Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Richards protects improved eyesight
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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: At Friday’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway, Mark Richard was looking a bit like a helmet-less Goggles Paisano — Fred Flintstone’s race-car driver alter ego — as he wore large bubble goggles while tooling around the pits and infield and working on the Rocket Chassis house car. He wasn’t going for a cartoon character appearance, though. Richards needed the goggles to ensure dust didn’t get into his right eye after he underwent Tuesday cataract surgery. His doctor recommended the procedure and he’s glad he had it done; after the short surgery was completed his right eye’s acuity was back to 20-20 like his left. Richards was told to keep dust and water out of his eye for one week, prompting him to keep the goggles on his head for the entirety of his time at the track (during calm periods he had them perched on his forehead).
No. 2: Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., debuted his Riggs Motorsports team’s special salute to Budweiser’s 150th anniversary — featuring car, helmet and driver’s uniform tributes to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s rookie NASCAR Cup Series season in 2000 when he drove a Budweiser No. 8 — at Georgetown’s Lucas Oil Series show. One Dale Jr.-like attribute that some suggested Overton also should have included as part of their theming was adding frosted tips to his hair like the younger Junior had in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Overton brushed off the idea, but his crew tried to perpetuate that he had indeed bleached his hair by spreading around an AI-produced picture of Overton sporting very frosted tips while working in the shop.
No. 3: After speaking with Georgetown feature winner Devin Moran in the pit area, Longhorn-Bilstein technical consultant Vinny Guliani offered me details of his harrowing trip to the event. He said as the smaller plane he was on for a connecting flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Salisbury, N.C., barreled down the runway toward takeoff, the pilot suddenly hit the brakes and brought the aircraft to a swift halt. The plane had to taxi back to a gate so an apparent engine problem could be rectified while Guliani and his fellow travelers boarding another aircraft. “That was a little scary. I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said Guliani, who arrived late because of the delay.
No. 4: Making his first national touring series start as the driver of Maryland car owner Bruce Kane’s No. 15K, Kyle Lee of Mercersburg, Pa., had an experienced Dirt Late Model hand in his corner: Randle Chupp, the former driving standout who now offers technical consulting services to teams. Kane brought in Chupp to help provide some seasoning for Lee, who fell short of qualifying for the feature.
No. 5: Willie Milliken of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., initially planned to head south this weekend for Saturday’s Carolina Clash-sanctioned event at Lavonia (Ga.) Speedway. But when it was announced at midweek that the program was postponed by rain to May 30, his Mason Price-owned team decided to point their hauler north instead and cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to tackle Georgetown’s action. Making his first Lucas Oil Series appearance since a 2019 start at Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Milliken drove forward from the 20th starting spot to finish 13th in the 49-lap feature. He did it with his car sporting not his usual No. 1 but the No. 00 in memory of friend and fellow racer Earl Farmer, who recently passed away.
