Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Ivey debuting part-time ride at Screven
In a new feature appearing regularly on DirtonDirt, senior writer Kevin Kovac will offer readers five things worth mentioning from around the Dirt Late Model landscape (index to previous Take Fives):
No. 1: Trent Ivey of Union, Ky., will make his debut in a new ride during Feb. 5-7’s Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series-sanctioned Winter Freeze at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., as he climbs behind the wheel of a Super Late Model fielded by veteran racer Bryan Ridgeway of Sumter, S.C. Ivey’s father, former Southeast standout Petey Ivey, provided the news that Trent will team with Ridgeway to drive a Train Chassis, a fledgling brand built by Dirt Late Model competitor Benji Cole of Canon, Ga. The car, which will carry Ivey’s familiar No. 88, has been prepared by Cole and will be transported to Screven by the Georgian. It appears that the 31-year-old Ivey will run selected special events for Ridgeway throughout the 2026 season, which will also see Ivey racing his family-owned Super Late Model and a Crate Late Model owned by Gary Shurling.
No. 2: Screven’s scheduled tripleheader — topped by a $25,000-to-win finale on Saturday night — is expected to feature at least a half-dozen national touring series regulars who are looking to stay busy before Feb. 9-14’s DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. The group includes brothers Brandon and Cody Overton of Evans, Ga., Kyle Bronson of Brandon, Fla., Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, and Drake Troutman of Hyndman, Pa.
No. 3: Screven owner and promoter Redd Griffin posted a unique message on his track’s Facebook page on Saturday — a “Screven Snow Post by Redd.” With a winter storm bearing down on the area, Griffin announced that he would open the track’s gates Sunday morning to allow in “anyone who’d like to come out and snap some photos of all this snow.” The speedway and its grounds ended up covered with about 4 inches of snow, but I didn’t come across any pictures of Screven’s rare Winter Wonderland scene on social media.
No. 4: Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., recently revealed that the pick-and-choose schedule he’s pursuing this season will include some Georgia-Florida Speedweeks action. The 42-year-old superstar who’s tied for fifth on the all-time Speedweeks win list (he has 22 career victories, including four last year) plans two stretches of competition with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series: Feb. 26-28 at Ocala (Fla.) Speedway for the final three events of the track’s five-night Winternationals and March 4-7’s Super Bowl of Racing at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga. It will mark his least-active Speedweeks since 2022 — the last time he ran an independent schedule — when he entered just five events between Golden Isles and All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla.
No. 5: My Inside Dirt Late Model Racing column subject last week was Tyler Bachman, the manager of Volusia Speedway Park who’s currently in the midst of overseeing the DIRTcar Nationals. When I spoke with the 35-year-old native of Sarver, Pa., he gave me an update on the current inhabitants of Volusia’s famed Gator Pond in the lower pit area. “There were two gators in there (during the Sunshine Nationals). One’s 4-foot, the other’s like 8-foot,” he said of the reptiles that always draw attention from Volusia attendees. “There’s more in there when we’re not racing, but they tend to go away when we’re racing. With people around, you’re inconveniencing them I guess.”
