CONCORD, N.C. — When Jake Timm chased the full World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision for the first time in 2025, it was much more than a one-time, bucket-list endeavor.
The former modified standout has every intention of being a long-term fixture at the pinnacle of late model racing, and the next step on that path comes in 2026 with his second season with the series.
Timm’s first season as a full-time late model racer yielded six World of Outlaws top 10s – including a season-best of fifth at Norman County Raceway – on the way to a 12th-place finish in the standings. Now that he’s laid the foundation, he’s ready to start the building process toward more strong runs moving forward.
“You always wish you could have done better, but at the end of the day, we learned a lot,” Timm said. “We did have some good runs at certain points throughout the year. I wouldn’t say terrible, but we definitely hope to do better this year. Hopefully start breaking into the top five a little bit more, maybe some top threes here and there. Overall, just try and learn and get better, faster.”
As a first-timer on the national stage last year, one of Timm’s biggest hinderances was his lack of notes and experience to lean on. He had only been to a handful of tracks on the World of Outlaws schedule prior to 2025 and had laps in a Late Model at even less of them. That deficit will be a much smaller factor in 2026, which will allow Timm to focus less on playing catch-up and more on finding an edge over the rest of the field.
“I think it showed last year when we went to tracks that I knew or had been to before,” Timm said. “Just knowing where to be faster, how to race the tracks and how they transitioned throughout the night. It gives you a huge advantage, and you can just make better adjustments, make faster decisions driving and all that. I think that’s going to play a big factor in helping us improve our results this year.”
Timm is already three nights into his 2026 season, as the No. 49 crew was one of several World of Outlaws teams that traveled to Central Arizona Raceway for the Wild West Shootout ahead of next week’s DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals (Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 22-24) at Volusia Speedway Park. A B-Main exit on Saturday wasn’t the start to the year Timm had in mind, but he’s improved since with finishes of 10th on Sunday and 16th on Wednesday.
“The first night, we tried a different car out,” Timm said. “Kind of had some issues with it and it really kind of ruined our first night. That’s part of why we’re testing [Tuesday], we’re trying to figure that out. The second night, we just got the car out that we ran the majority of the year last year with. We know it’s pretty decent and it proved to still be consistent.”
That positive trajectory puts Timm on track for a vastly improved start in comparison to his rookie year, when he had to wait until June for his first top 10. If he can leave himself a smaller hole to dig out of later in the season, he knows he could find himself in a much more desirable position by the time World of Outlaws World Finals rolls around.
“I’d say our goal is probably to try and get to top eight, top 10 in points,” Timm said. “Run more consistently in the top 10 and get some more top fives, top threes. A win would be awesome. I know how difficult they are, they don’t come easy. Really just improve our results quite a bit over last year.”
