Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Three No B*TCHIN Tour iron men
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: Running the entire DIRTcar Summer Nationals schedule doesn’t hold quite the allure as it once did with the advent of the weekly points funds reducing the payout for the overall standings, but entering every race over the grueling five-week series — a total of 23 events this season after a rash of rainouts — is still an accomplishment. This year three drivers competed in every event from June 9’s opener at the Brownstown (Ill.) Bullring to Sunday’s finale at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio: champion Tanner English of Benton, Ky. (four wins), third-place Mitch McGrath of Waukesha, Wis. (best finish of fifth on three occasions) and sixth-place Mark Voigt of Marine, Ill. (best finish of ninth June 12 at Coles County Speedway in Mattoon, Ill.).
No. 2: One of the best chronicles of the 2026 Summer Nationals was provided by Voigt’s wife Kristi, who made daily Facebook posts that offered an entertaining behind the scenes look at life on the road for her 64-year-old husband and the couple’s son Christian. It was the third time that the veteran Voigt chased the full Hell Tour schedule but his first doing it with his 23-year-old son as his crew chief. Dubbed the “No B*TCHIN Tour” by Christian, it brought plenty of rough nights but also countless unforgettable family memories. Kristi, who joined her men on the trail for several races including the final stretch through Michigan and Ohio, threw out many interesting nuggets over the course of the series. My favorites? She wrote that Mark jumped the cushion during qualifying on July 2 at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway because he hit the brakes to avoid a black cat running across the track; Kristi said Voigt “felt so bad” because “he scared the poor cat.” She also noted that Christian handed out more than 400 freeze pops daily to fellow racers and officials in the pit area during the long month-plus of racing that included many scorching days.
No. 3: Kristi summed up her husband’s Summer Nationals assault with a comment on his perseverance: “What makes me the proudest is when he’s kicked when he’s down and still finishes what he started.” According to Kristi, Mark aggravated a back injury — he’s scheduled to undergo back surgery in November — while racing in Michigan but pushed on to complete the series. She also wrote that Mark hopes to attempt the full Summer Nationals schedule one more time in 2027 to highlight his 50th year of racing.
No. 4: It wasn’t One Lap, One Beer with DirtonDirt’s Derek Kessinger, but in the wake of sweeping the weekend’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series doubleheader at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., Dillon McCowan of Urbana, Mo., did his own version of Kessinger’s racetrack walk. Calling it One Lap, One Cup of Coffee, McCowan and his crew chief, Riley Duncan, took a sunny Sunday morning stroll around the 3/8-mile oval with McCowan’s father and team owner, Charlie, playing the Kessinger role and asking questions. Check it out on McCowan’s Facebook page — it’s a neat postscript to the 22-year-old’s amazing breakout weekend.
No. 5: I have to give a shout out to NASCAR star Kyle Larson for a comment he made during an interview on TNT’s broadcast of Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta, Ga. As Larson was getting ready to climb back into his car to restart the NASCAR Cup Series event after a length rain delay, the pit reporter referred to the rain causing a late night with the race set to resume around 11:45 p.m. “I mean, that’s right in your wheelhouse. That’s usually when most dirt races start, right?” Larson, who is co-owner of the Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Series for 410 Sprint Cars, quickly sought to correct the record. “Yeah … no!” Larson said. “Not High Limit. We are done by 9 o’clock. Maybe if you go to Outlaw races you’d be starting right now.” Nice to see Larson making it clear that he does not approve of late-night dirt-track racing.
