Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Wedding bells ring for Montgomery
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: The month of October has been filled with racing for Ryan Montgomery of Fairmont, W.Va., every weekend except one — and he had a pretty good reason for keeping his Josh Wamsley-owned car in the shop for the single weekend he missed. Montgomery, 29, had his wedding day on Oct. 3, tying the knot with his wife, Jayla, in a ceremony in Slippery Rock, Pa. The date conflicted with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Pittsburgher finale at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, a race Montgomery would typically enter. He said he did point out — jokingly, of course — on his wedding day that the PPMS oval was only about 40 minutes away, so perhaps he could sneak over there after exchanging vows in time for qualifying, but, not surprisingly, his wife wasn’t keen on that idea.
No. 2: Montgomery told me that his wedding featured a neat sign welcoming attendees. Pictures of Ryan and Jayla from when they were in third grade were put on a board under the header “DirtonDirt Breaking News” accompanied by the tag line “these kids are getting married today.” I commend the Montgomerys for giving DirtonDirt a little love.
No. 3: The weekends following Montgomery’s wedding saw him enter the Clash on the Wabash at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, the ARP Dirt Track World Championship at his home state’s West Virginia Motor Speedway and last Saturday’s Super Late Model feature at WVMS (a third-place finish was his best outing of October). He’ll close out the month this weekend at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park, where he’ll compete in the Halloween Bash doubleheader that includes $10,000- and $50,000-to-win programs. Montgomery also made a trip to The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C., following the DTWC to participate in a test session with thoughts of running Nov. 4-7’s World of Outlaws World Finals at the track. But he said he’s not planning to return to Charlotte because, with the bigger powerplant unavailable, he practiced with his team’s “regular” motor and decided he “felt a little underpowered” for the bigger layout. And by the way, Montgomery confirmed that all this racing activity since his wedding hasn’t constituted his honeymoon; he’s planning a vacation with Jayla to Hawaii in January to serve as their official getaway.
No. 4: In the wake of clinching a second straight IMCA Late Model national championship, Zach Zeitner of Bellevue, Neb., shifted to Super Late Model competition and tackled last weekend’s Midwest LateModel Association-sanctioned Liberty 100 at West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway. It didn’t go well, as he rode out a terrifying series of flips during Friday’s qualifying program that he said left his Longhorn Chassis “a complete loss.” Fortunately, Zeitner, who turns 27 on Nov. 4, escaped the wreck without serious injury; he was “a little banged up and sore” in its immediate aftermath but reported at midweek that he was “doing good.”
No. 5: Zeitner, whose superb 2026 season of IMCA racing included three track titles and 17 victories among 35 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes in 40 starts, said destroying his car in the crash has sadly “messed up the plans” he was putting in place for the 2027 season. He entered a modest six Super Late Model events this year and was eyeing more action in the open-competition class in ’27, but now he’ll have to see how he’s able to rebuild his program. Zeitner remains “excited,” however, to make his debut at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Mo., during Dec. 3-5’s Gateway Dirt Nationals; he said he has a plan for a car to run at the Dome, and he’s already actively prepping for the trip.
