Volusia Speedway Park
Take Five: McDowell sees brief racing hiatus
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Dale McDowell at last month's Sunshine Nationals. (joshjamesartwork.com)
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: Notably absent from this year’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., was Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., who skipped the miniseries for the second straight season after entering at least a portion of the week every year from 2009-24. McDowell’s younger brother and car owner, Shane, was in attendance with his wife Sara toward the end of the week and reported that they had planned to compete but they kept the cars in the shop because Dale, who will celebrate his 60th birthday May 18, is experiencing problems with his vision in one eye and is scheduled to undergo Feb. 25 cataract surgery to correct it. Dale already had the surgery on his other eye last year and now sees clearly with it, so Shane said he expects the same result with this month’s procedure. Shane added that Dale’s recovery time from the surgery will be not much more than a week and the team expects to make their 2026 debut in March 13-14’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series doubleheader at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., and Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn.
No. 2: Shane and Sara McDowell watched most of Volusia’s on-track action from just what might be the best vantage point in the place: the Hillbilly Hilton, that wooden structure just behind the backstretch wall entering turn three. Shane is a longtime friend of the building’s owner and builder, local David Blackwelder, and Shane invited me to check it out during Saturday’s B-mains. With an outside deck plus an enclosed “suite” and some other interesting features (a kitchen on the ground so Blackwelder can cook up food for his guests and a tube from the deck to a garbage can that’s actually a “used beer chute”), the Hillbilly Hilton is certainly unique. Blackwelder built its first incarnation some 20 years and added higher floors when billboards down the backstretch began to obstruct the sight lines from the original indoor area. I must say, it’s one heck of a view from over there, one that provides an entirely different perspective on the racing as the cars barrel past on the curved backstretch.
No. 3: What’s a good way to keep a reporter smiling during a long week of racing at Volusia? Puppies. Throughout the DIRTcar Nationals, almost every time I walked back to the Media Tent in the pit area I made sure to pass by the camper of a Brenden Smith supporter that was parked nearby with a small wire animal pen set up outside. Frolicking on the ground inside it were two adorable Australian Shepherd puppies. I couldn’t help stopping by to pet the little guys.
No. 4: This year’s Dirt Late Model portion of the DIRTcar Nationals enjoyed perhaps the best weather for an entire week that I can remember. Yes, the air did get chilly after the sun set (especially on Thursday and Friday), but there was barely any threat of rain all six days. There was a slight threat that suddenly popped up on Wednesday afternoon but only a few drops fell at the track; otherwise, the forecast was so clear that checking the radar — something everyone has done so many times at Volusia — wasn’t necessary.
No. 5: Condolences to the family of Pete Van Iderstine, the longtime owner of the yellow No. 32B Dirt Late Model who passed away on Saturday at the age of 89. A New Jersey native who relocated to Southern California in the early ‘80s and raced himself in the area before fielding cars for such West Coast racers as Chet Buckley, Clay Daly and Cody Laney, Van Iderstine was one of favorite people to chat with when I had the opportunity to see him at a race. His roots, of course, were, like mine, in Northeast big-block modified racing — he helped give big-block superstar Brett Hearn his start in the late-‘70s — so I always had plenty of old modified stuff to talk about with him. I’ll miss those conversations with Pete.
