Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Super runs for Skylar Marlar
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: Skylar Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., primarily focuses on Crate Late Model action (successfully, including three victories in a row during the Fourth of July weekend), but he'll be doing occasional Super Late Model racing this summer, he told my colleague Todd Turner. The 40-year-old will split time in the Josh Deitz-designed Velocity Race Car with Dietz and plans to make his next Super Late Model start Friday at Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, Ky. in an Ultimate-sanctioned event. It's the same Dietz-owned car that Skylar's older brother Mike Marlar debuted in December at the Kubota Gateway Dirt Nationals inside The Dome at America's Center — the car that got the fuel cell knocked out of it in a preliminary wreck. In Skylar Marlar's debut in the car June 12 at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Ky., he finished third but a flat left-front tire prevented him from challenging winner Jason Jameson. "Honestly, I felt like I could have won the thing if I wouldn't have had a flat," he said. Marlar has a motor sponsor that provides the powerplant for the car and plans to drive it a number of times for Dietz, who has a few Velocity chassis active in Crate Late Model racing. "I told him we'll do the whole year with it and we'll touch base at the end of the year and see if he's happy and I'm happy," Marlar said.
No. 2: Talk about a buzzkill — Longhorn Chassis managing partner Steve Arpin was anxious to make his first Dirt Late Model start in some 15 years during during the Repairable Vehicles.com Tri-State Series portion of last weekend's World of Outlaws Late Model Series-sanctioned NAPA Gopher 50 weekend at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. Then the entire weekend was called off early because of a wet forecast. So the 42-year-old Arpin, who had his family set to accompany him to Deer Creek, hastily changed his flight to Minnesota to Columbus, Ohio, where he spent the Fourth of July holiday with his wife's family and made a stop at Friday's rain-doomed Lucas Oil Series event at Mansfield (Ohio) Speedway.
No. 3: Will Arpin still have an opportunity to hit the track with his Dirt Late Model this season? He's hopeful, but he's not sure if he'll be able to find a date that works into his schedule. Complicating matters is the fact that he wants to race against his longtime friend Mike Sorensen of Rochester, Minn., the father of WoO regular Dustin Sorensen and a Longhorn dealer. Arpin said the Tri-State Series events at Deer Creek would have been perfect for him to run with the elder Sorensen because the tour's engine rules work well for Arpin's motor combination (an open engine with a restrictor plate) and Sorensen's powerplant (a WISSOTA-rules piece).
No. 4: Max Blair of Centerville, Pa., mentioned in victory lane after his spectacular 15th-to-first run to victory in Saturday's Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Freedom 50 at Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio, that his only disappointment was the absence of his wife, Brandy, and their two kids, who were unable to make the trip. He also remarked that he might not be home as early as he planned because he'd be hanging out in the pit area to relish his first-ever full-field triumph on the national tour. Well, he indeed wasn't yet back at his residence by 8:45 a.m. on Sunday — a fact that Brandy Blair pointed out with a humorous post on the timeline of Max's Facebook page. "Respectfully, come get your kids and take out the garbage," she wrote (with a winking emoji) to note that winning a $25,000 Lucas Oil race doesn't mean he gets to shirk his duties as husband and father.
No. 5: Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, and his Todd Cooney Motorsports team have a long trip east to contest WoO events July 8 at Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y., and July 10-11 at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, but their hauler is unavailable because it's in the shop for repairs. So team owner Todd Cooney posted on Facebook that they're looking to rent or borrow a rig/hauler for the week. Cooney reported Monday morning that he has an offer from a race team in his area, but they'll have to further work out details because Gustin, who is fifth in the WoO points standings, would have to make an overnight haul back home after Saturday's show so that loaning team could use the transporter to go racing on Sunday night.
