Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Super Duece team signing off
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: A Facebook post on Saturday brought the news that Super Deuce Racing — the family-centric Dirt Late Model team fielded by Leo Milus and several partners and best known for its long association with veteran driver Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa. — is “indefinitely suspending operations” after 16 years. A 67-year-old former resident of New York State who relocated to the Indianapolis, Ind., area in 1984, Milus gathered several friends to launch a special-event Dirt Late Model effort in 2010 that originally planned to go racing with then USAC and IndyCar racer Andy Michener. But with noted big-block modified crew chief Randy Kisacky of Johnson City, N.Y., enlisted to maintain the No. 2 machine, first Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del., manned its seat — and in August 2010 won a World of Outlaws Late Model Series feature at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway — and shortly thereafter the fan-favorite Stone became the mainstay driver of the car. Stone also captured a WoO A-main, among other successes, with the team in 2012 when he outran the late Scott Bloomquist for a Firecracker 100 preliminary victory at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., and developed a close relationship with Milus and his tight-knit crew through their years racing together. “Our love of racing — and especially for Dan Stone and his family — along with the friendships and memories built along the way will always remain,” Milus wrote. “We are incredibly proud of what we accomplished as a privately-funded team competing with great success up and down the East Coast in one of the toughest racing environments there is. However, as the Super Late Model landscape continues to evolve, the financial demands and growing sacrifices required of the family and friends who make up Super Deuce Racing have reached a point where we can no longer justify continuing.” Milus thanked many people who were involved with the team, noting he was “beyond grateful for every lap turned, every mile traveled, every late night in the shop and every person who stood beside us along the way. The memories will last far longer than the equipment ever could.”
No. 2: I can say that I witnessed much of the Super Deuce team’s story. When the effort debuted in 2010 with Elliott behind the wheel, I was working as the PR director for the WoO Late Model Series and covered the team’s WoO victory that season at Brewerton. I was there with the series as well for Stone’s WoO triumph at Lernerville and saw Stone run many races in the No. 2 over the past decade-plus. I always enjoyed talking with Milus, a friendly, easygoing guy with roots, like me, in the big-block modified division (hence his early collaboration with his longtime friend Randy Kisacky). Milus, his partners and everyone involved with the team were clearly in it for the love of racing, but they also embraced the challenge of competing on a high level and, for a relatively modest regional program, enjoyed some truly special highlights during what was a heck of a run in the sport.
No. 3: Dan Stone has raced on a limited basis with the Super Deuce team in recent years including last season when his best finish was a sixth on July 3 in a ULMS-sanctioned event at The Dirt Track at Genesee in Batavia, N.Y. Will he continue racing without Milus and Co.? He’s not sure. “As of now I don’t have anything,” Stone wrote in response to a text asking about his plans for 2026. “I know it’s late but maybe something will come along.”
No. 4: Here’s one more swamp cabbage soup mention in the wake of the weekend’s WoO-sanctioned doubleheader at Hendry County Motorsports Park in Clewiston, Fla. In a video posted to the WoO Late Model Series Facebook page on Monday, DIRTVision pit reporter Ashton Smythe took cups of the unique soup around the pit area and asked drivers, crew members and other series personalities to sample it. We already know Bobby Pierce’s opinion of the soup, which uses the “tender, nutty heart of the native Sabal palm tree” as its base, from Sunday’s Take Five; the video provides a bunch more takes. Several racers declined to even try the soup, including Daulton Wilson and Cody Overton. Several took one spoonful but didn’t go in for more. And then was Drake Troutman, Tyler Erb and Boom Briggs, who enjoyed the flavor enough to finish off the entire cup and send Smythe off to retrieve more to continue her taste testing.
No. 5: Condolences to the family and friends of Three Springs, Pa.’s Barry Miller, a veteran Limited Late Model racer who died Feb. 18 at the age of 53 following a multi-year battle with cancer. A native of Clear Spring, Md., Miller campaigned his No. 88 machine at several area tracks including Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway, where he enjoyed his greatest success winning multiple features during his career. While Miller continued racing following his cancer diagnosis — his most recent victory came on June 17. 2023, at Hagerstown — he had backed off his own competitive schedule in recent years to help assist the racing efforts of his daughter Madeline.
