Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Stricker lands ride with Christy team
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: Adam Stricker of Batavia, Ohio, has shown some flashes in the Dirt Late Model division since 2023, when he moved up from a decade-long run focused on open-wheel modified racing. The 27-year-old will have a chance to take another step with his full-fender progression this season with the news that he’ll compete regularly for Team Christy Racing, the Vanceburg, Ky.-based operation that is overseen by veteran racer Kenny Christy. Campaigning a Clements-powered Longhorn Chassis carrying the 68-year-old Christy’s familiar No. C7, Stricker is set to debut with the team in this Saturday’s Northern Allstar Late Model Series-sanctioned Spring 50 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., where, almost exactly two years ago, Stricker captured his first-ever Super Late Model victory in an unsanctioned $5,000-to-win special. The team plans to hit events across the Kentucky-Ohio-Indiana area. In a press release announcing the pairing, Christy’s son Jamie, who owns Impact Race Gear, pointed to Stricker’s 130-plus career triumphs while noting that “we believe he will do a fantastic job representing our team, sponsors and all that have helped build our program throughout the years.”
No. 2: Stricker’s three years of Super Late Model action have included stints in the MasterSbilt house car and with Midwest team owners Jim Beeman and Tim Logan. He’s won six times over the past two seasons, including twice at Florence and Moler Raceway Park in Williamsburg, Ohio, and once at Willard (Ky.) Speedway and Mudlick Valley Raceway in Wallingford, Ky. He’s also performed well in limited national-level appearances, scoring fifth-place World of Outlaws Late Model Series finishes in 2023 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway and ’24 at Atomic Speedway in Alma, Ohio, and cracking the starting lineup for Florence’s North-South 100 in ’23 (he finished 21st). Not surprisingly, he’s “super excited” to hook up with Team Christy Racing, which is entering its 50th season in motorsports. “After sitting down with Kenny and Jamie and being hands-on with their equipment, I think this opportunity is going to fit me and my family well,” said Stricker, who has a close relationship with WoO regular Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C., from his days driving Elite Chassis modifieds built by Hoffman.
No. 3: It’s notable that Stricker comes from a family with some deep Dirt Late Model history. His grandfather, Joe Stricker, who fielded Adam’s modified team, not only owned the car that Milford, Ohio’s Bruce Gould drove to victory in the first-ever World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, in 1971, but he also drove to a sixth-place finish in the inaugural World 100 himself. It was Joe Stricker’s only start as a driver in the World 100; Adam is in search of his first World 100 feature start after failing to qualify for the 2024 event in his only previous attempt.
No. 4: This weekend’s WoO-sanctioned doubleheader at Magnolia Motor Speedway marks the Columbus, Miss., track’s first national touring series event since the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series visited in June 2021. It’s quite shocking that nearly five years have passed between national shows at the 3/8-mile oval, which hosted a Lucas Oil Series stop every year from 2009-2021.
No. 5: Among the invaders planning to challenge the WoO regulars at Magnolia is Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., who swept the last national touring series weekend at the track in 2021. Davenport’s June ’21 victories at Magnolia also happen to hold some special significance. He debuted a brand-new Longhorn Chassis that weekend — a car he ran just twice more that summer (the Topless 100 and Rumble by the River at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway) before taking it to Eldora for 2021’s double World 100s. He won the second World 100 that year, and he loved the car’s performance so much that it’s been the only machine he’s raced in Eldora’s crown jewels ever since.
