and West Series at Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa (Dirt Crown TV)
Saturday, Oct. 5
• Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (FloRacing)
• Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. (FloRacing)
• MARS Championship Series at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway (FloRacing)
• Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala. (Hunt the Front TV)
• Mississippi State Challenge Series at Greenville (Miss.) Speedway (SASdirt TV)
• RUSH Crate Late Model Series at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (FloRacing)
• Malvern Bank East and West Series at Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa (Dirt Crown TV)
