Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Will fish be biting for Lucas teams?
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: Here's something I like to see: a track that's hosting a multiday national touring series event giving the traveling teams a little side fun before the action begins. So it is with this weekend's Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Mountain Moonshine Classic at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. Track owner Roger Sellers, who also fields the Double Down Motorsports entry that Devin Moran drives on the Lucas Oil tour, is inviting the circuit's drivers, their crew members and families as well as Lucas Oil Series staff and sponsors to the nearby Rogers farm on Thursday with entertainment from 6-9 p.m. that includes a fishing tournament, food, drinks and a band. Sellers is even providing transportation from the track to the farm for early-arriving teams with a bus scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. pickup.
No. 2: I noticed that the Moran family offered some extracurricular activities for competitors in the last Wednesday's Shale Crescent Dirt Cup at their Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio. With teams participating in the special event that pitted the Lucas Oil Series vs. the World of Outlaws Late Model Series arriving shortly after the previous weekend's Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, Muskingum promoter Tristin Moran organized a golf tournament, some go-kart racing on the Muskingum property and a sponsored Tuesday night dinner underneath a tent to keep them busy and entertained. It's really cool to see tracks go the extra mile to provide special hospitality to the racers that spend so much time on the road and could use a little non-racing enjoyment in between events.
No. 3: Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., said his independent schedule this year would like take him to some new territory. That will be the case on June 30 when he makes his first-ever visit to Norman County Raceway in Ada, Minn., for a $20,000-to-win WoO event. The 42-year-old superstar made the announcement of his plans Monday in a video posted to social media in which he urged fans to buy tickets to the show. Where else will J.D. race in the coming weeks? Norman County is the lone event currently listed on his website, but if he's going to Minnesota, you have to imagine July 2-4's WoO tripleheader topped by the $40,000-to-win NAPA Gopher 50 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., has to be a strong possibility.
No. 4: Longhorn Chassis managing partner Steve Arpin, along with his technical consultant Kevin Rumley and Longhorn Dynamics lead shock builder Joe Matthews, are a long way from the heart of Dirt Late Model racing this week. In fact, they're on another continent. The trio is visiting Ohlins Shocks headquarters in Sweden for meetings and technical work with the company that has "helped push Longhorn Dynamics to new heights," according to a post on Longhorn's Facebook page. Rumley also has his wife, Jacqueline, along for some sightseeing in Europe — and during their first stop in Ireland, Jacqueline posted a photo of Kevin walking the streets of Dublin wearing one of Illinois driver Jason Feger's new button-down Hawaiian shirts. I imagine he's the first person in Ireland — and probably all of Europe — to don the colorful Feger apparel.
No. 5: Keep an eye out this week for news from the World of Outlaws Late Model Series regarding the national tour's 2027 Speedweeks dates. Word is there will be a new addition to the circuit's Speedweeks slate and a change in the placement of the WoO events on the calendar.
