Inside Dirt Late Model Racing
Column: Crate windfall buoys Wilson's efforts
A Crate Late Model race paying $50,000-to-win at his hometown’s Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway? Daulton Wilson couldn’t pass up that rare opportunity.
So once April 10-12’s XR 602 Crate Nationals began drawing closer, Wilson and his Campbellsville, Ky.-based Justin Rattliff Racing team — with a clear opening in their schedule for the rich weekend because the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series was idle — set their sights on the event.
“We kind of got to thinking that maybe we should go home,” Wilson said.
The decision paid off handsomely for Wilson, who captured the $50,000 top prize — more than double his previous career-high race payoff — with a dominant flag-to-flag victory in Saturday’s 60-lap feature. It was a “really cool” homecoming, he asserted, and a fine reward for the work that Wilson and his crew put in to prepare for a weekend that was ultimately reduced to a single day of competition by rain.
As Wilson pointed out, he hadn’t raced a Crate Late Model at Fayetteville since “probably 2021” and his James Rattliff-owned team didn’t even have a 602 Crate engine in its Super Late Model-focused arsenal. He needed to brush up on his Crate skills while also plotting a strategy with the equipment side of the equation.
Wilson and Co. had time on their side to gear up, though, with the Lucas Oil Series going quiet for a month following the March 21-22 doubleheader at Atomic Speedway in Alma, Ohio, and Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway. Aside from running March 29’s Northern Allstars Late Model Series-sanctioned Spring 50 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., Fayetteville’s special took up the bulk of their shop time.
“We actually had a couple (Longhorn) cars for sale and we hadn't had a lot of interest in them so we got one ready (for Fayetteville),” Wilson said. “I called (Crate engine builder) Earl Ramey — he does all of my brother's Crate motors and he's been a good friend of ours for a long time — and we were able to put something together for him to get me a motor in a in a short period of time.
“We left here on Tuesday and went to Ramey’s (in Mooresville, N.C.) on Wednesday and we got the motor to put in the car. Then we got to Fayetteville on Wednesday.”
Wilson’s early arrival for the weekend, which was scheduled to kick off with qualifying on Thursday, meant he would have a chance to spend an extended stretch in his native land for the first time since he relocated to Kentucky in November to work out of the Rattliff shop. For most of his first three years driving for Rattliff he had been permitted to keep his equipment in eastern North Carolina — and thus he saw his parents often — but since the shift to the Bluegrass State last fall he’d made only a handful of brief visits home.
Wilson made a beeline for his mother’s house about 20 minutes from the speedway. His two full-time crew who also hail from the Fayetteville area — Dean Bowen, a veteran Dirt Late Model racer who has come aboard as Wilson’s crew chief this season, and Blake Haire — took advantage of the opportunity as well to “go home and stay with their families,” which was enhanced by the rainouts of Thursday’s program after practice and Friday’s card by late in the afternoon.
When the weather finally cleared and Wilson unloaded his No. 18D for competition on Saturday, there was no doubt that he became a center of attention. He was on home turf — Fayetteville, along with Dublin Motor Speedway in Elizabethtown, N.C., was where he launched his driving career more than a decade ago — so many familiar faces surrounded him, and his status as the lone national touring series regular in the 56-car field installed him as a pre-race favorite.
Wilson, who celebrated his 28th birthday two days after the race, acknowledged that his history at Fayetteville and three-plus seasons of action on the Lucas Oil Series put extra pressure on him to perform. But he made clear that his pedigree didn’t give him an overwhelming advantage.
“The Crate racing is just as tough,” Wilson reasoned. “I think if you go back and look at the times from qualifying (Wilson was fourth-fastest), the top 20 were within two and three tenths (of a second), and, when you're Crate racing anywhere, everybody’s got equal stuff. Everybody’s got the same cars, everybody has the same motors, so it’s a small box that you’re working in.
“Just because (Southeast locals) might not race 100 times a year (like Wilson) doesn’t mean that they’re not the best of what they do, and there's a lot of good talent in that area.”
Nevertheless, there’s no debating that Wilson had several factors on his side.
“I mean, really, you got to be comfortable and confident, that’s important,” said Wilson, who cut his teeth racing on Fayetteville’s original 4/10-mile oval but also has turned laps there since it was reconfigured to a 3/8-mile layout prior to the 2020 season. “I felt more at home because, I mean, that’s where I grew up racing, and that’s how I grew up racing, which is Crate racing. So, I feel like that was more of an advantage per se. It wasn't like I went and raced a race somewhere that I’ve never been before. That was basically me being able to go home, and race where I learned how to race, doing what I learned how to do.
“Fayetteville and the Southeast in general is a different animal (surface-wise), but that’s what I learned how to race on, so that’s where we’re comfortable. I’d say the only advantage (from running nationally) would be just the longer races, and being able to to manage the race a little bit more, where a normal create race is, you know, 25 laps , and we ran 60 laps (on Saturday).”
Wilson had one other ace in his hole.
“I was fortunate enough that my brother (26-year-old Ethan), still being back home and racing, was able to get us get us going in the right direction out the gate,” Wilson said of his sibling, who is deeply involved in the local scene as a racer and operating a business where he maintains cars for several local customers and does various fabrication work. “That that was a big deal. Probably without that, we wouldn’t know where to start. He definitely helped us get going, hit the ground running.
“But there’s still a lot of a lot of stuff that had to go our way with the format and the way the racetrack was and as many good Crate cars are in that area,” he added. “Fortunately it all worked out.”
Wilson started from the position and controlled the entire distance, fending off Chase Blackwell of Gray’s Creek, N.C., on multiple restarts to win by 1.796 seconds.
“It’s a true, double-file start every time, and Chase is a really good racer in that area and he ran me hard,” said Wilson, whose brother also made the feature field but was the race’s first retiree. “He was right there and if I would have screwed up he’d have been ready to go. We raced hard, but we raced clean.”
The postrace atmosphere was electrifying for Wilson, who was swamped by a horde of people that included his parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and his girlfriend Madison Riggs, who traveled from her home near Pittsburgh, Pa., to attend the event. There wasn’t a big party, however, because, being a Crate race, technical inspection among the top 10 finishers was extensive (engines, tire samples, ignition boxes, etc.) and Wilson didn’t load up and leave the track until about 2 a.m.
Wilson also conceded that, even considering the big check and hometown flavor, the triumph couldn’t quite match the feeling of ecstasy he had after winning 2024’s Winternationals finale at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla., his previous richest victory ($15,000) and first-ever checkered flag on the Lucas Oil Series.
“Obviously there was a lot more money (than the East Bay win), but it still wasn't on the emotional level as as East Bay was,” Wilson said. “That's going to be hard to top, I guess. Maybe if I was ever fortunate enough to win a big race at Eldora (Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio), that would top it, but that East Bay win was pretty special. East Bay was definitely my favorite racetrack and, you know, just being the magnitude of what that race was, that one’s going to be pretty tough to top.”
Wilson hung around the area on Sunday to spend another day with his family before heading back to Kentucky on Monday morning with Bowen, who also entered Saturday’s event but failed to qualify, and Haire. Their focus immediately shifted back to their Super Late Model program and upcoming races this Friday with the Schaeffer’s Spring Nationals at I-75 Raceway in Sweetwater, Tenn., and April 25-27’s Lucas Oil Series tripleheader at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway, Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway.
While Wilson doesn’t have a Super Late Model victory so far this season, he’s finished as high as second in Lucas Oil competition (Jan. 31 at All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla.) and sits fifth in the national tour’s points standings. He said his campaign has been “up and down” as he seeks to return to victory lane on the Lucas Oil Series for the first time since his breakthrough triumph at East Bay.
“We’ve had some really good speed,” Wilson said. “We’ve had some really good runs and we’ve had some really bad ones. We’ve had a lot of change this winter with moving (to Kentucky) and everything else … if I had to give myself a letter grade, I mean, we're down there about the the the B range, maybe like a a B-minus or something. Maybe a C.
“I feel like we we’ve we've come a long way in a short period of time with this group, me and Dean and Blake. We expect a lot out of ourselves and I feel like we haven’t met all them expectations, but at the same time, we’re working hard and I feel like we’ve definitely been going in the right direction. We’ve had some bad luck, and some of it’s been self-inflicted and some of it’s been, you know, just circumstantial, but we’re just we just keep digging.
“I think this weekend, it’s a huge morale boost for everybody,” he added. “Any time you can win anything it’s a big deal, and to win something of that magnitude, you know, that amount of money, it really means a lot, it really does.”
The injection of money — once tire tests are completed and the check comes — is significant. Just consider that it’s nearly double the $27,975 that Wilson has earned in 11 Lucas Oil stars this season.
“This time of year things are a little bit slower and you’re not racing as much,” Wilson said. “You're definitely not racing for as much big money, so that’s definitely a a good pick me up.
“And I mean, it’s not just for a driver. It’s for James (Rattliff) and everybody on the team. Ain’t nobody getting rich doing this, and from a car owner standpoint, it just helps a little bit to lighten the pain. It’s good for the whole program, it’s a big jump for everything.”
But don’t expect Wilson, a full-time driver, to treat himself with the hefty percentage he’ll collect from the $50,000 booty.
“Me personally, you know, I don’t go splurge, or I’m not planning to go splurge on nothing,” he said. “I’ll just be business as usual. It just eases a burden a little bit.
Ten things worth mentioning
1. Amid the joy of his Fayetteville victory, Wilson couldn’t help thinking about the person missing the moment: Jeff Gullett, the Rattliff team’s longtime crew chief who died last Sept. 10 at the age of 61. “It’s definitely not the same without Gullett, that’s for sure,” said Wilson, who was mentored by Gullett over the past three years and will never forget the hug he received from Gullett after his East Bay triumph. “I miss him every day. There’s days when I’m down, and you’d always count on a phone call from him if he was around. He’d give me a good motivational speech and he’d pick me up. He always knew what to say, and he tried to keep everybody pumped up. We always gave him a hard time, but he could always keep everybody together and he made your bad day not as bad, and your good days, you know, he was right there with you every step of the way.”
2. Wilson said he’s reminded of Gullett every day that he’s in the Rattliff team’s shop. “Yeah, I mean, just being up here now (in Kentucky), it’s just crazy to be in here and him not to be here,” he said. “He’d love to be here right now with us. I hate that he’s not here to enjoy it and get to see what’s going on and be involved. He would be tickled to death right now.”
3. When I was talking with Wilson about Gullett, I suggested that the mechanic who was well known for his ball-busting nature would have probably greeted Wilson upon his return to the shop from Fayetteville with a simple directive: “You won all that money, so you’re buying lunch today.” Wilson didn’t disagree. “I could totally see him doing that,” Wilson said with a laugh.
4. The latest rage on the internet seems to be this trend that turns people into AI-generated action figures complete with box art and personalized mini accessories. It’s a viral craze that’s picked up steam after OpenAI launched its new ChatGPT image generator, which allows users to upload a photo, add a text prompt describing their ideal action figure and end up with images of what a boxed action figure of the person would look like. I’ve seen several AI versions of Dirt Late Model racers posted on social media; the best so far has to be the one of Daulton Wilson, which includes an extra head that sports an absolutely huge perm. (He’s known, of course, as “Big Perm.”) Check it out on Wilson’s Facebook page — it’s even bigger than the perm worn by Juan Epstein, the character in the ‘70s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
5. How did Ricky Thornton Jr.’s USAC Silver Crown debut go on Sunday at Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track? Not too bad. The 34-year-old Dirt Late Model star from Chandler, Ariz., started sixth and finished 12th after a flat right-rear tire on his Team Arizona Racing No. 20rt forced him to relinquish eighth place late in the 100-lap feature. And how about this nugget that Thornton provided following his Silver Crown outing: it was the 24th different style of race car that he’s driven in competition. That’s some amazing diversity.
6. WoO regular Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, also went open-wheel racing on Sunday, making his first-ever start in a winged 360 sprint car at Stuart (Iowa) International Speedway. He looked strong running second for the first six laps of his heat race but then met disaster when he caught the mud-obscured outside wall in turn one with his car’s right-rear corner and flipped twice. Gustin wasn’t injured and stayed in the cockpit as the tow truck took the car back to the pits, but he was downtrodden over the inauspicious end to his evening. “I felt terrible about tearing my buddy’s car up,” he related.
7. Elsewhere in the Midwest over the holiday weekend, Paragon (Ind.) Speedway and Northern Allstars Late Model Series officials made a good call Tuesday to move Saturday’s Marvin O’Neal Memorial event at the 3/8-mile oval up 24 hours to Friday night because of Saturday’s poor weather forecast. The chance of rain does increase late Friday, but with an expected high temperature of 80 degrees track and series officials see a much better opportunity to run the $10,071-to-win show.
8. James Essex, the voice of the Lucas Oil Series and Northern Allstars director, offered a fun fact about Paragon in a Facebook post. He wrote that visiting the track with his revitalized tour brings back memories because the first “big” Dirt Late Model race he announced outside of Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway was Paragon’s first-ever event for the division in 1981, a 40-lap, $2,000-to-win race sanctioned by the All-Star Circuit of Champions.
9. Neat new Dirt Late Model merchandise item I recently noticed: Lego-style model kits produced by Brickin Fast Race Cars. The models, which include 535 brick pieces and custom vinyl wraps, will take approximately four hours to build and wrap. Among the Dirt Late Model drivers now selling the kits are Devin Moran, Bobby Pierce, Billy Moyer, Max Blair and Matt Cosner, but more will certainly be adding them to their merch lists now that the Racine, Wis.-based company is stepping up its marketing of the kits, which sell for $175. Check out the Brickin Fast Race Cars Facebook page for more information.
10. Happy birthday to Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Gary Stuhler, who turned 70 on Sunday. Here’s hoping he celebrates his big 7-0 with a victory Saturday at Port Royal Speedway.
