By Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
I haven’t really decided if this is going to be a QuickHits, or more of a final thoughts type deal. I suppose we’ll figure it out as we go.
- Brandon Sheppard again proved why he is one of the best in late models. He switched back to the Rocket house car, and brought a 2022 XR1 chassis with XR1.2 updates for the 2024 version of the Gateway Dirt Nationals. BShepp finished third in his Thursday preliminary race, and drew the pole for Saturday night’s feature. He took the lead from Gordy Gundaker and then held off a charging Bobby Pierce enroute to his second-straight Gateway Dirt Nationals win.
- Brandon Overton was another driver with a lot of eyes on him, as he made his debut in the Longhorn Chassis house car with crew chief Anthony Burroughs. Overton was quickest overall in Thursday’s qualifying. But his weekend went south from there. A heat race incident ended his night early, and he was slated to be in a Non-Qualifiers race on Saturday, but promoter Cody Sommer used a “rescue provisional” to place Overton, and five other drivers at the back of the Qualifier races. Overton didn’t quite make it to the Feature, and didn’t make it to the “Win and You’re In Race,” effectively ending his night, until Sommer gave Overton the promoters provisional. Overton finished in 14th, getting lapped in the process. I wouldn’t look too much into the rough start, though. It’s the Dome, things can go south in a hurry, and then it’s hard to dig yourself out of the hole. I believe this Overton-Longhorn relationship is going to be a good one in 2025.
- I’d be lying if I said I knew who Mike Spatola was coming into Dome weekend. Sure, I probably saw “Opie” at Fairbury this year, but I didn’t put two and two together. I sure know about him now. Spatola won his preliminary feature on Thursday and would start third in Saturday’s big show. Opie fell back a little in the beginning, but on a restart around lap 16 is when he turned it on. He was mixing it up with Ashton Winger, Bobby Pierce and Nick Hoffman for a majority of the race, and it was quite entertaining. Spatola ended up fourth when the checkered waved, but he left quite an impression with me this past weekend.
- I don’t watch enough late models to know everyone’s progression, but as I watched Nick Hoffman a few times in person this year, I have to say that I’m impressed. He was a half-lap away from winning the prestigious Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury, if I remember correctly, he set a new track record at Wayne County during Hell Tour and darn near won that race, was in the thick of the World of Outlaws Late Model title hunt, then he looked like a car that may have had something for BShepp at the Dome if he were able to start a few spots better. Hoffman’s progress is something I’m going to keep better track of in 2025.
- It wasn’t a very good weekend for “Terbo” Tyler Erb. He didn’t time in good on Thursday, then DNF’d in his heat race, ending his night. He was another recipient of the “rescue provisional” to start eleventh in a Saturday qualifier, where he ended up on the hood of Chris Simpson. Terbo’s fun meter was pegged, and off the track he went, ending his weekend. The Dome giveth, and the Dome taketh. Terbo was an absolute dream in front of the camera, though. The more of Terbo’s wit I get to see, the more I like him.
- Ricky Thornton Jr. said that it was good that he’s talking about being disappointed with a third place finish on Saturday, but he had good reason to be. He won his modified prelim feature on Thursday, and backed it up with the prelim feature win in the late model on Friday. RTJ ran second most of the race on Saturday before Bobby Pierce got around him. When you have that kind of success on your prelim nights, it’s pretty easy to be disappointed with a P3 and eventual DNF in the modified feature.
- Speaking of the mods, what a show they put on night in and night out. With their field being invite-only, it made it so that the cream of the crop were racing each other, and it was glorious. I wish every mod race was like the ones we got to see at Gateway, because those boys put on a phenomenal show. I’m glad that the late model field will be going through a vetting process in 2025. It’ll only make the show that much better.
- Everything about the Gateway Dirt Nationals was outstanding. Sure, fence repair and the late model non-qualifiers weren’t ideal, but some of that stuff can be attributed to bad luck. After listening to event promotor Cody Sommer in the drivers meetings, it is easy to see how much work he and his crew put into this event. They payoff is an experience that can’t be matched by any other racing event. I wouldn’t be surprised that if in the future, we look at Sommer and compare him to Earl Baltes. He’s constantly thinking of new and innovative ways to take dirt racing to the next level, and the Gateway Dirt Nationals is a product of Sommer’s passion, people believing in Sommer’s vision, and Sommer coming through with his vision, and then some. It also helps that Gateway can’t be rained out (RIP in Peace, Mansfield).
Looking back, this first Gateway experience for myself will be something I remember forever. You come for the racing on Thursday and Friday, and then come for the show on Saturday, and a race happens to break out. It’s unique, it’s exhilarating, it’s a party, it’s racing full-sized racecars in a dome in December. You won’t fully understand it until you go and experience what the Gateway Dirt Nationals is all about.