Fast Talk presented by MD3 and Five Star Bodies
Fast Talk: Late August's big winners
With both national tours in action a week before the busy Labor Day weekend, our roundtable checks in for the weekly feature presented by MD3 and Five Star Race Cars Bodies (edited for clarity and length):
Provide an insight on Lucas Oil’s action at Port Royal.
Kevin Kovac, DirtonDirt senior writer: It’s too bad that Saturday’s racing surface wasn’t the same as Friday’s — the outside just couldn’t be hustled by drivers on Saturday the way it was in the opener — and the race for the lead both nights wasn’t especially memorable with Ricky Thornton Jr. and Jonathan Davenport largely controlling the action out front. But the track was certainly not one-laned, the weather (clear skies and perfect temperatures) and fields (50-plus cars both nights) were superb, and the crowd looked solid for a big Dirt Late Model show in sprint car country. What’s more, I feel like the sprawling Port Royal half-mile might have offered a peak into the upcoming World 100 — I mean, Davenport almost looked like he was racing at Eldora as he smoothly negotiated Port’s middle groove to win Saturday’s $50,000 prize.
Todd Turner, DirtonDirt managing editor: Lucas Oil’s top five in points are now locked into the Big River Steel Bonus Program presented by ARP that pays out an extra $275,000 in cash over the final five Saturdays of the season. The bonus maintains rich late-season awards for the series that reverted to a traditional points system in 2026, but it shows the difficulty of creating compelling “miniseries” interest for fans who mostly want to see drivers win races. Drivers and teams will no doubt appreciate the extra cash from the bonus system, but we’ll see if the hype translates in those final events.
Kyle McFadden, DirtonDirt staff reporter: I won’t lie, the weekend was rather uneventful, at least when it came to the lead battles. Maybe we’ve just been spoiled by a run of compelling Rumble by the River weekends: RTJ and Chris Madden’s battle last year, Garrett Alberson’s photo-finish maiden Lucas Oil victory in ’24, Hudson O’Neal passing Jonathan Davenport late in ’23, Earl Pearson Jr. snapping a lengthy winless drought in ’22 and Kyle Larson’s remarkable victory during his debut weekend in ’20. I guess we were due for a snoozer. It’s hard to expect much action when the weekend’s two fastest cars, Davenport and Thornton, start on the front row. And when clean air is king, it’s no wonder those two were in a class of their own.
Mike Ruefer, contributing DirtonDirt photographer: It’s always an impressive weekend to see the national stars mix it up with the Late Model version of the Pennsylvania Posse at Port Royal. There are still a lot of Super Late Model racers in the Keystone State and they get out and support all the big national events at home. Nothing is better than to see your local home state driver's match up against the best travelers in the country. Port Royal is a great track for both sprint cars and Late Models and continues to be a classic half-mile that produces lasting memories.
And wrap up World of Outlaws competition in Iowa.
Ruefer: The last two weeks I’ve been Iowa proud. It’s been exciting for me to see my home state shine on the national stage. From the small tracks to the biggest and fastest half-miles, the races played in front of great crowds. Osky and Adams County this past week were a speed junkies dream and grandstands roared. The ending at Shelby County Speedway may well end up as Race of Year with the last lap and corner pass by Ethan Dotson over Daulton Wilson for the win. It was thrilling to see and a perfect send off for the Iowa swing.
Turner: Great to see Iowa’s mix of tracks shine over the last few weeks, and talk about ending with a banger. The last few laps at Shelby County were a doozy with the Daulton Wilson-Bobby Pierce collision, and then Ethan Dotson’s last lap pass, which pre-empted Wilson’s potential victory lane speech apologizing to Pierce. Good stuff.
McFadden: Growing up in the Northeast, I’m partial to the scenic, amenity-friendly racetracks of Pennsylvania and Maryland. I’ve grown to embrace Ohio’s racing scene now that I call the Buckeye State home. But my point is, Iowa has some fantastic racetracks of its own. I applaud the World of Outlaws for carving out two solid weeks on the schedule and putting on show after show for the state’s race-hungry faithful. Nice to see Shelby County Speedway redeem itself after a ho-hum Silver Dollar Nationals, too. Ethan Dotson’s wicked last-lap pass of Daulton Wilson is the Shelby County I know it to be.
Kovac: The Outlaws are finally done racing in Iowa? It seems like they’ve been camped out there forever. Seriously, though, five nights of racing in the Hawkeye State were a treat for the Iowa fans and demonstrated how highly the series considers the quality of the state’s tracks. Notable also is that there were four different winners in the five features with only Bobby Pierce (of course) doubling up. My quick hitters on the final three nights: Oskaloosa looked like one blazing-fast track. Like Pierce said after winning at Adams County, the half-mile does sort of remind me of a wall-less I-80 Speedway. And it was great to see Shelby County cap the swing with a banger — featuring Ethan Dotson’s last-lap win over Daulton Wilson — that more resembled last month’s wildly exciting Silver Dollar Nationals prelim feature there than the rather uneventful finale.
Do you have a non-national touring comment?
Turner: I’ll beat everyone to the punch and laud Levi Yetter’s $20,000 ULMS victory at Tyler County. Yes, the Country Roads 100 didn’t have a national-level touring field, but enduring 100 laps at that quarter-mile track proved the 20-year-old Cabot, Pa., driver’s skill and talent. He seemed nearly too stunned in victory lane to enjoy his career-making moment (his previous richest victory was $2,200), but his accomplishment will eventually soak in. Impressive.
McFadden: Talk about a roller coaster August for Dylan Thornton. He collected his first MARS victory to begin the month, then endured five straight finishes of 15th or worse — four against the World of Outlaws and one ending with a barrel roll at Benton — before capping the month with his second career MARS victory at the revived Belle-Clair Speedway. That’s quite the swing of fortunes in a matter of four weeks.
Ruefer: Another big news event happened in Iowa on Saturday with Chad Simpson winning the 49th annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic at 300 Raceway in Farley. It was his fifth Yankee victory, tying him atop the list with Steve Kosiski. Chad’s previous wins were all on the half-mile layout in 2005, 2009-11. He’s the only driver to ever win the historic race three times in a row. There’s still time for the Iowa veteran driver to win a few more and be the outright victory leader. I’m betting on it.
Kovac: The MARS tour had a big tripleheader St. Louis-area weekend in Missouri and Illinois that was run off with great weather and produced a host of storylines. Tanner English winning on a rough-and-tumble Benton surface that had cars bouncing off the ground (and several flipping). Shannon Babb captured Pevely’s feature for his first victory since his recent Hall of Fame induction. Dylan Thornton, just two days after a wild flip at Benton, won Sunday’s finale at Belle-Clair, which offered entertaining action in the track’s first special Super Late Model show since its reconstruction. The weekend showed that MARS is one of the top regional series in the nation.
Who’s your too-early World 100 favorite not surnamed Davenport or Pierce?
McFadden: I really like how Ricky Thornton Jr. looks heading into September. Ever since rolling out a brand-new Longhorn at Batesville’s Topless 100, he’s been consistently up front again. His pair of top-two finishes this past weekend at Port Royal marked his first in consecutive races since March 28-29. Oh, and he just so happens to be returning as last year's World 100 winner. Let’s not write off RTJ because he’s had an off year. I believe he, Anthony Burroughs and company have found something at exactly the right time.
Ruefer: I think it’s Brandon Sheppard’s year to take home a globed trophy. Over the past five seasons he’s been making progress towards being on the victory stage. In 2021 he was 18th, 2022 11th, 2023 10th, and 2024 12th. Last year in 2025 he made the jump to sixth. With the consistent top level performance that he’s doing this year I think he takes Rocket1 back to the World 100 victory lane and gets his name on the back of next year’s T-shirt.
Kovac: Surprisingly, Nick Hoffman hasn’t won a feature since June 3’s FloRacing Night in America event that kicked off Dream week at Eldora, but he’s certainly been right there in the mix plenty of times throughout the summer. Racing against the red-hot Pierce on the WoO tour, though, has made collecting checkered flags difficult for him. I sense a return to Eldora giving Hoffman a little energy boost — just enough to make him the driver not only most likely to knock off Pierce and J.D., but also become a first-time crown jewel winner.
Turner: I’ve picked Dale McDowell to win at Eldora more times than I can count, but when I look at the candidates, it’s hard to argue he’s not going to be in the mix. Victory lane? It would be a remarkable feat for a 60-year-old, but not beyond on the realm when I consider McDowell’s consistency and savvy — not to mention his brother’s Shane meticulous planning and preparation — is virtually always successful at the Big E. If I was a betting man, my boxed trifecta would be J.D., Pierce and McDowell.
Your preferred time to head to concessions: Hot laps? Time trials? Crown Vics? Another time?
Ruefer: My only time is early before racing gets started. Once things get going I’m kind of stuck because I’m just too lazy to walk out from the infield where I’m shooting photos. What I need is one of those streaming drones that are always buzzing around to bring me a couple hot dogs during the commercial break. I’m easy to find sitting on a tractor tire waiting for the Late Models to get going. A little ketchup only. I don’t need mustard and relish dripping all over me as it’s coming in for landing.
McFadden: Hot laps would have to be it for me. It’s the least consequential on-track portion of the night for us reporters. As a paying race fan, though, I can justify waiting out hot laps because I’m trying to get my money’s worth and see cars on the track for the first time all night. Plus, hitting the concessions early guarantees the freshest food. Wait until later and you’re gambling with picked-over options — or the track running out of food altogether.
Turner: I hate standing in line so for me, it’s whenever there’s no line. I try to avoid too many trips to concessions, but I’d guess for me the answer is probably hot laps when the early roar of engines tend to draw fans away from the hot dog line to see what’s going on. I must say my better half doesn’t have that same theory at sporting events and sometimes I find myself standing in line for a $6 water while missing a grand slam or penalty kick goal.
Kovac: Hot laps and qualifying is usually too early for me; I’m probably not yet too hungry at that time after eating just before arriving at the track. So then it just becomes when the opportunity presents itself for me. If I happen to see a short line that I can buzz through quickly for, most likely, a hot dog, then I’ll jump in. If it’s clearly going to take me too long, then I just skip the grub and hope for a postrace food option nearby, which works great in areas with 24-hour food stops like Sheetz and Wawa but can be less enticing leaving out-of-the-way tracks where even a late-night drive-thru might not be open.
