One of the coolest things about traveling the country covering Dirt Late Model racing is getting the opportunity to visit new tracks. There are definitely favorites that I always look forward to returning to — and, of course, a few that I’d rather not see again — but discovering new ones is pretty awesome.

It’s not a surprise that I’ve been to more tracks in my home state of Tennessee than I have anywhere else. I’m not sure which one I actually went to first, either Duck River Raceway MORE

Regardless of what your definition of a crown jewel Dirt Late Model event is, one thing is certain: there isn’t one in the South.

Below the Mason-Dixon Line? Perhaps, but even the two bona fide crown jewels that do exist below that imaginary line that separates Maryland and Pennsylvania — the Topless 100 in Batesville, Ark., and the aptly-named North-South 100 at Kentucky’s Florence Speedway — are about as far from the true South as you can get.

Alas, long-suffering race fans in the South MORE