DirtonDirt exclusive
Armel, Chupp set to join Hall of Fame
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt managing editor
Bill Schlieper and Scott Sexton will soon be Hall of Famers. (thesportswire.net)
A pair of hometown heroes, a wide-traveling Illinoisan, a high-flying Tennessean and a standout crew chief-turned-driver will join the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in the Class of 2027. | Slideshow
Buddy Armel of Winchester, Va., and Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis., will be inducted next summer along with Billy Drake of Bloomington, Ill., Scott Sexton of Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Alabama native Randle Chupp. The five drivers were revealed Saturday along with three contributors at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells during Carl Short’s 46th annual ARP Dirt Track World Championship.
Contributors set to be enshrined are Michigan’s Herb Brinn of Brinn Transmission, late championship-winning team owner Ed Massey of Georgia and Wisconsin engine builder Bill Schlieper of Pro Power Racing Engines.
The Hall of Fame will also in 2027 present the Baltes-Memmer Award to the late Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., a second-class Hall of Famer who died in 2024. Lifetime Achievement Awards will go to Bloomquist’s mother, Georgie Bloomquist, and a former Bloomquist sponsor, Mike Reece of Reece Monument.
The Class of 2027, elected by a 75-member committee and set to join more than 220 drivers and contributors enshrined since 2001, will be inducted next August during the Sunoco Race Fuels North-South 100 weekend at the Hall of Fame building on the grounds of Florence Speedway in Union, Ky. A closer look at the Class of 2027 (listed alphabetically):
Drivers
Buddy Armel: A winner of more than 200 career Late Model features, the 88-year-old Armel is the winningest Late Model driver at his hometown Winchester (Va.) Speedway with 101 victories and fourth winningest at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway with 81 triumphs. Armel’s career stretched from 1963-91 as he collected a dozen track championships, seven at Winchester and five at Hagerstown. His biggest victories include the Winchester 200 (1975 and ’78) and Hagerstown’s Conococheague 100. Other victories came at Virginia Motor Speedway and Eastside Speedway in Virginia along with Pennsylvania's Bedford Speedway, Selinsgrove Speedway and St. Thomas Speedway.
Randle Chupp: The 61-year-old Alabama native who now works as a racing consultant in Cleveland, Tenn., will join his late father, Class of 2009 inductee Gene Chupp, in the Hall of Fame. First making his mark as a successful crew chief for Hall of Famers Freddy Smith, Ronnie Johnson and Jack Boggs, Chupp launched his driving career in 1993 and quickly became a winner. Splitting his time between driving duties and his role as a NASCAR car chief and director of competition for several seasons, Chupp drove his No. 114 to major victories including the National 100 at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City (1996 and 2000) and a Georgia-Florida Speedweeks win in 2009 Southern All Star action at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga., when he rallied from 24th. He won eight Southern All Star races overall, including 2008’s Blue-Gray 100 at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C.
Pat Doar: The 62-year-old New Richmond, Wis., driver is the second winningest Late Model driver in history at his hometown Cedar Lake Speedway, a two-time WISSOTA champion and six-time champ on the Structural Buildings WISSOTA Challenge Series. In a Late Model career spanning nearly 30 seasons, his regional WISSOTA success was accomplished on either side of his 2011-12 stint on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series that included a Rookie of the Year title and WoO victory at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va. Among other major victories are three Arizona wins in mid-winter action including a Wild West Shootout triumph (2011), a Florida Speedweeks victory at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. (1996), the John Seitz Memorial at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D. (2009), Proctor Speedway’s Silver 1000 (2000, ’19, and ’24) and Cedar Lake’s $10,000 Masters (2019). The always-mustachioed Doar won an array of WISSOTA specials and is a multitime champion at Cedar Lake and Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wis. He’s the all-time leading WISSOTA Challenge winner with 42 victories.
Billy Drake: The 56-year-old Bloomington, Ill., racer was among the state’s most successful drivers during his prime from the mid 1990s through the late 2000s. He captured 10 races paying $10,000 or more including Fairbury’s Prairie Dirt Classic (1997), two Jackson 100s at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway (2002 and ’05), 2004’s Southern 100 in Chatham, La., Magnolia Motor Speedway’s Cotton Pickin’ 100 (2006) and Challenger Raceway’s Fall Fest (2007). Drake's lone national touring victory came on the Lucas Oil Series at North Alabama Speedway in 2007 and he finished fourth in tour points in 2008. Before retiring for good in 2020, Drake had a late-career, part-time run with Ray Neltner, scoring his 11th and final Summer Nationals victory at Peoria Speedway in 2018. He was a two-time winner of Macon Speedway’s Herald & Review 100 among his Summer Nationals success.
Scott Sexton: The Pigeon Forge, Tenn., driver who terrorized high-banked East Tennessee tracks had his racing career cut short by a genetic blood disorder, dying at age 46 in 2013. Winning 164 features in a Late Model career spanning 1986-2011, Sexton was a 10-time winner on the Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series, including a pair of $10,000 victories at Atomic Speedway and Volunteer Speedway in 2002. Among other special event victories were 1992’s Mello-Yello 100 at Volunteer, a 1996 Sunoco American Late Model Series victory at Eldora Speedway, a 2004 Battle of the Bluegrass victory at Tazewell Speedway and 2004’s Grant Adcox Memorial at Cleveland Speedway. Often driving a No. 52 Late Model fielded by his father Howard, Sexton drove for various car owners later in his career as health issues developed, winning seven of 12 starts in 2010 before retiring the following season. Along with mentoring driver Ryan King, Sexton's late career efforts included serving as crew member and truck driver for John Blankenship's national touring team.
Contributors
Herb Brinn: The engineer behind a popular short-track racing transmission, Brinn built his first unit in 1988 and his two-speed design became a fixture in dirt and asphalt competition. Brinn, a former General Motors engineer who also worked in race car development with legendary chassis builder Ed Howe, founded his Bay City, Mich.-based company that continues to manufacturer transmissions and driveline-related products. According to Brinn Inc. lore, Hall of Famer Scott Bloomquist won his first start with Brinn’s first transmission. That piece bounced from racer to racer over 33 years before it was discovered it in 2022 in a race car at Silver Bullet Raceway in Owendale, Mich., and returned to put on display in Brinn’s lobby.
Ed Massey: Massey, the Powder Springs, Ga., resident who died in 2016 at the age of 85, made his mark in short-track racing as a longtime championship-winning team owner and crew chief as well as track promoter. His racing career starting in 1953 with brother-in-law Leon Sells behind the wheel, Massey went on to field Late Models for some of Georgia’s best racers including Buck Simmons, Charlie Mincey and his son Stan Massey. Nicknamed “Candy,” Massey fielded victorious dirt and asphalt cars at Georgia tracks including Dixie Speedway, Rome Speedway and Coweta Raceway. He was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2002. Massey’s career included promotional stints at Senoia Raceway and Douglasville’s West Atlanta Raceway.
Bill Schlieper: The 60-year-old Schlieper, who along with brother John Schlieper Jr. took over their father’s Sullivan, Wis.-based Schlieper’s Speed Shop in 2002, continued an engine-building business that powered many of Dirt Late Model racing’s best drivers to victories in the sport’s biggest races, including multiple World 100s. Operating the business along with wife Josie, Schlieper also built Pro Power engines for modifieds, off-road trucks and asphalt Late Models. Pro Power is a multitime DIRTcar Engine Builder of the Year and among its World 100 victories was 2003’s flag-to-flag triumph by Dan Schlieper, Bill’s younger brother.
Editor's note: Additional information provided by Bob Markos, induction director of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame and the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.
