Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Lucas Oil crew chiefs climb behind wheel
In a new feature appearing regularly on DirtonDirt, senior writer Kevin Kovac will offer readers five things worth mentioning from around the Dirt Late Model landscape (index to previous Take Fives):
No. 1: A half-dozen Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series crew chiefs will have a chance to battle for some pit-area bragging rights Friday at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. After the completion of the evening’s Mountain Moonshine Classic preliminary program for the Lucas Oil Series, the head wrenches of the top six drivers in the national tour’s current points standings — Jason Durham (Hudson O’Neal), Danny White (Brandon Sheppard), Chuck Kimble (Devin Moran), Ryder Cantillo (Brandon Overton), Anthony Burroughs (Ricky Thornton Jr.) and Max Blair (Rob Blair) — will put on uniforms and helmets and climb in Crown Vic machines for a dash around the 3/8-mile oval. No doubt the race will receive plenty of attention from the mechanics’ drivers and everyone else who runs up-and-down the Lucas Oil trail with them. "I can't wait," Overton said. There’s even a second part to the Crown Vic Challenge — the drivers will run the cars as well on Saturday night in a race that will be lined up based on the crew chiefs’ finishing positions on Friday.
No. 2: Which crew chief will enter the Smoky Mountain race as the favorite? Blair, 56, and Burroughs, 52, would seem to have the edge in experience; Blair was an accomplished regional Dirt Late Model racer for many years before becoming his son Max’s crew chief, while Burroughs competed heavily for a good decade until switching his focus to the mechanical side of the sport in the mid-2010s. The 53-year-old Durham ran Dirt Late Models off-and-on in the northern Georgia area from the late ‘90s through the mid-2000s and just last year returned to the seat to take some practice laps in O’Neal’s car at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. Kimble, 27, dabbled locally in his native Ohio in Super and Crate Late Model action in the late-2010s and early ‘20s and even built his own Punisher Chassis. It’s Cantillo, 35, and White, 39, who are the greenest with Cantillo having only raced a factory stock a handful of times “about four or five years ago” and White is set to make his competitive debut. Overton told me that everyone better watch for his boy despite his relative lack of experience. "Ryder's a Cajun and I think he’s gonna bust their ass, especially in a Crown Victoria. I feel like he has more experience in that type of car."
No. 3: What a 24-hour period Chad Homan of Penfield, N.Y., experienced on Friday and Saturday to complete his run on the rain-shortened Selinsgrove Ford Appalachian Mountain Speedweek. The 43-year-old who has primarily competed in Crate Late Models since swapping big-block modified competition for full-fender racing started strong on the miniseries with a runner-up finish in June 7’s stop at Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek, Md., but on Friday he experienced a nightmarish outing at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway: hole in the radiator during his heat; flat left-rear tire from contact in the feature; then a trip through the heavy cushion and into the wall following a pit stop. The accident caused extensive front-end damage, but Homan was able to enter Saturday’s finale at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa., after visiting Lazer Chassis in Jonestown, Pa., for major repairs. The result? Homan led laps 4-11 and finished a solid second to Gregg Satterlee of Indiana, Pa., in the feature. “It’s been a heck of a two days here,” Homan, who placed fifth in the AMS points, said during Lincoln’s postrace ceremonies. “Thanks to the Lazer guys again for basically rebuilding the front end of this frame this morning. Never expected to be this good here today. This thing’s patched together. We gotta go home and do a little work before the next one and get her back completely right, but apparently it’s close enough … just super happy that we had a car good enough to be right (behind) the guy that won.”
No. 4: I noted that Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., commented in a Facebook post that he currently doesn’t have DIRTcar Summer Nationals events “on the radar right now,” which makes sense considering he just completed a busy stretch of racing and has limited time to regroup for his next burst of action starting Friday that includes 10 World of Outlaws Late Model Series shows in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota through July 8. If the 29-year-old star doesn’t end up doing any Hell Tour racing, it will mark the first year he hasn’t entered at least one event on the series since he made his first Summer Nationals starts in 2009 as a 13-year-old. The five-time Hell Tour champion and winner of 50 series races has, of course, drastically reduced his Summer Nationals participation since becoming a WoO regular in 2023, running two races that year, one in ’24 and only two events last year that were co-sanctioned by the Outlaws at I-55 Federated Raceway Park in Pevely, Mo.
No. 5: Speaking of the World of Outlaws as the circuit heads to the Upper Midwest for an extended swing, I can’t help noticing how the series has enjoyed a rather remarkable run versus Mother Nature this year. The series has already completed 29 points races this season, losing only April’s doubleheader at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala., to wet weather. May 16’s Conor Bobik Memorial finale at Marion Center (Pa.) Raceway rained out but made up May 27. Through mid-June last season, the tour had completed only 16 events. The Lucas Oil Series, meanwhile, has run 22 features this season while having five races washed out and not rescheduled.
