Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Sheared bolt costs Seawright at Taz
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: Sam Seawright of Rainsville, Ala., hasn’t yet scored a victory in his 20 starts since joining Coltman Farms Racing in February, but he’s been quietly put together some solid runs, including a runner-up finish in March 22’s Hunt the Front-sanctioned Bama Bash at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala., and four top-10 finishes in World of Outlaws Late Model Series action. The 22-year-old added a third-place performance in Thursday’s Schaeffer’s Spring Nationals feature at I-75 Raceway in Sweetwater, Tenn., and, if not for a bad break, would have placed second in Saturday’s 75-lap Spring Nationals-sanctioned Lil’ Bill Corum Memorial at Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway. Seawright followed $21,000 winner Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., across the finish line on Tazewell’s high banks but was penalized to 19th and last in the finishing order due to a deck-height violation in postrace technical inspection. The reason for Seawright’s demise was maddening: he reported on Facebook that he had a droop-limiter malfunction — a sheared bolt in his car’s droop-limiter — that caused the deck to measure too high. “No hard feelings towards (Ray Cook’s Spring Nationals tour) on the call that was made,” Seawright wrote in accepting his fate. “Unfortunately, a cheap bolt cost us a good finish tonight.”
No. 2: I noticed that Kevin Rumley’s 88-year-old mother, Gaynell, was in attendance Friday at Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Va., to witness Martinsville, Ind.’s Hudson O’Neal pilot the K&L Rumley Enterprises No. 6 to a $10,053 triumph in the 40-lap Schaeffer’s Spring Nationals feature. The wife of the late team founder Lee Roy Rumley attended a race for the first time since April 6, 2023, at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gaps, Tenn. — an event won by NASCAR star Kyle Larson driving the iconic Rumley car. Gaynell watched Friday’s action from Wythe’s hillside grandstand and after the victory lane ceremonies her son and O’Neal visited her in the spectator area with the big check to pose for a photo.
No. 3: I had a buddy from my big-block modified days — Syracuse, N.Y.’s Dean Reynolds, the director of DIRTcar Northeast and the Super DIRTcar Series — invade the Dirt Late Model world for the weekend. With his schedule open before the Super DIRTcar Series kicks off next weekend at Can-Am Speedway in La Fargeville, N.Y., Reynolds headed south on Interstate 81 to take in the Schaeffer’s Spring Nationals events at Wythe and Tazewell. I told him he’d get to see two of the more unique Dirt Late Model tracks on consecutive nights and he agreed after checking them out. Like everyone who sees Tazewell for the first time, he was mesmerized looking down on Tazewell’s steep banking from outside turn two. The two new venues, by the way, pushed the lifetime total of tracks where Reynolds has seen races to 208.
No. 4: How about the mandate Tazewell management put out on the eve of Saturday’s Schaeffer’s Spring Nationals show? The track posted on social media that “with a huge crowd expected in the pits” they would not allow personal ATVs, UTVs or pit bikes in the pit area. So it was an old-school night where people had to get around on foot rather than cruise the pits on the vehicles and motor bikes that seem to be overrunning racetracks more and more.
No. 5: You’ll recall that in Friday’s Take Five I wrote of a grandfather-grandson Dirt Late Model match race planned between 87-year-old Vern LeFevers and 32-year-old Michael LeFevers during Saturday’s open practice at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. Unfortunately, the 10-lap exhibition didn’t happen because Michael’s green car was felled by engine trouble during his hot-lap session. Michael wrote on Facebook that his grandfather won the day “by forfeit,” but both grandfather and grandson were able to turn some laps and Michael said they enjoyed spending the afternoon with “so many family, friends and some local racing legends” who came out hoping to see them race together for the first time.
