Bloomington Speedway
Hoosier falls shy of first Super victory
By Bryan Ault
Special to DirtonDirt
Tyler Collins (joshjamesartwork.com)
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (May 29) – Tyler Collins of North Vernon, Ind. could taste victory lane Friday at Bloomington Speedway’s inaugural Northern Allstars Late Model Dirt Series Don Hobbs Classic. After making a daring three-wide pass for the lead on the opening circuit and pacing the field for the first 18 laps of the 40-lapper, the 32-year-old driver was excited about potentially picking up his first career Super Late Model win. | RaceWire
But Collins couldn’t hold off Joseph Joiner of Milton, Fla., who took home the checkered flag after a mid-race restart and banked the $10,000-to-win check, leaving Collins wondering what could have been.
“I went soft on tires,” Collins said. “It was kind of the gamble I knew we played. But it kind of usually is what works out for me. I was expecting some cautions, which we got. I think I just needed them a little more often. And I just got that right rear too hot after that restart.”
Rounding turn four after a spin by Jake Leitzman, Joiner gained a strong run as the field took the green on lap 18 and overtook Collins as the field flew by the flagstand on the 19th circuit. Collins was able to make a slider on the Floridian in turns one and two and briefly retake the lead on the backstretch before Joiner took command for good exiting turn four and never looked back.
“Joiner just fired off a lot better than me. And I just, you know, it took a long time for my tires to kind of come back into it. And even then, I didn't have anything for him or (runner-up Devin Gilpin).”
The restart caused Collins to fade, and with it, any chance of picking up his long-sought-after first win.
Despite the disappointing finish, it was Collins’ best Northern Allstars finish and he’s excited about his car’s speed. His three-wide pass on the opening circuit mirrored his fourth-to-first charge in the third heat race to give him a strong starting position. During his heat race, he passed regional champ Rusty Schlenk of McClure, Ohio and Logan Mounce of Bedford, Ind. to grab second and overtook leader Mike Hildebrand of Loveland, Ohio, giving Collins a starting spot toward the front of the field.
Not everyone was pleased with Collins. Hometown driver Derek Groomer, the night’s fast qualifier and polesitter, took issue with Collins in the pit area after the feature in a lengthy verbal confrontation. After tempers cool, Collins discussed his performance.
“Experience being here before, even in Crates” made a difference, Collins said. “The infield here is a little different. They got tires down there, but if you do it right, you can drive over top of them. I just kind of set (the car) up knowing I was going to kind of run the bottom. I figured the top be going away. And then, you know, it was kind of just knowing the track and putting a setup on it that I knew would work for running around the bottom, and then it just turned out that the bottom was where we needed to be, and I was able to get the good runs that I thought we could.”
Collins, who graduated to Super Late Models from Crate Late Models in 2023, has reasons for optimism heading for summer. He’s in his second full season with the James Essex-directed Northern Allstars. Switching from Capital Race Cars, he debuted a family-owned 2023 Longhorn Chassis ahead of the 2026 season. He added a Clements Racing engine to his stable ahead of this season, too, hoping to give his program a much-needed boost.
On Saturday, he’ll have a chance to bag his first win during the Hoosier Dirt Classic at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway, where he’s turned plenty of Crate Late Model laps.
“I’ve never won a Super race,” Collins said. “And you know, to almost win 10 grand for your first one, it'd be sweet. I finished second, I think, over 20, 30 times in super races. I just want one, man, I want to win one, you know?
“I’m really happy we had great runs all night,” he added. “The run in the heat race, the run of the feature, I'm super happy. I'm still disappointed we didn't win, you know? I want to win really bad, but the kind of competition that's here for this much money on the line, there wasn't a bad car in a pit area to lead. I led almost half the race and came home third. It's still pretty cool.”
