They are members of a select group, just 16 guys — all Midwesterners, ranging in age from 17 to 65 — who spent the past five-and-a-half weeks practically living at dirt tracks. | Slideshow

Seven crew members, four drivers, three officials, one media member and one fan — that’s the list of people with perfect attendance on the 2014 UMP DIRTcar Summernationals, which began June 12 at Kankakee (Ill.) County Speedway and ended July 19 at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio. Each of them MORE

Al Purkey never made any big announcement that he was retiring from driving race cars. He just quietly faded away from the Dirt Late Model scene following the 2011 season and, after a couple years dabbling in open-wheel modified competition, confirmed the end of his very successful career earlier this year with a short post on his Facebook page.

“Well, it’s official now,” Purkey wrote on April 5 to his Facebook friends and followers. “I am retired from racing. Sold my mod today complete MORE