Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: No victory lane party for Thornton
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: Ricky Thornton Jr. rolled on Thursday at The Dirt Track at Charlotte with his seventh straight win in the 35-lap Dave Smith Motors World Finals opener. But there was something decidedly different about this triumph from his previous six over the past month: he didn’t celebrate it in victory lane. With track and series officials pushing the program along to beat approaching rain, they announced even before the evening’s three features began that all the winners would head right back to the pit area after the checkered flag in order to keep the show moving. The initial plan was to have the World of Outlaws Late Model and Sprint Car and Super DIRTcar Series big-block modified victors return to the grandstand side after all racing was completed for post-race ceremonies and picture taking, but idea was scrapped entirely in favor of bringing the three winners onto the stage for their recognition during Friday’s pre-race festivities. So there was no roof dance or fist pumping for Thornton, who climbed out of his car after his $15,000 score outside the WoO operations trailer in the pit area where technical inspection was conducted.
No. 2: Speaking of Thornton, I nearly was run over by his victorious Koehler Motorsports No. 20RT machine as I was walking over to interview him at the team’s trailer. Ricky said, “Look out,” and I glanced to my left to see the nose of his car bearing down on me as Evan Koehler, team owner Bobby Koehler’s youngest son and a non-qualifier for Thursday’s feature, steered it into the pit stall with Bobby, on a four-wheeler, pushing it from behind. I made what I would consider a nifty little jump move to avoid the left-front corner of the rolling car, which wasn’t moving particularly fast but certainly fast enough that I would’ve probably ended up laying on the hood if I didn’t get out of its way. Jordan Koehler, Evan’s older brother and also a Thursday DNQ, quipped with a laugh, “That was definitely Evan and not Ricky driving.” And Thornton joked too: “I think Evan stepped on the clutch instead of the brake.”
No. 3: While Brandon Overton fell one spot short of winning Thursday’s World Finals feature with a runner-up finish while trying out a Rocket Chassis owned by Alabama’s Billy Franklin, it was still a great night for the 35-year-old driver from Evans, Ga., who’s been struggling to find speed. Making it even better was the presence of his wife, Heather, and the couple’s two children, daughter Stevie, 2, and son Rollins, who was born on Sept. 11 during the World 100 weekend. After the feature Heather was holding her infant son in a baby sling carrier and noted that it was his first time at a racetrack.
No. 4: Overton, by the way, has never won a feature during the World Finals, an event he’s entered year since 2015 except in ’24. His previous best finish was a third in ’23, one of four top-fives he recorded in the event prior to Thursday. Overton does have a victory at Charlotte, however, a $12,000 score during November 2020’s WoO Last Call doubleheader that served as a replacement for the World Finals, which was canceled that year due to Covid-19 grandstand attendance restrictions.
No. 5: I’ve attended every World Finals since its launch in 2007, and, more often than not, I’ve been bundled up in many layers to combat the event’s typically cold weather. Which made Thursday so unusual. After the afternoon high temperature approached 80 degrees, it was still short-sleeves weather at the end of the night. In fact, it was 71 degrees when the WoO Late Model feature took the green flag at 7:31 p.m. I can’t recall a World Finals evening ever being so warm. I’m used to the temperature plummeting at The Dirt Track as soon as the sun goes down in November.
