Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Catching Lions game with Jeep
Kevin Kovac (left) and Jeep Van Wormer (right).
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: I don’t see Jeep Van Wormer at the racetrack too often anymore. Nobody does, because the 51-year-old from Pinconning, Mich., doesn’t visit them regularly like he used to. Once one of the most active Dirt Late Model drivers in the country during his days chasing the DIRTcar Summer Nationals during the late 2000s and into the ’10s, Van Wormer’s racing days are largely behind him; his last start in a special-event feature was August 2023’s Wood-Tic at Merritt Speedway in Lake City, Mich. (he finished 10th), and his most recent appearances behind the wheel came in May 2025 during Illinois Speedweek (DNQs at Spoon River, Farmer City and Fairbury). I have spoken to him at Eldora Speedway’s crown jewel weekends over the past few years while he was hanging out as a spectator around his friends Dale and Shane McDowell. And on Sunday I crossed paths with him again in a different environment: outside Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., following the Detroit Lions’ 31-24 victory over the New York Jets. I attended the game with my wife — we’re Lions fans — and Van Wormer and I texted each other during the contest and met up afterward for a quick chat. It was nice to see Van Wormer, who, clad in a black Aidan Hutchinson Lions jersey, was at the game with his wife and several friends.
No. 2: After Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., captured Saturday’s Jackson 100 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway for his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory, I sent him a congratulatory text message. He responded with a thank-you and a self-deprecating comment: “A blind dog catches a squirrel every now and then.” But then I realized he had that saying off a little bit. His nickname, after all, is Squirrel, so shouldn’t he have said, “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while”?
No. 3: When I caught a glimpse on Facebook of Willie Milliken’s victory lane photo from Friday night’s Limited Late Model feature at Dixieland Speedway in Elizabeth City, N.C., I was intrigued by his unique driver’s uniform, which resembled denim overalls. I checked with his wife, Crystal, to find out who came up with the idea. “He told me that he wanted a suit to look like a hillbilly because he was a hillbilly,” Crystal wrote with an “LOL” for punctuation. “I called Simpson (Race Products) up and got it made for him and people have just loved it.”
No. 4: Speaking of Milliken, while the 49-year-old veteran from Roanoke Rapids, N.C., has had a relatively quiet season (Friday marked just his third win of 2026), he’s closing in on a personal milestone. His wife reported that the 300-victory plateau is a goal he’s eyeing; he sits at 290 career triumphs in Dirt Late Model, modified and super street competition.
No. 5: As the World of Outlaws Late Model Series announced three more 2027 race dates on Monday — the May 20-22 weekend in western Pennsylvania that includes Bedford Speedway, Marion Center Raceway and Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway — it got me thinking that I like how the tour has been releasing its ’27 schedule bit by bit. It’s allowing it to give more of a spotlight to individual events rather than lumping almost all of them together in one big schedule announcement. It has released more than 25 dates for next year, by the way.
