Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Shaw sheds stress with sale of I-94
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: In the wake of Monday’s announcement that Don Shaw of Ham Lake, Minn., has sold I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls, Minn., to fellow Minnesotan James Trantina III, the 62-year-old who had owned and promoted the 3/8-mile oval since 2020 put up a lengthy Facebook post detailing his reasons for turning over the keys to the facility. One was his health. Shaw had told me in January during the Wild West Shootout at Central Arizona Raceway that he had ended his own Dirt Late Model driving career under “doctor’s orders” because they were attributing the severe vertigo he’s been experiencing to the cumulative effects of multiple concussions he suffered throughout a driving career spanning over three decades. But since then Shaw had a new issue diagnosed: he wrote that after his local doctor was unable to find a way to ease his vertigo symptoms, he spent a week being evaluated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and specialists discovered a serious condition that has hardened his heart muscle so it is no longer pumping enough blood volume. “It was a life-awakening moment that I realized I need to take very serious,” noted Shaw, who added that doctors believe his condition resulted from when I was sick with Covid a few years ago and the virus infected his heart. Shaw said doctors put him on a six-month medication regiment in hopes of improving his blood flow, but it was also recommended to him that “it’s time get rid of some stress” — hence the decision to leave track ownership.
No. 2: Shaw also wrote that, in Trantina, he “found a person that has as much passion for racing as I do.” Indeed, Trantina, 40, of St. Joseph, Minn., is full-bore into dirt-track racing. He’s a successful businessman who operates Collins Brothers Towing of St. Cloud, Minn. — a sprawling business encompassing 18 towing and automotive companies across three states — but he’s also been a longtime racing sponsor who has become even more deeply involved in the sport in recent years by fielding a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series team for Lake Shore, Minn., driver Dan Ebert and his previous purchase of Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, Minn. Shaw is confident that Trantina “has the strong desire to keep racing alive and absolutely has the resources to back it.” What’s more, Shaw will continue to play an active role at I-94, helping Trantina with track prep and as a co-promoter.
No. 3: Lucas Oil Series regular Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., should feel like a proud teacher. On Friday, Shirley's former crewman, Caden Steffen-Ludwig, won the USRA Crate Late Model feature at Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, Wis., in just the third start of his career in the division while rallying from his 11th starting spot. “It’s cool to see someone grow, take things you taught them and succeed,” Shirley told me by text. “Caden was a good employee.” A 20-year-old from Colfax, Wis., Steffen-Ludwig joined Shirley’s Bob Cullen-owned team for the 2024 season, “green as can be,” Shirley said at the time. Working alongside another young, inexperienced crew member in Anthony Martin, Steffen-Ludwig gained a Dirt Late Model education while racing nationally with Shirley for the past two seasons. He departed the team just before Christmas to pursue his own driving career that already appears to be promising for the former kart racer.
No. 4: Friday’s $10,000-to-win Ted Siri Memorial for the Jay's Automotive United Late Model Series at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, N.Y., will have an interloper from the Northeast dirt modified ranks in the field: Billy Pauch Jr. of Milford, N.J. The 38-year-old will drive the Denny Superko-owned Lazer Chassis No. 31, the same machine in which he made his Dirt Late Model debut last October with a 14th-place finish at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway.
No. 5: Following through on Monday’s Take Five report on Dirt Late Model veteran Dennis (Rambo) Franklin’s liver transplant, his family provided further update on his recovery on Monday evening that continued a positive trend after the Sunday surgery. It noted that nurses had him out of bed for some physical therapy and he did so well that was being moved from the ICU into a regular room ahead of schedule.
