Newsmaker of the Week

Christopher Bell moved past Kyle Larson on the final lap of Saturday night’s Chili Bowl and raced his way into history. Close finishes in this race are nothing new, but this one had a special feel as two great midget drivers, each fully engaged in NASCAR career pursuits, battled down to the wire. The Chili Bowl is one of those …

Teenager Max McLaughlin’s meteoric rise through the ranks of auto racing got an incalculable boost last week. Flush with success on the Super DIRTcar Series circuit and the upstate New York weekly big block tracks, Max packed his bags and headed back to Mooresville, NC where he has been hired to drive by Hattori Motorsports – the same organization that won …

In his twelve years as a racing businessman, Brett Deyo has distinguished himself as an accessible, energetic and innovative promoter. Since taking over the reigns at Fonda (NY) Speedway, Deyo has sought to rebuild a once fine Fairgrounds oval that had fallen on tough tines. Without yet having turned a wheel, Deyo propelled Fonda into the headlines this past week when …

The second running of the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals is now history. And the winner is an expert on dirt tracks with full size cars and on concrete tracks with TQ Midgets. Erick Rudolph, among the most versatile competitors in racing, raced to victory in the $5,000-to-win 600 Micro Sprint feature, this after wining his heat race and A-Main Qualifier. He …

Christmas came early for  Ryan Smith and it came in the form of the seat in Michael Heffner’s 410 Sprint cars. The choice of Smith by Heffner was an easy one. They had, after all, been together before when Heffner first started owning Sprints. Between that first time and this next time to come, Heffner’s team was shaken to its …

Young Dirt Late Model driving talent Bobby Pierce is fast earning a reputation at being able to win the biggest races. For the second year in a row, Pierce roared to victory last weekend inside St. Louis’ Gateway Dome, leading every lap, earning $30,000. As if that wasn’t enough, Pierce also won one of the $5,000 prelim races the night …

What price persistence? For Riverhead, NY Asphalt Modified driver Dave Sapienza, that was a question he could have cared less about when, on Saturday afternoon at Wall Stadium, Sapienza won the Tour Modified Turkey Derby 150. ‘Sap’ had been on the verge of victory before but never had closed the deal. On Saturday, he watched the waters part as leader Matt …

A young boy who once raced at such places as ‘Little T’ and ‘Little Wall’ – Quarter Midget tracks at Thompson Speedway and Wall Stadium – is now the champion of NASCAR. Joey Logano, a native of Middletown, CT, drove the race of his life last Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, storming by rival Martin Truex, Jr. for the lead when the …

Frankie Schneider, ‘The Old Master’, famed for his great racing skills on the track and for building and perfecting race cars with his own two hands, died this past weekend. He was 92. Frank’s abilities in the sport may be lost on many AARN readers. He won only one feature after May, 1975 and struggled for many years in a …

‘Super Matt’ did it again! At Charlotte in the World Finals last weekend, Sheppard raced to a record fourth straight Super DIRT Series championship and his seventh overall. Only Brett Hearn, who has eight career titles, has won more and Sheppard, clearly is on track to tie, even surpass Hearn’s standard. Sheppard didn’t win either of the twin features outright at …