INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Dec. 14) — The Indiana Convention Center doors reopen at 9 a.m. Saturday for the last of three days at 2024’s Performance Racing Industry Trade Show, where more than 40,000 attendees are expected to check out more than 1,000 companies over 750,000 square feet floor space making up more than 3,600 booths, many with a Dirt Late Model focus. Saturday's blog-style notebook including some holdover items from Friday (complete PRI coverage):

4:21 p.m. | Signing off

When Indiana Convention Center workers say they aren't kicking out any lingering media members from the PRI Trade Show's media room, it must mean the show is winding down. That said, we're signing off on our live blogging from another year at the Indianapolis trade show.

Be on the lookout for more stories from the event over the next coming days on DirtonDirt.com and if you couldn’t attend or perhaps missed some of our coverage, look back through the PRI index page to catch up.

4:16 p.m. | Bowersock's plans

Veteran racer Jerry Bowersock of Wapakoneta, Ohio, couldn’t be happier that he has plenty of options for his 2025 schedule.

The 32-race Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series intrigues the five-time Eldora Speedway track champion as well as Montpelier (Ind.) Motor Speedway’s increased Late Model schedule in 2025.

"Chris Tilley has the ol' Iron-Man deal cranked back up pretty good, we'll probably start the year off there,” Bowersock said. “A lot of the races are close to me. We'll do that, all of the Eldora Late Model and modified stuff, and Montpelier, Ind., is pretty close to me, and they have like six Late Model races on the schedule. We'll pick and choose. We probably have more races than I can probably handle."

Bowersock’s 2024 season was hampered by “a couple wrecks” that set him back “about a month and a half.” He ended up with roughly 25 races each in the Late Model and modified divisions. Going into 2025, Bowersock will do what he can with his single-car, single-engine program.

“We have one car and one engine, so if anything goes sideways there, we might be down for a while,” Bowersock said. “But that’s our plans, run some of that Iron-Man American Late Model Series and of course all the Eldora stuff, and go from there.”

Bowersock’s race car is a 2018 Rocket Chassis XR1 he bought from Best Performance Motorsports that has “some of the newer (XR1.2) updates.” His motor, meanwhile, is only one year old, a Clements Racing Engine he bought from Tye Twarog in 2023.

“Looking to get out there and do what we can next year,” Bowersock said.

3:50 p.m. | Moyer still ambitious

Billy Moyer isn’t ready to call it quits nor dial back his long-standing racing career. The 67-year-old, with Batesville, Ark., car owner Keith Lawson, is planning an aggressive 50-70 race schedule in 2025.

Moyer suspects most races will be spread across the Midwest in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri with some of the sport’s biggest events sprinkled in along the way, such as Eldora Speedway’s Dream and World 100. The Gateway Dirt Nationals at The Dome at America’s Center is also on Moyer’s radar next year.

“I’d say 50-60 races, possibly 70 races. It’s a lot of races for us,” Moyer said Saturday at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show outside the Penske Racing Shocks booth. “We’re just trying to put together our team and our equipment. He’s buying a lot of new things, a lot of top-quality stuff so that hopefully we run well. But we need some more help. We need one or two more guys than what we have now.”

Moyer, who teamed up with Lawson the last weekend of August after he purchased a 2024 Longhorn Chassis from Lance Landers, does have longtime crewman Steve Norris working for him, but that’s it. His race volume will ultimately be dependent upon crew help.

Moyer produced four podium finishes in seven starts with Lawson to end the season, including Sept. 20’s Comp Cams Super Dirt Series victory at Batesville Motor Speedway in Locust Grove, Ark.

Optimistic he can build off that competitiveness, Moyer’s now planning his most aggressive schedule since 2019 when he logged 70 races. He managed 40 events this year despite a six-week layoff following July 6’s nasty wreck at Minnesota’s Deer Creek Speedway.

“That didn’t seem like it was much,” Moyer said of his 40-race 2024 schedule. “Another 10-20 doesn’t seem out of the picture … the more you race, the more you get acquainted with the car and you make better decisions. When you don’t race every weekend, you kind of get behind on making changes on the car.”

Along with a relatively new Longhorn Chassis previously, Lawson has purchased a brand-new transporter and a brand-new merchandise trailer for Moyer, who will race as much as possible in 2025 because of Lawson’s overwhelming support.

“That’s right. There’s gotta be a time when you get too old and you can’t do it anymore. But I’m still having fun doing it, still having fun working on the cars, and he’s letting me run the whole operation out of my Batesville shop,” Moyer said. “It’s big for me to run that out of my place again.”

Moyer also broke out his shiny 1987 USAC Late Model championship ring at the Indianapolis convention on Sunday. The Indy-based United States Auto Club only sanctioned Late Model events from 1985-88, but Moyer will forever stand as its all-time winningest Late Model driver. Moyer, a 12-time USAC winner, calls his 1987 USAC championship jewelry “my favorite ring” because of its aesthetics, of course, but also because he remembers the season-end banquet where he took photos with that year’s Indy 500 winner, racing legend Al Unser.

“Yeah, those were the good ol' days,” Moyer said. “Back then, USAC, they had the sprint car champion, the midget champion, the IndyCar champion, and the Late Model. The Indy 500 champion was Al Unser that year, and we all got our pictures taken and got to hang out. It was fun.”

3:09 p.m. | New diecasts

With the help of Kevin and Jacqueline Rumley, Lionel Racing is now producing 1:24 scale Dirt Late Model diecasts.

Lionel Racing, NASCAR's official diecast producer, launched its Dirt Late Model diecast cars in June with Kyle Larson’s No. 6 machine and Hudson O’Neal’s No. 71 Rumley Engineering ride he piloted before transitioning back into the SSI Motorsports entry.

“Just before PRI last year, Jacqueline and Kevin Rumley had an idea to create a newer style Late Model (diecast) than the market had been seeing,” Matt Kentfield, Lionel’s diecast category director, said Thursday at the Performance Industry Trade Show. “They approached us and we were able to put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it. With Jacqueline’s help, she’s been able to introduce a new diecast to the Dirt Late Model community, and Kevin helping us out to make sure the car looked exactly how a modern-day Dirt Late Model does.”

Kentfield said that “it’s a great deal to introduce this new version of a Dirt Late Model diecast” and that “it’s been well-received” among the sport’s patrons.

“Jacqueline’s done a great job introducing the product to a lot of teams,” Kentfield said. “We started the ball rolling with Kyle Larson’s car, Kevin’s car. That one sold really well. We brought in Hudson O’Neal, did a couple of programs with him.

“We’re here talking with a lot of race teams. We want to see their cars in diecasts just like they do so the fans can enjoy it and put it on their shelves, sell it trackside, all that stuff. We’re trying to reinvigorate the market on the short-track side, both dirt and pavement.”

2:59 p.m. | Fergy's new business

Chris Ferguson’s racing endeavors will take a back seat to his new business, Victory Seats, over these next few months. The Mount Holly, N.C., driver might not race until May 2025 because business has been humming since he debuted his new line of racing seats at Sept. 5-7’s World 100.

“We initially soft-launched it at the World 100 because, realistically, with the company being brand-new, and the people we have, the relationship side built, I knew when I launched this it was going to take off, just by word of mouth and trust when you team up with people who build seats for a living,” Ferguson said Saturday outside his booth at the Performance Industry Trade Show. “We have three guys working for us that have 25 years in building seats. It’s been a whirlwind. People wonder why I don’t race right now.

Ferguson’s long had a passion for seat building and the safety side of the sport. For seven years, until partway through 2022, Ferguson worked for Butlerbilt Seats where he “learned a lot from Brian Butler, anything I pretty much know about seats, until he retired about three-and-a-half years ago.”

“Long story short, I was in the industry for seven years,” said Ferguson, who eventually “decided to leave the company and take a year or so off to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.”

Over that year-long break, Ferguson realized “there was a lot of purpose in building safe seats.”

“It’s more than just driving race cars and winning races,” he added. “At the end of the year, you look back and you’re like, ‘Wow, this guy crashed and flipped eight times at Knoxville. He wrecked here and was able to go back to their family and friends without getting hurt.’”

Along with Ferguson, his cousin, Carson Ferguson, and Daulton Wilson and Spencer Hughes were part of the Victory Seats soft launch at the World 100.

“Carson got hurt two years ago at Eldora, and we really addressed some of the stuff where got hurt,” said Ferguson, whose Victory Seats brand revolves around his Christian faith and coincides with his wife Genna’s clothing apparel Sweet Victory.

“Her business has grown way more than expected,” Ferguson said. “There’s victory in Jesus. There’s victory in seats. There’s victory in building a safe seat. There’s victory in keeping people safe.

“Everything’s built custom to the driver. We don’t build a stock seat. We 100 percent fit every driver custom for a seat, and to me, that’s super important because, to me, seats are intrusive. If they aren’t done right, if the seatbelt height is not correct, the head and neck restraint doesn’t work. If the headrest is too low, and if the head is sticking out of the headrest, they can get hurt. We do our best to eliminate all that.”

Ferguson also predicts that “the industry is gonna change in the next five years” when it comes to seats and that “eventually, everyone will have a custom insert.” Ferguson estimates that only 20 percent of Dirt Late Model racers have custom seat inserts, “which add a whole another layer of protection.”

Ferguson, who for now is focusing on Dirt Late Model seats, is launching a new midget seat at January’s Chili Bowl Nationals with a driver “who’s been on Flo a lot this year.” He also has long-term plans for his seats to appear in pavement circles, including NASCAR.

2:04 p.m. | Busy Unzicker

Ryan Unzicker for many years was a night-after-night stalwart on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, but required time for business and family made him more selective, cutting back his racing schedule to something a little more manageable. Suddenly the 43-year-old from El Paso, Ill., is starting to feel the pull of a more extensive schedule, whether he likes it or not.

“My program, I mean, really, with the way my equipment and my race cars are at, I really, honestly probably need to be about 30 (races) but we stretch it to that 50 range,” Unzicker said while walking the PRI aisles with his 11-year-old son Brody. “We've probably been 50 the last four years (or) five years ever since we stopped doing the Summer Nationals, we really toned her down on nights. But Matt Carl and the MARS Series is going to make it tough on me this year. So that's some big decisions we're trying to make, (considering) the financial backing to go another, say, 20 past the 50 races.”

The MARS schedule has expanded to 32 races, adding several Iowa events among others, and Unzicker enjoys running a number of Summer Nationals races, the Wood Tic at Merritt Speedway in Lake City, Mich., and nearby national touring events like the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway and Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway’s Illini 100.

“We've got some big decisions to make to see what we're going to do, how many extra (races) we're going to do other than the MARS, but we are going to commit to the MARS,” said Unzicker, who had eight Super Late Model victories in 2024 and finished second in MARS points. “Why not? It's a good series. They ramped up the pay (with) some more incentives. I talked to Matt today. He's just got more product help that's going to feed back to the racers, so that's good. So 100 percent on board with the MARS. Other than that, I don't know what we'll do.”

Besides Unzicker’s schedule, young Cody plans to continue his racing in the KidModz division. He made his PRI debut with dad.

“He’s always wanted to come to PRI, but kids aren't allowed in PRI unless you have a license or a badge,” Unzicker said. “So with the UMP license this year in the KidModz, he was able to come in and see. So he's having a blast. We're having a good time. We're enjoying it. It's been, it's been a good father-son bonding."

1:50 p.m. | Steady Dotson

Modified-turned-Late Model standout Ethan Dotson of Bakersfield, Calif., has hopscotched between teams during his Late Model career, but he hopes the beginning of his first full season with South Carolina-based ASD Motorsports ushers in a degree of steadiness.

Dotson joined the team last spring and by fall hit his stride, clicking off four Super Late Model victories over a monthlong stretch including a $20,000 Comp Cams Super Dirt Series triumph in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss. Starting his season at Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park next month at the Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout, Dotson hopes to continue that success.

“Having John Henderson as a car owner is super, super cool. We get along good and have a lot of fun together,” Dotson said Saturday at the trade show. “So yeah, just excited to be able to race a full season with the same team and, and have a kind of a goal of what we're gonna do. I don't think I've ever had that in my racing career, so that's super exciting for me and hopefully we can make the best of it.”

Dotson, who also had stints with Chris Bragg Racing and Coltman Farms Racing, is aiming for consistency in 2025.

"It's super hard to do in our sport,” said Dotson, who was winless from March-September. “We go to so many different racetracks and there's so many circumstances and conditions, you know what I mean? It just changes, so it's hard to be consistent every night, and I struggle with that bad. So that's just my main deal, just find a more consistent balance of running up front.

Tyler Breashears and R.C. Whitwell, who worked with Roberts Motorsports and Garrett Alberson on the Lucas Oil Series in 2024, lead the ASD crew.

“John gives me every piece of the puzzle I need. Like I said, I've never really had that before. So just having that and, and having Tyler and R.C. and Nick (Carpenter) and Brady (Muzney), having a good crew behind me that believes in me and, and helps me get better is just couldn't ask for anything more,” he said. “Tyler’s gonna kind of stay back at home at the shop and be with his family and, work on stuff throughout the week and stuff while we're on the road and R.C. will take over and be the crew chief on the road.”

12:17 p.m. | Richards's excitement

Mark Richards, of course, was elated to see Rocket Chassis house car driver Brandon Sheppard race to a rather convincing victory in last Saturday’s Gateway Dirt Nationals inside The Dome at America’s Center.

The 31-year-old took a Richards-owned 2022 Rocket XR1, the same race car Sheppard won the 2022 Prairie Dirt Chassis with, and led the final 30 of 40 laps for his second straight Gateway Arch trophy.

“Oh yeah, it was great. It looked like old times with Brandon,” Richards said Friday while perusing the show floor at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show. “The car fits him. The changes that have been made the things we’ve done since he’s been here has been an improvement. I think Brandon will do well.”

Sheppard, who returns to Rocket1 Racing in 2025 after previously driving for the team from 2017-22, tested last month with Richards at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Ga., where he quickly got back up to speed. Richards, again, stresses the importance of keeping Tim McCreadie well-connected in the Rocket Chassis program after the Watertown, N.Y., driver’s tenure as the house car driver lasted only from March 15 through Nov. 11.

Next year McCreadie will race full-time for Briggs Transport Racing as the Boom Briggs-owned team forms an alliance with Richards’s Rocket1 Racing on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.

“It’s important. Tim is a great driver,” Richards said. “He’s been instrumental in helping us get these news where they are. His feedback is very valuable. It’s all good. It’s all positive, everything has done, and with what Brandon brings to the table, between the two of them it’ll all be positive."

Richards said that Rocket’s built roughly 80 XR1.2s since launching his latest chassis model in late July and has 120 more to build over the next few months.

“We build about 18-20 cars a month. Everything’s great. We’ve been busy at the shop, a lot of cars to build,” Richards said. “Brandon coming back and getting this deal done for Timmy, they’re picking his second car up this week. Getting those guys ready to go is exciting.”

10:31 a.m. | WoO's slate

With the many variables in trying to make touring schedules work, it's virtually impossible for perfection. But World of Outlaws Late Model Series director Steve Francis is happy with the 57-race for his national tour announced last month.

"There's one or two things that I wish we could switch with one or two racetracks to make travel make more sense, but the dates didn't work for those two. One's a Saturday night track, one's a Sunday night track," Francis said Friday at the WoO display. "Other than that, I'm tickled to death with it. We cover a variety of a regions. We don't go back to a lot of tracks for a second time. I think Volusia fall is the only track we go to twice this year, I believe. I will always want to have three or four new racetracks on the schedule every year, but you want to keep the staples of your schedule in place.

"Our Cedar Lake, Deer Creek, (Fairbury's Prairie Dirt Classic), Mississippi Thunder, Marion Center has become that, the new event we did at Maquoketa with Hoker (Trucking sponsorship). We want to keep all of those things going in a nice (rhythm), that and the World Finals. You want to have those things locked into your schedule and then you want to fill in everything around that.

"We've got some really good promoters that we work with, a lot of racetracks that we really wanted to get to (but) just couldn't figure out how to make the travel make the most sense."

The driver roster isn't in stone, but 2023 champion Bobby Pierce returns with Nick Hoffman, Ryan Gustin, Brian Shirley and Brent Larson among others (reigning champion Brandon Sheppard's return to the Rocket Chassis house car takes him back to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series). Potential incoming drivers are expected to be named next week or at their leisure and some drivers decided on plans after Georgia-Florida Speedweeks.

More contingencies will also be announced soon, Francis said, revealing that the Winner's Circle loyalty program for team has been raised to $1,000 "every time the truck moves" for the top six in points and $800 for next eight.

"I think both national series are going to have a great roster," Francis said. "There's not a lot of question about that. I feel very confident with the group of guys that are signed up with us."

10:10 a.m. | Undaunted

Battling the talented roster of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, tour rookie Brenden Smith of Dade City, Fla., didn't have much statistical success to brag about, but he's undaunted by the challenge. The 19-year-old son of veteran racer Shan Smith plans another national touring run in 2025.

He's excited about following the Lucas Oil circuit again along with the Castrol FloRacing Night in America tour.

"We've had a heck of a year. I'd say we had a pretty decent rookie year on the Lucas deal. That deal is tough. It's probably the toughest Dirt Late Model there is, by far. I'm excited to go back and do it again, going into next year, and that's our plan," Smith said Friday at PRI. "We're going to run it again and at least we got notes — even if they're not very good notes, we didn't run great — at least we know what gear to put in to go to each track."

Smith made 90 outings in 2024 with his best runs coming with ninth-place finishes on the Lucas Oil circuit at Huset's Speedway in Brandon, S.D., and on the XR Super Series at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.

"We're probably going to race as much as we possibly can," Smith said. "Honestly, in between (Lucas Oil and Castrol events), hit as many races (as possible). I see that there's some MARS races and stuff we might go run, some (DIRTcar) Summer Nationals, just race as much as we can, try and get as much seat time as I can and get as much racing under my belt" as possible.

Smith, who finished 15th in Lucas Oil points while making 34 of a maximum 46 feature starts, is already ready to get back at it despite running earlier in December at the Castrol Gateway Dirt Nationals.

"This is always what I wanted to do," he said. "I don't think I ever really feel burned out doing this. I love this stuff. It's what I've always wanted to do. I want to do it for as long as I can. I just don't see myself really getting burned out. I get down to myself sometimes, but you get one good run and you're ready to go back and race 100 more times."

7:17 a.m. | Final day

It's getaway day at Indy. Yes, the trade show has its final day (with the show floor closing an hour earlier at 4 p.m.), but the prime business tends to get done Thursday and Friday with the Saturday crowd, shall we say, often concerned more with filling swag bags than anything else.

It was a late night for those attending the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series on Friday with champion Ricky Thornton Jr. and other series regulars honored. Wrapping up the show after 11 p.m. was the presentation of the Mike Swims Award to Floridians Al Varnadore of East Bay Raceway Park and four-time tour champ and longtime Lucas Oil sponsoree Earl Pearson Jr., who was emotional about a visit to the Lucas Oil mansion to see an apparently ailing Forrest Lucas, the founder of the Lucas Oil Products empire.

We've got some interviews in the can with Kyle McFadden putting a Christmas bow on the show's final day. Look for Daulton Wilson shifting his base of operations to Kentucky, Brenden Smith's recommitment to the Lucas Oil circuit along with briefs on the Koehler brothers, Drake Troutman and more.

Editor's note: Reporting by DirtonDirt.com staffer Kyle McFadden along with other DirtonDirt.com contributors and staffers (some credited specifically); remote assistance from staffers Todd Turner, Kevin Kovac and Aaron Clay.