Fast Talk presented by MD3 and Five Star Bodies
Fast Talk: Holiday wrap and World 100 preview
Wrapping up a busy Labor Day weekend, our roundtable gathers for the weekly feature presented by MD3 and Five Star Race Cars Bodies (edited for clarity and length):
Highlight a Labor Day weekend winner.
Kevin Kovac, DirtonDirt senior writer: There’s no shortage of choices — this was the busiest holiday weekend of the year considering the Independence Day, and especially Memorial Day, weekends were hit by much more rain. Here’s a shoutout to Chase Junghans, who captured Saturday’s MLRA-sanctioned Ron Jenkins Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. It had been nearly four years since Junghans’s last Dirt Late Model win (a World of Outlaws show in Humboldt, Kan., in October 2022), so the relief was real when he picked up that $11,000 triumph. Junghans doesn’t race as often or travel as much as he used to as a WoO regular. He says he just wants to have fun with his racing, but winning sure adds to the enjoyment level.
Todd Turner, DirtonDirt managing editor: I’ll cheat and highlight an array of first-time series winners: Jeff Herzog with MLRA, Tristan Chamberlain with Iron-Man, Trey Mills with the Northern Allstars, Trae Kirk with Southern Thunder, Kaede Loudy with Southern All Stars along with Joel Bennett and Skeeter Estey in back-to-back WISSOTA Challenge events. Herzog’s was overdue, Loudy’s wasn’t quite as fun because it came by penalty, and Estey’s was a nice reward for his track championship season at Hibbing. It’s always fun to see first-timers break through.
Kyle McFadden, DirtonDirt staff reporter: Trey Mills sweeping Saturday’s Northern Allstars program at Brownstown Speedway is my performance of the weekend. Mills was so smooth and swift through traffic that not even Brownstown stalwarts Hudson O’Neal and Mike Marlar could catch him. It was his first full-field victory in nearly a year — since last September’s $20,000 Cotton Pickin’ Classic — but he’s developing a reputation for delivering when the lights are brightest. After leading laps in June’s Dream and finishing fourth behind Nick Hoffman, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Josh Rice in Sunday’s second Baltes Classic feature, Mills appears capable of top-10 — and perhaps even top-five — speed in this week’s World 100.
Bryan Ault, DirtonDirt contributing writer: It’s hard not to be happy for Tristan Chamberlain reaching Eldora’s victory stage during the first semifeature of the Baltes Classic on Sunday, scoring the biggest win of his young career. The 19-year-old Hoosier State driver beat Max Blair and Brandon Overton, two of our sport’s heavy hitters, to do it. Just one night after his father, Duane, made a surprise appearance at Brownstown and competed in the Baltes Classic himself in an effort to help his son as crew chief, evidently his dad found something worthwhile to give the youngster, whether it be some setup changes or driving pointers, that enabled his sterling performance. The father-son relationships in our sport are strong, with so many second-generation drivers, so I’m sure the celebration in the pit area provided plenty of memories they’ll never forget.
Do you enjoy holiday weekends with no national series events where it’s not so predictable where (or if) drivers will compete?
Turner: It’s definitely a throwback feel with so many unsanctioned events and free-lancing national drivers considering one last tuneup before the World 100 (some of them with a nice financial bump like the $25,000 apiece earned by Tyler Erb at Portsmouth and Devin Moran at WVMS). I will say on Labor Day weekends some track promoters post a big purse and might expect a big car count, but the competition for cars when so many tracks are running specials means it’s probably better to aim for quality over quantity.
McFadden: I do. Labor Day has really evolved into a full holiday week in Dirt Late Model racing, with at least one event every day from Tuesday through Labor Day Monday. All told, 25 different drivers won across 26 true Super Late Model events over that stretch — and that doesn’t include the many other Late Model divisions competing nationwide. Without national tours dominating the schedule, each region has an opportunity to build its own marquee multiday event, creating a fun jamboree for drivers and fans alike.
Ault: Yes. Not knowing if a national touring professional will show up at a local race can probably be unnerving for a local and regional racer, but it adds some intrigue for fans. I love the flexibility that the holiday gives drivers ahead of World 100 Week. It gives them options: they can choose to run a tuneup race at Tony Stewart’s half-mile track, maybe try a different track that they haven’t visited for awhile, or just take the weekend off to get their equipment prepared for Eldora’s big show. Hopefully, this is a tradition that never changes.
Kovac: I think I kind of do in the case of Labor Day weekend only. National touring series races scheduled for Labor Day weekend have always seemed to be accepted only grudgingly, if even that, by the series regulars. They all have their minds on the World 100 and just don’t seem like they enjoy absolutely having to be somewhere over the final weekend before the sport’s biggest race. It’s probably much better the way it was this year — if drivers decided they wanted a World 100 tuneup, they could go somewhere (and add some intrigue to that regional event). If not, they could stay home and prep in the shop.
What will you be looking for at this weekend’s World 100?
McFadden: Can anyone overthrow Bobby Pierce and Jonathan Davenport? They enter as the clearest of favorites, with Pierce attempting to become the first driver to win five of his last seven Eldora crown jewels. Davenport, meanwhile, hasn’t gone four Eldora crown jewels without a victory since his first in the 2015 Dream. He enters on a three-race Eldora biggie drought. Remarkable stuff. Nobody else offers quite as convincing a case. Hudson O’Neal hasn’t won with SSI Motorsports since May 14, while Brandon Sheppard is winless in his last 10 starts. Nick Hoffman and Devin Moran snapped 20-plus-race winless stretches over the weekend, but both remain shy of double-digit victories — a benchmark each of the last seven World 100 winners reached before arriving at Eldora. Ricky Thornton Jr. appears to be peaking at the right time, but how he lost Sunday’s second Baltes Classic feature reflected the inconsistency that’s defined his season. Tyler Erb won twice over the weekend, but is he ready to break through in an Eldora crown jewel? Dale McDowell is always lurking, though at age 60 and with a limited schedule, how much longer will his window remain open to win another Eldora biggie? It’s Pierce and Davenport against the world this week.
Ault: I’m really glad the payout (now $100,000-to-win) increased, so I’m interested to see how drivers compete with the added cash on the table. It never made sense to me that the most coveted race that everyone wants to win paid less than, or nearly equal to, big races such as the Dream, North-South 100, Firecracker 100, and other crown jewels. Yeah, I know, the globe trophy is cool and all, but drivers need to win money to keep their teams afloat. Good work by Tony Stewart and Eldora for giving the top end of the purse a much-needed boost.
Kovac: Keep an eye on that Eldora surface on Saturday night. Will it stack up a cushion that’s thick enough to lean on, or will it be so thin up top that running the slick from the bottom-to-middle will be the spot a driver must master? The difference in conditions will certainly play a major role in determining who comes out on top in the World 100. I recall last October’s Dirt Track World Championship when the surface had more cushion for Saturday’s finale than it did for Friday’s prelims, producing a track that was more conducive to Bobby Pierce’s style than Chris Madden’s and led to Pierce winning over Madden.
Turner: Another record-setting crowd, the race’s first six-figure winner and a 100-lapper filled with multiple lead changes and a thrilling finish. We can always hope, right? I think Kyle is right on that Pierce and Davenport are the current Eldora titans, leaving a third podium spot for someone (Dale McDowell maybe?) to get in the mix, too.
Who’s an under-the-radar driver to watch at Eldora?
Kovac: How about a driver — Sam Seawright — from Alabama, a state that has not only never had a World 100 winner but in fact can claim only two feature starters in the event’s history (Billy Thomas in 1977, ’81 and ’83 and Mike Boland in ’98)? Seawright made his first Dream in June, winning a heat and finishing a respectable 10th in a very notable performance. He looked real good, and he’s shown some serious potential with his performances at other tracks this year, including at Fairbury where he won a Prairie Dirt Classic semifeature in July. He appears to be a good bet to become Alabama’s first World 100 starter in nearly 30 years, though I’ll also point out that three-time World 100 starter Randle Chupp (1994, 2002, ’03) is an Alabama native but never listed his hometown there during his racing days.
Turner: Luke Morey had a solid summer and is prominent on my list of potential first-time starters. I fully realized his Dream efforts in June resulted in three DNQs, and that he faded from the pole to fifth in Sunday’s Baltes Classic, but he’s my season leader for Most Improved and podium runs in Macon’s Herald & Review 100 and Florence’s North-South 100 have been impressive.
McFadden: Max Blair, followed by Josh Rice, Trey Mills and Mason Zeigler — should Zeigler choose to enter. The last driver to win the World 100 with fewer than 10 victories entering World week was Tim McCreadie in 2018, and Blair reminds me of McCreadie in several ways. He isn’t the flashiest, but you can count on him being there at the end and, at the very least, moving forward. After all, he finished second in June’s Dream and won Lernerville’s 100-lapper last Tuesday. If Saturday’s finale is won by pounding the wall, put Rice squarely in the mix. Mills has what it takes, whether his breakthrough comes now or a decade from now — he is only 18, after all. Zeigler has the raw speed to contend as well. Give me any of those four, but Blair before them all.
Ault: I think it’s hard to visit a place for your first time and come out with a victory. Even though drivers have plenty of video at their fingertips, it’s hard to go to a place you’ve never been and dominate. That’s what made the Trey Mills victory at Brownstown during the inaugural John Gill Classic so impressive. The 19-year-old set fast time, led flag-to-flag, and bested Hudson O’Neal and Mike Marlar, two former Jackson 100 winners, all in his first trip to the quarter-mile oval. In June, Mills sat on the pole of Eldora’s Dream. The upstart has speed, making him my darkhorse pick to win Saturday's big bucks and globed trophy.
Sell us on your World 100 winner.
McFadden: It’ll take some rough preliminary nights and an unfavorable Saturday heat race invert to keep Bobby Pierce from making history this week. That scenario unfolded last year, when a poor heat race forced him to rally from deep in a B-main just to claim the final transfer spot into the World 100. So, yes, it’s possible — but I’m not counting on that happening another year in a row. Give me Pierce to capture his fifth crown jewel in his last seven starts at Eldora.
Kovac: I’ve picked him before to win Eldora crown jewels and he fell just short, but I’m not giving up on Chris Madden. The 51-year-old South Carolinian is my choice again. He hasn’t had a spectacular season in the Infinity Chassis house car, but he’s shown enough — including his two fourth-place finishes last weekend at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway — to give me confidence in his viability this weekend. With over three-dozen crown jewel finale starts at Eldora (18 in both the Dream and World 100) and five runner-up finishes his best runs (three Dreams, one Million, one Dirt Track World Championship), he’s absolutely due to have the breaks finally go his way just once. He’s too good to never get that big one. Why not this weekend?
Ault: I’m mixed about one. I picked Jonathan Davenport for the Dream, the only staffer to do so (to my surprise), and he was a non-factor during the 100-lapper. Part of me wants to roll with J.D. again because he was impressive two weeks ago at Port Royal against the Lucas Oil tour’s heavy hitters, but I’m just not sure. Bobby Pierce is understandably a heavy favorite and a multitime Eldora winner, so he’ll be tough. Recent weeks, though, in our sport have provided many storybook endings, such as Dan Ebert capturing his first win at Batesville and Josh Rice finally winning the North-South. Give me Dale McDowell to take home the checkered flag on the sport’s biggest stage on Saturday. Apart from the compelling storyline, McDowell still managed a fourth-place run at the Dream on a juiced-up track that doesn’t normally fit his style. With very warm temps expected throughout the week, Eldora will feel more like Eldora again — slow, slick, and smooth, one that lends itself to McDowell’s expertise around the hallowed half-mile oval.
Turner: At a point in his career when Bobby Pierce is the best driver on the cushion, but in recent years has added the ability to win all over the track (and all over the country), he comes to Eldora as my favorite. I’m willing to bet every driver starting the World 100, after checking their starting spot, they’ll quickly scan the lineup for see where Pierce is starting.
.webp?v=2.0.6)
