Fast Talk presented by MD3 and Five Star Bodies
Fast Talk: WVMS appraisal and more
With Tyler Erb the weekend’s biggest winner with a $30,000 World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory at West Virginia Motor Speedway, our roundtable checks in for the weekly feature presented by MD3 and Five Star Race Cars Bodies (edited for clarity and length):
Reflect on the World of Outlaws action at WVMS.
Kevin Kovac, DirtonDirt senior writer: I took note of track owner Mike Hurley bringing in experienced outside track-prep guys — Chad Bauman, Mackie Flood and Blade Kearns — for the weekend. Would it impact the racing on the new layout? Judging by how the track surface clearly appeared to widen out from its previous races last year and earlier this season with feature winners Bobby Pierce and Tyler Erb running high through the corners, the move worked for Hurley. The racing was the best it’s been since the reconfiguration. I’m not alone in long wanting to see a WVMS track that’s entirely in front of the big hillside seating area rather than stretching past it like the old 5/8-mile did, and the WoO doubleheader showed that the modern version of the facility is truly headed in the right direction.
Kyle McFadden, DirtonDirt staff reporter: The reconfigured WVMS is a drivers’ racetrack. Akin to a larger version of the fifth-mile Dome at America’s Center that hosts the annual Gateway Dirt Nationals, the — let’s call it — third-mile WVMS demands a driver willing to get up on the wheel, especially against the cowboy-up cushion. So it came as little surprise that the two hottest WoO drivers and bullring aces, Bobby Pierce (10 series wins in last 23 races) and Tyler Erb (3.4 average finish last five series starts), rose to the occasion. Just as encouraging was the racetrack itself. Thanks to the tireless work of Chad Bauman, Blade Kearns and Mackie Flood, the once bottom-dominant surface widened out significantly, creating multiple racing grooves that produced compelling action. It felt like a major step in the right direction for all the marquee events still to come at WVMS.
Todd Turner, DirtonDirt managing editor: From afar, it’s great to see the impressive crowd, owner Mike Hurley’s investment in the facility and West Virginia fans and competitors having a prime venue that’s capable of hosting events for both national tours (a relative rarity). To say WVMS has had an uneven past is an understatement, but anyone who ever drove past the facility knew that the tiered hillside was a great place to watch … something. As it turns out, that something wasn’t cars going around a 5/8-mile oval, but manageable track with better racing, ease on equipment and soon enough the finale for the the Lucas Oil Series (following the Hillbilly 100).
Bryan Ault, DirtonDirt contributor: Is this the best stretch of Tyler Erb’s career? It’s certainly looking that way. Nearly two weeks after taking home a six-figure payday at Mansfield and one week after competing up-front at the Dirt Late Model Dream, he takes home a $30,000 check. Erb dropped off the Lucas tour two years ago and went on his own “fun tour,” going to races he wanted to run at. Perhaps the time off the national touring grind made him even better as a driver. While he isn’t in contention for the WoO points chase, he could be our sport’s hottest driver outside of Bobby Pierce.
Are we confident WVMS will be a worthy host for the Dirt Track World Championship?
McFadden: There’s a lot to like about the revamped WVMS. As noted above, the racing product was substantially improved, and I suspect track officials will continue fine-tuning the surface in hopes of making it better. The facility itself also has plenty going for it. The massive backstretch grandstands, coupled with the hillside seating, look capable of accommodating 10,000-plus spectators. My biggest questions center around logistics. Spectator parking appears to come at a premium. I arrived around 3:30 p.m. Saturday and felt like the best parking options were going quickly. I later saw an aerial photo from Zach Yost that revealed additional parking behind turns three and four, but making sure fans know those options exist will be important. Downsizing from the 5/8-mile has certainly created a spacious pit area, but with 90 cars in attendance Saturday — 39 Late Models and 51 support-division entries — that already felt snug, too. Last fall's DTWC attracted 133 Late Models alone between the Lucas and steel-block divisions. To the track's credit, this year's DTWC features steel-blocks and sport mods racing Thursday before the modifieds joining Lucas Oil on Friday and Saturday. Seating doesn't concern me one bit compared to parking, both for spectators and competitors. As long as event officials communicate and execute a clear traffic and parking plan — even something as simple as social media graphics showing available parking areas — I think they'll be in good shape.
Turner: Yes. And I think the hand-wringing over the April race was much ado about nothing. Perfect, no, but as I mentioned above, the track’s trajectory is on the right path. It appears Hurley is intent on doing what it takes to make it a success. It’s great to have Carl Short’s big event back in West Virginia. Great that Eldora was a caretaker for a few years, but the DTWC belongs in the Mountaineer State and let’s hope WVMS steadies the future of the race for many years to come.
Ault: Yes, I think so. Drivers certainly had concerns after the Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series event, where the surface was rough-and-tumble, but that was the first night, and by all accounts, track owners Mike and Becky Hurley have made the right moves with getting the surface right. Based on some of the highlights I watched, the past weekend’s events were great with solid racing all throughout the field. I think we’ll be in for a real treat when the Lucas Oil tour rolls into Mineral Wells.
Kovac: I’d say the WoO weekend calmed most of the concerns that observers might have had about the DTWC returning to a reconfigured WVMS. It’s still going to take a little getting used to seeing the crown jewel event contested on a smaller track — especially after three years at Eldora — but the track surface seems capable of presenting entertaining action on a big stage. Hurley and his staff will have to work on the logistics of creating enough space for camping and parking for race teams and spectators, but with everything he’s already done to the facility in an effort to make it right, it’s clear he’ll come up with solutions. I also have no doubt that the atmosphere for this year’s DTWC will be spectacular with the event back in the state it was born rather than being run at a track that already has two other entrenched crown jewel events.
And another national touring topic?
Turner: How about year-over-year improvements (or regressions) in points positions among national touring regulars? For Lucas Oil, Hudson O’Neal is plus-3, Brandon Sheppard is plus-4 … with Carson Ferguson and Brandon Overton both minus-3 and Daniel Hilsabeck minus-4. For the World of Outlaws, Ethan Dotson is plus-4, the only returnee with an improvement better than two positions … while Ryan Gustin is minus-4 and Dennis Erb Jr. minus-5. The highest “newcomers” on each series are Max Blair at No. 6 with Lucas Oil and Tyler Erb No. 3 with WoO.
Ault: Heading into the Mountain Moonshine Classic weekend at Smoky Mountain Speedway, I’m wondering if Devin Moran can get back into the Lucas Oil Series title chase. Moran, typically someone who is always steady and consistently finishing in the top five, had a disastrous Show-Me 100 weekend, with finishes of 12th, 20th and 15th and sending him to third place in the points, 250 behind Hudson O’Neal. Worse, the Dresden, Ohio driver broke a motor at the Shale Crescent Dirt Cup. The good news is that he rebounded with three top-five runs during the Eldora’s Dream weekend, and managed to salvage an eighth-place run at his family’s inaugural event where the two national tours squared off. You have to feel hopeful Moran will right the ship and get back into contending for a championship.
Kovac: After winning Sunday’s DIRTcar Summer Nationals feature at Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Ill., can Brian Shirley finally get rolling on the Lucas Oil Series? He’s a first-time Lucas Oil traveler, but his national touring experience — five years as a World of Outlaws regular (2007, ’16, 2023-25) and over 500 starts combined on the two series — is quite extensive. Just a couple years ago, in fact, Shirley won five WoO races. But this year has been a major struggle for him not only in Lucas Oil action (just a single top-five in 22 events) but across the board. He’s not a driver who should have two top-five finishes in his first 37 starts overall of the season, so perhaps a dip onto his old Summer Nationals circuit for a win in his 38th race will give him and his Bob Cullen-owned team the boost they need to turn things around.
McFadden: After nearly a month away, the Lucas Oil title chase finally heats back up this weekend at Smoky Mountain, launching five straight weekends of racing. While the Lucas Oil regulars flexed their muscle by handily winning the inaugural Dirt Cup last Wednesday — an event I thought was a great success — nobody enters the summer stretch feeling their best. Points leader Hudson O’Neal is mired in a 13-race winless streak, tied for his longest since September 2024. Brandon Sheppard has gone 12 races without a victory, his longest since it took him 14 starts to earn his first win of the season at Volusia. Devin Moran has suddenly gone 17 races without a victory, matching his longest skid since ending the ’23 campaign with 17 straight without a win. Brandon Overton hasn't won a Lucas Oil event since May 2025. Ricky Thornton Jr. has managed two victories over his last 14 starts, but he's also recorded seven finishes of 18th or worse during that span. With the tour about to embark on perhaps its most decisive stretch of the season, the question is which championship contender will be the first to reignite the consistency — and the winning form — needed for a title bid?
What non-national tour developments strike you as summer action picks up?
Ault: Shannon Babb’s victory at Fairbury on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals is a reminder that some of our sport’s older set can still rule. Babb has won two of the tour’s three events so far, a feat he hasn’t accomplished since 2018. The all-time series winner still proves he can get the job done. Jason Feger won at Coles County and Brian Shirley snapped a near year-long skid without reaching victory lane with his triumph at Sycamore Speedway. It’s nice to see some of our sport’s veteran drivers having success against the young up-and-comers.
Turner: Some quick-hitters … Ohio teen Lincoln Smith notched his first Super Late Model victory Saturday at Midway Speedway. He’s one to watch. … Can we split that final Michigan-Ohio week of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals into its own minitour and reduce the series three full weeks of daily racing (the return of which I love, it’s the series hallmark)? … Bummer that rain shortened Appalachian Mountain Speedweek. … Michigan’s most lucrative 2026 race comes this weekend at Crystal’s $11,000-to-win Dan Salay Memorial, an independent event.
McFadden: After covering nine national events over the last 17 days, I'm looking forward to kicking back a bit over the next couple of weeks and watching the DIRTcar Summer Nationals unfold from afar. The Hell Tour's grueling, day-after-day grind remains one of the sport's best proving grounds, offering young drivers plenty of opportunities to burnish their talents against a wide range of competition. Youngsters Clay Stuckey, Brody Smith, Michael Leach, Daniel Adam, Jackson Hise, Matthew Larson and newcomer Tyler Leach have already made Hell Tour appearances. Luke Morey is another up-and-comer I spoke with at WVMS who figures to join the tour at some point. The Summer Nationals also serves as the time of year when the Midwest's regional veterans — namely Illinois stalwarts Shannon Babb, Jason Feger and Brian Shirley — kick their seasons into high gear.
Kovac: How about Shannon Babb winning two of this year’s first three DIRTcar Summer Nationals features? At 52, Babb is by no means over the hill, but his days of dominating the Hell Tour are now well in the past. The last time he both started the series so well and won multiple races in a short span — and also the last year he ran a majority of the schedule — was 2018. A Babb hot streak was a throwback of sorts, a feel-good development for everyone who’s been around the Summer Nationals for a while (and newcomers who never saw Babb run roughshod over the competition). He’ll probably only run a modest number of the remaining events, but Week 1 was a taste of old times for the circuit’s all-time winningest driver.
Do you have any officiating gripes or suggestions for rules or format changes that would improve the sport?
McFadden: I don't want to pretend I know everything that goes into officiating — in reality, I only know a fraction of it. But one thing applies to any sport: enforce the rulebook as consistently as possible. Teams are always going to push the envelope. That's racing, and it always will be. But rulebooks exist for a reason. Drivers, teams and fans all deserve to know where the line is, and just as importantly, to trust that the line will be enforced fairly and consistently. Perfection probably isn't attainable, but consistency should always be the goal. It’s even better when the national tours and marquee regional tours are on the same page, too.
Ault: I’d normally use this as an opportunity to gripe about races finishing at a relatively decent hour, but so far the events I’ve been to have been pretty well-run, so I’ll avoid that subject. Since we’re two weeks out of Eldora’s Dream, how about doing away with the inverts? I get it: 30 years ago, when hundreds of drivers showed up for Eldora’s big crown jewels, the inverts served a purpose. That’s no longer the case anymore. What’s the point of showing up with a fast car, setting fast time, and winning a prelim – and yet still possibly starting on the third row of a heat race on Saturday’s finale? We don’t do that in any other race in the country, so why should we do it there? Why are we introducing the element of chance to two of our biggest races? Away with the inverts. Donate the Wheel of Misfortune to a local shooting range to be used for target practice, and let the fastest drivers start up front.
Kovac: Running races in an efficient manner so the headline division feature ends at a reasonable time is always an emphasis for me. So along those lines, it irritates me when tracks don’t focus entirely on that marquee class during their programs. Don’t whip up the crowd during opening ceremonies by screaming, “Are you ready for racing?” … and then roll out support-division heats. Don’t be so inflexible that you can’t change the night’s schedule of events on the fly when it’s clear the headlining class is off the track too long because the other divisions are dragging on. Every track’s format should revolve around the primary division to the point that fans should never have to wait more than 20-30 minutes to see those cars and drivers back on the track.
Turner: If a series or track disqualifies or penalizes a driver, a public announcement should be swift and transparent. Too many organizations try to sweep rulings under the rug, which only adds to controversy and makes it seem like the officials don’t even trust their own rules. On another note, MLB’s automated ball-strike challenge system adds some intrigue to baseball games, and I’ve been trying to figure out a potential implementation. Drivers dispute a called-back start? Or drivers dispute whether they were involved in a caution? For tracks with video screens, might be fun.
