CONCORD, N.C. — Summer may be winding down, but not before one more busy four-race week in the Midwest for the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.
Action begins with the $12,000-to-win Beat the Heat 40 at Highland Speedway on Wednesday, Aug. 13. Then, it’s a 2.5-hour trip north to Lewistown, Ill., for the first World of Outlaws race at Spoon River Speedway on Thursday, Aug. 14, which pays another $12,000 to the winner of the 40-lap feature.
The second half of the swing takes the Series to Iowa for the only time in 2025, with Maquoketa Speedway hosting the two-night Hawkeye 100 on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 15-16. A 40-lap, $12,000-to-win, contest starts things off on Friday before the stakes are raised in Saturday’s 60-lap, $20,000-to-win finale.
CROWN JEWELS
The last three weekends have seen the dirt late model world converge for some of the sport’s biggest events, and all three ended with an Outlaw in victory lane.
Brian Shirley is still riding high after the biggest win of his career at the Prairie Dirt Classic, and he’s set to race in front of his home-state fans for the first time since then. “Squirrel” holds the honor of being the only driver to win a World of Outlaws race at any of the tracks on this week’s agenda, as he swept the inaugural visits to Highland and Maquoketa last year.
Shirley knows his way around Spoon River as well – he won a DIRTcar Summer Nationals stop there in 2019 to go along with a flurry of top fives in national and regional competition.
One week after Shirley’s dream night, it was Ryan Gustin’s turn to win his first crown jewel at Cedar Lake Speedway in the USA Nationals. And like Shirley, Gustin will get to celebrate with his “Hawkeye State” fans when the tour arrives at Maquoketa this weekend.
Gustin has done everything but win in his last few trips to the bullring. “The Reaper” has garnered five top fives in six starts over the past two years, including two in last year’s Hawkeye 100. It’s a slightly different story in the “Land of Lincoln” though, as Gustin will be looking to improve on career bests of sixth at Highland and seventh at Spoon River.
Then last weekend, Bobby Pierce maintained his dominance at Florence Speedway with his fourth North-South 100 win and his third in a row, becoming the first driver to reach either milestone.
With 25 wins in the bag this year, Pierce plans on taking a few more steps this week toward hitting the 30-win mark for the third-consecutive season.
Five of Pierce’s seven World of Outlaws victories this season have come at tracks he had never previously won at with the Series, and any wins this week would add to that list. That’s not to say he struggles at any of the three facilities – he’s been to victory lane in regional action at all of them and ran top five with the World of Outlaws last year at Highland and Maquoketa.
CLOSING IN
Pierce may be in the middle of another dream season, but there’s still plenty of work left to do to cap it off with a second World of Outlaws championship.
Nick Hoffman has been his closest challenger for most of the season, and the No. 9 team took a massive bite out of Pierce’s points lead at Cedar Lake. A pair of top fives for Hoffman on the same weekend that Pierce failed to finish in the top 10 saw the margin go from 118 points entering the weekend down to 74.
Hoffman has found plenty of success at Highland and Spoon River behind the wheel of a Modified, but he’s yet to find the same pace on the late model side with best finishes of 14th at Highland and ninth at Spoon River.
While he had never been to Maquoketa prior to last year, Hoffman was a quick learner, driving from seventh to second in the Saturday program.
THE RACE IS ON
The battle at the top is far from the only intriguing points race going on as the countdown continues to World of Outlaws World Finals.
Tim McCreadie, Drake Troutman and Dennis Erb Jr. currently occupy spots four through six with 58 points between them. Erb has been the most consistent of the three as of late with six podiums in his last 11 starts, while McCreadie’s Thursday win at Cedar Lake has the Briggs Transport team firing on all cylinders headed into the final months of the season.
The past month hasn’t gone to plan for Troutman, with his most recent top five coming back at Sharon Speedway on July 11.
The upcoming schedule will take him to plenty of uncertain territory, as he’s never been to Highland or Maquoketa and hasn’t fared well at Spoon River, with a best result of 18th in three late model starts there.
However, Troutman spent the off weekend hoisting the trophy with the Modified Mafia Tour at Wythe Raceway in Virginia, which could serve as the morale boost he needs to get his MD3 Rookie of the Year bid back on track.
MOVING ON UP
If the World of Outlaws had a “Most Improved” award for the 2025 season, Tanner English would be among the favorites.
After leaving the Ohio-Pennsylvania swing in May sitting 12th in the standings with a trailer full of blown engines and damaged equipment, the Coltman Farms Racing team took advantage of the break in the schedule to refresh their inventory ahead of the summer stretch.
That effort has paid off since with eight top 10s in the last 13 races, launching English up to eighth in points leaving Cedar Lake.
The Benton, Ky., native has plenty of reasons for optimism headed into the week, particularly the Illinois portion. English is a former Summer Nationals winner at Highland and Spoon River, putting him in the same category as Pierce and Erb as the only current Outlaws with Hell Tour wins at both tracks.
His only Maquoketa experience comes from this year’s MARS Late Model Championship season opener in March when he finished sixth on Friday in his first night at the track.
