Bloomington Speedway
Notes: Late Models settle in at Bloomington
By Bryan Ault
Special to DirtonDirt
A look at Bloomington Speedway. (facebook.com/bloomingtonspeedway)
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (May 29) – Southern Indiana is known as a sprint car haven, and Bloomington Speedway is no exception. While Late Model ran more frequently at the southern Indiana oval in the past, full-fendered stops at the quarter-mile oval have become a rarity.
Very much like its appearance at Paragon (Ind.) Speedway last month, the James Essex-directed Northern Allstars Late Model Dirt Series is putting an emphasis on Late Models at tracks typically specializing on open-wheel racing. | RaceWire
Joseph Joiner, the Milton, Fla. driver who captured Friday’s $10,000 Don Hobbs Classic, liked Bloomington as a Late Model venue.
“We were good all night tonight, and this place really can race pretty good,” Joiner said. “It's narrow and it's tight. And you can get yourself in a bind really quickly, but it put on a good show tonight. If they had all that rain and all the stuff that promoters dealt with here, hats off for doing it and putting on a good show.”
Friday’s event didn’t come without challenges that tested drivers and the patience of fans. A thick cloud of dust encircled the track during the opening session of hot laps, making it hard for fans to see and dangerous for drivers, who couldn’t see much either.
“I was like really worried,” Madison, Ind., driver Cody Mahoney said. “Like I got out there and it was real powdery, like, it was bad. The guy in front of me gassed her up, and then we went down the straightaway. I couldn't even see in front of me. Like, it was super bad, dusty.”
Series and track officials elected to water the surface for nearly an hour, extending the start of hot laps past 8 p.m. Late Models hot-lapped twice more when and the dust abated. Jason Jameson of Lawrenceburg, Ind. thought the track’s decision to water the surface was a smart one, even if it caused a lengthy delay.
“You couldn't touch the gas,” Jameson said during the opening session of hot laps. “It was just like driving through the desert. Like, you couldn't see anybody in front of you at all, pretty much. You had to get below them. You couldn't (go fast) on that, you know what I mean? It was dusty, but hell, a little bit of water, and it was a 180 degree different track, you know what I mean?
“After all the water stuff they put on it, it made a better racetrack, but it was kind of just so bottom-dominant,” Jameson added. “I don't know, you just couldn't do much with it. It still became a train around the bottom. I see tracks deal sometimes … they have an (World of Outlaws sprint car) show or something coming in town, they think they’ve got to change the way they prep the track and then they just totally (mess) it up. They recovered a lot tonight, you know, from what we started with.”
Joiner, whose family is no stranger to the challenges of track prep after its recent purchase of Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla., thinks Late Models could race more at Bloomington.
“I mean, it's tight, it's small, it'd be something different, but there's nothing wrong with running Late Models here,” he said. “You can certainly do it. There's worse places to do it. The last few laps of the race, I moved up and went around the lapped cars there. And I feel like if there were just, two cars out there, turning two different lines there, they’d probably about the same speed. So honestly, I think if the racetrack was about as best as you could ever ask for.”
Webb making progress
When asked about his 2026 racing season before Friday’s drivers’ meeting at Bloomington, David Webb of Nicholasville, Ky. succinctly summed it up: “The worst start of my career,” said Webb, who entered the event fifth in Northern Allstars series points.
Bad luck, equipment breakdowns, and getting caught up in other drivers’ wrecks have held up the asphalt-turned-dirt racer from finishing up front.
“It just seems like something bites us every time we’ve went out,” said Webb, who has three DNFs to start the season. “It was just things like unfortunate luck starting out the year. We’ve had two blown right rears that took us out of races. At Montpelier (Motor Speedway in Indiana), we had the rear end break out on us.”
The start of Friday’s event appeared to mark just another frustrating evening. A power steering line “blew up on us,” forcing Webb and his crew to scramble before taking the green flag during hot laps. Webb certainly benefited from the track and series officials’ decision to water the oval after it became a dust bowl during the first hot-lap session, giving Webb valuable time to fix his machine.
“We had to go straight out to qualify without any (setup) on the car,” Webb said.
Webb overcame the rough-and-tumble beginning to start eighth in the feature. He picked up four positions to finish fourth behind Collins and Gilpin, giving him his best 2026 series finish.
“It seems like the track was migrating to the bottom,” Webb said. “I had to restart on the high side a couple of times on and thought of trying the cushion, but everyone was migrating down there. I kept looking ahead and tried to see if anyone was on the high side. A couple of guys seemed like they were getting tight and a couple pushed out and I was able to get them on the bottom.
“This was definitely our best showing of the year,” he added. “Everything seems to come together in the feature. We had a good car, it was pretty solid. If we started a little further up front, we might’ve had another spot or two.”
Loudy’s Midwest trip
After making a trip to MasterSbilt Race Cars in Crothersville, Ind., to make tweaks to his machine, Kaede Loudy of Rogersville, Tenn. decided to enter the Northern Allstars doubleheader at Bloomington and Brownstown Speedway. Relying on a self-funded car and 24-year-old motor has been hard for the 21-year-old driver.
“We came to MasterSbilt this week to just regroup with our stuff and I thought we had a pretty good piece,” Loudy said. “We thought that was pretty good. I just buried myself qualifying and couldn't really pass in the heat. And just kind of set the tone for the night from there, burying myself.”
Starting 17th, Loudy picked up six positions on a track that became bottom-dominant, finishing 11th in his Bloomington debut.
Loudy, a regular on the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series tour, finished second to Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., in the Schaeffer's Spring Nationals Lil’ Bill Corum Memorial at Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway on April 4 and is hopeful ahead of Saturday's Hoosier Dirt Classic at Brownstown.
“I mean, there's nowhere good really racing around home around this time and, you know, James (Essex) has got some good races going on up here,” Loudy said. “I like racing up here and, you know, I think we had a top-five car tonight. You can't bury yourself qualifying and it's hard to dig yourself out. I mean, it obviously was one-lane tonight, but we were only good around the hub, so we'll learn from it, I guess, and try again tomorrow.”
