Another Birkhofer

Fans at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway have long seen a Birkhofer in victory lane. But this time it was different.

Instead of retired Hall of Fame racer Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, spectators saw 23-year-old Cruz Birkhofer, Brian’s son, reach victory lane for the first time. He led all 25 laps from outside the front-row at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds quarter-mile layout for a $2,000 victory in the Sheet Metal Showdown.

“That’s my first win in anything,” Birkhofer said in victory lane. “I can’t describe it.”

He outran veteran racer Andy Nezworski, the runner-up who briefly interrupted Birkhofer’s victory lane interview for a quick embrace and congratulations.

“I love it man, this is awesome,” Birkhofer said, his firesuit unzipped down to his waist during his victory lane celebration. “This is what I love to do.”

Brian Birkhofer was back in victory lane, too, as Cruz’s family, crew, friends and supporters joined him. He squeezed in thanks for them at the conclusion of his interview.

“I can’t believe I forgot to thank you guys. But I wouldn’t be able to do it without them,” he said. “Especially my dad. This is awesome.” — Done Right TV

Stemler’s big payday

Nine seasons ago Travis Stemler of Ionia, Mich., was getting the hang of Super Late Model racing, grabbing a midseason victory his rookie year at Crystal (Mich.) Motor Speedway. Now one of Michigan’s top dirt racers, Stemler’s victory Saturday at Crystal gave him his richest career payday.

Making the most of late restarts and outdueling Dona Marcoullier in the final laps, the 35-year-old Stemler grabbed an $11,000 triumph in his Anklam Racing Infinity Race Car. He told the fans in victory lane he planned on enjoying the win in the eighth annual Dan Salay Memorial, which moved to Crystal after being held in previous years at Merritt Speedway in Lake City, Mich.

“We’re going to celebrate and I want everybody in the stands to come celebrate with us,” Stemler said.

Stemler was mired outside the top five for the first 21 laps, but he began inching his way toward the front by the halfway point of the 50-lapper.

“I mean, when this track gets like this, this car really loves it,” Stemler said. “Once I found that little groove, everybody kept using up the cushion and I just dropped down a little bit. I could feel the time getting better and better. Those guys were getting tight and then loose. I said, ‘For $11,000, you gotta go for it.’ What a heckuva race between me and Dona at the end there.”

Marcoullier, the runner-up, gave Stemler all he wanted.

“(Marcoullier) did the slider and I got tight,” Stemler said, “so it was like, ‘Oh no! I just let this one go.’ I just told myself under caution I gotta get my groove back.” — IMCA TV and track reports

Troutman’s first WoO win

It was only a matter of time until series rookie Drake Troutman became a winner with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series. The 20-year-old Hyndman, Pa., driver made it happen Saturday at I-55 Federated Raceway Park in Pevely, Mo., in the St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff finale.

The triumph was the latest chapter in a career-changing month. Three weeks ago at Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Troutman bagged the richest win of his life in the $100,000-to-win Modified World Championship. He then turned his attention to the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, and wasted little time delivering Team22 Motorsports a win for the first time on the third night of the tour at Peoria (Ill.) Speedway.

But the ultimate goal was always to win World of Outlaws, and Troutman finally reached the mountaintop.

“Winning, you just get in a routine I guess, and the morale of everything’s up when you’re winning races, or whenever you get your first win,” said Troutman, whose I-55 victory was co-sanctioned by the Summer Nationals, his tour-leading third on that circuit. “All of us racers are just a bunch of head cases. If we sucked the night before, our confidence is down and it’s just tough. If you win the night before, you go into the next night like ‘This car is good, we feel good, everyone’s happy and in good spirits.’ It’s all performance-driven.”

Troutman overtook Mike Harrison just past halfway on a rough-and-tumble surface and grabbed the $20,000 victory. He managed his car well the rest of the way.

“My biggest thing is obviously still, I’m not going to try to go out there and run over anyone by any means,” Troutman said. “But just getting more aggressive, you know. I’ve always been the type that, I wasn’t going to take a lane if I didn’t know if I could for sure clear it. I’m still like that, but I just feel like I’m getting a little bit more aggressiveness out of the car, which is helping me out.”

The 50-year-old Harrison, who has more than 600 career dirt racing victories, mostly in modifieds, was impressed by the youngster, congratulating him in victory lane.

“I’ve got to give it to him, he’s a hell of a young racer and he’s got a very bright future ahead of him,” the runner-up said. — Spence Smithback

Entering the weekend, Bobby Pierce had done everything at I-55 Federated Raceway Park in Pevely, Mo., except win with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series.

He made his second start with the series at Pevely in 2010 at just 13 years of age. He’s gone to victory lane with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, the MARS Championship Series and in local competition. And Friday, the Oakwood, Ill., driver led all 40 laps of the opening night of the St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff to round out his resume at I-55.

After winning his heat race and drawing the outside front-row starting spot for the feature, Pierce got out in front and looked to be on his way to his fifth World of Outlaws win of the year early on as he pulled away from polesitter Cade Dillard. Pierce eventually stretched his lead to more than four seconds, but Ryan Gustin got rolling and cut Pierce's margin to less than a second. Gustin briefly pulled alongside before a lap-39 spin for Tristan Chamberlain reset the field for a two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. Pierce took advantage of the clean track to drive away to the 18th overall Late Model victory of his incredible 2025 season.

“I was nervous, but I was pretty nervous before the caution came out, too,” said Pierce, who earned $12,000. “I didn’t know where to go, I saw Ryan under me there right before that caution came out. I tried to get back to the bottom quickly and we did. It was a tough racetrack, very tricky to drive. I didn’t know, sometimes being in the lead, it’s tough.”

Gustin ended up losing the second spot to Tim McCreadie, his chance to overtake Pierce halted by the late caution flag in the first of two weekend events co-sanctioned by WoO and its little brother Summer Nationals.

“We had him kind of set up,” Gustin said. “I showed him the bottom there and then he peeled off the cushion. Felt like we finally got him where we wanted him and then the caution came out. It is what it is, we’ll just keep working on this thing to get it a little bit better and hopefully we can finish a couple spots better tomorrow.” — Spence Smithback

Erb ends drought

Last year’s DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Tyler Erb racked up 11 victories, including six of the first eight on the grueling circuit. Erb’s self-proclaimed Fun Tour was lucrative and, well, fun.

Through seven races this season, the New Waverly, Texas, driver who pilots the Ohio-based Best Performance Motorsports Rocket Chassis was winless with a single top-five finish. Not so fun.

“When you don’t win,” Erb said Thursday at Lee County Speedway, “it sucks.”

But it was Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa, hosting the Summer Nationals for the first time, that gave Erb his first series triumph of 2025. The 28-year-old Erb blasted around polesitter and race-long leader Christian Hanger exiting turn four on the 19th lap, leading the rest of the 30-lapper for a $5,000 payday and his 16th career series victory.

He credited technical assistance from his sponsor Keyser Manufacturing and a relaxing off-day at the home of former racer Brian Birkhofer and his family for helping him reset.

"I haven't been doing what I need to do, like, it's pretty simple. I need to just drive the (crap) out of it and when it's my night, it's my night,” Erb said in victory lane. “I've just been getting frustrated searching for something that I'm probably never gonna have. I know what this car is good at and I know how to do it good and tonight was a perfect example. Just pound the cushion — and really I could peel off and on the bottom and be OK, too.”

He’s glad to be back on the winning track.

“Last year we started off so good that I think everyone just thought we were gonna start winning and it's not easy,” he said. “All these guys are good, you know, we didn’t do it again to prove anything. I still just want to win races.

“It’s a very cool track. I've never been here and most Iowa tracks are really up to my liking. So this one, it definitely ranks up there.” — Staff and series reports