Dirt racing fans are a passionate lot. Following July 8’s NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 finale at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., a race that ended in a photo finish — sort of — between Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., and Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., social media was once again at a fever pitch as the Dirt Late Model crowd weighed in on the result.

Though it appeared to the naked eye that O’Neal, who took the lead from Chris Madden on the 36th lap, beat Pierce to the MORE

The fact that Clarksville (Tenn.) Speedway was the site of my first DIRTcar Summer Nationals race 22 years ago is strange in a couple of ways. | Complete Summer Nationals coverage

For starters, I’m a native Tennessean, yet it wasn’t until I moved to North Carolina and went to work at National Dirt Digest that I attended my first race of any kind at Clarksville. Secondly, I actually lived in Illinois — the heart of Summer Nationals country — for more than a year before I moved to North MORE

The first time I went to Eldora Speedway, Billy Moyer won the World 100. That was 1991. The next year I went and watched Donnie Moran win. I returned in 1993 and to my surprise — not really — Billy Moyer won again. For a reason I can no longer recall, I decided not to go back in 1994. Possibly I had to work or I couldn’t afford to go. Or maybe I didn’t go because I thought it a forgone conclusion that either Batesville, Ark.’s Moyer or Dresden, Ohio’s Moran would win the 100-lapper. MORE