With one car, one engine and nothing but his own willpower pushing him out into the summer heat, Tanner English has conquered the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.
And the best part? He did it all on his own accord. His talents. His people. His operation.
The 33-year-old from Benton, KY, hoisted the first edition of the Hell Tour’s pitchfork trophy as champion of dirt Late Model racing’s most grueling challenge, becoming the first driver from the “Bluegrass State” to win the Series’ points championship. In 23 Feature starts, English tallied four wins, 19 top fives and 21 top-10 finishes enroute to the overall points title and three weekly championships.
The two-time Midwest Auto Racing Series (MARS) Late Model champion was never an unfamiliar face to the Summer Nationals since making his debut in 2008. English took on the entire schedule for his first time in 2021 driving the Riggs Motorsports No. 81E and went on to compete in the national Late Model ranks for two other teams in the years following.
English in Summer Nationals Victory Lane at Tri-City Speedway in 2021 (Josh James Artwork)
But after a sudden notice of his release from Coltman Farms Racing last December, English was left without a ride or a plan for 2026. So, he stepped up and rebuilt his own team in his own race shop, set his sights on the Hell Tour and walked away with one of the brightest accomplishments of his career.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to do it and put my name on that trophy,” he said. “That’s something we can always look back on and say we did. At the time, nobody was better than us. Maybe from race to race, they won the battle, some of them. But we won the war.”
After a successful sophomore season as part of the Coltman Farms Racing stable in 2025, which produced four Feature wins and the team’s first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory at Highland Speedway in August, English was preparing for a third campaign with the Georgia-based operation when he received word of his release following the annual Gateway Dirt Nationals event in December.
“It was all a surprise to me,” English said. “So, I had no plans whatsoever.”
There he stood, in his newly built race shop at his residence in Benton, IL, with no ride and no plan. With the start of the new season only a handful of weeks away, the typical year-end ride swaps and team changes were mostly complete, and English was left on the outside looking in.
“I kinda waited and tried not to make any moves or invest any money right off the bat because I thought the phone would ring,” English said. “But it didn’t.”
Photo by Tim Hunt
So, he picked up the phone himself and began putting pieces together. With only his personal connections and the limited resources he had in his shop, English began considering taking the path ahead solo.
“I got pretty discouraged there for a little bit. And then I thought, ‘If I’m going to do it, I might as well do it myself,’” English said. “I can’t fire myself. I mean, I guess I could… but you’ve got a lot more job security when you’re doing it yourself and can decide more things and be more hands-on on the decision making and do what you think needs to be done, and where money is best spent.
“I just figured if there’s a time to do it, I might as well do it now.”
While the national circuit competition raged on in Florida, English spent January and February working at home, preparing an older car to get back on track with.
“I did have this 2016 Rocket (Chassis) that was my dad’s, and we busted it out at Duck River (Raceway Park) in March and won our first race out,” English said. “That kinda kicked me into gear, and I went all-in right there. I started doing a lot more things, started getting more serious and trying to get the ball rolling on everything.
“I was no-doubt working hard up to that point, but I knew I had to win that to even have a shot at making this work.”
The $6,000 victory check had helped to revitalize his operation and set the tone for the rest of his spring schedule. His second-quarter slate included mostly regional and some national-circuit races, producing several top-five and top-10 finishes. Soon, English was loading up the trailer with a brand-new race car and a new plan, at least for a few weeks.
Photo by Tim Hunt
“We started with a new AK Racecar this year,” English said. “I think I had only raced 15 or 20 times before Summer Nationals started, so I really hadn’t gotten a lot of races in. I needed to consistently race just to figure out what these cars needed and what I needed to do to get better. I figured what better way to do it than race every night.”
He decided on a tentative plan for the first week of Summer Nationals, and saw success from the start, posting five consecutive podium finishes and claiming the Week 1 points championship.
“Even though we had a pretty good start to the year, I was still in the negatives, and I just thought, ‘What better way to do it? This is a good way to make some money in a short amount of time and also get better,’” English said. “After those first two races, my head was a little bit above water and I could breathe a little bit and just start racing, get serious and free up some decisions and stuff like that.”
On the heels of good results to start, English decided to stay on the trail. Eleven races in, he had amassed 10 top-five finishes, but no wins yet. A silent frustration built with every missed opportunity.
But finally, after leading all 30 laps at Farmington Empire Speedway on July 1, he broke through for his first Summer Nationals win of the season and seventh of his career.
“I knew it was coming; you can’t run second and third so many times and not win,” English said. “We just tried to just not change what we were doing and not make big swings, and we knew it would come eventually.”
English in Farmington Victory Lane (Tim Hunt Photo)
English went to Victory Lane three more times before the summer was out and remained a model of consistency, accruing 17 podium finishes and only two results outside the top 10, both of which were DNFs. Though the typical grind of the Hell Tour can wear down and deplete equipment, English remained resourceful and stuck to his strategy to make it to the end.
“It’s a low-cost deal, which is what a lot of people don’t realize — 30-lap races, so we’re going through… like, there were some times we’d run our right-rear tires three nights in a row,” English said. “That’s what a lot of people don’t understand. It’s not that big of a deal on that level. You can make it big — you can spend a lot of money if you want to, but you don’t have to.”
In the end, English was proud of his accomplishment — not only for his own operation, but for his family as well. Especially his father — the 2002 DIRTcar Late Model national points champion, Terry English.
“[Terry’s] proud, you can tell,” English said. “This has a lot to do with him, too. He put in a lot of work, a lot of time, and sacrificed a lot this summer just to go out there and do that with me. I can’t thank him enough. He and I were the only ones with perfect attendance. We had a lot of people come in and do a week here or there — my brother did two full weeks and my nephew did three. But my dad was there for the whole time.”
Though the sun has set on the Summer Nationals’ 40th anniversary tour, English’s 2026 campaign is far from complete. He’s got plans to go after the yearlong DIRTcar Late Model championship — a feat that would be the proverbial cherry atop the DIY sundae he devoured this year.
“[Terry’s] won the national (DIRTcar Late Model) championship, and I’d like to do that, too,” English said. “We’re gonna give it a shot anyways, at the end of the year here, just to say we tried and try to catch (Jason) Feger. But it’s going to be tough — he’s got a lot of good wins.
Photo by Tim Hunt
“I’d like to get on the list with dad, and my father-in-law also — Rodney Melvin. He’s won a few also, so I’d like to be on that list with them and have some kind of a dynasty deal there. That would be cool.”
The trophy shines bright, the wins are memorable, and the career rejuvenation he went through this summer was an experience he’ll never forget. But above all else, English’s Summer Nationals championship will be remembered for what it said about a self-run operation.
It’s his own. And he likes it that way.
“I felt like I’ve built three operations from the ground up, and it always ended with me having nothing,” English said. “I’d really like to stick this out and see what we can do. It may last another year, you never know — you can have a terrible year right after a good year.
“But this has been a statement that anything’s possible, and if you put your mind to it and work hard enough, you can do it.”
Tanner English Racing is supported by Graphic Creations, Seay Motors, Thoroughbred Auto Auction, Supreme Enterprises, Lance’s Garage Door, BeL-O Cooling and Heating, Dakin, Riggs Fiber, AK Racecars, SI Towing and Recovery, Minon Construction, Pro-Built Racing Engines, Bailey’s Trucking, Melvin’s Towing, Rural Route Repair, Chase Motorsports, M&M Painting and Construction, Custom Automotive, Defew’s Body Shop, Accelo Racewear, Bad Boy Mowers, Porter Outdoor Equipment, Central Paving Co., Wiles Driveshafts, Landrum Springs, Bilstein Shocks, Allstar Performance, AFCO Racing Products, Hoosier Racing Tire, STAKT, Base Fuel, Longacre Racing Products, Bulldog Quick Change, Performance Bodies, Rod End Supply, KSR Transmissions, QuickCar Racing Products, Wilwood, XS Power, Wehrs Machine, Razor Cut Graphics, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, James Verig, Juan Julio The Grave Digger
