Weekly Notebook presented by FK Rod Ends
Notes: New York Crate racer hitting stride
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt senior writer
Brett Marlatt (Robert Symonds photos)
When Brett Marlatt moved up to the Crate Late Model division in 2022, he sought advice from fellow drivers and longtime competitors to get a handle on his car. Perhaps, the 36-year-old Canisteo, N.Y., racer eventually realized, he had too much input.
“Kind of one of my issues, I would listen to so many people and everybody's got the right combination when you're searching,” Marlatt said with a laugh. “So I was trying a little bit of everything.”
A “little bit of everything” wasn’t the key to success, so “finally I just kind of relaxed,” Marlatt recalled. “I said ‘I've ran street stocks. I do this to make that work or this,’ so I kind of started going back to similar changes that I thought would work” in his rookie Crate Late Model season.
“We started going in the right direction and we picked up a couple of heat wins,” Marlatt said, “picked up that feature win and then into that second year we really stepped up our game and we started winning a lot of races and a heat or two here and there.”
Fast forward to 2026 and Marlatt has established himself among the RUSH organization’s steadiest weekly racers. He’s won five or more features for four seasons running and recently wrapped up his third consecutive title at Woodhull (N.Y.) Raceway, his home track.
“I think we're getting there. I've learned a lot,” said Marlatt, who fell one spot shy of his first RUSH Series victory in finishing second to multitime tour champ Jeremy Wonderling. “I think I can read the track a little bit better when it comes to the Late Models. I think I can make a lot of the right decisions, be a little bit more on top of it.”
In his fifth year in the division, “it’s pretty neat when you can run right there side-by-side with Jeremy Wonderling and know you have something for him. When you can do that, you've done something.”
Marlatt has been around racing virtually all his life, watching from the grandstands with his mother and grandparents when his father Rich was competing in various lower divisions.
“There wasn’t a Saturday I ever wanted to miss,” said Marlatt, whose only exposure to Late Model cars came in occasional visits by the Jay's Automotive United Late Model Series.
His first competition came in gokarts, later moving into a stock-car class for teens and eventually joining the street stock division in a Cliff Moss-owned car at age 17.
“That's kind of where I got my feet wet,” Marlatt said.
After winning a variety of street stock specials and two track championships over more than a dozen seasons, Marlatt decided to move up to Crate Late Models five years ago, buying a 2019 GRT Race Car from fellow racer Jason Knowles.
When Marlatt was young, “Late Models weren't in the area. I mean, they had the ULMS Late Models and they were always fun to watch. And they'd come to Woodhull here or there … they'd come to Outlaw (Speedway), once or twice a year. And I always really liked them, but never thought I'd get to actually sit in one.
"And then, they started to become more popular in the area. Then they created this Crate class. And my buddy Bryce Davis, I grew up with him, we've been in racing since we were 7 or 8 years old. He ended up getting one, him and his family bought one, and he raced for a couple of years with that and he was really successful.
"I feel like a lot of the (street stock) guys were either moving up or kind of retiring, getting out of racing, and I just felt like it was time to do something different. It was still fun, but it was time to make a switch and have a new challenge, new goals, and just try to move up in our racing career.”
Knowles, Davis and Austin Allen were among racers who helped get Marlatt up to speed in the Crate Late Model division.
“I had a pretty good notebook to start out on,” he said. “The only thing I really had to learn on was just they drive a lot different. They're actually a lot easier to drive when they work. When they don't, you're just kind of along for the ride — it's gonna be a long night. Normally, you can tell that on the first lap.”
After a single victory his rookie season, Marlatt won five times in 2023 and finished just behind Allen in Woodhull’s title chase. Marlatt broke through for a seven-victory season in 2024 to capture his first track championship in Crate Late Models and has added two more titles, this season’s coming behind the wheel of a 2022 Rocket Chassis that has proved successful.
“We updated a couple of things and it's been pretty good right out of the gate for us,” Marlatt said.
Among 2026 highlights was a best-ever RUSH tour finish of second at Woodhull on July 11. He started outside the front row alongside Wonderling, New York’s winningest Crate Late Model racer over the last several seasons.
“Me and Jeremy Wonderling, we went at it for all 30 laps. He led the first few laps, then we got by him. I think I led to lap 18 and then it was kind of just trying to pick your move in between lapped traffic and trying to get by him and we just couldn't make it happen. We ended up coming home second,” Marlatt said. “When you can run second to him, it feels like a win when you know he knows you were there.”
For Marlatt, finishing second was a mixture of excitement in contending and disappointment in falling short.
“A little bit of all that,” said Marlatt, whose $2,000 runner-up purse was the richest of his career. “I was happy the car finally did what I knew I could do. … I knew I'd have a little bit of an advantage (at his home track), even though Jeremy's ran there for years and several other different classes, I knew when we did good in time trials, we're gonna have a good car. We won the heat, put us on the front row for the dash, we ended up second to Jeremy. And I know how that track kind of changes towards the future. We made the right adjustments.
"I was bummed. I really wanted to win. I took all week going through the car, back to front, coming up with a strategy. I wanted to win that more than anything.”
Marlatt has only run a handful of RUSH touring events, and while he runs a few series races each season, he’s mostly a home-track driver. His job as manager at National Fuel Gas keeps him close to home and his part-time crew is typically available only for nearby races. Occasionally work requires off-hours attention to an emergency gas leak or service disruption.
He’s part of his tight-knit hometown where “everybody knows everybody” and often hunts “anything you can kill with a gun or a bow,” rides side-by-sides or snowmobiles with friends, and fishes and kayaks on the Canisteo River. Brett Marlatt Racing also sponsors youth sports teams and leagues with monetary or equipment donations.
“When I was young,” Marlatt said, “their parents sponsored me and got me to where I am. So I try to give back as best I can.”
While far-flung racing is rare, Marlatt plans to continue plugging away at Woodhull — and potentially battling for a fourth straight title in 2027.
Crew members “always want me to travel, but I always feel like work should come first. Obviously, to pay for this, I've gotta be at work and I'd never jeopardize my job for racing. So I've always put work first,” he said. “When I can race, great. I love racing. I'll do it as long as I can. I just try to stay within my budget. I don't try to go too big, too fast, and I just try to do my best as we go along.”
Weekly highlights
• Sweeping a pair of Crate Late Model features, Dale Durham of Stoneville, N.C., dominated Sept. 19’s action at Oak Level Raceway, doubling his victory total for the season at the Bassett, Va., oval.
• Earning $5,000, Derek Fisher of Olympia, Ky., captured the Super Late Model finale of the Wince Mayabb Swift Silver 40 at 191 Speedway in Campton, Ky.
• Jackson Hise of Ocala, Fla., who announced in July he was stepping away from racing to concentrate on college, earned a $2,000 Crate Late Model victory Sept. 19 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.
• Nate Augustine of La Pine, Ore., won the Late Model season finale at Madras (Ore.) Speedway.
• Hometown driver Brennen Adkins wrapped up the Crate Late Model title at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., with a victory in the track’s Sept. 19 finale.
First things first
Recent first-time occurrences at the dirt track:
• Winning Sept. 29 at Winfield’s West Alabama Speedway, Jordan Phillips of Logan, Ala., notched his first Limited Late Model victory (he’s a previous winner in 602 Crate Late Models).
• Winning Sept. 5 at Hartwell (Ga.) Motor Speedway, 37-year-old Ryan Clay of Gainesville, Ga., won his first Limited Late Model feature. He competed in 602 Crate Late Models last season and has experience in motorcycle road racing and drag racing.
• Devin Keener of Maplesville, Ala., on Sept. 19 won his first 602 Crate Late Model feature at Buckshot Speedway in Clanton, Ala.
Weekly news briefs
• Haas Speedway in Jim Falls, Wis., will have extra money for the WISSOTA Late Model division if at least 30 drivers register for next month’s Autumn Clash event. The Late Models, which will chase a minimum $2,000-to-win purse, compete on the second day of the Oct. 9-10 special. USRA Late Models compete both nights with Seubert Calf Ranches doubling the winner’s purse for the finale to $1,200.
• Dixieland Speedway in Elizabeth City, N.C,, is mourning five-time Late Model champion Brian Staton, who died Sept. 22 at his Chesapeake, Va., home. The retired racer was 58. Staton, who competed from the mid-1980s until 2011, was a frequent winner at Dixieland and Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, Va., where he captured the 2001 track title.
• La Salle (Ill.) Speedway added DIRTcar Super Late Models to its Sept. 26 race program. Admission is $10 on Fan Appreciation Night with midgets, modifieds, pro mods, stock cars, and Crown Vics also on the card.
• RUSH’s weekly points leader Devin Brannon’s chances of securing his first championship took a hit when organization officials on Sept. 23 suspended him 30 days for misbehavior during Sept. 19’s touring event at his hometown Winchester (Va.) Speedway. RUSH officials punished the 24-year-old driver for his “repeated unwillingness to abide by directives from RUSH officials, which caused a lengthy delay and disturbance, and intentionally hitting another car under caution” in the 40-lapper won by Jacob Whitt. Besides his 30-day suspension, Brannon was disqualified from the event, fined $1,000 and put on probation until Sept. 19, 2027. In a statement to DirtonDirt, Brannon said of the incident with Christian Schneider "I wasn’t gonna get off the track without making a statement," contending Schneider wrecked Brannon and jumped a late-race restart.
• Electrical issues affecting track lighting forced Western Kentucky Speedway in Nebo, Ky., to postpone the Sept. 19 event to Sept. 26.
• Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park announced details for Oct. 29-31’s Halloweenfest, an unsanctioned weekend capped by a $50,000-to-win Super Late Model feature. The weekend opens Thursday with Halloween festivities with awards for the best decorated camping areas and golf carts with trick or treating from 6-8 p.m. Thursday admission is free. Friday’s three-division program is highlighted by a $10,000-to-win Super Late Model event along with modifieds and sport mods. Saturday’s $50,000-to-win Super Late Model finale is joined by a $10,000-to-win modified race.
• Eric Cooley of Fulton, Miss., was restored to a third-place finish Sept. 19 in the 604 Crate Late Model feature at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss. Cooley was initially penalized for an MSD box rule infraction, but the ruling was reversed after a misunderstanding of Crate Racin’ USA rules was discovered.
• Heart O' Texas Speedway in Waco is for sale, management announced this week. The track hasn't run a regular Late Model division but has hosted frequent American Crate Late Model Series races over the last several seasons. The ownership hopes to find a buyer that will continue to operate the 60-year-old facility.
• Red Cedar Speedway’s 2025 Hall of Fame Class — Dave Shackleton, Jerry Kadinger, and Betty Frank — will be honored during an induction ceremony on Sept. 25 during the Punky Manor Memorial Challenge of Champions weekend at the Menomonie, Wis., track. The 2026 Hall of Fame Class — Rich Vernon, Mike Wolterstorff and Bob Obermueller — will be inducted Sept. 26.
Weekly points
DIRTcar (Supers): Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., has 2,384 points to lead Tanner English (2,334) and Mike Spatola (2,235).
IMCA (Limiteds): Zach Zeitner of Bellevue, Neb., has 792 points to lead Tommy Elston (788) and Beau Johnson (773).
WISSOTA (Limiteds): Kevin Burdick of Proctor, Minn., has 1,607 points to lead Shane Sabraski (1,601) and Tyler Peterson (1,594).
American All-Stars (Crates): Brandon Fouts of Kite, Ky., has 598 points to lead Logan Walls (566) and Corey Almond (512).
Crate Racin’ USA (602 Crates): Chace Pennington of Steens, Miss., has 600 points to lead Landon Mathews (592) and Spencer Moore (585).
Crate Racin’ USA (604 Crates): Taylor Jarvis of Milton, Fla., has 598 points to lead Brady Walton (597) and Shannon Lee (590).
DIRTcar (Crates): Braden Johnson of Taylorville, Ill., has 1,319 points to lead Chase Wilson (1,196) and Ryan Miller (1,145).
Gen X (Crates): Parker Gilbertson of Montevideo, Minn., wrapped up the championship.
RUSH (Crates): Devin Brannon of Winchester, Va., has 1,340 points to lead Jeremy Wonderling (1,336) and Kurt Stebbins (1,318).
Ultimate (Crates): T.J. Salango of Glen Daniel, W.Va., has 289 points to lead Brandon Adkins (267) and T.J. Hicks (249).
USRA (Crates): Lucas Peterson of Stockholm, Wis., has 5,987 points to lead Jason McFadden (5,736) and Josh Wahlstrom (5,705).
Upcoming weekly specials
Among non-touring and independent special events coming up for Late Models at dirt tracks around the country:
Bedford (Pa.) Speedway (Sept. 25-26): The ninth annual Bolger Bros. Keystone Cup pays $20,000-to-win for a one-day Super Late Model event with Limited Late Models in action on opening night.
Duck River Raceway Park, Wheel, Tenn. (Sept. 25-26): The Big Deal is capped by a $15,000-to-win feature for 602 Crate Late Models with a pair of $2,000-to-win semifeatures on opening night.
Red Cedar Speedway, Menomonie, Wis. (Sept. 25-26): The 46th annual Punky Manor Challenge of Champions pays $5,057-to-win for WISSOTA Late Models.
Jamestown (N.D.) Speedway (Sept. 25-26): The 55th annual Stock Car Stampede pays $5,055-to-win for WISSOTA Late Models.
The Dirt Track at Genesee, Batavia, N.Y. (Sept. 25-26): The Topless Nationals expands to two days of Super Late Model action with $2,500- and $4,000-to-win programs.
Big Sky Speedway, Billings, Mont. (Sept. 25-26): The Hample Memorial opens with a regular-season event followed by a $3,636-to-win finale for WISSOTA-sanctioned Late Models.
Hibbing (Minn.) Speedway (Sept. 25-26): The multidivision Iron Range Rumble includes $1,500- and $2,500-to-win programs for WISSOTA Late Models.
Wayne County Speedway, Orrville, Ohio (Sept. 25-26): The Ohio Dirt Blowout wraps up the season with back-to-back Super Late Model programs (purses not publicized).
Mid-Michigan Raceway Park, Fenwick, Mich. (Sept. 25-26): The 28th annual Corn Harvest includes a $2,500-to-win Super Late Model event and $1,200-to-win Crate Late Model program.
Shelby County Speedway, Harlan, Iowa (Sept. 25-26): The postponed 34th annual Tiny Lund Memorial has seven divisions with $850- and $2,000-to-win IMCA Late Model programs.
Winder-Barrow Speedway, Winder, Ga. (Sept. 26): The third annual James Foster Memorial pays $5,000-to-win for the 37-lap Limited Late Model main event.
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, Imperial, Pa. (Sept. 26): A tuneup for the Pittsburgher pays $2,500-to-win for Super Late Models along with the final points event for the Crate Late Model division.
Coles County Speedway, Mattoon, Ill. (Sept. 27): The Rural King Road to the Dome pays $10,000-to-win for the DIRTcar Super Late Model division with modifieds on the undercard.
