Dale McDowell (# 17M) of Chickamauga, Ga., swept the Southern All-Star weekend at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville winning Saturday's season finale at the long 1/2 mile clay dirt track. The $7,000 victory came just one night after a $3,000, 30-lap jaunt Friday night. Canadian Ricky Weiss again followed McDowell across the finish line with Alabama's Sam Seawright rounding out the podium finishers.
In Portsmouth, Ohio, Brandon Sheppard (#1) of Illinois proved why he is one of the hottest Dirt Late Model racers in America Saturday by winning the $100,000 Dirt Track World Championship for the second consecutive season.
Fellow World of Outlaws Late Model series regular Ricky Thornton Jr.was runner-up in the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model series event. Tennesseean Jimmy Owens wrapped up the LODLM National Championship for 2020. The payout for the Newport native will be over $100,000 for his Championship exploits that saw eight series victories this season.
At Mountain View Raceway, the Sprint Cars wrapped up a weekend at the small 1/4-mile-high banked dirt track just north of Chattanooga above Soddy Daisy in Dayton/Spring City. Ooltewah native Anthony Nicholson, who now resides in West Tennessee, won the 410 wingless warlords feature. Isaac Chapple (Bailey Chassis) finished second, but for the second consecutive night won the Stock 600 feature. Friday night's winner Steven Drevicki of Pennsylvania finished a disappointing 7th overall Saturday. Zac Gorski of Florida won again Saturday in the Midget Sprint feature. Sprint Cars rarely make it to the eastern part of the Volunteer state, so this weekend was a real "treat" for race fans, with thanks in part to promoter Wayne Davis of Florida.
At I-75 Raceway in Sweetwater, it was Ladies Night and Breast Cancer Awareness Night. In the two Powder Puff races, Darlene Sands and Lacey Cardwell were victorious. In the Late Model feature, UCRA leading Rookie of the Year contender Jason Cardwell of Knoxville won his second consecutive race, while Justin Winters of Cleveland won the A-Hobby feature.
The 604/Crate racers will see action next Saturday at Fort Payne Motor Speedway in Alabama just southwest of Chattanooga down I-59 as part of the WITCHY 50 event for the United Championship Racing Alliance's season finale. Cleveland's Jimmy Elliott, Jason Cardwell, Kenny Kizzar of Soddy Daisy, Kasey Hall of Alabama Daniel Casteel of Georgia and Jeremy Holtzclaw of Sparta are all vying for part of the $20,000 in National Championship prizes presented by Red Line Synthetic Oil.