Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Owens, Hill team up at Bulls Gap
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: While Jimmy Owens hasn’t yet scheduled his first start of 2026 in a Koehler Motorsports car, he’s picked up a ride to start his season on familiar turf in a couple weeks. Engine builder and racer Vic Hill of Mosheim, Tenn., revealed Thursday that he’ll put Owens behind the wheel of his CVR Chassis machine for March 13’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., the third-mile, high-banked track that Hill promotes with his wife Christa. Hill said he’s “not sure yet” if Owens might make more appearances in the car, which will carry a blue-and-yellow color scheme and Owens’s familiar No. 20.
No. 2: For Owens, 54, of Newport, Tenn., the action in Hill’s car will kick off the 35th racing season of his illustrious career. He posted a message on social media saying he’s “very thankful” for the opportunity to race while “our stuff isn’t ready to go yet” and is confident he’ll “have a great piece to try to win that $12,000” first-place prize in the WoO show.
No. 3: For my Inside Dirt Late Model Racing column this week I talked with Tye Twarog of Coshocton, Ohio, for his thoughts on the superb start to 2026 that his driver Nick Hoffman enjoyed during Georgia-Florida Speedweeks. During our conversation the 45-year-old noted that he’s co-promoting the May 28 World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio, alongside track promoter Jason Flory, a longtime close friend of Twarog. “It’s the lead-in to the Outlaws weekend at Ohio’s Mansfield Speedway,” said Twarog, who is working on drawing some of his friends from the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series — including his former driver Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio — to compete at Wayne County. It marks the fourth time Twarog has dabbled in the promotional game; his previous attempts included a show several years ago at Hilltop Speedway in Millersburg, Ohio, and last year’s DIRTcar Summer Nationals stop at Wayne County.
No. 4: Kyle Bronson’s now-famous one-liner about his bad luck after dropping out of Wednesday’s Lucas Oil Series feature at Ocala (Fla.) Speedway (“It could be raining vaginas and I’d get smacked in the head with a wiener”) wasn’t forgotten during Thursday’s action. In fact, when Bronson arrived in victory lane as the third-place finisher in the 40-lap A-main, his aunt Shirlene Hammond, who fields Bronson’s race team with her husband Wayne, was there holding a tray of foil-wrapped hot dogs and handing out the wieners to anyone who wanted one. Race winner Hudson O’Neal was among those who received one during postrace ceremonies. Shirlene also told FloRacing pit reporter Ben Shelton that, ironically enough considering Bronson’s quote, Wayne Hammond had recently purchased a hot dog machine/truck and was wanting to call it “Wayne’s Wienie Wagon.”
No. 5: The rainout of Friday’s Wieland Winternationals event at Ocala Speedway was the first weather-related cancellation during this year’s Speedweeks since four consecutive Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series-sanctioned shows in Georgia — Jan. 31 at Norman Park’s Needmore Speedway, Feb. 2-3 at Swainsboro Raceway and Feb. 4 at Sylvania’s Screven Motor Speedway — were lost. All 14 races in Florida (plus two at Screven) were completed this month prior to Ocala’s washout.
