Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Poolside memories and tire prep
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: During the weekend’s Silver Dollar Nationals at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa, I asked Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C., a World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular who spent his tour’s off week running the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events at Shelby County and Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa, about the Fun Day for traveling racers’ kids that took place at the town of Corning’s community pool before Adams County’s Tuesday show. A large group of youngsters invaded the pool — the kids of Hoffman (two boys) and fellow drivers Ricky Thornton Jr. (two boys and a girl), Brandon Sheppard (a girl and boy) and Max Blair (boy and girl) — and I wondered how that afternoon went for the energetic children and their moms who accompanied them. “I think the Dirt Late Model world, I don’t know if it’s a good thing for the future or a world of hurt,” Hoffman said with a laugh. “These guys are, uh … they’re all very wild. Like, trying to keep up with any of them is a job in itself. But it’s really cool because we got all of our wives or girlfriends or whatever and our kids on the road with us, and it gave them a chance to have some fun. The only other (track) I know that’s anything like that (with a pool across the street) would be Highland (Illinois).”
No. 2: I suggested to Hoffman that I envisioned the Adams County pool takeover by the racers’ kids being a bit reminiscent of the famous scene in the movie Caddyshack where the caddies and golf course workers get an opportunity to swim in the Bushwood Country Club pool and proceed to cause all kinds of mayhem. I jokingly asked him if somebody from the Dirt Late Model group might have, like in the movie, thrown a Baby Ruth candy bar in the pool and had it mistaken for a floating — well, you know what — and he actually looked at me with a sly grin. “I think that actually happened, but it wasn’t a Snickers (or Baby Ruth) bar,” he said, shaking his head before adding: “And it wasn’t my kid (who was the culprit), I will say that.”
No. 3: According to Hoffman, the Adams County pool visit was another chance for him, his wife Lacy and their boys Maddox, 7, and Roxzen, 5, to “make memories” amid a busy racing season. He noted that this summer stretch provides several opportunities for family time. “So I was able to go to Cedar Point (in Sandusky, Ohio) on the way over here when we left Sharon (Speedway’s WoO show on July 11). We spent a day there at the amusement park and the water park and stuff,” he related. “And then after we get through Fairbury (this weekend’s Prairie Dirt Classic), we go straight to the Wisconsin Dells (in the days leading up to the July 30-Aug. 1 USA Nationals at Wisconsin’s Cedar Lake Speedway) and hang out (at the water parks) with Shannon Babb and his kids, Jason Feger and his kid. I think Gordy (Gundaker) is coming. Doing that kind of stuff is fun and keeps everybody happy.”
No. 4: Speaking of family members traveling with national touring drivers, Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., has had the youngest of his three children, son Briar, 13, on the road with him and his Bob Cullen Motorsports team for the last couple weeks. With Shirley’s wife, Shannon, away from the household for her bi-annual chemotherapy treatments at a Chicago hospital — last year she underwent the treatments slightly later during Shirley’s Prairie Dirt Classic victory — he brought Brian along in the hauler while the couple’s two daughters, True, 18, and Brinley, 15, held down the fort at home.
No. 5: Before Saturday’s hot laps at Shelby County for the Silver Dollar Nationals finale’s 16 locked-in drivers, I came across Rocket Chassis house car owner Mark Richards standing in deep thought at the right-front corner of his driver Brandon Sheppard’s car. I asked what he was looking at. “I’m just admiring Austin’s artwork,” he said, motioning toward the fine sipes, cuts and grooves to Sheppard’s tire made by longtime Rocket1 crew member Austin Hargrove. Richards remarked that he marvels at Hargrove’s tire-prep ability. “He’s so good … and he never stops,” Richards said. “He’s working on tires all day, and before we even left the shop I think he had more tires done that we’d even need on the whole trip.” When I asked Hargrove about his prolific tire output, he said he sees no reason to wait until the last minute to get his tire work done. “You’re gonna use ‘em eventually, so you might as well have ‘em done ahead of time,” he quipped.
