Weekly Notebook presented by FK Rod Ends
Notes: Megatext, support boosts South Dakotan
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt managing editor
Mike Stearns (Jamie Laine photos)
Driving a 2016 Longhorn Chassis for a team that’s 1,500 miles from the chassis manufacturer’s home base in North Carolina, Mike Stearns realizes that support for his 9-year-old Late Model was a shot in the dark.
“I’m nobody out in South Dakota with a 2016,” the Hecla, S.D., driver said. “I mean, what do you expect?”
Nevertheless, Stearns gave it a shot, making a few overtures to Longhorn folks before he was finally connected with chassis specialist Matt Langston, who has been working with the company since virtually the beginning.
Not long after Stearns made contact with Langston, his phone buzzed with the arrival of a text message. Not just any text message. A “humongous text message” containing a virtual archive of information on Longhorn’s legacy cars, a lengthy copy-and-paste that required repeated scrolling to reach the end. It didn’t break Stearns’s smartphone, but he was impressed it came through in a single missive.
“I'm actually kind of surprised that you can even send that much in one, honestly,” Stearns said.
Langston’s information, along with support from Brian Diede of Shocks by Hammer and his car owner and sponsor Warner Holt of Holt Ranch, helped Stearns make his older car about as fast as any other WISSOTA driver in the Dakotas.
The 44-year-old Stearns, who last season added Late Model racing to a successful modified career that includes a 2013 WISSOTA championship, has clicked off five Late Model victories, captured the Miller (S.D.) Central Speedway Late Model crown and earned the biggest victory of his career with a $5,000 Dacotah Rumble triumph at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, S.D., on the Repairable Vehicles.com Tri-State Series.
“All that technical stuff was awesome to get from Matt because it's good to have the measurements and that kind of stuff just so if you do wreck something, you put stuff back on the car and you know what's right,” Stearns said.
Winning in the Late Model isn’t a surprise considering the success of Stearns in modifieds — he’s got more than 110 victories in the division and is nearing 20 overall track championships in his career — but Stearns wasn’t certain Late Models would be in his future.
"I always said before I quit racing,” Stearn said, “I'd like to drive a Late Model and put a good effort forth in a Late Model and just see what we could do.”
Fielding his own Late Model likely would’ve required Stearns parking his modified, but an opportunity came up last year when Diede was stepping away from the Late Model he co-owned with Holt, whose Holt Ranch sponsored Stearns and Diede. Initially they asked Stearns to buy out Diede, but it wasn’t feasible with Stearns continuing his own modified operation.
“Our resources were all tapped obviously, so I just told them I appreciate the offer, but there's no way we can make it work,” Stearns said. “Well then, Warner decided to just buy out Diede's half and have me drive it anyway. So that's kind of how that all went down and it was thanks to a very good sponsor, obviously, and then thanks to Brian for having a little faith in me.”
Stearns climbed in the vintage Longhorn in July and began getting accustomed to the Late Model, posting five top-five feature finishes among 17 appearances amid another successful modified season of 16 victories. In the offseason, Stearns and Diede made sure they’d get more of the 9-year-old Late Model in 2025.
“We ended up finding that the rear end was bent in it,” Stearns said. “So we put a new rear end tube in it and Diede went through all the shocks and set everything back to standard (and) put everything back together and we just started racing this year and the thing's been like super consistent. I don't always feel like we're the fastest car at the track, but I feel like one of the most consistent cars.
“We gained some experience, got a little confidence and you make moves that you normally wouldn't have. It's just worked out really well for us this year.”
The success of Stearns is a benefit for Diede, too, and his Shocks by Hammer business.
“I’m a little bit of a guinea pig with him I suppose, per se, but we don't do anything crazy,” Stearns said. “We kind of try to stay close to baseline, but it's just a learning deal for all of us. We definitely gained confidence and a couple of wins will do that for a guy, too, obviously, so it’s been good.”
Amid his two-division assault in 2025, Stearns captured his first Late Model feature May 30 at Brown County and has added four more while ping-ponging between divisions, or sometimes running both cars the same night.
“It’s a different animal than the modified,” Stearn said. “I’ve got a lot more respect now for the guys that double-class, you know, whether it's the mod and the Late Model, or Late Model and anything else. Just the Late Models are a whole different animal. I don't know if it's the tire and the traction they have and all that, you can drive the hell out of them things, and you can’t do that in every class.”
Stearns has had a good time in the full-fender division.
“After we won the Rumble in Aberdeen, which was a huge race in Aberdeen, pays $5,000 to win and we won that. And I said (to Diede), ‘I haven't won five Late Model races in my life and I won the Dacotah Rumble. That's pretty cool. And so that was definitely a feather in our cap for this year and that's the biggest race I've ever won in mods or Late Models, so that was pretty cool.”
Making the most of his success in either division is a challenge.
“It's funny, like, the Late Model's been good this year and I feel like we're competitive and when we go to the racetrack, we got a shot to win, but for whatever reason I just have the mentality that the Late Model is secondary to our modified program. I don't know if that's just because of the amount of years that I've done it,” he said. "I'm kind of happy with doing both right now, but I do probably realize that it is probably taken away from one or the other on any given night. So if you're gonna be serious about one, you would definitely have to back down the other one a little bit.”
For now, Stearns has three two-division opportunities to compete near home most weekends — at Brown County, Miller (S.D.) Central Speedway and Casino Speedway in Watertown, S.D. — but a potential ownership change at Miller Central “could throw a wrench in our program” and leave him looking for another Saturday night track.
He hopes the Late Model is part of his racing future.
"We're making due with an older chassis, which is very cool to us. We get a kick out of that (and) it gives us a lot of pride, I guess, to know that we can compete with these guys that have new equipment,” Stearns said. “It sometimes makes you wonder, if I had brand new stuff, would that be the little bit of edge that we'd feel like we're the fastest car at the track every night? I don’t know.”
Weekly highlights
• Earning $1,200, Eric Pollard of Peosto, Iowa, won Aug. 28’s portion of the Yankee Dirt Track Classic at 300 Raceway in Farley, Iowa. The second night of action at the event, previously a major Dirt Late Model race, rained out.
• Sam Seawright of Rainsville, Ala., earned a $6,025 victory in a Labor Day Super Late Model special Aug. 31 at Duck River Raceway Park in Wheel, Tenn.
• After capturing Aug. 30’s Limited Late Model feature at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway, Brian Booze of Greencastle, Pa., took a knee in victory lane and proposed to girlfriend Annette. She said yes and Booze also wrapped up the track title.
• Hometown driver Eddie Kirchoff swept the Late Model division at Gillette (Wyo.) Speedway’s three-race East-West Clash on Aug. 29-31.
First things first
Recent first-time occurrences at the dirt track:
• Winning Aug. 30 at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., 16-year-old Luke Morey of Denver, N.C., earned $3,000 for his first career Super Late Model victory.
• Luke Clements, 22, of Boiling Springs, S.C., notched his first 602 Crate Late Model feature Aug. 31 at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C. He’s the nephew of former Cherokee champion and longtime NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Jeremy Clements.
Weekly news briefs
• Five Super Late Model drivers met Tri-City Raceway Park’s Perfect Attendance Challenge this season and will receive a free season pass and free registration for the 2026 season, the Franklin, Pa., track announced. The drivers: Ryan Scott, Chevy Scott, Darrell Bossard, Josh Ferry and Brian Huchko.
• In an Aug. 31 attempt to break the track record, David Hilliker of Midland, Mich., crashed his outlaw-style Super Late Model in turn one. "Thank God for safety equipment and a special thank you to the crew at Crystal Motor Speedway for getting to me so fast," Hilliker wrote on his Facebook page. "It was definitely an ‘Oh s---’ moment when I was in the air." Hilliker's sideboard-clad car is always among the fastest over the years at Michigan's outlaw events.
• Latrobe (Pa.) Speedway plans on honoring late technical inspector Chris Piper with a special race for the four-cylinder division on Sept. 20. Wyatt Piper will lead a salute to his father and a basket raffle is planned with all proceeds going to the Piper family. Piper died unexpectedly Aug. 24 at age 53.
• The Red River Valley Fair Association will take over operations of Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, N.D., in 2026 after promoters Jake and Sharnel Bitker, along with Nick Skalicky, stepped away. The new promoters announced plans for improving the fan experience and amenities, lower admission prices and free admission for children 12-and-under. The track is regularly on the Northern LateModel Racing Association schedule and in 2023 hosted a World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series event.
• Winder-Barrow Speedway is planning a Sept. 27 James Foster Memorial to honor the late crew chief and team owner. No details have been announced.
• Clarksville (Tenn.) Speedway has added a Sept. 20 special event for 602 Crate Late Models. The Charles "Chico" Zimmerman Memorial pays $2,093-to-win. The former Late Model racer died Feb. 13, 2024, at age 48.
• Miller (S.D.) Central Speedway owner and promoter Dale Hargens announced at the Aug. 15 season finale that he doesn’t plan on operating the track in 2026 and the 40-acre facility was listed for sale earlier this year. The half-mile track has hosted regular WISSOTA-sanctioned Late Model events in recent seasons.
Weekly points
DIRTcar (Supers): Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., has 2,437 points to lead Tyler Erb (2,256) and Bobby Pierce (2,164).
IMCA (Limiteds): Zach Zeitner of Bellevue, Neb., has 785 points to lead Logan Veloz (781) and Kale Kosiski (772).
USRA (Limiteds): Lucas Peterson of Stockholm, Wis., has 5,523 points to lead Jason McFadden (5,239) and Cade Nelson (5,093).
WISSOTA (Limiteds): Tyler Peterson of Hickson, N.D., has 1,617 points to lead Chad Becker (1,548) and Kevin Burdick (1,524).
American All-Stars (Crates): A.J. Hicks of Willard, Ky., has 560 points to lead Ronnie Martin Jr. (550) and Justin Williams (546).
Crate Racin’ USA (602 Crates): Brett White of Kosciusko, Miss., has 697 points to lead Devin Whatley (686) and rookie Jarrett Jones (682).
Crate Racin’ USA (604 Crates): David Williamson of Seminary, Miss., has 690 points to lead Brady Walton (681) and Ben Davis (676).
DIRTcar (Crates): Denny Woodworth of Mendon, Ill., has 1,403 points to lead Dakota Ewing (1,345) and Chase Wilson (1,247).
RUSH (Crates): Jason Genco of Frewsburg, N.Y., has 1,332 points to lead Jeremy Wonderling (1,327) and Breyton Santee (1,320).
Ultimate (Crates): New leader Kolbe Kimbrew of Grafton, W.Va., has 492 points to lead Chandi Currence (489) and Noah Whited (385).
Upcoming weekly specials
Among non-touring and independent special events coming up for Late Models at dirt tracks around the country:
Gondik Law Speedway, Superior, Wis. (Sept. 3-6): The XR Showdown in Souptown opens four days of action with $2,300-to-win Late Model events all three nights of the 37th annual Northern Nationals.
Freedom Motorsports Park, Delevan, N.Y. (Sept. 5): The 10th annual Mike DuClon Memorial pays $2,058-to-win for Crate Late Models as part of the sprint car-focused Fall Classic.
River Cities Speedway, Grand Forks, N.D. (Sept. 5-6): The 19th annual John Seitz Memorial puts $9,200 and one of WISSOTA’s most prestigious trophies up for grabs. The NLRA season wraps up with a Sept. 4 weekend opener.
Thunderbird Raceway, Muskegon, Mich. (Sept. 5-6): The Rolling Thunder weekend features multidivision action with Super Late Models chasing a $2,000-to-win purse.
Gallitan Speedway, Belgrade, Mont. (Sept. 5-6): Late Models are on the card for the second night of the Big Sky Supernationals.
Raceway 7, Conneaut, Ohio (Sept. 6): The eighth annual September Shootout pays $5,000-to-win for Super Late Models.
Hummingbird Speedway, Reynoldsville, Pa. (Sept. 6): The Super Late Model Shootout at the Dirty Bird Bash pays $4,000-to-win and $500-to-start. The main event is 35 laps and a King of the Hill competition is planned.
Sycamore Speedway, Maple Park, Ill. (Sept. 6): Limited Late Models battle for a $1,500 payday in 25-lap sections of a 50-lap feature.
Hollis Speedway, Heflin, Ala. (Sept. 6): The Founders Day Memorial event includes a $1,500-to-win program for Limited Late Models.
