West Virginia Motor Speedway
Maturing Terbo relying on brain over talent
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Tyler Erb celebrates at WVMS. (Emily Schwanke/woolms.com)
MINERAL WELLS, W.Va. (June 13) — After years of being known nearly as much for his antics as his talent, Tyler Erb finally feels like his goals as a Dirt Late Model racer are within reach.
And what are those goals exactly?
The 29-year-old World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular from New Waverly, Texas, has three in mind: post a double-digit national touring victory total in a single season, contend for — and capture — a national touring championship and, one day, win an Eldora Speedway crown jewel to reach the standards of top drivers like Jonathan Davenport and Brandon Sheppard, among others.
“Obviously there’s been struggles, and I’ve had good years, but never a J.D., Bobby Pierce, Brandon Overton, Sheppy year,” said Erb, listing drivers who have all pieced together multiple 20-win campaigns. “You just got to be realistic with yourself with what you’re working with. I know what my goal in all of this is.
“I feel like I’m getting closer to it every day,” added Erb, whose career-best national touring season came in 2021 with seven Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victories. “Yeah, to be the best, you have to come race Outlaws or Lucas. You have to grind it out. You have to get your car the best it can be.”
Over the last three weeks, Erb has taken considerable strides toward becoming the driver he believes he can be, thanks to a honed-in approach to making better decisions.
He earned the first six-figure victory of his career — collecting a $100,000 payday on the WoO tour May 29 at Mansfield (Ohio) Speedway, bolstered by an $88,000 bonus from Richland County philanthropist Dan Niss — contended for the Dream XXXII finale June 6 at Eldora Speedway before a part failure knocked him out of the top three with 20 laps remaining, and captured his second World of Outlaws victory in four series races Saturday at West Virginia Motor Speedway.
During that stretch, he has also recorded 12 top-10 finishes in 13 starts — the Eldora misfortune the lone blemish — while adding another victory May 22 at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich., on the Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series.
Whether this is just a hot streak that eventually cools off or a sign he's reached another level remains to be seen, but Erb believes this run is a glimpse of what’s sustainable.
“I still feel like I’m this close to being as good as I think I could be,” Erb said, holding his index finger and thumb a few inches apart. “A race like tonight, it’s just another step to getting there. I don’t feel like I’m the best that’s ever done it or ever will by any means, but I’m working closer to what I want to be. It feels really good.”
Whenever things could've gone awry Saturday at WVMS, the self-proclaimed new-and-improved Erb not only stayed out of harm's way — he consistently put himself in position to capitalize. Simply put, he stayed ahead of the curve all night.
Despite going out late in qualifying — 14th of 19 cars in Group A — Erb missed fast time by just 0.024 of a second to Drake Troutman, who drew fourth in the group. His lap of 14.293 seconds ranked fourth-fastest overall despite being the 34th of 39 drivers to qualify.
In his heat race, Erb lined up alongside June 10’s Shale Crescent Dirt Cup runner-up Josh Rice on the front row, with WoO’s top two — Bobby Pierce and Nick Hoffman — lurking behind. He held serve out front, winning the heat and securing a front-row starting spot for the 60-lap feature.
When the feature began, Erb admittedly didn't expect to grab the lead so quickly because pole-starting Brandon Sheppard had bolted on softer tire compounds. But that's exactly what happened. Erb nosed ahead on the second lap and officially completed the pass on lap four after the two raced side-by-side through the opening three circuits.
“That was my main deal: he had soft tires on, and I knew if I could get ahead of him, I’d be in better shape,” Erb said. “I got ahead of him, and nobody every slid me. I could see him on corner entry, but on exit, they were out of sight. So I knew I was running good laps. Yeah, once you getting rhythm and get going, it’s like, ‘All right, it’s good.’ ”
Even after Erb found clean racetrack out front, it was hardly cruise control from there. As laps clicked off around the reconfigured WVMS bullring, the top became increasingly treacherous, especially while navigating lapped traffic.
“It made it sketchy to run the top like I was because it’s not a lot of room for error,” Erb said. “When they’re in dirty air entering the way I was, it’s really easy to make a mistake.”
Erb never did. His Best Performance Motorsports machine and XR2 Rocket Chassis remained maneuvered wherever he pointed it, allowing him to navigate traffic without a costly misstep.
“Yeah, my car was really, really good,” Erb said. “(Friday) it was good, too. It’s just Sheppy beat me in the heat and that’s all it takes. … My guys are doing a great job. I ask a lot of them, but this is the whole end goal: to win races and consistently be up front. Right now we’re doing that. We have no intentions of changing any of that to slow us down.”
Erb also didn't simply pound the cushion lap after lap. Instead, he entered each corner a groove or two below it before driving up to the edge of the banking on exit — another example of the calculated approach that's fueled his recent surge.
“Best odds of not making a mistake. The cushion was so treacherous,” Erb said, comparing it to December’s indoor racing at the Gateway Dirt Nationals. “It reminded me of the Dome, a lot. You’re on the edging of jigging a car if you mess up.”
The line Erb committed to also made it difficult for anyone behind him to pull off a slide job.
“That’s the fortunate thing about being out front — if they would’ve slid me, they would’ve crashed trying to slide me,” Erb said. “I could do that and tell I wasn’t losing a lot of speed, as long as I didn’t get crooked and back up into it. It worked out in our favor today. Sometimes that’s all you can ask for.”
It was another example of the restraint Erb has worked to develop.
“I’ve won a lot of races like that, on the ragged edge — usually it was win or break, nothing in between,” Erb said. “That race right there is where you could easily just lay it all on the line and potentially destroy everything. I didn’t feel that way. I was in control of the race and just made smart decisions. Caught traffic, didn’t panic, kinda moved around. That’s where my car felt the best — and that’s what it took to win tonight.”
Erb, of course, isn't taking all the credit. If you ask him, the foundation of this recent surge — one that's vaulted him to No. 6 in DirtonDirt's latest Top 25 poll — is the strength of his Best Performance team.
“Our whole team, our whole program, is probably the best it’s ever been,” Erb said. “Everybody is on the same page. It’s not a ragtag, we’re barely making it, to and from — I feel like we’re making good decisions. Like today, I was like, ‘What tires?’ They were like, ‘We’re already putting them on. Go do something else.’
“I’m like, ‘That’s what I’m talking about.’ That’s what I need. Everybody needs a little push, a little bit of help.”
Erb knows just how quickly a driver can fall into a winless stretch.
Less than a month ago, he snapped a 34-race drought when he won at I-96 Speedway. Before that, he hadn't visited victory lane since capturing a DIRTcar Nationals semifeature Feb. 11 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.
His World of Outlaws triumph May 29 at Mansfield also ended a 54-race national touring winless streak dating back to last year’s victory May 2 at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis.
“It’s really hard to win these races,” Erb said. “I’ve said it a lot, and everybody would agree, you see Bobby win 10 of them already and it’s like, ‘Oh, man, he’s that much better?’ It’s not that. He has that little bit of an edge, and that’s what it takes. Racing against him and Nick (Hoffman), and all these guys, makes you a better racer. I ran Hell Tour and killed them one year, and then last year, I still won races, but I wasn’t quite as good as I needed to be. I knew I was right on the edge.”
Erb still won 13 overall features last season, including a tour-best six on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, but only one came in national touring competition — the standard he ultimately judges himself by.
Beyond that is winning an Eldora crown jewel. That's still a sore subject for Erb, who remains frustrated nearly two weeks after having to relinquish third with 20 laps remaining in the Dream XXXII finale because of a wheel-related part failure.
“I just had a part failure really. It’s just disheartening because it’s so hard to win at Eldora — a big race, a Dream or the World. I was right there,” Erb said. “I was pacing Sheppy (Brandon Sheppard) and was like, ‘OK.’ It was the same thing as tonight (Saturday at WVMS), but I wasn’t leading. It was, ‘Let him make a mistake and do something.’ ”
Erb felt in control of the pace he set for himself. He was content to stay in contention until he couldn’t.
“Then it started getting worse and worse, and Bobby (Pierce) slid me. I tried driving hard for a lap or two — and I could tell I wasn’t going to make it,” Erb said. “So I just simmered down and ultimately had to call it off because ‘old me’ would’ve tried to make the last 19 laps. Maybe I would’ve made it, probably still wouldn’t have won, or I would’ve wrecked and destroyed the race car. I’m trying to be as forward and as smart as I can be.”
It encapsulates the mindset Erb hopes will continue carrying him forward.
“Try to let my brain win more of the races than my talent at times,” Erb said. “It was disheartening, but at the same time, makes me feel really good going back for the World and the $50,000-to-win (event) at the end of the year with (the) Lucas (Oil tour). It’s awesome.”
Although Erb seems more calculated, more disciplined and, as he put it, “simmered down" these days, he still embraces the high-octane lifestyle within the sport. That continues this weekend as the World of Outlaws embark on a 10-race Midwest swing in 16 days, beginning Friday at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, Wis.
“That’s more of our speed. That’s where I tend to do good. Summer Nationals I run well. Florida I tend to run well. The day-to-day grind, I feel like we thrive in that situation,” Erb said. “It’s not that I don’t get tired or that anybody works harder. I like the aspect of, if you’re in, you race. If you’re out, try again tomorrow, you know what I mean? That’s something I’m comfortable doing. I’m really looking forward to the next swing, that’s for sure.”
