Inside Dirt Late Model Racing
Column: You sure you want to buy a dirt track?
The Hunt the Front gang has blazed quite a trail in Dirt Late Model racing for the better part of the past decade. Winning race team. Trend-setting social-media presence. Successful streaming service. Regional series ownership and special-event promotion. Merchandising juggernaut. They’ve dived into virtually every nook-and-cranny of the sport.
“I like to call it an empire,” joked Joshua Joiner, who along with his twin brother, Jonathan, and their younger sibling (and driver of the family’s Dirt Late Model), Joseph, form the nucleus of the Hunt the Front phenomenon.
But this year there’s yet another pillar of the Hunt the Front kingdom, a new enterprise that embeds the Joiners even deeper into the industry. Two months ago they completed the purchase of Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla., their hometown track where they all grew up.
The Joiners had contemplated the possibility of buying the 3/8-mile oval located in Florida’s panhandle for several years as their Hunt the Front holdings expanded, but the right circumstances didn’t materialize. After an apparent deal that would have turned the facility into a Copart vehicle auction and remarketing service site fell through, however, they saw an opportunity and stepped up their pursuit throughout last fall. Negotiations stretched a bit longer than they wanted, but on Jan. 26 the three brothers signed the paperwork to close the purchase.
It was a nostalgic moment for the Joiners.
“I was looking back on some history, and since the track opened — I think it was built in ’88 and opened in ’89, something like that — and there’s pretty much been a Joiner racing there every year,” Joshua said during his recent guest appearance on DirtonDirt’s Dirt Reporters podcast. “There was a track down the road from it that had been operating for a few years before Southern Raceway was built so our family was already involved in racing at that point, they had been racing at the other track, and then when they opened up Southern, they kind of migrated there.
“And so pretty much, whether it was my uncle Lamar and his son Jody, or my dad, John, and then later on myself and my brothers, you know, someone in our family pretty much, maybe not every race by any means, but certainly, I would probably bet just about every race season, there's been a Joiner competing in some capacity out there.
“So it’s been, yes, our home track, and it’s kind of been on our radar for a few years since the (Hunt the Front) YouTube stuff kind of took off,” he continued. “We kind of had a lot of back-and-forth and negotiating and just behind the scenes stuff that’s really been going on for a few years now, and then the right opportunity, the right time, came together and we were able to buy it and have it and hopefully have a bright future ahead with it.”
Joshua and Jonathan, both 39, and Joseph, 32, jumped right into their fresh endeavor. They went from putting their names on the deed to, just moments later, examining the 33.9-acre property as newly-minted owners for a video that, of course, appeared on Hunt the Front’s YouTube channel. Joseph carried a pen and paper and marked down the items that they wanted to start working on.
The timing of the purchase wasn’t optimal with the Joiners headed off the next day to Needmore Speedway in Norman Park, Ga., for a practice session leading into their Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series-sanctioned stretch of Georgia-Florida Speedweeks action. But after the first of four scheduled programs — two at Needmore and two at Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway — was run on Jan. 28, the remaining shows were cancelled by wintry weather.
“So we didn’t get to run those races, but it meant we got to come home,” Joshua said. “We raced at Needmore on Friday, got home Saturday evening, and then Sunday morning we were out there working on the racetrack. Ever since, you know, it was basically, after that, a month straight where there was something going on at the track just about every day.”
The initial objective was getting a handle on Southern’s racing surface. The Joiners’ 66-year-old father, John, took the lead on overseeing a resurfacing and reshaping of the track. They wanted to change the banking of the wall-less corners and add a “curb” along the outside rim “like you see at a lot of sprint car tracks so guys have something to lean on” when a cushion builds up, Joshua said.
John Joiner convinced his sons to acquire fresh clay; Joshua said that project went over budget with a planned 100 truckloads of new dirt turning into more than 200, but it was worth the financial outlay. With David and Sharen Phillips of Three Trade Consultants — sponsors of multiple area racers, including Super Late Model standouts Dalton Cook and Bo Slay — assisting with the resurfacing and providing various equipment (grader, water truck, dozier) while the old, worn-out equipment that came with the track was repaired, the Joiners were able to see immediate results. Reviews of the track have been positive through four racing programs, including an open practice and 150-lap enduro on Feb. 14, a USCS 360 Sprint Car-headlined doubleheader on Feb. 20-21 and March 7’s card topped by a $3,000-to-win Late Model Challenge Series event for Crates.
“He’s done a great job,” Joshua said of his father. “The track is racing better than it ever has and that’s all because of him and how he reshaped the track and how he preps it. All that work and the good racing we’ve seen has definitely created some momentum and a positive vibe going around the local racing community. And hopefully it means we’re going to have some pretty good events going forward, too.”
Turning around Southern’s perception both locally and across the greater motorsports landscape is the Joiners’ goal.
“Our No. 1 thing, No. 1 on our to-do list — and I say to-do list but it’s more of a long-term project — is to turn it into a track that drivers want to race at,” Joshua said. “That’s been, you know, the biggest problem we’ve seen, because we have promoted events at Southern Raceway in the past. We put on a $20,000-to-win Super Late Model race there (in November 2021) and we had (18) cars show up, and $20,000 at that time was a big deal, right? Our lowest car count we’ve ever had (for a Hunt the Front-sanctioned race) was last September at Southern Raceway (14 cars).
“You’ve seen that in the local divisions as well — it was hard to get cars to come there. The track used to be the premier track in our region and had the highest car counts forever, but now (it’s been) struggling to match some of the other tracks in our area. So that was our No. 1 goal … to turn Southern Raceway back into the premier racetrack in our area and attract guys outside of our area, across the region, across the country, to want to come race at. And you do that by making it fun to race at, making it racy where guys can move around.
“And we’ve definitely seen that in the first few weeks,” he added. “Not saying it’s done that, that we’ve completed that task, but we’re certainly on the right track.”
Thanks to their widespread notoriety and reach with their Hunt the Front brand, the Joiners are uniquely positioned to market the track and build its name. It’s why they decided to pull the trigger on track ownership.
“Talking about the state of the sport in our industry and seeing tracks close and unfortunately not be successful, or at least not successful enough to stay racetracks, that’s something that wasn’t lost on us,” Joshua said. “I mean, we see everything everyone’s seeing with tracks, when a track closes or shuts down or has some financial troubles. We see it too on social media and hear it through the people we know in the sport.
“And I operate a series (so) I’ve talked with a lot of racetrack promoters and none of them thought it was a bad idea to buy the racetrack, but they are all were like, ‘Are you sure you want to do that?’ whenever I would kind of mention it. And I think most of them would say their point was, like, they wouldn’t advise anyone to buy a racetrack right now, but then everyone I talked to was kind of like, ‘But you guys have Hunt the Front, have the brand and the audience and the reach that you can do something with a racetrack if you had the right one.
“Anyone can have a vision, but you actually have a path toward building that vision,” he continued. “And with us, you know, what we built with Hunt the Front, our online audience, YouTube and social media, I think definitely gave us a leg up over most new racetrack owners-slash-promoters. And not only that, but also having the marketing ability that we do to get people to come to our events or watch online and also to sell sponsors on to reach that audience … that definitely gave us a leg up over what most new racetrack owners have.”
It wouldn’t have been outrageous for the Joiners to use their brand recognition by changing the track’s name to, say, Hunt the Front Speedway, but they decided it was best to keep its traditional label (albeit with a “Hunt the Front” tag in the logo).
“We toyed with the idea of changing the name, but, I mean, I’m sure there are a lot of tracks that have been operating for way longer, but there’s not a whole lot of them from 1988 to now,” Joshua said. “That’s a long time for a track to be in operation and you kind of build the name, especially in the local community. Everyone here knows it as Southern. In our area, whether or not they’re even race fans, they’ve heard of Southern, right? So, you know, we felt like it was probably best to keep the name.
“Obviously, it needs some improvement, you know, reinvigoration of the name and the brand with some better racing and some improvements at the facility that we’re working on. But we felt overall that keeping it Southern Raceway was important to the history of the place and the history of our racing community.”
The Joiners have already hosted a practice-enduro day that exceeded expectations for spectator turnout and a USCS show that attracted one of the biggest crowds in the track’s history. It gives them plenty of momentum for their 23 remaining race dates scheduled, including a local-division program this Saturday.
Joshua said they’ve also assembled a solid team to run the facility. The brothers’ wives — Elizabeth (Joshua), Shadow (Jonathan) and Kayla (Joseph) — are involved with race-day and business operations. Their uncle Lonnie Joiner, the eldest of their father’s brothers, assisted in the purchase. Tarah Holland and Jenney Dobson, two lifelong friends of Jonathan’s wife, help manage the race-day staff of more than 50 employees. And Toby Hallett, an Illinois transplant who in the 2010s was involved in the operation of Vermilion County Speedway in Danville, Ill., has a significant race-day role; he now lives in Pace, Fla., in a neighborhood right next to Joshua’s and reached out to the Joiners to offer his experienced help when he saw they purchased the track.
“That allows Jonathan, Joseph and I to focus on the racing (with Joseph) and the (Hunt the Front) content,” said Joshua, who also credited Iowa’s Jay Burdic of Malvern Bank and Dirt Track Bank, a longtime supporter and friend of the Joiners, for his assistance and guidance during their negotiations to purchase the track.
Currently the frequency and level of Dirt Late Model action set for Southern in 2026 is modest with five more Crate Late Model Challenge Series events scheduled and the lone Super Late Model appearance a Nov. 20-21 twinbill to cap the Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series season with $5,000- and $10,000-to-win features. But the Joiners have their eyes on higher-profile shows.
“We’re definitely up to working with the national tours on an event. We’ve had some conversations,” Joshua said. “Probably if you’d asked them at this time last year about coming to Southern Raceway they wouldn’t have really put another thought to it. But I think they’ve seen what we’ve done and the racing that’s going on there and the crowds, seeing that we can pull a big crowd, so yeah, we’re having some conversations and we just got to see where it all fits.
“I think part of our goal, talking about our vision of the racetrack, is to turn it into a destination racetrack, like East Bay (Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla.) was, or Volusia (Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.) is, where, you know, whether it’s an IMCA modified race or a Crate USA race or a Super Late Model race or a sprint car race, drivers want to come there, stay for a week and enjoy the beach, some of the most beautiful beaches in the world (along the Gulf of Mexico coast just 20 minutes away). If we can kind of elevate our racetrack to be the premier racetrack in our area, we'll benefit from that, that destination racing vacation, or race-cation, I think they’re calling it. You know, we can definitely tap into that a little bit.”
Joiner isn’t sure if Southern could fit into the Speedweeks schedule, but he did notice that, with the Daytona 500 (and thus Volusia’s Sunshine Nationals and DIRTcar Nationals) running a week later next year, there appears to be an open week between Arizona’s Wild West Shootout and the Sunshine Nationals.
“If they come straight from Arizona and drive to Florida, they’re going to drive literally within a mile of our racetrack on I-10,” Joshua said. “So it's like, maybe we should try to have a race that week in between, you know, catch those guys and give them somewhere to race. You never know, but we could maybe try it. We’re looking at all our options and all possibilities, so hopefully we’ll have a better idea of that pretty soon once we see kind of how the other schedules are looking and see where we can fit in, whether it’s with a national tour, our own tour or unsanctioned stuff.”
