Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: North Dakota driver's miracle return imminent
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: Back in November I wrote an Inside Dirt Late Model Racing column on the incredible comeback saga of Laine Schwehr, a 28-year-old Dirt Late Model racer from Valley City, N.D., who suffered a broken neck and compressed spinal cord in a Sept. 20 crash during the WISSOTA Stock Car Stampede at Jamestown (N.D.) Speedway. He was initially considered a quadriplegic — paralyzed from the neck down — but, in an amazing recovery, was on his feet walking gingerly exactly one month later and two weeks after that was discharged from a rehabilitation hospital. He pledged that he would return to the driver's seat when doctors deemed him capable and he recently passed along an update to me revealing that he's full steam ahead with plans to go racing soon. He's assembled a Rocket XR1 Chassis "all by myself to prove to myself I could do it again" and was hoping to make his first start since the wreck in Thursday's Dirt Late Model show at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., but his engine and seat weren't yet ready so he's pushed his return to a date to be determined.
No. 2: Schwehr recently wrote on Facebook that he feels fortunate to find himself working again for several months — he makes his living as a truck driver alongside his father hauling cattle and livestock feed ingredients and grain fertilizer — and eyeing a return to racing competition. "Never did I expect to get to the point I am today no matter how optimistic I tried to be about the situation," he told me. "I'm very blessed to say that life as it was really doesn't seem much different than it is today — back to work, back to spending time with the people that mean the most to me, and better yet, back to being around the sport I love the most!" Schwehr thanked the racing community for "the massive outpouring of support and motivation" that so many people provided him.
No. 3: Good to see Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., back in Super Late Model action for the first time in nearly a year during Wednesday's Jay's Automotive United Late Model Series-sanctioned Liberty Classic at Michaels Mercer (Pa.) Raceway Park. The driver known as Big Brother, who turns 49 on July 12, drove the Denny Superko-owned Lazer Chassis No. 31 that has been shared this year by big-block modified racer Billy Pauch Jr. and USAC regular Briggs Danner. Rideless since his long stint with the Super Deuce Racing team ended with the team's disbandment following the 2025 season, Stone finished 12th at Mercer and said he expects to make a handful of additional appearances with the team over the remaining months of the '26 campaign depending on how much Pauch and Danner are available to drive the car.
No. 4: Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., has entered only 12 events this season — and his last five attempts, driving for McCarter Brothers Racing at Eldora Speedway's Dream and the recent Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series doubleheader at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn., have resulted in DNQs — but he'll be be busy over the holiday weekend. He's picked up a ride in Kentucky racer Andrew Dixon's Stinger Race Car Crate Late Model to run July 2-4 in the Bluegrass State at Willard Speedway ($3,000-to-win), Colson's Hidden Hollow Speedway ($1,500) and Sitka's 201 Speedway ($1,000).
No. 5: Condolences to the family and friends of Kurt Smith, the longtime official and graphics business owner who co-founded Appalachian Mountain Speedway who died Monday at the age of 59. I'll always enjoyed chatting with the friendly Smith, who had an immense passion for Dirt Late Model racing despite hailing from Mechanicsburg, Pa., right down the road from the sprint car hotbed of Williams Grove Speedway. When I wrote a story about Smith and his then Appalachian Mountain Speedway partner Jason Clapper, he offered some comments that made it clear how much he loved the full-fender division. "When my dad would take me to the racetrack as a kid, sprint cars were cool to watch, but I couldn't wait to see the '55 Chevys and the Chevelles and all the old Late Models, the cars you could actually recognize from the street," said Smith, who was a big supporter of DirtonDirt. "I get kidded a lot about it. I'll show up at Williams Grove on a Friday night when I'm in town and there's nothing going on, and everybody wants to know why I'm there because everything there that night has wings on it. There's a lot of good-natured busting about it, but to this day Late Models are my favorite. I don't think there's any dirt racing form like it. I'll drive by four sprint car tracks to go see a Late Model race."
