CONCORD, N.C. — The first four-night race week of 2025 is on the horizon for the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.
This year’s edition of the Ohio-Pennsylvania Swing gets rolling on Thursday night with the second visit by The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet to Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio, for the $12,000-to-win Great Lake Showdown.
From there, the series will spend two nights at Marion Center Raceway for the first time to contest the Connor Bobik Memorial, which pays $12,000 to Friday’s winner prior to Saturday’s record-breaking $30,000-to-win feature.
The trip wraps up on Sunday night with Bedford Speedway’s Billy Winn Classic, which has moved up from July to May on this year’s schedule and pays out $20,000 to the winner.
GOOSE EGG GONE
Prior to the Dairyland Showdown finale at Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Nick Hoffman had gone 308 days and 33 races since his last World of Outlaws victory at Norman County Raceway last June.
Hoffman knew he had to re-establish himself as a regular winner on tour if he wanted to stay in the championship conversation, and he checked that box with a dominant night in southwest Wisconsin.
This week’s itinerary could lead to a continuation of Hoffman’s hot streak, and he’ll need to keep it rolling if he wants to chip away at Bobby Pierce’s 76-point lead in the standings. “The Thrill From Mooresville” is one of two drivers with a World of Outlaws top 10 to their credit at Raceway 7, Marion Center and Bedford.
The only issue for Hoffman? The other driver in that category is Pierce.
T-MAC’S BACK
For the first time since returning to full-time Outlaw status, Tim McCreadie enters this week’s events on the heels of back-to-back top fives.
A chassis swap to Longhorn in April and a strengthening relationship with team owner and crew chief Boom Briggs has the No. 9 Bob McCreadie throwback closer than ever to returning to Victory Lane, and the stat sheet says it could come as soon as Thursday night. McCreadie has one win and no finishes worse than fourth in three late model starts at Raceway 7. It’s also one of the closest tracks to Briggs’ Bear Lake, Pa., home, giving him decades of experience he plans on using not only to tune McCreadie to a win, but to hit the track himself for the first time since Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals in February.
After making his Marion Center debut, McCreadie will head back to the flat, five-eighths-mile Bedford Speedway, a place that closely resembles the northeast tracks he grew up turning laps around in a Big Block Modified. McCreadie hasn’t raced with the World of Outlaws at Bedford since 2008, but he did finish fourth in the 2020 edition of the Keystone Cup against a field that included the likes of Darrell Lanigan, Rick Eckert, Gregg Satterlee and more.
TROPHY HUNTING
Last weekend may have been an off week from the World of Outlaws tour, but Max Blair didn’t see that as a reason to stop chasing checkered flags.
The Centerville, Pa., native hoisted five trophies over the course of three nights racing close to home between super and limited late model competition. After starting the weekend in victory lane at Tri-City Raceway Park, Blair doubled up at Stateline Speedway on Saturday and Eriez Speedway on Sunday to reach the 400-win milestone in his career.
Four more nights in his backyard await Blair this weekend, this time with the stars of the World of Outlaws set to invade. All three of this week’s tracks have been kind to Blair in the past – he’s a former track champion at Raceway 7 and has won several times at the regional level at both Marion Center and Bedford.
IN HIS GROOVE
Eighth in points isn’t where Brian Shirley expected to be four months into his third season as an Outlaw, but the tide seems to be turning back in his favor.
“Squirrel” was in contention for the win on Friday night at Mississippi Thunder Speedway when an expired engine ended his night 11 laps into the feature. Shirley’s luck improved on Saturday though, as he drew the Bilstein Pole Award, ran up front and came home fourth.
The challenge now becomes maintaining that level of performance across the country, something Shirley has yet to do so far in 2025. All of his World of Outlaws top fives have come in Illinois or Wisconsin, while he hasn’t finished better than 10th outside of the Midwest.
ROOKIE RACE
The season has featured one of the most competitive crops of MD3 Rookie of the Year contenders in series history, with Hyndman, Pa.’s Drake Troutman leading the way by 66 points headed into a four-night stretch in his homeland.
The Team22 Motorsports pilot has come close to joining Ethan Dotson as the second rookie to win this year – Troutman has finished on the podium three times and has led 76 laps in feature competition, which is more than anyone not named Pierce.
Troutman’s 11th-place run at Raceway 7 in 2024 was his career-best with the World of Outlaws at the time, and he’s also been fast throughout his career at Marion Center. But Bedford is the one circled on his calendar above all else. Located half an hour from his home, Troutman has vivid memories of watching his heroes from the stands as a child, and has waited all year for his chance to take in another World of Outlaws race at Bedford from the other side of the catchfence.
Dotson comes into the weekend ready to get back into his early-season form after some rough sailing over the past month. In the four races since his Farmer City Raceway victory, the ASD Motorsports driver has finished inside the top 20 only once.
Trailing Troutman and Dotson in the rookie standings are Jake Timm and Austin Smith, both of whom are new to all three tracks on this week’s agenda.
