Weekly Notebook presented by FK Rod Ends
Notes: First win a doozy for W.Va. racer
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt managing editor
Brandon Adkins (Zach Yost)
Most Late Model racers remember their first victories. For Brandon Adkins, it was a doozy.
In his rookie Crate Late Model season last year, the 24-year-old Adkins won at Ararat (Va.) BullRing while tangling with a competitor exiting the final corner, spinning across the finish line first in a race he termed “a little controversial.”
While Adkins took the checkers and the victory, his car was drilled by the sixth-place finisher after the checkers in completing a crazy night at the dirt track.
“It was definitely one to remember,” Adkins said.
Adkins added another 2025 victory and has already clicked off two more triumphs early in 2026, so the Jumping Branch, Va., driver is hoping to create more moments to remember in his Crate Late Model career. He has fewer than 20 career division starts and hasn’t finished outside the top three in 2026.
Adkins comes by racing honestly. His grandfather first got the bug, although his homegrown racing action was a little less formal.
“They called it the Food Stamp 500 and they would take just regular old cars and race around somebody's backyard,” said Adkins, who was not yet born but has seen videos. "They would race around trees in the infield. It was wild. I thought it was sweet.”
After his grandfather’s exploits, Brandon’s father, Steven Adkins Jr., began racing street stocks and later Crate Late Models. Brandon began his racing career at age 11. He jumped into front-wheel drive race cars, running that division and street stocks over most of the next dozen years while totaling seven track championships. Before the 2025 season, Brandon decided to move up, buying a Crate Late Model from standout West Virginia driver Henry Hornsby III.
“Henry was selling his car at the time, so I sold my (front-wheel drive) car, and dad, he was racing Crates at the time — he'd just got back into it after seven, eight years — that just kind of fueled me to get a Crate car as well,” Adkins said.
A blown motor in practice delayed Brandon's official Crate Late Model debut, but last season’s Fourth of July victory at Ararat helped get things rolling, even if it wasn’t a traditional triumph.
The night started out with a penalty because Adkins used the wrong tires in qualifying. That forced him to the tail of the scheduled 13-car field, but he found himself in contention late in the race as he tried to chase down leader Tanner Collins
“I was under him, and we were battling side-by-side coming into the last turn,” Adkins recalled. “I got up under him and I left him in the room, but I guess he got loose and he cut down on me — or I cut up on him — and we both spun out at the finish line.
"He was spinning towards the infield, and where I got hooked, I was spinning towards the outside wall. And my back end crossed the line before his. And that's just how they scored it.”
After that dramatic win, Adkins added a late-season victory at Beckley (W.Va.) Motor Speedway and has two Beckley victories this spring. He also competes at Princeton (W.Va.) Speedway and frequently is battling Hornsby, who assists Adkins with his shocks and suspension setups (Henry’s father, former racer Henry Hornsby Jr. has also helped his program, and Adkins is also dating the younger Hornsby’s sister, Madison).
The Hornsbys have been a help to “teach me how to drive the car, and then what I need to feel in the car,” Adkins said. “It's rough starting out with a car you don't know about, but when you know who you got it from and they know everything about it definitely helps with speed in the car.”
Henry Hornsby III’s encouragement “really boosted the confidence level” as Adkins adapted his street stock and front-wheel drive experience.
He’s learned to keep “the car on the bars and not trying to overdrive it. Like, in a front-wheel drive, you pretty much just send it off in there and hope it sticks,” he said, adding that if you try to “drive it like a street stock kind of hurts you, too.”
But Adkins is clearly figuring Late Models out while often competing along with his dad. Has son eclipsed father? The younger Adkins laughs.
"I guess me and him could debate that, but yeah, it really depends on the night,” he said.
It’s definitely a family-supported activity in the grandstands at the track and at home, where the family’s passenger vehicles don’t get the benefit of using a garage reserved for the maintenance of their Crate Late Models.
“Me and Dad, we're just pretty much out of a two-car garage and it's tight in there,” Adkins said. “It’s pretty much a family affair of dad and son going at it every weekend.”
Weekly highlights
• Winning May 9-10 in IMCA-sanctioned Late Model action, points leader Curtis Glover of Knoxville, Iowa, won at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, and Quincy (Ill.) Raceway.
• Joel Bennett of Hortonville, Wis., clicked of a pair of home-state Late Model victories on May 8-9, winning at Seymour’s Outagamie Speedway and the Plymouth Dirt Track, where he won for the first time.
• Leading all 35 laps, Kyle Hardy of Stephens City, Va., earned a $4,000 Super Late Model victory in May 9’s Lee Stultz Memorial at Winchester (Va.) Speedway.
• Parker Gilbertson of Watson, Minn., won a pair of Fast Threads Gen X Late Model features on May 8 and 10 at I-94 EMR Speedway in Fergus Falls, Minn., and Casino Speedway in Watertown, S.D.
• Sweeping Super and Crate Late Model features, Brandon Fouts of Kite, Ky., dominated May 9 action at 191 Speedway in Campton, Ky.
First things first
Recent first-time occurrences at the dirt track:
• Edging Cody Mahoney at the checkers May 9 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway, Matt Boknecht of Seymour, Ind., notched his first career Super Late Model victory. Boknecht is a longtime successful racer in modifieds and super stocks with nine modified track titles.
• Winning May 9 at Shawano (Wis.) Speedway, hometown driver Corbyn Wassenberg captured his first USRA-sanctioned Late Model victory.
Weekly news briefs
• Farmington (Mo.) Empire Speedway has cancelled May 16’s racing event during a changeover in promoters, track spokesman Chris “Bub” Boyd announced. The cancellation, and May 23’s rodeo at the venue, allows time for paperwork to transition to yet-to-be-revealed new promoters at the track that hosts occasional Late Model events. The St. Francois County Fair Board is moving on from promoter Dustin Winick, a 44-year-old Park Hills, Mo., resident facing a grand jury indictment alleging invasion of privacy charges. According to the indictment, Winick “knowingly photographed, filmed, videotaped, or otherwise created images of a confidential victim” in a bathroom at his family’s residence. The fair board issued a May 11 statement assuring track patrons that all restrooms on the grounds were inspected and no recording or video devices were discovered.
• Tri-County Racetrack in Brasstown, N.C., reopening under Randy McCoy’s promotion, has set a May 22 opening date for en eight-division program with Limited Late Models and two divisions of Crate Late Models (604 and 602). If there are five or fewer 604 Crates, they’ll run with the Limiteds.
• The season opener at Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio, continues to be pushed back because the parking area is too soft. The track was originally suppose to open May 1, but the new date is May 22.
• Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., added money to May 16 purses after the Carolina Sprint Tour event was removed from the program because of concerns about a low car count. The track's Sportsman Late Model feature will pay $1,200-to-win.
• The Smoky Mountain Speedway Hall of Fame committee is accepting nominations for this year's class. Nominees should be for those that had their primary success at Smoky Mountain. The nomination deadline is May 25. Send nominations to Michael Moats by Facebook Messenger or at mrm4@comcast.net.
• Plymouth (Wis.) Dirt Track has boosted the purses for July 2 events, including upgrading the Late Model feature to $3,000-to-win. The holiday weekend action includes a pair of sprint car divisions.
• With Peoria (Ill.) Speedway cancelling its May 16 event to work on the racetrack, nearby Spoon River Speedway in Banner, Ill., has added Super Late Models to its May 16 event paying $1,000-to-win.
• Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio, delayed its opening of the season because a family emergency kept the track dark May 9. The track’s first event is scheduled for May 16.
• Elkins Speedway in Kerens, W.Va., has put up a $1,400 bounty on Kyle Hardy for May 15’s Super Late Model event. If a driver other than Hardy wins the feature, it pays $2,900 including the bonus.
• Friendship Motor Speedway in Elkin, N.C., has added Super Late Models to the May 16 program, among other schedule changes. The track also added twin features for all divisions (including Super Late Model and 602 Crate Late Models) on May 30. The track’s May 22 date was removed from the schedule because of conflicts with area graduations.
• Mudlick Valley Raceway has tripled the winning purse for May 24’s fourth annual Spring Fling to $15,000 for the Super Late Model division, the Wallingford, Ky., track announced. The Memorial Day weekend event, originally set as a $5,000-to-win race, will mark the richest purse offered in track history. Cheap Chevrolet is the event sponsor.
• Three Ontario tracks in Canada are combining for a miniseries pitting open-competition engine Late Models vs. Crate Late Models over eight days in July. Merlin’s Buxton Speedway (July 18), Ohsweken Speedway (July 21) and Brighton Speedway (July 25) will host a three-race Crate vs. Open Late Model Challenge with each event paying $2,000-to-win.
• Shawano (Wis.) Speedway is mourning the passing of late stock car racer Joe Haferkorn of Vulcan, Mich., who competed at the track in his No. 22 race car for many seasons. He was 83.
• Bradford Speedway in Rew, Pa., has scheduled the richest Super Late Model race in track history with Aug. 15’s Jack “Boo” Baker Memorial paying $10,000-to-win. The 72-year-old track’s event honors the colorful and occasionally contentious Baker, who famously parked his car under the flagstand to read a newspaper in protest of a scoring call and was once banned from the speedway. The Super Late Models will run unsanctioned on a three-division program including a $4,000-to-win event for RUSH-sanctioned Crate Late Models.
• 201 Speedway in Sitka, Ky., has again pushed back its season opener, this time to June 6 for its Moonshine Runner 30. The May 16 program was cancelled because of infrastructure issues in adding more clay to the surface and completing unspecified repairs.
Weekly points
DIRTcar (Supers): Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., has 395 points to lead Bobby Pierce (383) and Ryan Gustin (371).
IMCA (Limiteds): Curtis Glover of Knoxville, Iowa, has 259 points to lead Zach Zeitner (190) and Tommy Elston (181).
Gateway (Limiteds): Jeff Sloan of Charleston, Mo., has 493 points to lead Mark Pflueger (452) and Mike Lough (410).
WISSOTA (Limiteds): Second-year division racer Devin Fouquette of St. Cloud, Minn., has 213 points to lead Shane Sabraski (206 and Cade Nelson (187).
American All-Stars (Crates): Logan Walls of Junction City, Ky., has 438 points to lead Dalton Brown (222) and Colby Quick (214).
Crate Racin’ USA (602 Crates): Covy Parsons of Iuka, Miss., has 377 points to lead Allen Edwards (362) with Brodie Thompson and Spencer Moore tied at 352.
Crate Racin’ USA (604 Crates): Christopher Reid of Wiggins, Miss., has 398 points to lead Shannon Lee and Ben Davis, tied at 366 points apiece.
DIRTcar (Crates): Jason Garver of Starke, Fla., and Chase Wilson of Hoopeston, Ill., have 145 points apiece in leading Austin Leaman (140)
Ultimate (Crates): Henry Hornsby III of Beckley, W.Va., has 105 points to lead Brandon Adkins (101) and Dalton Adkins (99).
USRA (Crates): Cooper Sundby of Menomonie, Wis., has 696 points to lead Jason McFadden (692) and Josh Wahlstrom (662).
Upcoming weekly specials
Among non-touring and independent special events coming up for Late Models at dirt tracks around the country:
Winston Speedway, Rothbury, Mich. (May 15): A Crate Late Model special is part of opening night at the track now operated by Andrew and John Heykoop.
Western Kentucky Speedway, Nebo, Ky. (May 16): The track’s opener is highlighted by a $3,000-to-win event for 602 Crate Late Models (electrical issues halted the track’s May 2 scheduled opener).
Beckley (W.Va.) Motor Speedway (May 16): Super Late Models top an eight-division program with a $2,000-to-win purse on the line.
Southern Raceway, Milton, Fla. (May 16): A $3,000-to-win Crate Late Model Challenge event is part of a two-race weekend that includes Friday-Saturday action for USCS sprint cars. Bonuses could raise the winner’s purse to $5,000.
Hendry County Motorsports Park, Clewiston, Fla. (May 16): Crate Late Models (non-touring Crate Racin' USA rules) chase a $2,000-to-win purse in the third annual Karen Johnson Memorial.
