Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Voigts dip toes back into racing
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: Nearly four months after veteran Dirt Late Model racer Mark Voigt and his wife, Kristi, were involved in an accident while driving a golf cart around Key West, Fla. — sending them to separate hospitals with Kristi suffering the more serious injuries — the couple from Marine, Ill., spent last week in Georgia taking in some racing. They stayed along the beach on Jekyll Island but the focus of their trip was, of course, the four nights of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Wieland Winternationals action at nearby Golden Isles Speedway. “A few weeks ago I was feeling really good again and I said, ‘We need a vacation ‘redo’ … let’s go to Golden Isles,’ ” related Kristi, who says she’s about “60-70 percent” healed from her multiple injuries and as she continues with physical therapy. The Voigts were more than spectators, though, as Mark drove a push truck all week with Kristi by his side in the passenger seat.
No. 2: Kristi Voigt said their getaway to Georgia was “the best week ever” amid her difficult recovery from the golf cart accident. The couple had the opportunity to see many familiar faces from the Dirt Late Model world and enjoyed working with Golden Isles promoter Steve Stevenson’s crew — like the Voigts, Stevenson is from Illinois and he’s also competed as an open-wheel modified driver — and Lucas Oil Series officials. “We had so much fun,” she wrote in response to a Facebook message I sent her (I missed crossing paths with them while I was at Golden Isles covering the racing). “We got to push some of the best in the business out of the track — unfortunately for them — like Brian Shirley and Ethan Dotson," who experienced problems during action.
No. 3: Donald McIntosh of Dawsonville, Ga., wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday that while he appreciated the opportunity to reunite with North Carolina car owner Billy Hicks for the last three nights at Golden Isles after Cory Hedgecock of Loudon, Tenn., departed Hicks’s seat, he’s not planning to be Hicks’s full-time driver for the remainder of the 2026 season. The 32-year-old said he “may run another race or two” with Hicks this year but doesn’t expect their pairing to go any further. McIntosh noted that next month he’s going on the Lucas Oil Series road with his friend Garrett Alberson’s Roberts Motorsports to provide some crew help for a few races but added that “ultimately” he’s “looking for opportunities to drive.”
No. 4: Hicks, meanwhile, responded to my inquiry about his racing plans going forward with uncertainty as of late Wednesday afternoon. He said he’s “working on a few things” as he considers both a driver and schedule after his focus on chasing the Lucas Oil Series with Hedgecock ended with their split.
No. 5: Here’s something I learned this week: I shouldn’t schedule my annual checkup at the eye doctor for a date right after I return home from spending four nights at a dirt track (Golden Isles in this case). When my optometrist took a close look at my eyes, she remarked that the contact lens in my right eye was “all scratched up,” my right eye itself had some scratches on it, and to a lesser extent by my left contact and eye had scratches. She asked me, “What have you been doing?” My answer, of course, was that I was in the sandy dust of a dirt track in Georgia for multiple nights, to which she said, “Well, that would explain it.” (By the way, the doctor said my eyes would bounce back fine after not wearing my contacts for a day and then using a new pair.)
