National notebook
Notes: Bronson in for long haul with WoO
Kyle Bronson (jacynorgaardphotography.com)
In his first full-time run at the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series, Kyle Bronson has put himself into position as a title contender. When the series returns to action May 19 at Marion Center (Pa.) Raceway, the 32-year-old Brandon, Fla., racer finds himself second in in the series points chase, 18 points behind leader Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C.
While Bronson has opened the season solidly with a top-five finish and four top-10s among six starts, he knows it’s only a small portion of the WoO slate with more than 35 races to go. That’s where his national touring experience comes into play for the former Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series regular.
“The car’s been really good,” Bronson said. “Everything’s been going good and pretty smooth. But this deal is long. I’ve raced Lucas for four years, and I know it’s a long season, and there’s a lot of races to go.”
That’s why his focus isn’t on points racing but on looking for his third career World of Outlaws victory.
“We can’t give up," Bronson said. "We just need to keep working. I put myself in a bad situation at Talladega (Short Track), and I felt like we should’ve came out with the points lead. But a couple of contact things kind of messed our weekend up. Overall, our car has been extremely fast, so we’re not worried about the points. We’re going to go out and win some races and let the rest take care of itself.”
Bronson, whose first career Super Late Model victory came in 2014 WoO action at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., hopes to carry his early-season momentum into the tour's Northeastern swing that begins at Marion Center before heading to Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway (May 20), Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y. (May 23) and Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio (May 25-27). But Bronson knows first-hand how quickly things can change and the difficulty of maintaining momentum.
“This stuff is so tough,” Bronson said. “I remember as a kid going to East Bay in the grandstands and watching Billy Moyer win four races in a row and then miss the next (night's feature). It’s so crazy. This deal is so tough, so you never underestimate your competitors because everybody’s working, and the one second you feel like you got it figured out, the next guy works harder than you and beats you.”
It's not only the competitors that make racing with the World of Outlaws a season-long grind but also the cross-country travel. One element of the season that eases that grind for Bronson is having one of his best friends on tour, Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill.
“It’s good to travel up and down the road with somebody,” said Bronson, whose equipment is owned by Wayne and Shirlene Hammond. “This stuff right here is grueling, driving up and down the road across the country. People don’t realize how hard that is sometimes. It always makes it more fun when you go up and down the road with your buddies and have a good time and really enjoy your life doing this.
“At the end of the day, though, it’s all about winning. You can run 10th, and you’re miserable the next day. It’s still pretty cool getting to do this with a lot of your buddies, and I’m blessed to get to say that we do it.”
Another factor that helps ease that grind is racing for big paydays and purses throughout the season. Those purses, including the $25,000 finale set for Sharon Speedway's May 25 event, are something Bronson appreciates, especially when he’s running toward the front of the field.
“Any time you can race for good money, it’s awesome,” Bronson said. “People have to put a lot of work in to let us do that. I’m very appreciative of that, and when you race for a living like we do, any time you get to go race for a big payday, it makes your life a whole lot easier when you run good.”
He'll be taking it one race at a time in trying to wrestle the lead from Madden and remain a series contender throughout the season.
“You just have to give it 120 percent and work as hard as you can, never let your guard down and work hard for the next one," Bronson said. — Mike Warren
Spoon River’s beginnings
Lots of ideas regarding auto racing are suspect, but the construction of Spoon River Speedway began with a doozy.
When Morey Denney, prompted by a driver’s boycott of Peoria Speedway because of tire rules, suddenly made plans to build a rival dirt track on the family's longtime "old home" land near Canton, Ill., his brother Gerald was a bit more than skeptical.
"That's the most stupidest idea you've ever had," Gerald told his younger brother. Or so the family tale goes, recalls current Spoon River promoter Brad Denney, Morey's son and Gerald's nephew.
Gerald relented a few days later, telling Morey if he got the property rezoned he'd support the idea. In 1982, Morey the track and soon enough Gerald might've been regretting the decision of converting farmland.
"In the meantime we had the best beans we've ever had and Gerald out there on the tractor, crying," Brad Denney recalled. "I don't know that he was crying, but that's how the story goes."
Of course the high-banked 3/8-mile oval — a dramatically different style track than most of the fairgrounds Illinois quarter-mile tracks — became a long-running part of Denney family life with Morey promoting the track from 1984-2009 and Brad taking over from his dad over the last 14 years. The track mostly had Limited Late Model events for many years before becoming a fixture on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals circuit in 1995 and now hosting Illinois Speedweek events on the Castrol FloRacing Night in America, the track's richest-ever events. Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., won his third career Spoon River feature on Wednesday, pocketing $23,023 for his second triumph on the Castrol tour.
Both Morey and Brad Denney are winners of DIRTcar's prestigious Bob Memmer Award for their promoting success, but actually the Denney family wasn't the first to promote the track. In 1983 four partners — Ray Walden, John Gardner Sr., and the father and son Sam and Jim Sandusky — completed work on the track and ran it one season before they lost the lease in a financial snafu (an issue regarding the "fine print" of the contract regarding liens, Jim Sandusky recalls).
Morey Denney intended for the track layout to run north-south to avoid having sun in the driver's eyes in evening events, but the first lessees ended up shifting the oval east-west, using a natural ravine that became part of the backstretch and turns one and two.
Jim Sandusky, the lone surviving member of the original partners, said the high banking of the track was Ray Walden's idea, and partners wanted a "rebel" image of recreating a more Southern-style track and called it Dixie Speedway, borrowing the name of the famed Swims family oval near Atlanta, Ga. Sandusky himself had raced at Tennessee's Atomic Speedway in the late 1970s and remembered banking "something that none of us Yankees had seen before," he said with a laugh.
So the high-banked track opened in 1983 with Late Model stars Ray Guss Sr., Fred Strube and Mike Chasteen among the competitors with racing on Saturdays and Sundays. Alas litigation developed out of the financial issues — "lawyers were involved," Sandusky said — and even the bankrolling of a silent partner and sprint car team owner from East Peoria couldn't save the partners.
The Denneys stepped in a year later in 1984, renaming the track Spoon River Speedway. Hall of Famer Roger Long won that season's first Late Model dash and heat race while Jeff McKay was the track's first Late Model feature winner and Mike Mullvain the first division champion under the track-owning family. — Todd Turner
Odds and ends
National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Larry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., is the latest driver to join NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers list. The late short-track standout was a five-time NASCAR Weekly Series champion while winning 202 of 289 asphalt starts in addition to his immense success on dirt. ... Facing a diagnosis of liver disease, Matt Latta of Conneaut Lake, Pa., has shelved his plans for follow RUSH's Crate Late Model tour in 2023, the team announced. Latta still plans to compete but is trying to cut back on preparation to spend more family time. Latta told DirtonDirt.com he expects to know more details about his health after testing at the Cleveland Clinic. ... Ricky Thornton Jr. and his SSI Motorsports team took his hauler and race car to Martinsville (Ind.) High School earlier this week for the school's shop classes. ... A longtime crew chief, engine builder, shock and spring manufacturer will be honored June 30 at MRP Raceway Park in Williamsburg, Ohio, with the inaugural Dewayne Ragland Memorial. The night's modified event pays $2,500-to-win and extra contingencies are being collected. Ragland, founder of the American Modified Series, died Jan. 28, 2022.
Editor's note: Updates with Matt Latta details.
