Texas driver takes long road to victory lane at Adams County Speedway

QUINCY — There’s no denying Tyler Erb is one of the premier late model dirt-track drivers in the nation.

As far as travel plans go, however, the 27-year-old native of New Waverly, Texas, still needs some work to get to the front of the pack.

Erb led flag-to-flag Sunday night to win the Lucas Oil MLRA Super Late Model season opener at Adams County Speedway, and he probably deserved a second checkered flag simply for making it to the track.

Erb had raced in Wisconsin on Saturday night, after which he and his crew headed for Adams County Speedway. 

The Erb team, however, traveled to Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa.

Yes, there are two Adams County Speedways in the same geographical region as Erb and crew discovered. Once they realized the error of their way, it was back in the hauler and heading east.

What should have been about a 6 ½-hour, 410-mile trip from the Wisconsin track to Quincy wound up being about a 12-hour, 750-mile sojourn.

“We drove all night to get here,” the good-natured Erb explained.

Erb certainly made the extended junket worthwhile, withstanding a series of challenges from Earl Pearson Jr., especially once the two were bumper-to-bumper in and out of lapped traffic for much of the second half of the race.

“I thought the lapped traffic would help me, but I couldn’t get (past Erb) … but it was a heckuva race,” said Pearson, who calls Jacksonville, Fla., home. “Small tracks like this usually produce great races.”

The victory was Erb’s first in the MLRA series and earned him $5,000 of the $24,300 purse. Pearson pocketed $2,500.

“A win like this is exciting, and I’m proud of this win,” Erb said.

Finishing third was Gordy Gundaker of St. Charles, Mo., who has raced in Quincy several times in recent years and played baseball for four years at Quincy University.

Gundaker likes to describe himself as a “bullring racer,” one of the reasons he has always enjoyed running at the .295-mile Broadway Bullring.

“The lapped traffic was pretty wild tonight,” said Gundaker, who earned $1,250. “This was a great track, especially after all the rain they’ve had here lately. All in all, it was a great night.”

Rounding out the top five finishers in the 24-car feature field were Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M., in fourth and four-time MLRA series champ Chris Simpson of Oxford, Iowa, who ran fifth.

The 30 late models on hand were the most at the track since 37 for the July 22, 2022 Hell Tour date.

The top local finisher was Justin Reed of Camp Point in 22nd. Matt Bailey, formerly of Quincy and now living in Highland, Ill., finished 14th.

Winners in the support series were Jacob Rexing in street stocks, Hunter Gossum in modifieds and Jeffrey DeLonjay in 4-Cylinders.

A crowd of about 1,800 saw 84 cars fill the pits without two of the regular series — the crate late models and sport mods — competing this week. A third series that did not race was the Crown Vics, which will debut later this month.

Drivers on hand Sunday were from 11 different states and Australia.

Rexing, who figures to be a title challenger in both the street stocks and modifieds, led the final 12 laps to win the third street stock feature of his career at Quincy. Ricky Frankel II, Chuck Mitchell and Rudy Zaragoza rounded out the top four in the 15-lap finale.

“This was a great way to start the season,” Rexing said. “This car we had, it was one bad piece. We’re in the shop every night busting our asses. This takes a lot of people.”

The street stocks attracted 18 cars, tying the most entries in that series since racing resumed at 8000 Broadway in 2022.

Finishing behind Gossum in the mod main event were Trevor Neville, Dave Wietholder and Chris Spalding. Gossum led the final 15 laps of the 20-lap feature. The mods had the second-highest car count (22) of the night.

Jeffrey DeLonjay withstood a late challenge from his brother, Jaden DeLonjay, to claim his 22nd 4-Cylinder feature since 2022. Jeffrey DeLonjay won 14 features a year ago, including nine in a row at one point.

Derrick DeFord and Travis DeMint rounded out the top four in the 4-Cylinders, which attracted 14 cars for the season opener.

Two classes — late models and modifieds — had qualifying Sunday night. The fastest cars were Erb (12.647 seconds, 83.97 mph) in the late models and Rick Conoyer (14.105 seconds, 75.05 mph) in the mods.