Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Near-miss of seeing Moore triumph
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: I join with the rest of the Dirt Late Model world in mourning the passing of Hall of Famer Larry Moore, who died early Thursday in his native Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 83. My regret is that I never had the opportunity to see the first three-time World 100 winner race in his prime — or really much at all even later in his career — because growing up in New Jersey had me embedded in big-block modified racing while Moore was tearing up the Dirt Late Model circuit. I also never interviewed him in person; my lone interaction with him came some five years ago when I talked to him on the phone about some Eldora content. But I must say I feel like I know more about Moore than other Dirt Late Model drivers from his era thanks to his 2014 autobiography, “On Top Of The World,” that he did with author Dave Argabright. There’s some great stories, and great Dirt Late Model history, from Moore in that book, and with his loss it’s wonderful that his legacy remains in those pages for all to read.
No. 2: When I look far back to races I attended in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, I realize that I was indeed present for one of Moore’s many victories. It was on Feb. 12, 1987, at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., where Moore captured a NASCAR-sanctioned feature during Speedweeks. But I was 14 years old at the time, on my second trip to Speedweeks with my parents, and I was there for the big-block modifieds. I didn’t yet have any conception of Dirt Late Model racing — the “Late Model” class at my home track, Flemington (N.J.) Speedway, was really more of a street stock-type car that didn’t garner much attention — so when Moore and a whole host of other superstar full-fender racers hit the track at Volusia (Mike Head, Jack Boggs, Ronnie Johnson and Cecil Eunice also won that week) I left the stands and spent that time running around and throwing a football with other kids behind the turn-four bleachers. If only I had grasped how good Dirt Late Models were back then, I would’ve witnessed prime Larry Moore reach victory lane.
No. 3: While Illinois pals Jason Feger and Brian Shirley were at Spoon River Speedway in Banner, Ill., Wednesday for a practice session, they saw a rather unusual sight: a water truck lying on its side between turns one and two. Feger posted a video on Facebook of track officials carefully righting the truck with help from a tractor but he didn’t actually witness the accident; Shirley, however, caught it with his own eyes. “He was pulling onto the track,” Shirley said of the water truck driver, who wasn’t injured. “The truck had a full load of water, and with the track banking … just didn’t go good together. You could see it wasn’t going to be good. Then he tipped over. The truck was top heavy because of the full (water) tank.”
No. 4: Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., is taking this weekend off after winning last Saturday’s Gauntlet finale at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., to claim a $100,000 bonus, but he’s announced the next action of his pick-and-choose schedule: four nights with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series in the Midwest. He’s heading to Tuesday’s stop at Independence (Iowa) Motor Speedway and then the April 30-May 2 Dairyland Showdown at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis., that includes two $10,000-to-win prelims and a $40,000-to-win finale. Davenport’s last visit to Mississippi Thunder was in 2022 when he captured a Dairyland Showdown preliminary feature.
No. 5: When Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series director Joshua Joiner joined us for a recent episode of our Dirt Reporters podcast, he noted that he had a Crown Vic car that he was planning to race when he had some opportunities. I joked that he’d soon have his own T-shirt. Well, now he does: this week he dropped a shirt that has his No. 101 machine displayed on the back. I asked him if he’s going to outsell his Dirt Late Model-driving brother Joseph Joiner as Hunt the Front’s biggest merch mover and he politely responded that he’ll just have his family’s “top selling Crown Vic shirt.”
