Racing notebook: Wolfmeyer enjoying breakout season in sport mod series

QUINCY — We’re a little past the midway point of the dirt-track racing season at Adams County Speedway, and it’s safe to say there is one name that stands out when it comes to breakout drivers of 2022.

Reed Wolfmeyer has emerged as a legitimate threat in an already-loaded sport mod series. At times, Wolfmeyer, who is No. 6 in this week’s sport mod portion of the Muddy River Sports Dirty Thirty rankings, may get lost in the shadow of heralded frontrunners Adam Birck, Tanner Klingele, Logan Cumby and Shane Paris. But no driver in that division has made more progress this season than Wolfmeyer.

In 2019, the Liberty resident was more or less a field filler while learning on the job. Fast forward two years and he is among the series leaders in all key categories.

Outside of the sport mods’ aforementioned fab four, no driver has more top-five or top-10 feature finishes than Wolfmeyer. All that’s missing on his 2022 resume is a main-event checkered flag, and he’ll likely fill in that blank by the end of the season.

Here are four other drivers, listed alphabetically, who have elevated their games this season:

• Jaden DeLonjay, 4-Cylinders: We’ll probably see an all-out breakout season from this half of the DeLonjays next year. There have been moments of greatness this season, but also some growing pains. DeLonjay, however, is on the fast track to dirt-track success. No driver in any series at Adams County Speedway attacks a corner like young Mr. DeLonjay.

• Jeffrey DeLonjay, 4-Cylinders: Now that those mechanical issues have (apparently) been overcome, he has returned to the top tier in this division. DeLonjay opened the season with three straight feature wins, then ran into some problems. His No. 32 car appears to be close to being back to the dominating version we saw in April.

• A.J. Tournear, sport mods: Tournear has consistently run in the upper half of this large and talented series. He should be a legitimate title threat in 2023. Consistency was a problem for him a few years ago, but no longer. It’s no accident No. 14 is now one of the steadiest drivers in a strong division. He paid his dues, and is beginning to reap the rewards.

• Darin Weisinger Jr., crate late models: One of the signatures of a great driver is how many crashes he is NOT involved in. When was the last time you remember the up-and-coming Mr. Weisinger being caught up in some sort of on-track fiasco? The correct answer is rarely, if ever. Weisinger will likely be the next great late model driver emerging from West-Central Illinois.

Zaragoza goes for fifth in a row

Some other notable news involving streaks, or lack thereof:

• Rudy Zaragoza’s domination in the street stock series has been one of the season’s top stories as he marches toward what could be his first track title in Quincy.

Zaragoza has won the last four street stock features, the majority in convincing fashion. 

• Derrick DeFord has won three straight 4-Cylinder features, joining Jeffrey DeLonjay who won three in a row at the outset of the season. The last driver in this series to win four in a row was Barry Taft at the start of the 2019 season when the division was known as sport compacts.

• The sport mods have yet to have a back-to-back feature winner in 11 weeks of action.

• Denny Woodworth won the first three crate late features of the season. Since then, however, no driver has been able to go back-to-back in the big body series.

• Austen Becerra has won a modest two in a row in the modified division, but has also won four of the past five overall.

Abbott now career leader

Kim Abbott is now the career victory leader in the 4-Cylinder division. Counting both feature and heat wins, Abbott has posted 58 wins since the series’ 2011 inception when it was known as the sport compact division. Becerra (57) is second and Brandon Lambert (40) third.

Looking at just features, Becerra (32), Abbott (24) and Barry Taft (17) are the leaders.

Abbott (34) has the most career heat victories ahead of Becerra (25) and Lambert (25).

Ka-ching!

Four drivers have already surpassed the former single-season money-earned record in the 4-Cylinder series.

Derrick DeFord ($2,455), Michael Grossman ($2,280), Jimmy Dutlinger ($2,060) and Jeffrey DeLonjay ($1,865) have pocketed more money than previous record holder Austen Becerra ($1,805) earned in 2014.

Here’s how the other assaults on the money-earned records stand:

• Adam Birck ($3,915) and Logan Cumby ($3,820) are chasing Tony Dunker’s 2012 record of $5,560.

• Austen Becerra ($5,690), Dave Wietholder ($4,780) and Kenny Wallace ($3,875) are eyeing Steven DeLonjay’s $8,285 record in 2013. DeLonjay also earned $8,045 in 2012.

• Rudy Zaragoza ($3,800) is closing in on Jeff Mueller’s longstanding mark of $4,790 in 2008.

• Denny Woodworth ($4,900) is just shy of his crate late model record of $5,200 in 2018. The overall late model mark belongs to Mark Burgtorf ($17,510) in 2006. Seven different times a late model driver has earned $10,000 or more, the last coming in 2015 when Burgtorf reached $10,650.

Illinois leads Iowa, Missouri

The weekly regulars at Adams County Speedway are funneled from West-Central Illinois, Northeast Missouri and Southeast Iowa.

Of the 52 weekly series feature winners to date, Illinois has produced 36, Iowa 9 and Missouri 7.

Stevie Dirt DIRTY THIRTY Rankings

Sport Mods

1. Adam Birck: No more tinkering with the car, Adam.

2. Tanner Klingele: Tanner and Shane Paris lead the series with three feature victories.

3. Logan Cumby: Talk about running up front — Logan’s combined 82 feature and heat laps led are easily the most in this class.

4. Shane Paris: Shane’s 30 feature laps led rank behind only Cumby (45) and Klingele (34).

5. Dakota Girard: He’s been the most successful heat racer (in terms of points earned), but that first feature victory continues to elude the dude from Moberly, Mo.

6. Reed Wolfmeyer: Barring that early exit last Sunday, outside of Becerra there may not have been a hotter overall sport driver than this guy over the previous month.

Modifieds

1. Austen Becerra: That collection of checkered flags from the feature has grown to four in the last five weeks.

2. Dave Wietholder: I have a sneaking suspicion that points race with Austen will be going down to the final weekend of the season.

3. Kenny Wallace: Personally, I think Kenny should just move to Adams County. He’s kind of become one of the family.

4. Frankie Wellman: Outside of the Becerra-Wietholder-Wallace triumvirate, Frankie has the second-most top-five feature finishes.

5. Kevin Blackburn: If you’re looking for a dark-horse feature winner, you might keep an eye on this driver.

6. Shawn Deering: Was a rough Sunday night for No. 16.

4-Cylinders

1. Derrick DeFord: Derrick is not only winning features, he is dominating them.

2. Jimmy Dutlinger: Surprisingly, Jimmy has just one feature victory back on June 19.

3. Kim Abbott: Kim is the only member of the top five to not secure a feature win — yet.

4. Jeffrey DeLonjay: Looks like the No. 32 car is back among the contenders.  

5. Michael Grossman: The Keokuk driver has the most combined feature (4) and heat wins (6) of any hotshoe in the series — or any other series for that matter — with 10. And he’s missed the last three weeks.

6. Landon Neisen: Welcome to the rankings.

Street Stocks

1. Rudy Zaragoza: Rampaging Rudy’s four-feature win streak is currently tops at the track.

2. Beau Taylor: The only hotter street stock driver is ranked No. 1.

3. Jake Powers: Only Zaragoza (9) has more top-five feature finishes than Jake (7). 

4. Steve Grotz: Steve leads the series in heat wins (5).

5. Sage Martin: Sage is also No. 5 in track points.

6. Brandon Boden: Welcome to the rankings.

Late Models

1. Denny Woodworth: Denny is far and away the crate late model leader for most combined feature and heat wins with nine.

2. Tommy Elston: Hope to see No. 54 back in the lineup Sunday night.

3. Sam Halstead: Superman’s combined feature and heat laps led (41) are second only to Woodworth’s 118.

4. Mark Burgtorf: That last-lap pass to win the feature may have provided the best finish of the season at 8000 Broadway. 

5. Darin Weisinger Jr.: We hear there is a new hot rod in his future … possibly later this season or by the first green flag of 2023.

6. Cody Maguire: First week in the rankings.