Weekly Notebook presented by FK Rod Ends
Notes: Perfect start in chase for Dubuque title
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt managing editor
TJ Fortmann (Mercede Sweet Photography)
Dirt Late Model racers have the tendency to race as often as possible, taking the green flag even if they might be outclassed.
That’s not TJ Fortmann, at least not this season with the 34-year-old Galena, Ill., driver aiming to capture his first IMCA Late Model championship at Dubuque (Iowa) Speedway.
With the track enduring rainouts some weeks and running other non-IMCA Late Model events on others, the bad news is that Fortmann’s division has run only three events. The good news? Fortmann has won all three.
The fourth-year Late Model driver with a low-budget team (and five kids) is a realist when it comes to spending money on his race car. He could target other tracks or try events on the nearby Karl Chevrolet Premier Late Model Tour, but Fortmann is focused squarely on the track that has seen four generations of Fortmanns competing.
“For us, it’s more of a business decision,” Fortmann said. “I run a cost analysis on every race we go to, and if it doesn’t meet the right criteria, well, you've got to treat it like a business and not race with your heart, because this sport's way too expensive just to throw money away.”
Running IMCA’s crate-engine package, Fortmann knows that a top-five finish on the Premier circuit is a tall order.
“It didn't make sense to keep going to those shows and traveling and we stick to (Dubuque and) support our local track,” Fortmann said “We’ve never won a points championship, and I'm a third-generation Fortmann racing at Dubuque, and it would mean a lot to win that points championship.”
Fortmann’s grandfather Bernard Fortmann competed at Dubuque, then later TJ’s uncle Dan Fortmann, among other family members. TJ is the third generation and this year his son Hunter Fortmann has become the fourth generation at the Sunday night track, competing in the sport mod division.
“We've got racing in our roots,” Fortmann said. “So yeah, our goal is to win this points championship. So through the midseason here, we're kind of in the heart of this points racing. We're focusing primarily on Dubuque and towards the end of the year, we'll make a trip to Boone Super Nationals and try hitting some more bigger specials.”
Like his son, Fortmann’s racing career began in the sport mod division where he won three feature races over four seasons. He graduated to a beginner Late Model class in 2022, and 2026 marks his third season in the IMCA-sanctioned Late Model division. He notched his first division victory last season — the day before his wife Karma delivered their youngest child, Augustus — and finished third in points behind co-champions Eric Pollard and Clay Simpson.
“They had a hell of a season and we were figuring the car out. That was our first year with this car, and it definitely throws a different element in it,” Fortmann said of the MB Customs Race Car he’d purchased from his cousin, Luke Goedert. “So when we got the car last year, we weren’t very good in the heat races when the track was heavy, great when the track slicked off. I outpointed them in the features. They just kind of accumulated those heat race points and we were unable to make up the deficit.”
This season he’s had no problems winning all three of his features. Besides drawing better starting pills, the only change Fortmann can think of is better shocks.
"We got the 2019 MB Customs and had the shocks redone by Chris Mars with CMD. That's really the only thing we changed was freshening the shocks this year, and the car's been lights out,” said Fortmann, who attended chassis schools to learn suspension setups. “Being a lower-budget team, we couldn't afford to send them out last year with the purchase of the car — that was kind of our big purchase of the year. This year we were able to send him up there, and man, I wish I would have done it sooner because the car's been really good this year.”
Fortmann is also enjoying watching 15-year-old Hunter in competition. He’s bringing his son along slowly in the sport mod division, having him start in the rear of the field for the time being.
“The wife gets frustrated that I keep starting him in the back, but I remember what it was like when I first started racing in 2018, big cars, and I volunteered myself to start in the back,” Fortmann said. “You don't ever want to tear up equipment or tear anybody else and ruin their race. But once he gets some good car control and feels confident to race around people, then we'll start letting him start where they want to put him.”
He’s not quite up to Dad’s standards, but Hunter did log a sixth-place finish in his first feature.
Racing is a big part of the family’s activities, but with Hunter along with 12-year-old Skylee, 11-year-old Andrew, 6-year-old Evalynn and 1-year-old Augustus, Fortmann blends in boating or camping trips along with trips to the track.
"I think I'd be in the car more,” said Fortmann, whose job as a track welder for Canadian National Railway comes with four-day weeks (and often Mondays off to clean up his car after a night of racing at Dubuque). “But I want to give my kids a good childhood, and life isn't all about just sitting at a dirt track, as much as it's my happy place.”
His happiest place would be standing atop the points at Dubuque come season’s end.
"I always want the next challenge. If I win this, if I can pull it off and win this championship and rack up a couple more wins this year, odds are, I probably will be looking for another challenge,” he said. “It all comes down to the finances, and we got some great, great marketing partners that help us along the way, but they're all just like me, blue collar workers that they support what they can, but we don't have that corporate backing.”
In recent seasons, running with a Crate engine has made the most financial sense for Fortmann.
“As much as people badmouth Crates and say they ruined racing, I bought my engine for $3,500,” he said. “I ran it until I had 100 nights on it and had it freshened three years ago. The only thing I've ever done to it is change the oil and change the valve springs. I mean you can't get much cheaper than that for racing.
"I definitely want to, in the next few years, put together a bigger motor that will allow us to maybe hit some of the (Malvern East Series) shows or follow that (Premier) tour and have a competitive chance. But right now, financially, this is where we're at. And (IMCA has) a good program and it allows guys like me to compete.”
He enjoys going to Boone (Iowa) Speedway’s Super Nationals — he finished 11th last season — and other late-season specials, but Fortmann wishes there was another outlet for IMCA drivers.
Rule changes have made it difficult for crate-engine drivers to keep up in the Premier tour, Fortmann said, “so I'd rather save our equipment and stick to (Dubuque). The fans are used to seeing us run competitively. To me, I don't like going out there where I'm in a 150-200 horsepower deficit and struggling for a top-10 or, on a great night, would be a top-five of them.
"I wish they'd bring back like a Deery Brothers Series, where it's IMCA cars and traveling. That would be ideal, especially since we live in IMCA country. All of our tracks around us are IMCA.”
But for now, a Dubuque title is within reach if the unbeaten Fortmann can outpoint Pollard, Joel Callahan, Ron Klein and other track regulars.
"It's rewarding when you come out and you have a start to the season like this,” he said, “knowing all the hard work has paid off.”
Weekly highlights
• In his first start in his family-owned No. 14 since splitting with Curless Motorsports, Caden McWhorter of Fairbury, Ill., won July 3’s Super Late Model feature at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway.
• Winning for the eighth time in nine Willamette Speedway starts, Joey Tanner of Portland, Ore., earned $2,500 for his Firecracker 100 victory at the Lebanon, Ore., track. Tanner’s car owner Darren Coffell came out of semi-retirement and ran in the top five until retiring on lap 60.
• Colin Shipley of McClure, Ohio, won his second Oakshade Raceway Super Late Model feature on the season July 4, taking the checkers a few seconds before having a flat tire on the cool-down lap at the Wauseon, Ohio, oval.
• Winning July 2-3 at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, and Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa, Tommy Elston of Keokuk, Iowa, stretched a personal winning streak to three in a row in IMCA Late Model action. The streak ended with July 5’s third-place finish at Quincy (Ill.) Raceway.
• Junior Whitener of Morganton, Ga., swept holiday weekend races at Tri-County Racetrack in Brasstown, N.C., and Sugar Creek Raceway in Blue Ridge, Ga.
• Pocketing $6,000 in all, Bryson Mitchell of Russellville, Ala., swept the Bama 100 weekend at Xtreme Speedway in Moulton, Ala., earning $2,000 and $4,000 Limited Late Model victories.
First things first
Recent first-time occurrences at the dirt track:
• Winning July 4’s Crate Late Model feature at Winchester (Va.) Speedway, Jacob Whitt of Stephens City, Va., won at his home track for the first time.
• Spike Moore of Defiance, Pa., captured his first career Super Late Model victory July 3 at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway in his Jim McBee and Doug Legum-owned No. 11.
• Sweeping the July 3-4 weekend, Kaden Miller of Houston, Mo., won his first two 602 Crate Late Model features at Legit Raceway Park in West Plains, Mo. He’s been an eight-year competitor in the modified division.
Weekly news briefs
• After an incident July 3 at Pine Ridge Speedway in Guntown, Miss., track owner Charles Moudy suspended Crate Late Model drivers Clent Busby of Iuka, Miss., and Justin McRee of Tuscaloosa, Ala., for 30 days, along with their crew members.
• Macon (Ill.) Speedway will celebrate Mike Horve Night on July 25, honoring the 30-year employee who regulated track access. Horve is moving to Alabama with plans to work at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, Ala. “We sure hope they have a stop-go sign and a working headset and radio ready for him,” said a statement on Macon’s Facebook page. “If not, we’re sure Horve will figure it out like he always has at Macon!”
• Leon Brindle, one of the winningest drivers at his hometown North Georgia Speedway over a racing career stretching more than 40 years, died July 5 at his Chatsworth, Ga., home. He was 87. The multitime track champion competed since the track’s 1965 opening and captured his final title in the Limited Late Model division in 2007. “He helped lay the literal foundation of these storied walls, leaving a permanent mark on what has become the Fastest Third-Mile in the South,” the track wrote on its Facebook page. He co-owned and operated Brindle Bros. Auto Parts for more than 55 years.
• Plymouth (Wis.) Dirt track’s July 11 Hall of Fame night will honor the Sippel family, John "Ripple” Born, Gib Wiser and several track workers (Dave Bohrmueller, Dale Baumann, Kim Baumann, Brian Triphan, Brian Gilles, Terry Marten and Lanny Schirmer). The track also announced that the $3,000-to-win Independence 30 for the Late Model division, rained out on July 2, has been rescheduled for Aug. 20.
• Buxton Speedway in Merlin, Ontario, has placed a bounty on reigning Late Model champion C.J. Field of Chatham, Ontario. DeGoey Flowers and Leamington Salvage combined to add $700 to the bounty, meaning a driver winning July 11 by outrunning Field would receive $1,900. If Field wins his sixth consecutive feature, he earns an extra $100 on top of the regular purse. Sponsors are welcome to pitch in and increase the bounty.
• Work on the revival of Dewey (Okla.) Speedway continues with work on the drainage system with fence-building and the grandstand construction coming next, co-owner Robert McMurtrie posted on the track’s Facebook page. Volunteer labor is welcome; see the Facebook page for details. The track has been shuttered for more than 40 years when McMurtrie and his family working on the quarter-mile oval’s reopening.
• Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway’s Fourth of July Born Free 40 was cancelled because the track didn’t have a dedicated ambulance service available. The track resumes action July 11.
• Shawano (Wis.) Speedway’s July 11 Hall of Fame night will honor Willard and LeeRoy Raddan and Mike Schmelzer. The track is also mourning the July 3 passing of Tom Postl at age 66. He was a longtime crew member for track standout M.J. McBride and assisted his son Lukas Postl’s Late Model career.
• 191 Speedway in Campton, Ky., cancelled July 11’s scheduled event to prepare for July 18’s Deanna Noble Memorial, a $10,000-to-win event on the Slingin’ Dirt Super Late Model Series.
Weekly points
DIRTcar (Supers): Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., has 1,377 points to lead Mike Spatola (1,156) and Tanner English (1,105).
IMCA (Limiteds): Reigning champ Zach Zeitner of Bellevue, Neb., moved into the lead with 759 points over Curtis Glover (722) and Jordan Krug (647).
WISSOTA (Limiteds): Shane Sabraski of Rice, Minn., has 1,120 points to lead Tyler Peterson (1,021) and Kevin Burdick (934).
American All-Stars (Crates): Logan Walls of Junction City, Ky., has 546 points to lead Brandon Fouts (508) and Dalton Brown (427).
Crate Racin' USA (604 Crates): Shannon Lee of Lumberton, Miss., has 610 points to lead Chris Reid (575) and Taylor Jarvis (499).
Crate Racin' USA (602 Crates): Joey Tucker of Elora, Tenn., has 599 points to lead Brodie Thompson (583) and Covy Parsons (565).
DIRTcar (Crates): Braden Johnson of Taylorville, Ill., has 724 points to lead Chase Wilson (689) and Hudson Dick (593).
Gen X (Crates): Trevor Walsh of Watertown, S.D., has 728 points to lead Blake Swenson (701) and Parker Gilbertson (694).
RUSH (Crates): Devin Brannon of Winchester, Va., has 1,303 points to lead Davin Kaiser (1,288) and Jeremy Wonderling (1,275).
Ultimate (Crates): T.J. Salango of Beckley, W.Va., has 202 points to lead Brandon Adkins (205) and T.J. Hicks (191).
USRA (Crates): Jason McFadden of Jim Falls, Wis., has 3,518 points to lead Lucas Peterson (3,182) and Josh Wahlstrom (2,618).
Upcoming weekly specials
Among non-touring and independent special events coming up for Late Models at dirt tracks around the country:
Outagamie Speedway, Seymour, Wis. (July 10): The Wayne Roffers Memorial pays $5,000-to-win for Late Models running under Dirt Kings rules. Hard charger bonus is $500.
Natural Bridge (Va.) Speedway (July 11): The track’s Limited Late Models chase a $2,500-to-win purse with the Mid-East 602 Crate Late Model tour also on the card.
Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway (July 11): The Richard Craven Memorial pays $5,012-to-win for Super Late Models as part of the track’s FALS Cup programs.
Wartburg (Tenn.) Speedway (July 11): The track's $3,000-to-win Limited Late Model event rained out on July 3 will be made up (along with fireworks during intermission).
Merritt Speedway, Lake City, Mich. (July 11): DIRTcar Super Late Models race for a $2,000-to-win purse a week after Fourth of July action was rained out.
