Volusia Speedway Park
Take Five: Employing dual engine strategies
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
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: Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C., remarked after winning Wednesday’s second 20-lap DIRT-sanctioned semifeature at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., that he had a brand-new Andy Durham-built Chevrolet engine under the hood of his Tye Twarog-owned Longhorn machine. He pointed out later that he still has his stock of Clements powerplants, but the team decided to add a Durham motor to match a trend developing among several top national programs that are utilizing two engine builders, including Jonathan Davenport, Devin Moran and Ricky Thornton Jr. Hoffman said working with a pair of engine builders can give high-level teams another option to keep their engine programs well stocked especially when parts availability might be a factor.
No. 2: Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., Kyle Bronson of Brandon, Fla., and Mark Whitener of Middleburg, Fla., are good buddies; they’ve vacationed together and, of course, they started Volusia’s DIRTcar Nationals parked together in the pit area. But they’ve unfortunately experienced similar rough fates this week: Shirley lost a motor in Monday’s hot laps, and on Wednesday night Whitener had an engine expire during practice (broken rod) and Bronson was struck by powerplant trouble in his 20-lap semifeature (broken piston). Whitener said his Volusia week was over and the rest of his Speedweeks was in limbo; Bronson was back in action Thursday while Shirley remained sidelined as he worked on resetting his engine program for the upcoming Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events.
No. 3: More Volusia engine struggles: Blair Nothdurft of Renner, S.D., experienced his second motor failure of the week during Wednesday’s first 20-lapper, done in by a broken valve after previously being sidelined early in Monday’s opening-night program. Nothdurft said he was down to just one remaining powerplant that was bolted in his backup car, but, with plans to still enter all the Lucas Oil Series events during Speedweeks, he decided to sit out at least Thursday’s show and drive to Clements Racing Engines in Spartanburg, S.C., to have one of his motors repaired.
No. 4: Austin Smith of Cedartown, Ga., appeared primed to match Michael Leach of Sun River, Mont., as an upset winner in Wednesday’s triple 20s at Volusia as he firmly controlled the first half of the race. He ultimately ceded the top spot to eventual winner Nick Hoffman on lap 13 and settled for a fourth-place finish, but the 29-year-old son of Capital Race Cars co-owner Chad Smith was still smiling when I spoke to him afterward. “Not disappointed at all,” he said. “Them guys (who passed him) are just good. They don’t mess up. Nick’s won a bunch of races down here. (Runner-up) Brandon (Overton) has won everything in the South so far this year. (Third-place) Hudson (O’Neal) just won (Tuesday) night. We were in some good company, so I’ll take it.” Smith noted that he’s looking for his first win since returning to regular Dirt Late Model competition in 2024 after being mostly inactive since 2020.
No. 5: Before Tyler Erb won Wednesday’s third 20-lap semifeature at Volusia, the 29-year-old from New Waverly, Texas, had a close call in the pit area. He was riding his pit bike on the hill connecting the upper and lower pits when he crossed the path of a golf cart driven by MARS Series director Jonathan Clayton, who is helping officiate the DIRTcar Nationals. Clayton said he couldn’t avoid Erb and “smoked him.” Fortunately, Erb saw the approaching golf cart and managed to pull his leg away from the impact and went down smoothly with the motorbike. Erb wasn’t injured and was joking about the incident with Clayton while officials inspected his car following his triumph.
