DIRTcar Midwest’s 41st season of weekly racing has come to a conclusion. From April to October, nobody ruled the weekly racing scene like the national champions.
Nine kings of their respective divisions, plus special award winners, are set to be honored for their yearlong efforts at the 2024 DIRTcar Racing Awards Banquet at the Springfield Crowne Plaza in Springfield, IL on Saturday, Jan. 11.
Late Model and UMP Modified drivers finishing inside the top-70 of national points, plus any driver in the top-25 of all other divisions, including the top-five in Mod Lites, are eligible to receive their points fund check and trophies at the banquet. The top-10 of each division’s region are also eligible for recognition during the ceremony, in addition to the top-10 finishers in the overall DIRTcar Summer Nationals championship standings.
Tickets for award winners and drivers receiving points fund checks will be available for purchase in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to DIRTcar Racing social media for updates and more information on how and when to purchase.
Congratulations to each of the 2024 national DIRTcar points champions:
Late Model — Jason Feger (Bloomington, IL)
It took Jason Feger 14 years to repeat as DIRTcar Late Model national champion, but only one after that to win his third title.
Feger, 46, of Bloomington, IL, is king of DIRTcar’s top division for the second year in-a-row after breaking through for the first time since 2009 last year. This season, Feger compiled 16 Feature wins in a record 61 DIRTcar-sanctioned starts — four of which he earned in MARS Late Model Championship competition, leading him to a second-straight championship with the Midwest series as well.
“We’ve been pretty steady on our motors and chassis program for a few years now, and the crew,” Feger said. “Our notebook keeps getting better and better. I’ve been in a Longhorn enough now, and I’ve been going to these tracks… I’ve got good notebooks at all the tracks I go to for the most part, so I feel like we’re making better decisions on setup stuff. That’s been a big help.”
He and veteran crew chief Jason Palubicki once again dominated the Illinois Super Late Model circuit, winning Features at 10 different tracks, including Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Missouri.
“We’re a lot like brothers — we fight a lot, but we always get through it at the end of the day,” Feger said. “He’s really good mechanically, and I don’t have to worry about anything on the car. He can build a car from the ground up, and I’ve got 100 percent confidence in it. That allows me to try to focus more on other stuff that we have going on — setup stuff and other things around the shop.”
UMP Modified — Michael Long (Fowler, IL)
For the first time in his career, Michael Long is a DIRTcar UMP Modified national champion.
The 43-year-old from Fowler, IL, won 27 Features in 49 recorded starts in DIRTcar-sanctioned competition to clinch the championship by 50 points over West Virginia-racer KC Burdette. Long was also crowned back-to-back MARS Modified champion with nine Feature wins in 16 races.
“I had another season back in 2016 where I won more Features, but they were a lot of local shows,” Long said. “This year was definitely better money-wise with bigger-paying races and bigger events that we won. This year would definitely be my biggest year.”
Long had been a regional Modified champion and former track champion at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 but had never ruled the national standings until 2024. Now, he joins the likes of Mike Harrison, Jimmy Owens, Nick Hoffman and several other DIRTcar UMP Modified legends in winning a national championship.
“In about July, we knew we had to go for it because this was my one good shot at winning it,” Long said. “It’s good to be up there with the rest of them. I’ve been racing Modifieds a long time, and it feels good to finally get the national points title.”
Pro Late Model — Dakota Ewing (Warrensburg, IL)
After nearly a decade spent competing for the DIRTcar Pro Late Model national championship, the check and trophy finally reside in the shop of Dakota Ewing.
The 25-year-old from Warrensburg, IL, had finished in nearly every position inside the top-10 of the national points standings over the past nine seasons — notably coming up one spot short of the title in 2018. But 2024 was Ewing’s year, winning 20 times in 31 DIRTcar-sanctioned races, good enough to give him the edge by 50 points over runner-up Tommy Elston for his first national DIRTcar championship.
“We got all the pieces to the puzzle; got us a new car and motor and a shop to work out of,” Ewing said. “That was real nice having that at our disposal every week. We’ve been trying to do it forever, so it just feels nice to finally knock it off the bucket list.”
Among his highlights was a 10-for-11 record at Charleston Speedway, five-for-nine in wins at Farmer City Raceway, and two wins in three starts at Lincoln (IL) Speedway.
Pro Modified — Deece Schwartz (Ashmore, IL)
Deece Schwartz — the grandson of 2006 DIRTcar UMP Modified national champion Denny Schwartz — won his first DIRTcar Pro Modified national championship at 19 years old in 2022. Two seasons later, he’s won it for a third time.
A winner of 17 Features in 33 DIRTcar-sanctioned starts in 2024, Schwartz, now 21, of Ashmore, IL, has spawned a new generation of success for the famed Midwest dirt track racing family with his third-straight national championship.
He piloted a new Mark Bush Racing chassis to a fourth track championship at Kankakee County Speedway, and with that is now DIRTcar’s first-ever Pro Modified driver to win three-straight national championships.
“Everything that we’ve got going on, being able to work with Mark (Bush) and learn a whole lot, pick up a whole lot on the Modifieds, and to be able to run with my little brother for national points — he and I traveled around all summer — it’s great,” Schwartz said.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Winning that first one, there’s still not going to be anything like it, but being able to win three in-a-row, it definitely says something about our team and everything that we do.”
UMP Sportsman — Tucker Chastain (Bedford, IN)
Indiana racer Tucker Chastain claimed his first DIRTcar UMP Sportsman national points championship this year and is now the seventh different champion of the division in the last seven years.
The 29-year-old had been a regular around the weekly Indiana dirt venues for several seasons but received an opportunity to drive for a good friend this year and made the most of his chance to go for a national championship.
“It was a goal for me and my car owner Brad Cummings,” Chastain said. “He’s been at it a long time, and the best he ever finished was second back in 2008 to Jeremy Hines. So, he always had a goal and a dream of winning it. He just had some personal things going on in his life, and he asked me to drive his car, and some sponsors like TexaCon Cut Stone came on board with us and helped us out a lot, and we got it done.”
In all of his success, Chastain finished with a second-best 10 wins in 37 starts and clinched a track championship at Brownstown Speedway (Brownstown, IN).
Stock Car — Braiden Keller (West Lebanon, IN)
At 18 years old, Braiden Keller is a first-time DIRTcar Stock Car national champion.
This year is special to the entire Keller family, as Braiden’s father, Ian, had competed in the division for several years but was unable to defeat his weekly foes in the quest for a national title. But 2024 was different, as Braiden broke through for the Keller family and executed one of the most dominant seasons in division history.
“It means the world to me,” he said. “My dad’s been trying to win a national championship ever since he started racing. To finally pull one off is pretty cool.
“I loved the look on his face when we finally got it done. He was in tears; it was awesome.”
The Indiana-native won a total of 21 Features in 31 recorded DIRTcar-sanctioned starts, defeating 2023 champion Jerrad Krick by nearly 200 points, and securing his first track championships at Fairbury Speedway and Kankakee County Speedway.
“My dad, he knows his way around a race car, and I’m just fortunate enough to be able to get behind the wheel and do the thing,” Keller said. “He’s put everything he knows and his heart and soul into this thing for me to be as successful as I am, and it just worked out.”
Factory Stock — Trevor Isaak (Highland, IL)
Trevor Isaak’s reign over the DIRTcar Factory Stock division continued in 2024 as the Western Illinois racer cliched his fifth-straight national championship.
Isaak, 34, of Highland, IL, garnered the sixth national points title of his career with the support from 10 Feature wins in 30 starts, making him the only driver to reach double-digit wins this season in the division.
“The competition’s getting stronger every day, makes us go back to the drawing board and try new things,” Isaak said. “We did some experimenting this year; some stuff worked, and some stuff didn’t.”
At season’s end, he also clinched his seventh-straight track championship at Highland Speedway, adding to his Illinois family racing legacy that goes back several decades.
“My family members and dad used to run, just racking the championships up, got a couple here and there,” Isaak said. “Next thing you know, I’ve had a long run of coming out on top, and it just goes to show how good our program is and that we’re ready to go any time the car hits the track.”
Sport Compact — Danny White Jr. (Charleston, IL)
In the year of Danny White Jr’s highest achievement came a devastating loss to he and his family. But like all champions in life and sports, they rise to the occasion and find the reason to push through difficult times.
“I lost my dad the night after I ran my first race of the year at Macon; we ended up winning the Feature and six o’clock the next morning, he passed away,” White said. “That was what my whole year was about. The car was built for my dad to hopefully get one more year to watch racing, and then we found out he had cancer at the beginning of this year.
“I ran his number. It was a pretty emotional season for us.”
White, a regular at Charleston Speedway, clinched his first DIRTcar Sport Compact national points championship on the back of 20 Feature wins in 39 recorded starts, defeating runner-up Matt Mackey by five points in the final night of racing at Charleston’s year-end special — DIRTcar Street Stock Fall Nationals.
“Matt’s a hell of a driver, and he can wheel a car,” White said. “He’s a pretty good dude; I’ve talked with him most of the year. We raced together at Kankakee, Charleston, even ended up at Spoon River one night we raced there. We had lots of good conversations.”
Three years of racing in the DIRTcar Mod Lite division, three national championships for Jimmy Smith.
Smith, 39, of Toboso, OH, has now won the national championship in each of the last three years DIRTcar has sanctioned Mod Lites. In doing so, he has dominated the Ohio Mod Lite scene, posting 15 Feature wins in 24 starts (including a win at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, FL, in February) and capturing the United CC Modified Series for touring Mod Lites for the third-straight year.
“It never gets old winning,” Smith said. “We enjoy it with a bunch of my buddies, friends and family and my kids. I ran a little bit of Modified stuff too this year. We’re getting back into that, hopefully next year.”
Smith annually shares much of the credit to his success with his crew members and fabricators. After changing chassis brands during the 2023 season, he’s been the one driver to beat all season long.
“We spent a lot of time in the garage,” Smith said. “NXS Motorsports — I’m pretty much on the phone with them all the time; that’s who builds my chassis for me. We spend a lot of time just trying to make their cars better and make me better. The garage is where it all starts at.”
