Inside Dirt Late Model Racing
Column: Team owner's rapid ascent to pinnacle
About a half-hour after the conclusion of Sept. 6’s World 100 at Eldora Speedway, after Bobby Koehler had been on the Rossburg, Ohio, track’s stage celebrating a victory in Dirt Late Model racing’s most prestigious race with his driver Ricky Thornton Jr., the 43-year-old car owner stood in front of the infield media center. He had stopped his walk from the postrace technical inspection back to his team’s trailer along the backstretch aisle of the pit area and was reflecting on what he was experiencing.
The moment was surreal for Koehler, a friendly, unassuming country boy from Mount Airy, N.C., who over the past three seasons has burst onto the scene as one of the sport’s biggest players. He had a hard time grasping the fact that, less than a year after sharing the joy of capturing the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship with Thornton on the same hallowed dirt-racing ground, he was back in the spotlight as the winning car owner of the World 100!
Two monumental accomplishments that so many Dirt Late Model participants will never realize, achieved in a span of 11 months. It was mind-blowing, a double triumph that had Koehler thinking back to when he was just dreaming of having a chance at enjoying such incredible success at the division’s highest level.
“The crazy part, if my wife (Jessica) was standing here with us — she’s back at the trailer — she’d know this,” Koehler said through a grin accompanying his distinctive Southern drawl. “Fifteen years ago, maybe 18 years ago, we'd walked through the pits at Volusia (Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.), and I'd say, ‘One day I want to own a national team.’ And she’d laugh. She said, ‘We’d never get the opportunity.’ ”
Well, that chance presented itself, and Koehler seized it. When superstar driver Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., was in need of a ride heading into the 2023 season, Koehler stepped up to give him one, and, in ’24, Owens ran Koehler’s equipment on the Lucas Oil Series. And midway through the 2024 campaign, when Thornton was suddenly released from SSI Motorsports while leading the Lucas Oil Series points standings, Koehler became a savior again by bringing on the talented driver from Chandler, Ariz., and assembling a second national team on the fly.
Now Koehler is spearheading a Dirt Late Model juggernaut. He fields a national program for the 34-year-old Thornton (the Lucas Oil Series points leader), a regional-national schedule for the 53-year-old Owens (leading the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series standings) and regional efforts for his sons Jordan, 23, and Evan, 17. It’s actually an even more ambitious racing team than he ever imagined, but his love of the sport is immense and, thanks to his successful business endeavors, he can afford to indulge.
“I just enjoy being part of racing, right?” Koehler said. “I enjoy doing it with the family, I enjoyed doing it with Ricky’s family and Jimmy’s family, the whole group. We’ve got a pretty good close fit with the families. I want the families incorporated. I’m big on family. I’m big for my sons, I’m big on Ricky’s kids.
“Of course, work’s been really good to us,” he continued. “We’ve been really blessed. We work a lot, and we work hard. But we play hard, you know? And to be able to do this when you didn’t ever think you’d have the opportunities is a miracle.”
Koehler and his wife made their financial success happen with hard work and devotion, building three companies — Ultimate Towing, Ultimate Environmental and a rental firm — over a two-decade period that at their height boasted more than 200 employees. They began to sell the companies off beginning in September 2022 with their Ultimate Environmental trash company, then the rental company in September 2023 and Ultimate Towing on Jan. 1, 2024.
The Koehlers are now, in a sense, retired at an early age, but they’re still active in business, including Bobby’s real estate dealings and the assistance he provides Jordan’s trash business, Capital Waste, and Evan’s desire to operate a concrete company.
Racing, meanwhile, became a love for Koehler when he was in his 20s and early 30s and competed himself, mostly in the Crate Late Model division at Friendship Motor Speedway, the Elkin, N.C., track he now owns under the new Ultimate Motorsports Park name. He had a brief run with a Super Late Model as well before a neck injury he suffered in a crash ultimately pushed him out of the driver’s seat, but it was the financial independence he realized with the sales of his businesses that led to him diving deep into the industry with his sons, Owens and, most recently, Thornton.
Landing Thornton has taken Koehler’s racing operation to the stratosphere. After watching Thornton battle through the challenge of assembling a team in the middle of a season to pull off last year’s Lucas Oil Series title, and come back this year with a campaign that now includes a $72,000 World 100 victory and has him in the driver’s seat for a second straight Lucas Oil crown, Koehler knows he made the right decision to expand.
Over the course of the past 15 months, Koehler has developed an appreciation of Thornton as a competitor and a person.
“Ricky’s a lot like I am as far as pressure,” Koehler said. “Pressure actually makes you perform better. In my (business) industry, what I do, the more pressure I have, I’m better. Ricky, when he’s under pressure, it’s hard to beat him.
“I guess probably the biggest thing I’ve noticed with Ricky is, people don’t know who Ricky is. You know, when I walk up, sometimes someone says, ‘Ricky drives for you? He’s kind of stuck up.’ Well, Ricky’s probably the most humblest person you’ve ever seen. They just listened to his interview and that’s what they’ll hear, but they don’t get a chance to meet him. He’s a big-hearted person.
“When he gets out (of the race car), his adrenaline is a-pumping,” he added. “He’s in a different mindset. But at the end of the day, he’s got a huge heart. He’s good to his family. He’s good to my kids. We try to return the same to him.”
Thornton, who turns 35 Sept. 28, has thanked Koehler repeatedly for saving his 2024 season and since then giving him all the resources he needs to excel. He hails Koehler for his calm leadership, a point that Thornton’s chief mechanic, Zach Frields, points out as well.
“I can't say enough about Bobby,” said Frields, a 44-year-old native of Davenport, Iowa, who has worked in Dirt Late Model racing throughout his adult life and joined Koehler Motorsports this season. “I mean, he’s put a lot of trust in me and a lot of faith in me to be the crew chief and, in the end, take care of everything. And he gives us everything we need.
“He doesn’t really say a whole lot. You know, he’s one hell of a businessman, and he knows what it takes to do what we’re trying to do. He’s a great guy. He doesn’t get excited. You’ll never see him scream and holler, and that’s what you need (in an owner) — somebody that’s just even keel. He doesn’t put pressure on you. He just kind of lets us do our thing. It’s great. I've done this for a living for 26 years and he’s great.”
Koehler has set up a formidable racing program for Thornton, one that offers RTJ, Frields and tire specialist Skyler Cooper support from afar while they’re on the road. (Owens oversees his team’s operation from his shop in Tennessee.) In that vein, Kenny Payton, who serves as crew chief for Jordan and Evan Koehler, and fabricator Bryce Nichols work in the team’s North Carolina shop and make life easier for Thornton and Co. That included the construction of the new Longhorn Chassis that Thornton drove at Eldora.
“While they was on the road on his last eight-week swing with Lucas, we brought a car in and Kenny and Bryce helped put the body and some stuff on it,” Koehler said. “Then when Zach, Skyler, Nick (Hardie) came back after this past swing, we buttoned it up, finished it up.
“I can say, the behind the scenes, as a car owner, I raced with my boys and I raced with Jimmy some (before hiring Thornton). I never … I’ve watched racing since I was 16, 17 years old, right? But I never knowed what went into these boys beating up and down the road. I never knowed how much they have to put into it. This ain’t an 8-to-5 job. These boys work from sunup to sundown. You know, here it is, it’ll be 12, 1 o'clock, when we get out of here. We’ll drive 10 hours back to Mount Airy. Them boys unload them tomorrow. They'll get washed. Monday morning, will be going back through cars, getting ready to go.
“This is a grind, so the back side of this is astronomical,” he continued. “And we got a pretty good team on the backside that helps support him when they’re off racing. Kenny’s on the backside taking care of the shop. Bryce is back home fabricating while these guys are gone on the road so when they come in we can keep them stocked up. It helps when you’re all on that same page with the chemistry.”
Koehler couldn’t be prouder of what Thornton has done since coming aboard.
“They bust their ass,” Koehler said. “I’ll give it to them, them boys, including Ricky. Last year we got the championship when most people counted us out, you know, and our goal this year is to win it with our house team, for a full year, from start-to-finish, so it’s us.”
As soon as the World 100 was over, Koehler was already thinking ahead to the Lucas Oil Series’s Big River Steel Chase for the Championship. Thornton is atop the points standings and locked in as one of the four drivers who will battle for the 2025 title — worth a cool $250,000 — over five races following this weekend’s regular-season-ending Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals at Knoxville (Iowa) Speedway, and Koehler has his eyes on the Oct. 17-18’s season-ending Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora.
“Being able to come out here (for the World 100) and run good and be consistent (with a new car), it sure helps going into this Final Four,” Koehler said. “When it goes to the Chase time, it sure makes you feel good that you got something you can get around here with.”
Koehler certainly wants this year’s Lucas Oil Series title, one that he and Thornton can fully call their own. But it’s also not do-or-die for him. That’s not his nature.
“I’m laid back,” Koehler said. “I don’t get excited. you know, because at the end of the day, what the man upstairs is going to let happen is what’s going to happen, right? So I’m OK with it. When we come for the Chase last year, I was OK with whatever happened. I don’t get excited.
“And at the end of the day, if we don’t, you know, there’s next year, right? Our goal is to come out and try our hardest every single week and know that, when we left, we gave it our best performance for the fans and for our crew. I’m gonna support Ricky with anything he needs, and Jimmy, I give Jimmy everything he needs, and Jordan and Evan, I want to make sure they got what they need, right?
“You know, I’m just above blessed,” Koehler concluded. “I’m blessed with good people. I’m blessed with what’s been given to me. I’m blessed with our team. And at the end of day, that's how I how I enjoy it and cherish the moments. I get to enjoy it with my family and just make good memories. To me, that’s priceless, if that makes sense.”
Ten things worth mentioning
1. When I saw a Facebook ad the other day announcing that Ricky Thornton Jr. was going to participate in Wednesday’s Salute to Knoxville Late Model Nationals at Leighton (Iowa) Speedway, for a few moments I was perplexed. I wasn’t surprised that RTJ would find another race to run, but where was this track? When was this event scheduled? I didn’t initially noticed the little “RC” notation in front of the race title, so I didn’t realize this was actually a track for remote control race cars. For a $20 race fee, RC racers will have the opportunity to race with Thornton the night before the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals begin at the big track about half an hour away from Leighton.
2. On Wednesday morning, Thornton posted a photo on Facebook of the No. 20rt RC cars that he’ll race at Leighton and they’re sharp: a Dirt Late Model and a winged sprint car that both carry a white, black and green color scheme.
3. With only Saturday’s 75-lap Knoxville Late Model Nationals finale offering Lucas Oil Series points, the four drivers who will go on to face off the Big River Steel Chase for the Championship are effectively locked in: Thornton, Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, and Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind. Fifth-place Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., at 220 points behind O’Neal, can’t overtake move into the top four because a driver can only make up a maximum of 135 points in a Lucas Oil points race.
4. The change in this year’s Lucas Oil Series Chase is the bonus points that are now given to the Big Four drivers for their number of wins in points races. After the Final Four drivers have their points zeroed out for the five-race playoffs, they’ll be given 10 points for each of their points-race victories in 2025. Entering Knoxville’s Saturday finale, Thornton’s 13 victories give him a significant starting edge over Davenport (six), Moran (five) and O’Neal (four).
5. I’ll note here that we made a mistake during our Dirt Reporters podcast this week when discussing the Lucas Oil Series points race. We mentioned that Knoxville’s preliminary features would offer Lucas Oil Series points to give Sheppard and sixth-place Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M., a final shot at cracking the Final Four, but in fact the 25-lappers aren’t points races. While the events qualify as points races with their winning purses raised to $10,000 (from $7,000) this year, the preliminary programs have a six-car invert for the heats that make them ineligible for points. (Only straightup formats for full-field prelim events offer points.)
6. Brian Shirley’s victory a couple months ago in the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway made me think back to his lone previous crown jewel win in 2006’s Knoxville Late Model Nationals. Shirley, 44, of Chatham, Ill., will compete in this weekend’s action coming off a runner-up finish in last year’s finale, but a glance at the finishing order from the 2006 Knoxville Late Model Nationals reveals that just one other driver in the feature that night — Matt Furman of Iowa City, Iowa, who finished 23rd — is expected to enter this year’s event.
7. Speaking of the turnover in Dirt Late Model competitors over the past two decades, go back to the inaugural Knoxville Late Model Nationals, in 2004, and peruse the 25-car feature field, and you’ll notice that there isn’t a single driver in that race who’s expected to enter this weekend’s action.
8. This year’s Knoxville Late Model Nationals marks 10 years since the 2015 event when Hall of Famer Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., issued a press release just before the start of the weekend’s opening night that he was retiring from full-time Dirt Late Model action. That news reverberated through the Knoxville pit area that day as it appeared Moyer would only race sporadically beginning in ’16. But Moyer has never really backed off — he entered 59 events in ’16, and from 2016-2024 he ran an average of 55 shows per season with a high of 72 in ’17 and a low of 32 in ’22. So far this year he’s competed in 43 events, won three times (pushing his total number of victories since 2016 to 34) and is leading the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series points standings. While he won’t return to his native home state to compete in this weekend’s Knoxville Nationals because he has the Comp Cams tour’s Cotton Pickin’ event at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss., on his agenda, the soon-to-be 67-year-old is still turning plenty of laps a decade after his retirement announcement had everyone in the Knoxville pit area and grandstands — and beyond — talking.
9. As Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., was racing to victory in last Friday night’s MARS-sanctioned Corn State Nationals opener at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway, he had twin signalers keeping him informed. His wife, Abby, signaled him from the infield stage on the homestretch with the couple’s young daughter, Wynn, draped on her back.
10. Two days after Ashton Winger of Hampton, Ga., captured Saturday’s World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series-sanctioned Billy Clanton Memorial at Senoia (Ga.) Raceway, I texted him to ask how his head was feeling in the wake of his unique celebration in which he smashed cans of the series title sponsor’s beer into both sides of his head. The 25-year-old responded that he hadn’t given himself a concussion. “I think I knocked something back right,” he joked. “I feel great.”
