My back aches. My right shoulder is sore. And the weather system that’s spinning north from the Gulf Coast off of approaching Hurricane Zeta has my head in a fog.

As my fingers are poised to type this week’s blog, I’m thinking about Jackie Boggs, the standout regional driver from Kentucky who passed away this week. My heart goes out to his family, friends and the legions of fans that he’s had for three decades, many who gravitated to him because of his Hall of Fame father, the late Jack MORE

The 2021 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series schedule was released on Wednesday morning. Roughly six hours later the ’21 World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series schedule went public.

Both national tour slates coming out within hours of each other? Talk about an unprecedented day for Dirt Late Model racing.

After digesting the schedules, here’s some highlights and other nuggets that caught my attention:

• As long as the coronavirus pandemic dies down and allows the return of an MORE

If Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of summer, then the Dirt Track World Championship has long been the one event that has officially ushered in fall. There have been a myriad of Fall Classics — there still is — and lots of Fall Nationals, too, but the Dirt Track World Championship is right up there with leaves changing colors, football on TV and pumpkin spice in the air.

It’s autumn and DTWC weekend is indeed a sign that the racing season is winding down. In a season altered MORE

About this time every season, I start wondering where the year has gone. The fall air turns crisp, leaves begin to disappear from the trees in our neighborhood and high school football season nears its midpoint.

Clearly this has been among the strangest, most trying racing seasons the sport has ever had. With the nation’s economy seemingly in high gear, the world ground to a halt thanks to a global pandemic.

There’s not a completed event on the DirtonDirt.com master schedule from March 16 MORE