The Mid-South’s premier Super Late Model tour is going racing under the DIRTcar Racing banner in 2023.
The COMP Cams Super Dirt Series embarks on its 17th consecutive season in March, and for the first time in its history, will operate as part of the DIRTcar family.
All 30 Series events on the 2023 schedule will earn any participating driver points in DIRTcar Late Model national and regional point standings and will require drivers to conform to DIRTcar Late Model technical rules.
The Series, which began operation in 2007, holds races primarily around its home state of Arkansas and has since expanded to include events in Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Texas. Brian Rickman, of Columbus, MS, captured the $10,000 Series championship in 2022, becoming the first driver from the State of Mississippi to win the regional Super Late Model points title.
Several DIRTcar Racing legends have made appearances in COMP Cams Victory Lane, including four-time UMP Modified national champion Jimmy Owens, 2002 DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Scott Bloomquist and National Dirt Late Model Hall-of-Famer Billy Moyer. More recently, a new generation of rising stars have carried the circuit to new heights – two-time Series champion Logan Martin, 2022 runner-up Kyle Beard, and two-time Feature winner BJ Robinson, among others.
The growth of the Series and reaching new drivers across the nation was a core value at the forefront of the decision to join DIRTcar this year. Drivers from locations more northward will now have easier access to participating in COMP Cams Series events, knowing they don’t have to make wholesale changes to their cars to conform to different rule packages.
Series Director Chris Sullivan had taken note of Hoosier Racing Tire’s new universal Late Model tire compounds for 2023 and recalled his past conversations with DIRTcar Director Sam Driggers about the opportunity for the pairing, and the two reached an agreement.
“Sam and I had talked for a couple years about the possibility of, one day, this happening,” Sullivan said. “With the tire rules changing and the opening happening, it just sorta all worked out together.
“It was about, one – tire availability. Plus, when we go to a show, [drivers] would have to buy different tires just to be able to race with us one time, not counting our regulars. Now that we’re on this national tire rule, it made it easier for us to be able to make that switch.”
Though this will not be DIRTcar’s first Texarkana-area series sanctioning, it could potentially be the most impactful in the modern era. Sullivan’s professional relationship with Driggers formed over the years when brother Jack Sullivan competed with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.
“It’s a matter of respect, teaming up with DIRTcar to present a professional setting for [the Series and drivers],” Sullivan said. “I think we’ll be able to work well with them. They are one of the top [sanctioning bodies] in the country, so to be able to work hand-in-hand with them, Steve Francis with the World of Outlaws, and of course Sam – we’ve known Sam for a long time – I just think it allows us to be able to present something great for our racers.”
Driggers echoed Sullivan’s sentiments and is looking forward to working with the Series, as DIRTcar prepares to celebrate a milestone weekly racing season and its 40th anniversary in 2023.
“We’re excited to bring the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series and the new faces of the Mid-South region into the DIRTcar family,” Driggers said. “Forty years into DIRTcar’s history books, and the growth of our Late Model driver base and broadening of our reach throughout the country is just as important today as it was years ago. Regulars of the COMP Cams Series will now have even greater access to competing in more DIRTcar-sanctioned events without having to worry about changing their cars to conform to technical specifications.”
The COMP Cams Super Dirt Series begins its 2023 campaign with a two-day trip to Boothill Speedway in Greenwood, LA, on March 10-11. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit the Series at COMPDirt.com.
