One of my first memories of David Gentry wasn't a good one. On a warm summer Sunday evening in the mid 1980s — I'm guessing ’85 — I was still steamed as I climbed into the front seat of our 1978 Chevrolet pickup to head home from Outlaw City Speedway.

Earlier that day, my stepdad Jimmy Gray and I were sitting on the front steps of a house we used as a storage building that sat beside our race shop in Park City, a little community just south of Fayetteville, Tenn. He said, almost in passing, MORE

BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Recapping the 49th annual DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park with a list of superlatives from the four World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series programs and two DIRTcar-sanctioned event contested at the half-mile oval near Daytona Beach (complete Speedweeks coverage):

Best driver: With a spectacular second half of the week — three straight $10,000 World of Outlaws triumphs — Jimmy Owens (pictured) of Newport, Tenn., staked his claim to ownership of the 2020 MORE

GIBSONTON, Fla. — Recapping the 44th annual Wrisco Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park with a list of superlatives from six Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events at the third-mile oval near Tampa (complete Speedweeks coverage):

Best driver: Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., was the star of the Winternationals, winning three features — Tuesday’s 30-lapper (worth $5,000), Thursday’s 40-lapper ($7,000) and Saturday’s 50-lapper ($12,000) — and adding two third-place finishes. MORE

At the turn of the century, crate engines weren’t even a consideration in Dirt Late Model racing. Now the low-cost motors are an integral part of short-track racing overall, powering Late Models, sprint cars, modifieds and street stocks. Some of the best drivers you’ve never heard of toil in divisions utilizing the more cost-effective powerplant.

I assume that it’s only natural then that Crate Late Models have elbowed their way into Georgia-Florida Speedweeks — and I think that’s a very MORE