Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Drivers take the plunge at Cedar Lake
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 celebratory dip in Cedar Lake Speedway’s infield pond appears to be developing into a tradition for winners of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series-sanctioned USA Nationals finale at the track in New Richmond, Wis. It began two years ago when Bobby Pierce jumped in with his wife, Abby, after victory lane festivities. Last year Ryan Gustin joined the fun by diving in with his two kids and tire guy Noah Bushman. And after Pierce captured Saturday’s 100-lapper for the third time in the last four years, he continued the building custom by taking another plunge — and this time he was joined not only by his wife, but also four members of his crew. Pierce’s father and crew chief, Bob, opted to stay dry. “I don’t think I need that,” Bob Pierce, who was at the track just two-and-a-half weeks removed from suffering a stroke, told DirtonDirt’s Kyle McFadden. “I jumped in a lot of pools in my day, but it was a pool, not a pond.”
No. 2: The pond-jumping at Cedar Lake actually began earlier Saturday. Twin sisters Laela and Amelia Eisenschenk of Fargo, N.D., took a quick swim after the FANS Fund Dash because they lost a bet with Missouri brothers Gordy and Trevor Gundaker. With both sets of siblings earning enough votes to be part of the FANS Fund that offers showup cash for the event to selected drivers, the Gundakers proposed a challenge to the Eisenschenks for the Dash: the duo with the worse average finish has to get wet. Trevor’s victory and Gordy’s third-place finish in the Dash trumped Laela (fourth) and Amelia (10th), so the Eisenschenks had to dive in. “Sorry girls,” Gordy wrote afterward in a Facebook post.
No. 3: Cedar Lake management always hands out some sort of colorful blinking item for fans to display in the stands during the USA Nationals driver introductions, which occur with the track lights turned off. This year’s light-up sticks were especially cool because they were interactive. When the green flag was out, the sticks glowed green; likewise, during caution periods, the sticks glowed with a yellow hue. Pretty neat seeing the colors all over the stands synched to the racing conditions.
No. 4: Tye Twarog, who fields Nick Hoffman’s No. 9 machine, traveled from his Ohio home to attend Saturday’s USA Nationals finale, where he refuted rumors spreading on social media that he would forge some sort of partnership with Spire Motorsports or even sell his racing program to the NASCAR Cup Series team that’s dabbling in Dirt Late Model racing with Cup regular Carson Hocevar. Twarog told Kyle McFadden at Cedar Lake that he had “no comment because there’s nothing to comment on,” and he reiterated his stance in a short phone conversation I had with him Monday in which he noted he’s never talked to Spire Motorsports Jeff Dickerson.
No. 5: While chatting with Twarog, he told me Hoffman won’t compete in this weekend’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned North-South 100 at Florence Speedway as the team takes a two-week break with the WoO circuit idle until starting a five-race Iowa swing on Aug. 21. Twarog also has a big trip on his agenda next weekend. He’s heading to Jackson Hole, Wyo., where Hoffman will be among the friends joining Twarog for his destination wedding to Dusti Rayburn, who has a long history in dirt racing with her family’s past involvement promoting Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park and her stint as a Miss Eldora Speedway.
