DirtonDirt Dispatches
Dispatches: Chamberlain's richest victory, big weekend
Tristan Chamberlain in victory lane. (Ultimate HofA photo)
Among the latest notes and quotes from around Dirt Late Model racing on Memorial Day weekend, including Schaeffer's Spring Nationals and MARS Championship Series coverage (look elsewhere for most Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 coverage). Also find a listing of live-streaming video from specials around the country:
Big weekend
Sprinkling nearly 10 victories among his Super Late Model career, Tristan Chamberlain hadn’t yet enjoyed a true hot streak heading into the Memorial Day weekend.
But entering Sunday’s Ultimate Heart of America Series event at Mudlick Valley Raceway in Wallingford, Ky., the 17-year-old Richmond, Ind., driver will have a shot at his third victory of the holiday weekend.
Chamberlain captured Friday’s non-touring event at MRP Raceway Park in Williamsburg, Ohio, collecting $2,000, then on Saturday won the Ultimate tour event at 191 Speedway in Campton, Ky., for a career-high $5,000 payday.
“I’m pretty sure this is my biggest win to this day, five grand, so it’s pretty cool,” said Chamberlain, who made the most of an off-weekend from the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series. “It’s great to do it with the Ultimate (Series). I ran their series a bunch before in the past, so it’s great to get my biggest win with them so far.”
Chamberlain survived multiple restarts and bouts of lapped traffic to outrun Derek Fisher in the Salute the Troops 40.,
“The track ended up being really good in the feature. I'm guessing it was more towards the bottom, but it raced really well and the lapped traffic was definitely something to get by, but it was definitely a great” night, Chamberlain said. "I figured (Fisher) would be right on me. That lapped traffic, you had get through it one way or another. I knew on the restarts he’d be right on me, so I was trying to protect my lane right around the tires as much as possible.”
Chamberlain is grateful for all those helping him succeed — and perhaps grab a three-victory weekend.
“First off, I'd like to thank Mom and Dad. They’ve done everything for me and my sister as well, so they're, you know,a blessing to have as a family,” the young driver said in victory lane. “Then (team owners) Wayne and Holly Gibson and Braxton and the whole Gibson family, I'm pretty sure there's some more here. They gave me the opportunity to race for a living, so it's awesome to be able to do this.” — Series reports
Fusion’s first
Ashton Winger’s Friday victory at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill., was noteworthy for a variety of reasons. It marked his first victory of the season. His first on the MARS Championship Series. And perhaps most importantly for the long-term future of his Jeff Mathews Motorsports team, his first since the team debuted its one-off Fusion Race Car.
It’s a meaningful milestone for the 25-year-old Hampton, Ga., driver, his father and crew chief Gary Winger of GW Performance and Doug Stevens, the primary designer of the Fusion machine.
“It's been so long since I won, I'm a little out of practice. This is the first win with our cars we’ve been building, the Fusion Race Cars,” Winger said in victory lane, reeling off a long list of thanks for his father, Stevens, Mathews, his crew, family and sponsors. "I'm just really, really lucky to get to do what I love to do and come to awesome racetracks like this in front of all these awesome people.”
The Fusion has been a work in progress for Winger, who debuted the car late last season. The chassis is a virtual rebrand of the 007 Race Car that Donald McIntosh of Dawsonville, Ga., drove seven years ago, and Stevens has gone back to work with the Wingers. They’ve tinkered and adjusted with the suspension — and even completely rewelding the front end of the car — to get back on track after struggling in March.
With Winger leading 30 laps at Tri-City, it’s clearly heading in the right direction, and the Georgia driver, who is a former DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion, was glad to win in Illinois, what he called “my favorite part of the country to come race in.”
Winger’s first MARS victory came ahead of Jake Little’s best-ever series finish as he turned back the runner-up. Tires were critical for the winner, Winger said.
“The longer I kept going there,” Winger said, “I think my right-rear tire kind of come in and my right-front kind of gave up and I was really pushing bad (in turns one and two), especially on the cushion, and couldn't quite leave (the corner) like I needed to and then I'd have to overdrive my entry into three.”
Winger was partly at a loss for words in victory lane.
"I don't know man,” Winger said, punctuating his comments with an expletive. “Hell. We won. … I don't know what to say.” — From series and staff reports
Coming to fruition
As two longtime national touring Dirt Late Model racers, Boom Briggs and Tim McCreadie have been fast friends for decades.
They’ve spent their careers trading sliders on the track and busting chops in the pits afterwards. Briggs had always imagined joining forces with McCreadie someday, but it remained a mere idea for years with both men on their own separate paths.
Then came the end of the 2024 season. McCreadie, of Watertown, N.Y., was looking for a new home after his departure from Rocket1 Racing, while Bear Lake, Pa.’s Briggs was considering taking a step back from being a full-time driver. At that point, Briggs knew that “someday” had arrived.
“McCreadie’s only two hours from me, so he can be more involved, it’s more of a family atmosphere here,” Briggs said. “Me and Timmy have been friends a long time. We’re both getting older, and I’m the closest race team to his house. We’re friends, we’re family friends. We always talked about it, and I guess the timing was right.”
While Briggs had all the faith in the world in his driver and team, the first two months of an unexpected return to the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series didn’t come close to meeting expectations with two top-10s finishes in the first eight events.
After becoming one of the faces of the Longhorn Chassis brand during his previous tenure with Paylor Motorsports, McCreadie had spent a year struggling to get accustomed to a Rocket Chassis and find that same speed. Briggs has been a loyal Rocket supporter for much of his career and started the year with no plans to change course, but he knew the only way to get back into contention was to give his driver a machine he felt at home in. Thus, the Briggs Transport hauler rolled into Farmer City Raceway in April with a Longhorn in tow.
“That’s what Tim’s comfortable in it, he understands them,” Briggs said. “Tim right now is basically doing his own setups. Yes, we talk back and forth and stuff, but Timmy’s probably working harder than he has in 20 years and I think it’s paying off. Like I told him the other day, he’s more involved, he knows exactly what’s going on and his performance has paid off. He’s knocking on fourth in points now and he was sitting 10th. Tim can still get the job done.
“They did the switch to get Tim comfortable and got to where Tim could win races again. I still run my Rocket car; I’ve got no issues with Rocket. Mark Richards is a really good personal friend of mine. It was just a business decision.”
It took a while to get dialed in with the new car, but last week’s WoO trip to Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio, showed promise early in the night.
“I watched him in the heat race, and I can tell by watching him that he’s comfortable, he’s aggressive,” Briggs said. “I’ve got full faith in Tim McCreadie, I have for 20 plus years. The guy’s a good race car driver. Anybody you talk to in this sport, when Tim McCreadie is confident and comfortable, he wins races.”
When the dust settled in the Great Lake Showdown, Briggs found himself standing in victory alongside one of his best friends. But they weren’t done there.
The bid for a second-straight victory two nights later at Marion Center (Pa.) Raceway ended in catastrophe when McCreadie was collected in a pileup just before halfway, sending the crew into thrash mode to make repairs in time in time for the following night’s event at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway.
At Bedford, a heat race victory put McCreadie on the pole alongside series points leader Bobby Pierce, and McCreadie raced to a flag-to-flag victory.
“We were talking today, and he can’t remember the last time he won two races in a weekend,” Briggs said. “So to win two out of three against the No. 1 guy in the country, the sky’s the limit. What can he do? He put himself in position qualifying good, winning heat races. You win heat races, you start in the top four, the wins come.
“Bedford was a big deal. Bobby’s good, and Bobby started outside pole and we won. The biggest thing is Tim’s confidence is up. When his confidence is up, the sky’s the limit.”
While the World of Outlaws are on a month-long pause that resumes June 20-21 at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo., the Briggs Transport team plans Memorial Day weekend action Sunday at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa., for the $7,600-to-win Andy Kania Memorial, an unsanctioned event at one of the team's home tracks. — Spence Smithback
Streaming schedule
Among upcoming Dirt Late Model special and sanctioned events available via live streaming:
Thursday, May 22
• Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. (FloRacing)
Friday, May 23
• Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. (FloRacing)
• Schaeffer’s Spring Nationals at Sugar Creek Raceway in Blue Ridge, Ga. (FloRacing)
• MARS Championship Series at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill. (FloRacing)
• RUSH Crate Late Model Series at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, N.Y. (The Cushion)
• Malvern Bank East Series at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway (IMCA TV)
• Wabam Dirt Kings Tour at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour, Wis. (IMCA TV)
Saturday, May 24
• Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. (FloRacing)
• Scheaffer’s Spring Nationals at North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth, Ga. (FloRacing)
• East Alabama Motor Speedway Super Late Models in Phenix City, Ala. (TrackHub)
• MARS Championship Series at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway (FloRacing)
• Ultimate Heart of America Series at 191 Speedway in Campton, Ky. (Pit Row TV)
• Topless Outlaw Series at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. (Mad Speed TV)
• American All-Star Crate Series at Natural Bridge (Va.) Speedway (Dirt Rich TV)
• Malvern Bank East Series at Maquoketa (Iowa) Speedway (IMCA TV)
• Ohio Valley Late Model Dirt Series at Millstream Speedway in Findlay, Ohio (Great Lates Sprints TV)
• Wabam Dirt Kings Tour at Shawano (Wis.) Speedway (IMCA TV)
Sunday, May 25
• Schaeffer’s Spring Nationals at Duck River Raceway Park in Wheel, Tenn. (FloRacing)
• Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series at Crystal (Mich.) Motor Speedway (IMCA TV)
• MARS Championship Series at Spoon River Speedway in Banner, Ill. (FloRacing)
• Ultimate Heart of America Series at Mudlick Valley Raceway in Wallingford, Ky. (Pit Row TV)
• American All-Star Crate Series at Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Va. (Dirt Rich TV)
• RUSH Crate Late Model Series at Tri-City Raceway Park in Franklin, Pa. (The Cushion)
• Malvern Bank East Series at Dubuque (Iowa) Speedway (IMCA TV)
Monday, May 26
• American All-Star Crate Series at Ararat (Va.) Bull Ring (Dirt Rich TV)
• Ohio Valley Late Model Dirt Series at Atomic Speedway in Alma, Ohio (DIRTVision)
