Ask just about any current Late Model driver from the state of Iowa who comes to mind when talking Dirt Late Model racers from their native Hawkeye State and Brian Birkhofer’s name is bound to work its way into the conversation. And rightly so. The star from Muscatine is a two-time World 100 winner (2002, ’12), has 17 Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series victories, seven World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series wins and is a 12-time winner with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.

He’s a bona fide star MORE

Anyone who has traveled regularly knows all too well the pitfalls that can accompany life on the road. Most well-worn travelers have their favorite yarns to spin, stories of life on the road that seem to grow taller each time they’re told.

My grandfather never missed a chance to tell the tale of the night he and his brother stayed in a sketchy hotel in Kentucky after attending a steam engine show. If I heard the story about the lady’s dirty undergarments found under the bed once, I heard it a MORE

In light of Chris Ferguson’s disqualification after apparently winning Aug. 6's Ultimate Southeast Series race at Virginia Motor Speedway, I’m reminded of the relatively few instances in which my own race team has been disqualified from competition.

Twice we have been disqualified for using the wrong tire. In 2017 we had a Hoosier 1300 compound on one corner during time trials for a Southern All Star race at Southern Speedway in Milton, Fla. It was my fault completely. In fact, my brother and MORE

Every sport has it own unique set of unwritten rules.

Baseball may have as many as any, after all, America’s pastime has been around in some form since 1845 (The first recorded baseball game was in 1846 at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, N.J.). One of the first things to come to my mind that baseball players are supposedly not to do is walk across the pitcher’s mound. I get it, the mound — for the day at least — is the pitcher’s domain. It’s where he does his work and most feel like MORE

You’d be surprised — well, actually maybe you wouldn’t — at how many times I’ve been walking out of a racetrack after watching a ho-hum main event only to overhear someone raving about what a great race they just witnessed.

I don’t want to thumb my nose at any particular event, because we’ve all seen our share of snoozefests all over the place, even at tracks that have a great reputation for putting on quality, exciting programs. In 2017 my first trip to Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway — MORE