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Quick Time: SUPR tops all-time series races list
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Take a quick lap around the proverbial dirt track with managing editor Todd Turner for a roundup of Dirt Late Model racing through the latest weekend of action along with some other quirks of racing (along with occasional ax-grinding). Quick Time, one of the newest features of our website, will appear every Wednesday at DirtonDirt.com:
Frontstretch: Drivers of the week
National: Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, continued his resurgence by dominating the second annual Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., giving him $26,000 and his 15th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.
Regional: Josh McGuire of Grayson, Ky., stretched a personal winning streak to three races by earning $3,000 at Skyline (Ohio) Speedway’s Jack Shutts Memorial, then repeating at the Sunoco Race Fuels Butterball Wooldridge Memorial for a $7,500 payday at Richmond (Ky.) Raceway. Honorable mention: Sammy Stile
Weekly: Dave Hess Jr. of Waterford, Pa., swept July 21-22 races at Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y., and Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa.
Crate: Chris Meadows of Crab Orchard, W.Va., earned a $3,000 victory July 21 at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Hanover, W.Va., for his second victory on the Fastrak City Chevrolet Tour.
Turn 1: Most all-time series races
The Southern United Professional Racing series hit a milestone victory over the weekend in becoming the all-time racingest Dirt Late Model tour. According to numbers compiled by SUPR publicist Bryan Wimberley, the Louisiana-based organization’s 623rd event on July 20 at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., moved it into the all-time lead over the Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series.
Through weekend events, SUPR is on top with 624 races, two more than the Southern All Stars, which has run more limited schedules in recent seasons. The next closest active tours are the Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association (545), UMP DIRTcar Summernationals (510), IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series (398) and World of Outlaws Late Model Series (375).
Tops among inactive series is the Short Track Auto Racing Stars (later Renegade, then even later Northern Xtreme) with 585 races. That’s followed on the inactive list by the Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series (495), according to Wimberley’s calculations.
Will any tour ever catch SUPR? The Southern All Stars could at least make it a horse race in coming seasons if more races are held, while MLRA, the Summernationals and World of Outlaws are healthy enough to plug along and keep pace, with the WoO circuit most likely to run as many or more races as the rest.
All-time series events by series
(Compiled by Bryan Wimberley through July 24; 200 races or more)
624 - Southern United Professional Racing Series
622- Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series
585 - Short Track Auto Racing Stars (STARS)-x
545 - Lucas Oil Midwest Latemodel Racing Association
510 - UMP DIRTcar Summernationals
495 - Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series-x
398 - IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series
375 - World of Outlaws Late Model Series
362- National Championship Racing Association
292 - Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
291 - Sunoco American Late Model Series
284 - MARS DIRTcar Series
270 - Northern Allstars Late Model Series-x
262 - NASCAR Busch/O'Reilly All-Star Tour-x
238 - Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series
209 - Mid-Atlantic Championship Series-x
202 - All-Star Circuit of Champions-x
x-inactive
Turn 2: Dealin’ with Dillons
5. Dillon Panthers
Backstretch: Top five gambles
Top five gambles Dirt Late Model teams can make:
• Passing up a $5,000-to-win race 25 miles from home to go to a $10,000-to-win race 250 miles from home.
• Accepting a challenge from a racetrack to start on the tail instead of the pole in hopes of collecting a big bonus.
• Making a mid-season chassis change.
• Going with a tire combination no other competitor is using — when you’re starting on the front row.
• Using a never-tested suspension setup in a big-money race.
Turn 3: Quote of the week
Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., after he avoided running a consolation race before his Schaeffer Oil Southern Nationals victory July 24 at East Alabama Motor Speedway:
“We didn’t get our extra 10 laps tonight. We qualified too good.”
Turn 4: Turn back the clock
Five items from this week in Dirt Late Model history:
July 29, 1981: Ray Godsey of Bedford, Ind., raced to a home-state victory at Paragon Speedway en route to the first of two championships on the All-Star Circuit of Champions.
July 26, 1987: Hometown driver Doyle Jordan earned his second career Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series victory at Talladega (Ala.) Short Track.
July 25, 1990: Ron Jackson of Danville, Iowa, who would later go on to become an IMCA official, won the first of two IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series events at Louisa County Speedway in Columbus Junction, Iowa.
July 26, 1995: When brother Joe Kosiski ran out of fuel with two laps remaining, Steve Kosiski grabbed a NASCAR Busch All-Star Tour victory at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill. The elder Kosiski was one of three drivers to run out of fuel in a 50-lapper slowed by eight cautions on the track’s former half-mile circuit.
Aug. 1, 2000: UDTRA, the sanctioning body for the Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series, came to an agreement with Pro Sports Agency, a Charlotte-area firm led by K.C. Spurlock and Bill Kentling, to direct national marketing, sponsorship and licensing for the tour.
Checkered flag: Five fearless weekend predictions
• July 28’s Lucas Oil Series winner at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway will come from Maryland or a neighboring state.
• Chris Madden will go winless the remainder of the Schaeffer Oil Southern Nationals while wrapping up his fourth title during the Tennessee tripleheader.
• Home-state drivers will sweep the WISSOTA Challenge Series tripleheader in South Dakota.
• One driver will sweep the weekend’s Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series events at Jackson and Magnolia.
• The Corn Belt Clash will have at least one first-time winner at C.J. Speedway in Columbus Junction, Iowa; Fayette County Speedway in West Union, Iowa; or Lafayette County Speedway in Darlington, Wis.
(Last week: One out of three predictions correct; two predictions rain-affected)
Correction: Fixes spelling of Bryan Wimberley's first name.
