The Scoop
DRIVER LOYALTY (IS THERE ANY LEFT)? DIRT LATE MODEL FUTURE, REGIONAL DIRT FEATURE TOTALS & MORE
Posted on: Monday November 2, 2026
Beaver Dam’s Brandon Schmitt snagged a late-season, IMCA modified victory at Maquoketa (IA) Speedway over the weekend. (B.A. Photography)
As the curtain has closed on the 2026 racing season in Wisconsin, some thoughts and observations from this past year. In no particular order, and for no specific rhyme or reason……
DIRT LATE MODELS – So what exactly does the future hold for this division in N.E. Wisconsin?
Dirt Kings Jason Shultz assured me recently there WILL be a 2027 season for the touring series. While Jason himself may be stepping back a bit, Shultz said Alexander Gilhart may take on a larger role in the series in 2027.
When I look at specific classes one of the things I look at to determine the strength of any division is how many new drivers emerge annually. Truth be told, there haven’t been a whole lot of new faces in that class. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Dirt Kings show, a race at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour, Plymouth Dirt Track or Shawano Speedway.
Drawing new blood is darn near impossible these days with the rising costs. Sure, a driver can dig up an older chassis and be a field-filler. But, as technical as the setups in these cars are, combined with the fact they are very, very close, it’s a very tough division to start out in and be competitive.
Combine that with the fact that (at least on the eastern half of the state) you are sort of hamstrung to the abbreviated schedules of the respective tracks (Plymouth runs roughly a six race series, Shawano runs a handful of WISSOTA-DK-type late model shows and Seymour runs them on roughly an every-other-week basis). It’s tough to draw new blood.
USRA LATE MODELS – This division now seems to be the new “flavor-of-the-month” so to speak. Shawano ran a couple of shows last year. Eagle River Speedway has been running the class for several years now, the last two being sanctioned with the USRA.
The cars, with the crate motors, much more affordable shocks and tires, are a much more affordable division to run than a DK-type car. The purse they command is much less. Some are pushing to get this class in more frequently at Shawano and possibly even Seymour.
While some may look at this division as a true ‘savior’ if you will, I would caution any promoter to keep an eye on this class with a jaundiced eye. The reason? Dirt late model drivers, whether it’s a Dirt Kings-type car, or a USRA-type car, can be just as fickle as drivers in any other division.
This class has more drivers that will think nothing of ‘sitting out’ a race, or two, or three. The loyalty to support any track or series by dirt late model drivers is challenging at a minimum. The days of the ’90’s when a driver felt OBLIGATED to support EVERY show are long, long gone.
There are multiple reasons for this. One – lack of crew help (a story will be coming down the pike on this subject). Race cars these days often require much more maintenance than they did two or three decades ago. Two – costs. With escalating pit pass prices across the board, draw fees, and payouts that typically haven’t gone up a whole lot over the years. It’s a recipe for many drivers to simply ‘sit out’ a race, or two, or three. They often think nothing of it.
I see it weekly on Tuesdays at Eagle River, for example. Our ‘local’ base of USRA late models within an hour or so from the track was likely close to 20. However, for various reasons, less than half that amount of drivers would make every race. Reasons for this differ. Waiting on engine parts. Camping with the family. Working out of town. Mad at the track for a call (happens all too often) and instead of a 15 or 16 car field, some nights you’re stuck with a nine or ten car field.
This brings up another point. There is almost NO LOYALTY to ANY track or series anymore. Virtually none, whatsover. I always point to the example of Saturday nights in northeastern Wisconsin. I still pinch hit on the mic roughly every third week or so at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek. Drivers often vote with their haulers. It amazed me on Saturday nights how many drivers who lived in Shawano, Shawano County, or drivers who traveled past Shawano’s half-mile to race at 141.
Same thing on Friday nights when I was on the call at Outagamie Speedway. There were always some drivers from the Chilton/Hilbert area who were competing at Seymour, despite Gravity Park USA being just minutes from their home base. It happens a lot.
Another trend we’ve started seeing is drivers taking a few weeks off at their local track to ‘save it up’ for a trip out-of-state. That’s all fine and dandy for a driver to want to test different waters, and race against stiffer competition on other parts of the country. But, at the end of the day, how does that help the weekly promoter trying to keep the lights on? It doesn’t help much at all. I’ve seen it all too often. Take the month of August, for example.
Weekly car counts often take a dip as many of the IMCA teams ‘gear up’ for a week of racing down at the IMCA Supernationals in Boone, Iowa. It’s definitely a bucket list event for any race fan. And, it continues to grow every year. Supernationals has grown into a monster unto it’s own. If you are an avid race fan, and don’t mind staying up until past midnight or 1 a.m. to catch some racing, then Boone is for you. Every race fan should experience the Supernationals – at least once in their life.
But once again, when your local drivers are saving their equipment for the Big Dance at Boone and electing to sitting out their weekly shows for a few weeks, how does that help the weekly racer? What can weekly tracks do to lure their drivers back to compete on a regular basis? Developing a point fund can certainly help. But, that’s a lot of work in itself. And, finding people willing to put the time in – knock on doors – make the phone calls and collect that money, etc. It’s getting tougher and tougher.
Is it merely there isn’t really an incentive anymore to win a track title? I preach this all of the time – if you make every single race at your weekly track, you will most likely earn at least a top five points finish, or even a top three. That was a much tougher deal to get years ago.
But with most tracks not having any type of point fund, a trophy and a jacket only goes so far. So if drivers aren’t necessarily chasing a weekly points title, what is it they are chasing? Money? Consistent track conditions? A fun time? A well-run show? The answer is likely all of the above. They loyalty that was maybe around 25 or 30 years ago. It’s gone.
WANTED – TRACK HELP – This right here is another thing that continues to rear it’s ugly head, and it becomes more noticeable each year. As a track announcer, for example, it’s become tough to find anyone younger than yours truly (I’m 58) who wants to learn the craft. It’s turning into a rather tight circle of truly dedicated track workers who are like the ‘last ones standing’ if you will. It doesn’t matter if it’s in scoring, tech, flagging, track prep (ast least on the dirt) being a corner worker, etc.
I don’t ever remember track help being this hard to come by 20 or 30 years ago. The demographic of your average track worker continues to get older and older each year. For tracks to remain open, vibrant and (somewhat) profitable, we need some new blood.
At most dirt tracks these days, the schedule of announcers isn’t just one or two, but more like three, four or five. The last couple of nights I worked at 141 this year, we had to juggle staff around between tower and infeld staff due to staffing shortages. It occurs at darn near every track.
A pair of Wisconsinites snagged late-season wins down in Iowa over the weekend. IMCA sportmod national champion “The Casco Kid” Coy Vlies scored a division win down at Maquoketa (IA) Speedway. The victory was his 21st of the year. Also, Beaver Dam’s Brandon Schmitt wheeled the Jack Jones-owned IMCA modified to victory at Maquoketa as well. Schmitt’s victory ended a seven-year run driving for Jones.
We’ve tallied the regional dirt track wins from 2026. I pull virtually all of those stats from MyRacePass. However, if someone takes a trip to a track out-of-state and picks up a win, that’s information I may not necessarily get. So, feel free to email me at jverdegan2@gmail.com should any issues pop up with the numbers.
Photo – Castle Creations Media
Book Cover – Woody’s Signs
In other news, I will launch my ninth book at the Wisconsin Motorsports Expo in Luxemburg February 6, 2027. The book will be titled “Joe Verdegan’s 5 Decades of Chasin’ Racin’. The book is simply a treasure chest of stories from the state and regional tracks, some of them funny, dating back to the 1980’s.
We cover anything and everything. If you are a race fan who’s read any of my past books, or if you’ve ever attended a race I’ve announced, worked with me at any of these tracks or are a driver whose races I’ve called over the decades, trust me when I say you’ll want a copy of this new book.
For the Plymouth-area race fans I’ll be at 3 Sheeps Brewing in Sheboygan Saturday, Nov. 7 from 9 a.m. til 3 p.m. If anyone purchases either of my two true crime books, you will receive one FREE racing book of your choice while supplies last at that show. So, swing on out and say hello!
2026 REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WINNERS (as of 11-01-26)
(Tracks included, but not limited to: Outagamie Speedway, Gravity Park USA, Luxy Raceway, 141 Speedway, The Hill Raceway, Plymouth Dirt Track & Shawano Speedway. We’ll also include feature wins by N.E. Wisconsin drivers scored at other tracks, including out-of-state and series victories. These include both IMCA sanctioned & non-sanctioned wins)
LATE MODELS
Nick Anvelink 8
Joel Bennett 8
Brett Swedberg 4
Mitch McGrath 2
Turk Letizia 1
Jesse Glenz 1
Troy Springborn 1
Andy Karl 1
Taylor Scheffler 1
Paul Parker 1
Brad Mueller 1
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Cole Czarneski 11 (Dakota Mod Tour)
Johnny Whitman 6
Jayden Schmidt 5
Russ Reinwald 4
Dylon Waldvogel 3
Benji LaCrosse 3
Lucas Lamberies 3
Steve Mueller 3
Will Garceau 3
Kevin Feck 3
Mike Mullen 3
Jesse Cullen 3
Brandon Schmitt 3
Mike Mueller 2
Travis Hansen 2
Joel Seegert Sr. 2
Marcus Yarie 2
Tanner Janke 2
Noah Schepp 2
Jeffrey Teske 2
Todd Dart 2
Zachary Raab 1
Greg Gretz 1
Mike Wedelstadt 1
Jason Ebert 1
Adam Abbey 1
Colton See 1
Trent Nolan 1
Eric Scribner 1
Josh Long 1
Cody Apfelbeck 1
Wyatt Block 1 (ERS)
IMCA STOCK CARS
Trent Nolan 9
Cole Czarneski 8 (IA)
Brad Lubach 7
Brett Wenzel 7
Rod Snellenberger 6 (FLA)
Tyler Wilson 6 (IA)
Marcus Hoeppner 5
Nick Buckarma 5
Luke Lemmens 5
Benji LaCrosse 4
Jeremy Christians 4
Mike Mullen 4
Dustin White 3 (ERS)
Caden LeMieux 3
Dan Michonski 3
Jerry Wilinski 2
Chase Parker 2
Eric Mahlik 2
Mitch Stankowski 2 (ERS)
Presley Harrington 2 (IA)
Kyle Frederick 2
Tyler Schrimpf 2
Brandon Schmitt 2
Zackary Marg 1
Travis Welch 1
Jeremie Hedrick 1
Shawn Kilgore 1
Shanon Guelette 1
Kegan Van Ooyen 1
Jeremy Anschutz 1
Marcus Hoepper 1
Dylan Stedjee 1
RM Van Pay 1
Keslie Richards 1
Junior Karcz 1
Travis Van Straten 1
Daniel Sell 1
Jamison MacDonald 1 (IA)
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Coy Vlies 21
Travis Schmidt 6
AJ Springborn 6
Craig Dorner 4
Tim Jorgenson 3
Max Oreskovich 3
Cole Magnin 3
Brady Harshbarger 3
Dylan Schmidt 3
Ryan Schmidt 3
Justin Green 3
Dustin White 2 (ERS)
Matt Urban 2
JJ Vander Loop 2
Tim Sheppard 2
Shane Bahr 2
Brayden Carter 2
Alec Wery 2
Tom Schneider 2
Carsin Cullen 2
Blake Andrews 2 (141)
Joey Taycher 1
Owen Wilcox 1
Tony Gates 1
Brad Buckman 1
Logan Brass 1
Cole Thomas 1
Kaden Besaw 1
Trevin Veeser 1
Tony Gates 1
Jacob Rens 1
Elijah Koening 1
Tucker Pari 1
Derek Fehling 1
George Henkel 1
Steve Lorier 1
Randy LeMieux Jr 1
Dakota Johnson 1
Brad Miller 1
Travis Kleindl 1
Frank Gasperini 1
Cory Kemkes 1
Eric Craine 1
Jake Sachau 1
Chris Budzban 1
Austin Zdroik 1 (ERS)
Brian Konitzer 1
Cole Czarneski 1
UNIFIED DIRT STREET STOCKS
Derek Moede 8
Trey Van Straten 7
Phillip Wuesthoff 7
Paul Diefenthaler 7
Cody Potter 7 (TNT, ERS)
Dave DeGrave 5
Alex Haese 5
Shanon Guelette 5
Roman Blank 4
Travis Zirbel 3
Dave DeGrave 2
Jason Eisel 2 (ERS)
Hope Eisel 2 (ERS)
Garrett Geyer 2
Austin Steinke 2
Brayden Lundquist 1
Cory Romenesko 1
Todd Berzowski 1
Paul Ambrosius 1
Kyle Genett 1
Brian Gundrum 1
James Riske 1
Jake Brickner 1
Chad Vetting 1
Tyler Fox 1
Tucker Bodendorfer 1
Cole Czarneski 1
Quentin Morrison 1 (ERS)
GRAND NATIONALS
Jeff Richards 10
Jake Richards 8
Jeff Muehlbauer 5
Brad Weiss 3
Mavrick Ruh 3
Tyler Kulow 2
Luke Scholten 2
Nate Ruh 1
Will Sorce 1
Nick Schumacher 1
Brad Lubach 1
Josh Pierce 1
Marshall Plate 1
Matt Urban 1
Rick Mahlberg 1
Taylor Rahn 1
Rod Snellenberger 1
FOUR CYLINDERS/IMCA SPORT COMPACTS
James Reese 9
TJ Everard 8
Tanner Westphal 5
Cody Booth 5
Brian Watzka Jr 5
Scott Schlafke 4
Mike Meier 4
Kyle Jorgenson 3
Cody McClain 3
Lucas Hacker 2
Nathan Lisowe 2
Thomas Schulte 2
Calvin Stueck 2
Brett Deprez 2
Dan Thomson 2
Brad Wedde 2
Bennett Glidden 2
Autumn Allard 2
Chase Ertel 2
Matt VanderVere 2
Brian Hillringhouse 1
Tony Everard 1
Jake Peters 1
Robbie Holst Jr 1
Shaun Bangart 1
Dallas Topel 1
Skyler Bork 1
Todd Boehlein 1
Derek Crane 1
Dylan Henry 1
LS/USRA LATE MODEL
Mark Hoeppner 8
Jason Zdroik 3
Lucas Peterson 3
Eric Klawatter 3
Jeff Thomas 2
Todd Gorny 2
Guy Carley 2
Logan Fleischmann 2
Jason McFadden 1
Corbyn Wassenberg 1
Dave Bennett 1
Pat Kelley 1
Keslie Richards 1
Jake Binash 1
Chad Lederer 1