Weekly Notebook presented by FK Rod Ends
Notes: Securing that elusive cardboard check
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt managing editor
Billy Henry (Jim Balentine photos)
With a $2,500 Crate Late Model payday on the line Aug. 1 at his home racetrack, Billy Henry of Saegertown, Pa., wasn’t sure he had what it took to outrun standout racer Dave Hess Jr. at Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio.
He’d beaten Hess in the dash, and then heard Hess’s interview saying that he didn’t want Henry get the jump on him in the 25-lap feature. Henry’s ears perked up.
“That kind of gave me a big confidence boost there,” said the 49-year-old Henry, Raceway 7’s reigning Crate Late Model champion. “That’s been my biggest downfall in racing all the years. I show up and I know these guys are really good and I'm like, I beat myself up that I'm not as good as them and my wife and kids are always like, 'Dad, you run just as well.’ And then once I passed him back. I thought, ‘You know what? I do have a car that is good enough to win tonight.’ ”
He was right.
Leading all 25 laps at the 4/10-mile oval, Henry captured his richest victory with the $2,500 in purse money along with an extra $400 for lap money and dash earnings.
"I've been pretty stoked all weekend,” Henry said in a phone interview two days after the victory. “The cardboard check has just evaded me for 30 years. I've been in contention to win big races with that kind of deal and something happened or I’d get a flat or just luck not my way.”
The driver with more than 30 career victories is enjoying a solid twilight to his career with nine of those victories in the last five seasons after he took a five-year break from Late Model racing. While rain has hampered 2025’s Raceway 7 season, he’s leading the points again while winning the only three completed features with four races remaining on the schedule.
Saying that “racing has been my passion my whole life,” Henry started in the pure stock division and moved to Limited Late Models by 1998, winning the 2004 division title at Raceway 7. Attempts to jump to Super Late Model racing never panned out, in part because of commitments to his towing business, so when Crate Late Model racing popularized nearly 20 years ago, he shifted to that division.
Before Friday, his biggest highlight came in 2012’s Fastrak World Championship at Beckley (W.Va.) Motor Speedway, when Henry made a 24th-to-third run in the season finale won by Max Blair, now a national touring standout. Henry posted weekend earnings of $10,000 and flirted with traveling more, but a few seasons later shifted to E-mod racing for a few seasons before an August 2017 work accident forced him to park his car in 2018.
Struck with a blow to the head while using a wheel polishing machine, it took 26 internal stitches, 19 staples and nine external stitches to patch him up. Doctors also found he’d had a previous concussion earlier in 2017 from a racing accident.
“It really affected a lot with me, honestly, like vision and reaction time and I tried racing the following year and my vision was blurry in the car,” Henry said. “I broke a motor in '18 and that was it.”
He figured it was likely the end of his racing career.
"I took the whole year off and a friend of mine called me one week and asked me to drive his pure stock — and that's all it took,” he said. “I went and won the heat race and ran very well in the race and, on my way home that night, my wife goes, ‘You're gonna buy a race car.' and I got on Racing Junk and started buying parts and getting everything put together again.
"If I would have just stayed home and never went back to the racetrack, I probably would have been OK, but ever since I was a little kid, my dad raced, my brothers, my uncle, my whole life. I wanted to be that guy that raced Late Models on the national level. I don't hunt, I don't fish, I don't golf. Racing has been my whole passion my whole life.”
The Covid-19 pandemic stretched his Late Model hiatus, but by 2021 he was back to winning again. Long gone are any dreams of becoming a full-time racer, but Henry gets satisfaction with a dozen or so starts a year between Raceway 7 and Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa.
“It's hard for me to race two nights a week, but running my business and stuff and now that I'm in my 40s, it's kind of harder on my body to get beat around two nights a week,” Henry said, but his time away from Late Models “gave me a lot more fire to come back” in recent seasons.
Fresh off winning the Dave Levesque Memorial, Henry is proud to have carved out a successful career doing what he loves.
“It makes me feel like I did accomplish what I wanted to accomplish with winning points and winning this race,” he said. “It might not seem a lot to some guys that have won $50,000 or $100,000, but to me I cherish every moment because I don't know how many more years I have (left).
“My body, I'm in really good shape and it just financially we're good and all that stuff, but it's just like I've accomplished everything I wanted to do. And I'm at that point in my age where it's gonna come to a point where I just hang it up, but at least I'm still competitive. If I wasn't competitive, then I would already be done.”
Confidence in his car and his support from crew and family keeps him going.
"I try to stay very humble because this stuff will crash in a minute,” he said. “So I'm very glad at my age that I'm still able to win races and show up anywhere and be a top-five car and be in contention to win.”
The next generation keeps him going, too. Prominent on Henry’s Facebook page is a victory lane photo with his grandchildren.
"That's kind of like a drive for me, too, is my grandson and my granddaughters, that they just love racing,” he said. “And being a grandpa now it really makes me feel good that Grandpa's still winning and they're in the photos, just like their mom and dad and aunt was when they were the same age.”
Weekly highlights
• Rallying from his 15th starting spot, Joey Tanner of Portland, Ore., captured Aug. 2’s Clair Cup at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., for $2,500 in purse earnings.
• Winning his first Late Model feature since 2012, hometown driver Doug Nigh scored an Aug. 2 victory at Maquoketa (Iowa) Speedway.
• First-year division racer Tyler Wolff of Fayetteville, Ark., swept Aug. 1-2 Late Model features at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.
• Festus, Mo.’s Griffaw family had a big night Aug. 1 at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill., with father Rusty winning the Super Late Model feature and son Cruz capturing the KidModz feature.
• Tyler Carpenter of Parkersburg, W.Va., had two Super Late Model victories Aug. 1-2, winning at Ohio Valley Speedway in Washington, W.Va., and Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio.
• Winning his third straight start at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, Lane Snook of Mifflintown, Pa., captured Aug. 2’s Limited Late Model feature over Devin Hart and Matt Murphy.
• Kyle Hardy of Stephens City, Va., had a two-victory weekend, winning Aug. 1 in Limited Late Model action at Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek, Md., and Aug. 2 in Crate Late Model action at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway.
• Winning Crate Late Model features Aug. 2-3, Denny Woodworth of Mendon, Ill., captured victories at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa, and Quincy (Ill.) Raceway.
First things first
Recent first-time occurrences at the dirt track:
• Winning Aug. 1 at Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade, Mont., Ted Hample of Billings, Mont., notched his first career Late Model victory. He’s the brother of late dirt standout Kelly Hample and uncle of Ty Hample, who finished fifth.
• Making his debut at Highland (Ill.) Speedway, Tyler Kuykendall of Warsaw, Mo., won the Super Late Model portion of Aug. 2’s Leaps of Love event.
• Bill Holmes of East Concord, N.Y., won his first McKean County Raceway feature in Aug. 1’s Crate Late Model feature at East Smethport, Pa.
Weekly news briefs
• Two individuals suffered minor injuries in an infield incident Aug. 1 were treated and released at a hospital after the races, Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway reported. During the KidModz feature, a car spun off the track and clipped a golf cart, knocking two people on the rear of the cart to the ground, according to photographer Rocky Ragusa. Medical personnel tended to the injuries and the individuals were taken to the hospital and released overnight.
• Davenport (Iowa) Speedway on Aug. 8 can vote for the first class of the track’s Hall of Fame. Four individuals will be selected from pre-1970 and four from post-1970. Fans can vote from a single driver from either era. The pre-1970 candidates: Shorty Bennett, Emory Collins, Red Droste, Jim Gerber, Ray Guss Sr., Benny Hofer, Danny Kladis, Dean Montgomery, Bill Starr and Ronnie Weedon. The post-1970 candidates: Brian Birkhofer, Bob Dominacki, Ray Guss Jr., Tom Hearst, Justin Kay, Gary Karres, Steve Kosiski, Gil Short, Rob Toland and Gary Webb. Ballot boxes will be at the pit shack and grandstand ticket booth.
• Path Valley Speedway in Spring Run, Pa., has indefinitely suspended Gunnar Walls of St. Thomas, Pa., for misbehavior that caused his disqualification during Aug. 2’s Limited Late Model program. Walls was penalized for confronting another driver and verbal abuse of John Winsett, the track co-owner said. Walls had been on probation after his reinstatement at the beginning of the season following a 2024 track suspension, Winsett said. In a statement to DirtonDirt, Walls said the track has a “personal vendetta” against him, contending officials didn’t provide him courtesy laps to change a flat tire and that “if you try to confront a driver, you’re immediately kicked out so (you) can’t even talk.”
• Georgetown (Del.) Speedway's Camp Barnes Benefit Stock Car Race, rained out on July 31 and rescheduled for Aug. 26, has landed presenting sponsorship from Millman’s NAPA Auto Parts. The event includes a $5,500-to-win Super Late Model event in the fundraiser assisted by the Delaware State Police.
• Six-time and reigning IMCA Late Model champion Cory Dumpert of Newman Grove, Neb., is eligible to return to IMCA action this weekend after serving a suspension for retaliating against another driver in July 25’s program at U.S. 30 Speedway in Columbus, Neb. The racetrack banned the 35-year-old Dumpert from racing for the remainder of 2025. He apologized for his behavior in a personal Facebook post.
• Big O Speedway in Ennis, Texas, was dark Aug. 2 because of staffing issues. Key personnel had health issues or were on scheduled vacations, according to co-promoter Bridget Moon.
• East Alabama Motor Speedway last week announced plans for the 53rd annual Alabama State Championships. Along with a $10,000 Rogers-Dabbs Crate Racin’ USA 604 Series event, Limited Late Models and 602 Crate Late Models will chase $7,500-to-win purses. More details on the Sept. 18-21 event will be announced, as well as details about this year’s National 100 for later in the fall. Last year’s Alabama State Championships drew 285 race cars overall.
• Calling it a “bittersweet” decision, Billy Knippenberg Jr. on Aug. 3 announced plans to end his promotions of Kankakee County Speedway in Kankakee, Ill., at season’s end after four years in the role. Knippenberg, who told DirtonDirt he didn’t want to reveal the reasons for his departure, said anyone interested in promoting the track next year can call him at (815) 955-1291. The track is dark Aug. 8 and 15 and plans to return to action with a MARS Championship Series event on Aug. 22. Aug. 29 and Sept. 5 events wrap up the season.
• Lake View Motor Speedway in Nichols, S.C., is gauging interest for a Run Watcha Brung event this fall for Super Late Models. See the track's Facebook page or message the track for feedback.
Weekly points
DIRTcar (Supers): Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., has 2,328 points to lead Tyler Erb (2,256) and Dennis Erb Jr. (1,882).
IMCA (Limiteds): Zach Zeitner of Bellevue, Neb., has 771 points to lead Kale Kosiski (762) and Cory Dumpert (756).
USRA (Limiteds): Lucas Peterson of Stockholm, Wis., has 4,225 points to lead Jason McFadden (3,934) and Cade Nelson (3,814).
WISSOTA (Limiteds): Tyler Peterson of Hickson, N.D., has 1,432 points to lead Kevin Burdick (1,361) and Devin Fouquette (1,342).
American All-Stars (Crates): Ronnie Martin Jr. of Buena Vista, Va., has 398 points to lead Justin Williams (389) and Darren Slone (342).
Crate Racin’ USA (602 Crates): Brett White of Kosciusko, Miss., has 694 points to lead Devin Whatley (679) and Cody Parson (674).
Crate Racin’ USA (604 Crates): Ben Davis of Poplarville, Miss., has 664 points to lead Sid Scarbrough (648) and David Williamson (624).
DIRTcar (Crates): Denny Woodworth of Mendon, Ill., has 1,107 points to lead Chase Wilson (999) and Brandon Sweitzer (966).
RUSH (Crates): Jason Genco of Frewsburg, N.Y., has 1,324 points to lead Jeremy Wonderling (1,306) and Davin Kaiser (1,299).
Ultimate (Crates): Chandi Currence of Clarksburg, W.Va., has 387 points to lead Kolbe Kimbrew (297) and Derrick Shaw (249).
Upcoming weekly specials
Among non-touring and independent special events coming up for Late Models at dirt tracks around the country:
Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway (Aug. 9): The Nathan Durboraw Tribute pays $4,100-to-win for Super Late Models with pure stocks and legends on the undercard.
Clarksville (Tenn.) Speedway (Aug. 9): The rain-postponed J.R. Knight Memorial pays $4,300-to-win for 602 Crate Late Models with $1,439 in lap money among other bonuses.
Madras (Ore.) Speedway (Aug. 9): The fourth Hunter Johnson Memorial features Late Models with lap money on top of a $3,500-to-win purse.
Mountain View Raceway, Spring City, Tenn. (Aug. 9): The Sam Williams Memorial pays $2,000-to-win for the track’s Sportsman Late Model division.
McKean County Raceway, East Smethport, Tenn. (Aug 13): The McKean County Fair races include Crate Late Models topping a three-division card.
Editor's note: Adds Madras purse.
