FAIRBURY, Ill. — The week that Midwestern dirt Late Model fans wait all year for has finally arrived.
On Labor Day weekend in 1990, Snooky Dehm won the inaugural edition of Fairbury Speedway’s new premier event, the Prairie Dirt Classic. The race gained notoriety throughout the region over the next two decades, and once it became part of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision schedule in 2013, it exploded.
The PDC has since become one of the sport’s biggest crown jewel events, bringing all the top teams in the nation and thousands of their fans to the small town of Fairbury, for one epic week every July. Every lap turned, party thrown and can crushed builds toward the 100-lap showdown on Saturday night and the ceremonial drive down South Third Street to the Bank of Pontiac.
It’s time to find out who’s next in line to have their name etched into Illinois immortality.
CHASING No. 2
One question is going to get asked more than any other across Fairbury this week — Bobby Pierce or the field?
The Oakwood, Ill., native is rolling into one of his favorite tracks and events in the middle of a summer most could only dream of. He’s won eight of the last 10 World of Outlaws races to bring his total to 17 on the year, one away from tying the all-time series record.
Last week’s break in the schedule didn’t slow Pierce down, as he won the Half Mile Hustle at Adams County Speedway on Tuesday night for his 23rd overall victory of the season.
But a few hours later, that win was the last thing on Pierce’s mind when his father and crew chief, Bob, suffered a stroke. The 74-year-old Hall of Famer had a successful emergency procedure and is expected to be released from the hospital this week.
In the meantime, Pierce returned to the cockpit last weekend in the Silver Dollar Nationals at Shelby County Speedway, where he finished third in the main event. With his father on the road to recovery, Pierce will have his full focus on becoming the sixth multi-time PDC champion this weekend.
FINALLY HIS TURN?
Between Pierce in 2024 and Brian Shirley in 2025, the last two years have seen an Illinois favorite win their home state’s biggest race for the first time. If Nick Hoffman has his way, he’ll make it three in a row on Saturday night.
Hoffman may call Mooresville, N.C., home now, but his family’s roots are planted in Belleville, IL. He’s won the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals portion of the PDC twice, but a Late Model triumph at Fairbury still eludes him.
Hoffman has crossed the line second four times in the past three years, with the most heartbreaking example coming in the 2024 PDC when Pierce cleared him on the final lap.
Finishing right behind Pierce has been something Hoffman has gotten far too familiar with as of late. He’s finished second or third in a race Pierce has won six times in the last eight World of Outlaws stops, and he did it again at Adams County on Tuesday when a broken piston allowed Pierce to take the lead while Hoffman limped home on seven cylinders in third. However, the frustration of all those nights would be washed away if Hoffman could avenge his defeat from two years ago on Saturday.
UP TO SPEED
Zack Mitchell is only two races into his stint as a full-time Outlaw, but he has already fit right in.
Two weeks after Drake Troutman departed G.R. Smith Motorsports, the Enoree, S.C., driver was announced as his long-term replacement in the No. 22*.
The team hit the ground running on night one at Stateline Speedway with a second-place finish, and he backed it up with another redraw appearance and top 10 three days later at Sharon Speedway.
Upon leaving Sharon, Mitchell traveled back south to spend the World of Outlaws off week running the first four races of the Southern Nationals Series, giving himself four more chances to get acclimated to his new surroundings.
While he didn’t win any of them, he was racing at the front in all four races, including a three-way fight for the win on Sunday at Swainsboro Raceway that ended with Mitchell and Wil Herrington in the frontstretch wall.
Mitchell will get his first taste of the PDC experience this week in his Fairbury debut. But as his Stateline podium proved, Mitchell doesn’t need many laps to start running with the best at a new track.
BIG BUCK HUNTER
When there’s a big payday on the line, you can never count out Ryan Gustin.
The Cooney Motorsports No. 19r team hasn’t been as consistent as they would like in recent years, but more often than not; they find a way to bring out their A-game when it matters most. Gustin’s last three World of Outlaws wins have all been worth at least $40,000, including his career-high $100,000 payday at last year’s USA Nationals.
The $50,000 winner’s payout combined with the $500 to the leader of each lap means Gustin could deposit up to $100,000 in his bank account with a perfect night on Saturday.
History says he could have a chance in the closing laps – despite struggling in the last two PDCs, Gustin recorded back-to-back top fives in the 100-lapper in 2022 and 2023.
COMING IN HOT
As is the case every year, the World of Outlaws regulars are just a few of the drivers that the eventual winner will have to beat at Fairbury.
One of the biggest names on that list is the newly-crowned Silver Dollar Nationals champion, Ricky Thornton Jr. The driver of the Koehler Motorsports No. 20rt hasn’t had the year that “RTJ” fans have come to expect, but he got back to his winning ways at Shelby County by keeping Pierce behind him the whole way, something few drivers have been able to do this summer.
Thornton will look to build on that momentum this weekend as he chases his eighth crown jewel triumph and his second at the PDC.
Another driver who has been trying to shift their 2026 season into high gear is the reigning PDC champion, Brian Shirley. “Squirrel” has only won once this season in DIRTcar Summer Nationals competition at Sycamore Speedway, but a pair of top fives last week at Adams County and Shelby County suggests Shirley and his Bob Cullen Racing team are beginning to turn the corner.
Other stars with the PDC on their schedule this week include 2026 DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Tanner English, Brandon Sheppard, Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Max Blair, Jason Feger, Garrett Alberson and many more.
