The pace slows on U.S. 24 as you ease into town, eyes surveying the landscape. Fairbury is just one of many pretty towns along this highway that lies razor-straight across the Illinois prairie. Another speed zone, another blinking traffic signal, another set of churches and schools and municipal buildings and a Casey’s General Store.

But Fairbury is different. Special. Somewhere, off to the south, just the other side of an idyllic grid of neat lawns and well-kept homes, is an old fairgrounds. MORE

They are members of a select group, just 16 guys — all Midwesterners, ranging in age from 17 to 65 — who spent the past five-and-a-half weeks practically living at dirt tracks. | Slideshow

Seven crew members, four drivers, three officials, one media member and one fan — that’s the list of people with perfect attendance on the 2014 UMP DIRTcar Summernationals, which began June 12 at Kankakee (Ill.) County Speedway and ended July 19 at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio. Each of them MORE

There is nothing like the thrill of a win. No matter what the sport or game, there is just no match for the feeling you get while raising your arms and being recognized as the victor on that day.

One of the many perks to the job I have held in racing over the last decade and a half is getting to observe victory celebrations. And I have seen many extremes — from the super cool, laid-back crowd wave of Billy Moyer and Bob Pierce to the striptease ala Ricky Bobby of Austin Hubbard and almost MORE

Growing up, I just assumed that watching a race at a track with a covered grandstands was a special event.

The first time I encountered a racetrack with a covered grandstand, I was at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds in Fayetteville, Tenn. The racing I was watching way back then was of the four-legged nature and limited to a max of one horsepower per competitor. There were wheels involved, as the Lincoln County (Tenn.) Fair — which will open for the 110th time this September — annually hosts MORE

Al Purkey never made any big announcement that he was retiring from driving race cars. He just quietly faded away from the Dirt Late Model scene following the 2011 season and, after a couple years dabbling in open-wheel modified competition, confirmed the end of his very successful career earlier this year with a short post on his Facebook page.

“Well, it’s official now,” Purkey wrote on April 5 to his Facebook friends and followers. “I am retired from racing. Sold my mod today complete MORE