Dirt Racing
Hoffman, Flick, Wyant, Bailey and Speer Score at Tri-City Raceway Park

FRANKLIN, PA (April 25, 2021): Franklin’s own Kevin Hoffman took his first career Krill Recycling LLC 358 Modified victory at Tri-City Raceway Park. A.J. Flick scored in the Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sprint Cars. Teenager Tyler Wyant took the feature in the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Pro Stocks after getting second the week before. Justin Bailey and Dalton Speer split the top honors in the 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stock events.
“This is great,” said a happy Kevin Hoffman after getting the much awaited win. “I am so happy for my family,” he added. Hoffman’s late brother, Jeff, was a force to be reckoned with at the track closest to the homestead. Hoffman’s father and daughter got to see the win. “I just wish my mother and wife were here to see this. They stayed home because it was too cold.”
Nick Joy and Kevin Hoffman brought the 358 Modifieds to the green flag. Defending track champion, Kyle Fink, and
Jimmy Holden were matched up in the second row. Newcomer Kyle Inman and Max Smoker were in the third row. Eric Beggs and Jeremiah Shingledecker were in row four. Nathan McDowell and Sid Unverzagt, Jr., occupied row five.
Hoffman sailed into turn one ahead of Nick Joy and then dropped to the inside line. Holden nestled into third, followed by Fink, Inman, Smoker and Beggs. While Hoffman was pulling away from Joy, Holden stopped inside turn one with a flat left front tire arising from some contact with Joy on the opening lap.
When racing resumed, Hoffman continued his lead over Joy, Fink, Inman, and Shingledecker. Joy slid out of the groove and lost two positions. Fink then began the chase of Hoffman, with Inman into third and Shingledecker up to fourth. Beggs spun out of contention for the top five just after taking the crossed flags marking the midpoint of the race.
That put Fink on Hoffman’s bumper for the restart. Fink tried to duck under Hoffman coming off turn two, but there was not enough room. He jammed on the brakes and skid up the surface, losing several spots in the process. That gave Hoffman some extra breathing room.
Hoffman polished off the final ten laps, with Inman holding off Shingledecker to get the runner-up position. Fink recovered for fourth with Joy heading north with a fifth place paycheck. Unverzagt shook off some bad luck to get sixth, followed by seventeen-year-old Nathan McDowell. Veteran Kevin Green was seventh in his first run of the new year. Dillon Barr and Tyler Clark were ninth and tenth.
Joy and Holden were the heat winners. There was no B Main.
In the Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sprint Cars, A.J. Flick and George Hobaugh led the way. In the second row, it was Dan Shetler paired up with Greg Wilson, in from Ohio to tune up for the All Stars invasion next week. Carl Bowser and Bob Felmlee started in row three, with Brandon Spithaler and last week’s winner, Jack Sodeman, Jr., in the fourth row. Ninth and tenth in the starting line-up were Kyle Colwell and Ricky Peterson.
Flick blasted out to the early lead with Hobaugh, Shetler, WIlson, Felmlee, and Bowser next in line. Flick was impressive, opening up a substantial lead over Hobaugh as the race progressed. Just before the halfway mark, though, Brandon Spithaler nailed the water barrels on the outside of the second turn. He was unhurt, but the leaking water caused a red flag situation for some track maintenance.
On the restart, Flick zoomed out ahead of Hobaugh again. But Sodeman rode the rim to take the third position.
Flick continued to pull away from Hobaugh, who also began to separate himself from Sodeman. Wilson cruised along in fourth with Shetler in his wake.
Flick swept under the checkered flag to get his first win of the 2021 season. He was more that three and a half seconds ahead of Hobaugh at the finish. Sodeman, Wilson, and Shetler followed. Brandon Matus perked up after the restart, moving into sixth by the finish. Felmlee, Peterson, Colwell, and Brent Matus completed the top ten.
Sodeman and Flick took the preliminaries. In the heat races, Leyton Wagner crashed in turn one, but he was not hurt. There was no B Main.
In the Hovis Auto and Truck Supply Pro Stocks, Sixteen-year-old Tyler Wyant scored his first career win at Tri-City Raceway Park. He held off veteran Curtis J. Bish to earn the memorable victory. Doug Iorio, II registered another top five finish, as did William Hurrelbrink. Darr Diegelman was fifth. Sixth through tenth went to Billy Myers, Josh Blum, Josh Seippel, Ron Boardman, and Matt Bernard.
The heat winners were Seippel and Wyant. There was no B Main.
The 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks started the night with the balance of their twelve lap feature event. The racers completed just two laps before the track became too wet on opening night. Justin Bailey surged into the lead at the drop of the green flag and led the remaining ten laps. However, Dalton Speer came on strong in the second half of the race to chase him home. D.J. Mcrae finished third, followed by Pat Hanlon, Jr., Evan Sobieski, James Tasker, Chad Greeley, Gregory Kiehl, Brayden Seippel, and James Buchanan.
In the regular feature for the 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks, Dalton Speer came off turn four with a full head of steam to pass Pat Hanlon, Jr. Officials had to check where the transponders were mounted on the first two cars, as the margin of victory was a scant .003 seconds. Both transponders were in their proper locations and Speer was declared the winner in what was most likely the closest race in the history of the speedway. Justin Bailey was third, followed by Gregory Kiehl and D.J. Mcrae. Evan Sobieski, James Tasker, Chad Greeley. Kevin Wice, and Brayden Seippel were the next five to cross.
Heat winners were Kiehl and Hanlon, Jr. There was no B Main.
Mark your racing calendars for the big show next week. The All Stars Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars roll into the Venango County oval to finish up a three-race mini series in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. That race will be presented courtesy of Krill Recycling LLC. There will ne RUSH Sprint Cars providing support thanks to Gary Glass Automotive. Remember that there will be no racing at Tri-City Raceway Park on Mothers Day, but everybody will be back on May 16 for a Sunday Thunder program and Military Night,
Krill Recycling LLC 358 Modifieds: Kevin Hoffman, Kyle Inman, Jermiah Shingledecker, Kyle Fink, Nick Joy, Sid Unverzagt, Jr., Nathan McDowell, Kevin Green, Dillon Barr, Tyler Clark, Max Smoker, Jimmy Holden, Eric Beggs, Curt Bish, Ryan Riffe.
Shawgo Real Estate 410 Sprints: A.J. Flick, George Hobaugh, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Greg Wilson, Dan Shetler, Brandon Matus, Bob Felmlee, Ricky Peterson, Kyle Colwell, Brent Matus, Carl Bowser, Chase Matheny, Brandon Spithaler, Danial Burkhart, Jacob Gomola, Jeremy Kornbau. DNS: Logan McCandless, Leyton Wagner, Gale Ruth, Jr.
Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Pro Stocks: Tyler Wyant, Curtis J. Bish, Doug Iorio, II, William Hurrelbrink, Darr Diegelman, Billy Myers, Josh Blum, Josh Seippel, Ron Boardman, Matt Bernard. DNS: Patrick Fielding.
4 Your Car Connection Mini Stock Make-up Race: Justin Bailey, Dalton Speer, D.J. Mcrae, Pat Hanlon, Jr., Evan Sobieski, James Tasker, Chad Greeley, Gregory Kiehl, Brayden Seippel, James Buchanan, Patrick Lane, Kevin Whice, Lucjas Fair, Jimmy White, Andrew Smith. DNS: Kyle Janas, Carl White, William Haylett, II, Pat Hanlon, Sean Murphy, Brody McClintock, Matt Dougherty.
4 Your Car Connection Mini Stocks: Dalton Speer, Pat Hanlon, Jr., Justin Bailey, Gregory Kiehl, D.J. Mcrae, Evan Sobieski, James Tasker, Chad Greely, Kevin Wice, Brayden Seippel, William Haylett, Sean Murphy, Andy Thompson. DNS: James Buchanan, Matt Daugherty, Todd Hanlon.
Dirt Racing
Luck Rides with Larson to Third Chili Bowl Title

TULSA, OK (January 18, 2025): There is an old adage in racing that goes something like this: “It is better to be lucky than good.” That statement accurately summed up Kyle Larson’s Chili Bowl win. Larson collected a cool $20,000 for his effort.
Larson survived two incidents on his way to a third Chili Bowl crown. The first came in the middle of the race when he ran over a disabled car between turns three and four. The other came with just three laps to go when he climbed the front stretch wall but drove off before a caution was called for debris.
“It just was a very difficult race track to run the line that I was running,” Larson observed. “It comes with a lot of reward with the risk that you’re taking. I messed up on the straightaway a couple of times. I’m glad that I kept going there because that caution really, really saved me and allowed it to be a little bit easier run to the finish. I think if we stayed in traffic, Daison (Pursley) would have had a lot of opportunities to throw stuff at me.”
Perhaps Larson’s good luck even started before the drop of the green. Larson started on pole.
The ten cars that locked into the A Main participated in the Pole Shuffle. The Pole Shuffle was a series of head-to-head timed laps. The faster driver continued on and the slower one was eliminated. Larson drew the number one, so he was assured of a front row starting spot regardless of how he timed.
The second bit of pre-race luck was that Daison Pursley ran out of fuel one round too soon. Pursley showed consistent speed throughout the Pole Shuffle. He won the first several rounds. When he squared off against Landon Brooks in the penultimate round, his car sputtered to a stop. Brooks advanced to the final round by default.
So, the front row of the finale belonged to Larson and Brooks. Pursley and Logan Seavey were in row two. The third row consisted of Tanner Thorson and Emerson Axsom. Row four paired Gavin Miller and Shane Golobic. The last two members of the Pole Shuffle were in row five, Ryan Bernal and Brenham Crouch. The B Main winners, Corbin Rueschenberg and Christopher Bell, made up row six.
As expected, Larson scooted out to the early lead, followed by Brooks, Pursley, Seavey, Thorson, and Golobic. The leaders ran in formation at the top of the track through the first caution, which came on lap nine for a crash by Jonathan Beason in turn two. Beason was the only racer to transfer into the A Main from a C Main.
The caution nullified Thorson’s pass for fourth.
Larson led the parade after the restart. Pursley began to press Brooks for second. On lap thirteen, Pursley’s slider in turn three improved his position by one. He then chased Larson as the leaders started to work their way through traffic. Thorson picked off Seavey as the race approached the midpoint.
As the laps clicked off, the traffic intensified, Larson maintained his lead, but it was shrinking. Brooks, Thorson, and Seavey remained in the top five.
The first bit of drama occurred on lap twenty-two. Jacob Denney and Brenham Crouch tangled between turns three and four. Denney continued, but Crouch stopped in the middle of the track. His nose was slanted toward the infield. Larson had no place to go. He drove over the left front of Crouch’s car. Larson’s car stalled while in mid air. It refired when all four wheels returned to the track. Because Larson was able to keep moving, he was not called as part of the caution.
Larson’s car sustained no apparent damage. He was able to maintain the lead when the race resumed. Pursley kept pace with Larson. Brooks was still third, but after two laps, Golobic gained two positions. Thorson slipped back to fifth.
As Larson ran alone out front, Brooks was stalking Pursley. He took over second pn lap thirty-one, but Pursley regained second within a couple of laps. He then resumed his chase of the leader.
Pursley climbed the front stretch wall with about five laps to go. There was a large accumulation of dirt along the wall that acted as a ramp. It took a deft hand to pull the car down from the wall and to keep it straight. In the process, though, Pursley loosened a sponsor banner that was attached to the wall.
Larson tore the banner off on lap thirty-seven when he, too, climbed the wall. Larson climbed higher than Pursley, as the undercarriage was visible to the fans in the stands. Larson careened off the wall toward the infield. As he regained control, Pursley was coming. They entered the first turn side by side. Larson cut a better corner and kept the lead.
As Larson and Pursley raced off turn two, the caution light came on for debris, which was the banner that was now strewn across the middle of the track.
Larson kept the point for the final restart. He got away cleanly. Pursley stayed close. He tried a slider in turn four but he did not have enough momentum to get his nose ahead.
At the checkers it was Larson over Pursley. Pursley had mixed emotions afterwards. “I tried to pace Kyle for forty laps. It was a very technical track where you’d make room in one corner and then give it back the next.” He added, “it’s unfortunate. I really wanted to win this one, but there’s nothing to hang your head about when you’re racing against the likes of Kyle Larson. I’ve been coming here since I was little, so this really means a lot to me.” He concluded, “I thought we might have had the chance when the yellow came out due to the banner, but there’s so many woulda, coulda, shoulda’s that happen in this building, that’s what makes it so tough to win here.”
The Matt Wood team of Pursley, Golobic, Bernal, and Brooks completed the top five. While much attention was directed to the fleet of cars entered by Keith Kunz Motorsports, the accomplishments of the smaller Matt Wood Racing cannot be overstated. Golobic, who also acted as the crew chief for the entire team, gave props to Wood, who keeps the cars idle throughout the season. Golobic explained that they did not get a chance to knock the rust off because one of the Fall’s big events was rained out.
Positions six through ten went to Buddy Kofoid, Seavey, Miller, Axsom, and Bell.
Tim Buckwalter was the hard charger, racing from twenty-second to thirteenth.
Dirt Racing
Success for Seavey

TULSA, OK (January 17, 2025): Logan Seavey, a two-time and defending Chili Bowl Champion, was confident throughout the Friday preliminary event, and it showed even when his car did not perform up to his lofty expectations. “I ran a little bit of an ugly race but when it mattered I ran good laps, and my car was good enough to do it,” he explained. He stuck a hard slider to take the lead on lap twenty-seven and he led the remaining laps to lock into the Saturday A Main. “I could see Gavin (Miller) and there’s like two laps where he made mistakes and those were probably my two fastest laps of the race. I got off two really good and just went for it.”
“I’m always confident,” Seavey added. “Even today where I didn’t feel as good as I have in the past, still had speed, could still keep up with guys, lost a little balance to be able to maneuver as good as I needed to in traffic. When I could get up against the cushion by myself I could make a tin of speed. Finally in the feature, I could crawl the bottom and make speed early. We definitely got going in the right direction which helped. I feel like I made a lot of ugly laps there, and fortunately I happened to make them at the right times. When I did make good laps, it was really when I needed them.”
The first three cars in the starting line-up were fielded by Keith Kunz Motorsports. The drivers in the front row were Ryan Timms and Michael Pickens. In third spot was Gavin Miller. Tyler Edwards was his dance partner. Daryn Pittman started in row three, along with Jason McDougal. Seavey and Justin Grant took up row four, followed by Andrew Felker and Cole Vanderheiden. Michael Faccinto and Tyler Courtney made up row six.
The KKM triumvirate took the top three spots at the drop of the green, with Edwards and McDougal looking on. The action was slowed a couple of times, most notably when Pickens suddenly stopped in turn two on lap two. Timms and Miller took off again when the race resumed. McDougal, Pittman, and Seavey took up the chase.
An engine failure caused an extended caution on lap six so the oil could be worked into the surface.
The next ten laps under the green had Timms continuing out front, but Miller was staying close to his teammate. McDougal, Pittman, and Seavey battled for third, with Seavey and Pittman shuffling McDougal back in the running order.
Seavey did piece together a couple of competitive laps and he was making a bid for the second position. Miller picked up his pace as well.
Unfortunately, the leader, Timms, was hard on his brakes entering turn three and Miller was unable to check up. There was contact, and Timms spun to the inside, ending his chance for a win.
Miller was apologetic for the incident. “I was just racing very hard with Logan there, and Ryan kind of slowed up a lot towards the middle of that race. Me trying to cross back Logan there, Ryan went to the bottom I really didn’t think he was going to slow up that much. I kind of locked up the brakes, just slid too far, kind of hooked his bumper. Apologized to him, talked to him back at the trailer, it wasn’t anything I really meant to do, it was just hard racing.”
Nonetheless, Miller assumed control for the lap sixteen restart. Seavey and Pittman were battling for second. McDougal came upon them quickly and he made contact with Pittman. McDougal spun from contention on lap eighteen.
Pittman made a good restart and took over second with a power move on the inside of turn two. Within a couple of laps, however, Seavey drove by Pittman for second.
Seavey started to stalk Miller. Seavey got a good run off turn two with three laps remaining. He entered turn three with a lot of momentum. His slider came up a bit short, and there was contact with Miller. Miller checked up and Seavey drove away with the lead.
Miller drove conservatively for the final laps to ensure his transfer into the Saturday A Main.
Tyler Courtney closed fast to get third ahead of Pittman and Justin Grant. Edwards, Faccinto, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Sam Johnson, and Felker completed the top ten.
Nine heat races started the night. The winners were Timms, Chase McDermand, Felker, Stenhouse, McDougal, Miller, Vanderheiden, Grant, and T.J. Smith. Grant, Miller, Pittman, and Edwards prevailed in the qualifiers. Ronnie Gardner and Taylor Courtney topped the D Mains. Gardner and Don Droud, Jr. captured the C Main victories. The B Mains went to Hayden Reinbold and McDermand.
Dirt Racing
Thorson Thrills on Thursday
TULSA, OK (January 16, 2025): After regaining the lead from Christopher Bell with five laps to go, Tanner Thorson had to survive a frantic two-lap dash to the finish with Bell and Ryan Bernal to capture the fourth preliminary night victory at the Chili Bowl.
“I felt good there that last bit kind of tracking down Bell and then the yellow came out and Bell is the last person I wanted behind me on a restart. I’m looking for my guys to tell me where to go. I didn’t know where to go, I about gave it away. I thought it was going to be Bell on my inside, and it’s Bernal, I’m like, ‘Holy Crap,’ we’re about to get our doors blown off.”
Bernal made the most of the last caution and the final restart. He explained, “the white flag came up and those two (C.J. Leary and Parker Jones) got together and (I) literally did monster truck() over both of them. I was like “well, we’re in third now,’ and now green, white, checkered and I’m looking up at Shane (Golobic) and he (was) telling me to be smart, and come around again he says be smart again and just go to the bottom because I didn’t run a consistent lap all night on the top. It worked out great. I missed the bottom miserably coming to the checkered but we are locked in.”
Bell became the odd man out in the final two laps. He took the green in second–a transfer spot–but could not hold on to it. One might have thought that he would be disappointed with the outcome. But, surprisingly, he was enthused. “The last green, white, checkered was just cat and mouse. (It) was wherever Tanner went I was going to go opposite, and I felt like I was really in a good spot coming off turn two, he ran the bottom I ran the up and I had momentum on him. Bernal plugged the bottom and blocked my line. Once Bernal blocked the bottom, it was pretty . . . I (thought) I was going to be OK and Bernal snuck by on the bottom and made us three wide and it was a great race!”
Thorson started the feature from the pole position. His running mate was Karter Sharff. C.J. Leary and Christopher Bell were in row two, followed by Ryan Bernal and Parker Jones. Shane Cottle and Matt Westfall made up row four, with Matt Sherrell and Kyle Spence in row five. Jacob Denney and Bradley Fezard were next in line.
Thorson took the lead at the drop of the green, but on lap three, Sharff executed a slider in turn four to take the lead. Leary, Bell, and Bernal were looking on.
On the next trip around, there was a six-car tangle in turn three.
After the race resumed, Sharff was still the leader, but Thorson regained the lead one lap later. He held control for a couple of laps, but he was being challenged by Sharff and Bell. Bell got the inside line working, and he made a bid for the lead in turn one on lap seven. He could not pull off the pass, but he persisted. He went two-for-one in turn four to take the point on lap ten.
Bell continued to lead through the next caution, on lap twenty-one. During his time out front, he began searching for a quicker line, as Thorson was pressing him for the lead. Bell moved to the top and he seemed to be comfortable up there.
However, on the restart, Bell went back to the bottom. That worked for several laps. But the outside line was open for Thorson. He went upstairs and passed Bell with five laps to go. Thorson explained that he was able to adjust his shocks under the caution.
Soon thereafter, a caution was displayed for a flip by Casey Shuman.
When the green light flashed on again, Bell was chasing Thorson. Behind them, the action was heating up. Things boiled over on lap twenty-nine, when three cars running in the top five got together in turn two. Eliminated from the race were Leary and Sharff. Jones was able to continue. The biggest beneficiary of this development was Bernal, who drove through the carnage and moved into third for the restart.
This incident set up a green-white-checkered finish. On the restart, Thorson and Bell went high into turn one. Bernal got a great restart, and he entered turn one on the bottom.
The three-car battle for the lead intensified after the white flag came out. The contestants were three abreast! Bernal was on the bottom, Bell was in the middle, and Thorson was on the cushion. Bernal and Thorson got a slight advantage on Bell coming through turn two. Bell got a good run into turn three, and he tried the high line. Thorson came off the top to try to thwart Bernal’s inside charge. Bell was charging on the outside, but his car faltered coming off turn four.
At the checkers, it was Thorson over Bernal by less than a car length. Bell was a close third. Westfall and Denney completed the top five. Frank Flud, Spence, Shane Cottle, Brody Fuson, and Brady Bacon were sixth through tenth.
There were nine heat races. Bradley Fezard, Jeff Stasa, Cottle, Sharff, Bacon, Thorson, Bell, Chris Windom, and Bernal were the victors. Thorson, Sharff, Sherrell, and Bernal won the qualifiers. The pair of D Mains went to Elijah Gile and Jeffrey Newell. C Main wins belonged to Cade Morton and Spencer Bayston. Drake Edwards and Casey Shuman split the B Main honors.