DirtonDirt exclusive
Little chasing success in sophomore MARS season
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Illinois driver Jake Little. (joshjamesartwork.com)
Jake Little’s 2025 Rookie of the Year season on the MARS Championship Series was up and down. No more so than when Little’s No. 38J Late Model was exiting turn four in August at Macon (Ill.) Speedway and his car bounced — up and down — while he lost precious momentum in the final 100 yards of the 50-lap feature.
On the precipice of his first MARS victory and first career five-figure racing payday, Little helplessly watched Ryan Unzicker’s car slip past him at the checkers of the fifth-mile oval.
“We were leading that race at Macon, I think I led twenty something laps and I lost it, hit a hole in the (turn) there, and bounced across the corner,” Little recalled, “and Unzicker got me by like half a car coming to the checkered flag. Which kind of sucked.”
But the 31-year-old Little, who has been racing Late Models in one form or another half his life, doesn’t plan to let that painful near-miss define him. He’s back for his sophomore season on the Illinois-based MARS circuit that opens this weekend Thursday at Cedar County Speedway in Tipton, Iowa, and continues for the Brent Slocum Memorial doubleheader weekend at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa.
“We ran up front a lot, but we struggled sometimes at times, too,” the Springfield, Ill., driver said of his rookie campaign. “I mean, we're close. Trying to find consistency I think is the biggest thing. I mean, when you run with Jason Feger and Ryan Unzicker and all them guys every week, it definitely makes you better and it realizes how bad you are compared to them at times, because that's kind of where we gauge ourselves off of because we just race with them so much.
“Even with MARS, heck, even running top-five is a win, it feels like, It feels like for a team like us too, just the way we operate, we all work full-time jobs and like most of us do on the MARS stuff, so it’s tough.”
Little, a career enlistee who handles personnel at the Air National Guard 183rd Wing, comes from a racing family, following the tire tracks of his great uncle Randy Booth and his sons. Jumping into Crate Late Models at 15, he ran at Macon and other central Illinois tracks, moving unsuccessfully to Super Late Models for a few seasons before returning to Crates to become a standout with dozens of victories and four track titles at Lincoln, Macon and Jacksonville. He went back to the higher-profile Super division in 2021, capturing a modest Midwest Big 10 miniseries title, and has tallied three Super Late Model victories.
While he’s blessed to compete in a racing-crazy state with plenty of options for racetracks, Little is also smack dab in the middle of some of the most competitive Dirt Late Model racing nationally, and stepping up to the MARS circuit has been a challenge.
“When you come to the Midwest, you kind of know where you're gonna stand and what you need to work on. Heck, I mean, you gotta look at the guys running national tours from around Illinois with Bobby (Pierce) and Brandon (Sheppard) and (Brian Shirley) and all them guys,” Little said. “When they pop in (for) Summer Nationals races or even some MARS races, you know exactly where you're gonna stand and where you need to work on and you know how much speed you have once some guys show up.”
Little does benefit from his racing friendship with Sheppard, the Rocket Chassis house car driver and five-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion.
“Brandon Shepherd and them have been a big help in our program. His guys, Jeff (McGee) and Lucas (LeBlanc), help us out a bunch when Brandon's on the road,” Little said. “I can call them guys to try to get some info to keep us in the loop like I said, because we work full-time jobs. We're not in it every week. Trying to get the info on what's going around in the racing world is hard to get, it seems like anymore, but I'm blessed and lucky to get to call them whenever I need some help.”
Life-long friend Logan Ingles has been aboard for nearly every lap of Little’s career, too.
"He's been through the highs and lows, that's for sure, and watched the program change, but it's been good,” Little said.
While wife Ashley, Ingles and other supporters were disappointed along with Little with the near-miss at Macon last season, they’re all hopeful that first MARS victory is coming soon.
“It would have been so cool. It would have been our first big win, obviously. I mean, besides the money, just winning on the MARS series is cool to do and at probably my home track that I've turned the most laps at probably would have been even cooler,” Little said. “So we go back there, I think, three or four times this year. So we'll see if we can get one there and then just keep running up front with these guys and we'll get one of these knocked off eventually.
"I think it's bound to happen — I hope.”
Little, who enlisted in the Air National Guard at 18 and initially worked as an engine mechanic on F-16 fighter jets, maintains a tricky work-life balance while racing as much as 50 times per season.
“My job changes depending on what's going on in the world. How busy we are kind of depends on what's going on,” said Little, whose personnel duties cover 250 people. “And then racing, we try to race as much as we can, like I said, just to keep up, but the job gets in the way sometimes.
“It’s busy as you can imagine, but we make time for racing as much as we can.”
He’s grateful for the support of his wife, father, stepmom and other family members who put up with his long hours at the race shop and at the track. It’s the life of a part-time racer.
“As much as we'd like to go run full time or do anything like that, it's just not feasible for us for, for what we could do,” he said. “We have a lot of great partners that help us, but I mean, we all know how much it takes. When we ran 40 to 50 times, I mean, that's us working a lot on the cars, after work every night and then racing two or three times a weekend, is a lot.”
But Little is determined to keep improving, setting new goals for 2026 with the MARS tour owned by Matt Curl and directed by Jonathan Clayton.
"I think obviously more consistency would be good,” he said. “Obviously I'd like to get that first win, maybe a couple more. I think a realistic goal is finish in the top-five more than get that first win, and we finished sixth in points last year, so maybe finishing in the top five would be cool.
"Matt and Jonathan do a good job of putting that series on, so they take care of us and we wouldn't rather race with anybody else.”
