A Typical Weekend By Pat and Bruce Eckel

Grant Marches From Eighth To Win $10,000 Final At Ocala

Saturday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day dawned with bright and sunny skies with temperatures rising into the high 70’s. The final night of the six race Winter Dirt Games XVII was scheduled for Ocala Speedway with $10,000 awaiting the victor on this evening and another $12,000 awaiting the overall point champion of the series. But first the motorhome gang had planned a big picnic set up between the motorhomes of Steve and Maggi Kimmel and Irvin and Mary Jane King. Everyone invited brought some kind of sides or desserts with Irvin providing the beef for the hamburgers. Everyone attending had a great time and plenty of good times and good fellowship were had by all.

The main reason we were all gathered here tonight was the $10,000 to win, 40 lap finale of the six race Winter Dirt Games XVII. A different format was in effect for tonight’s racing with the top five in accumulated points over the past three days locked into the 40 lap feature. Those sprinters and drivers were Kyle Cummins, Chase Stockon, Logan Seavey, Brady Bacon and Mitchel Moles. They would run a six lap dash joined by the three qualifier winners to determine the top eight starters in the main event.

The first of three qualifiers took to the track at 7:25 with 16 cars running with everyone advancing to the feature event. CJ Leary, who crashed heavily the night before was scheduled to run the Hunter Maddox #24 on the evening but mechanical woes kept the sprinter from being able to compete on the evening. Briggs Danner surged to the front in qualifier one easily winning over Trey Osborne, Harley Burns, Gunnar Setser, Ryan Harrison and Logan Calderwood. Qualifier two fell to Justin Grant winning over Kevin Thomas Jr, Robert Ballou, Tom Harris, Ricky Lewis and Chase Howard. Qualifier three was taken by Jake Swanson beating Chelby Hinton, Jadon Rogers and Cale Coons with only four cars racing in this one.

The mod lites would run their three qualifiers for their 26 car field before the USAC sprints would return to compete in their six lap dash race setting the first four rows for the 40 lap feature. Brady Bacon would triumph in this race besting Mitchel Moles, Kyle Cummins, Chase Stockon, Briggs Danner, Logan Seavey, Jake Swanson and Justin Grant in the rundown.

The mod lites who had run their features last all week long got a chance to showcase their cars and talents in front of the largest crowd of the week running their 25 lap feature first before the sprint car main. These smaller cars with 1000cc stock motorcycle engines are fast and nimble. They were running a competitive event until disaster struck about halfway through the race when third running Ryan Mckinney of Delaware turned sideways on the homestretch with the resulting crash looking like the “Big One” at Talladega. About ten cars were involved in the melee with Mckinney receiving the brunt of the hard hits. He was carried sitting up by two EMT’s to the ambulance and transported to the hospital. Racing resumed after everything was cleaned up and Corey Babbit of New Caney, Texas would go on to win their championship race Ronnie Choate from Tennessee advancing from ninth to second at the finish and Brandon Dennis from Delaware rounding out the top three after starting fifteenth. With the exception of the scary crash, it was a good race.

That led us up to the 40 lap USAC National sprint car feature with the 21 car field brought to the green flag at 9 PM by Brady Bacon and Mitchel Moles. Brady Bacon jumped to the early lead chased by Kyle Cummins and Mitchel Moles. A lot of slicing and dicing was happening between the lead trio and the chief surgeon of the advancers was Justin Grant slicing his way forward from his eighth starting position. Bacon looked like the man to beat as he paced the field lap after lap. Cummins made a bid for the lead, exiting turn four on lap fourteen using a slider to get past Bacon for the lead but slid all the way up to the cushion allowing Bacon to drive back under. Grant meanwhile had worked his way up to fifth at the halfway mark past Jake Swanson and into fourth on lap eighteen surging by Logan Seavey for fourth. The top four ran in that order until lap twenty three when Grant slid Moles for third in turn three but Moles quickly countered and retained third at that point. In fact, he pulled away from Grant and began to pressure Cummins for second. Lap thirty two saw the caution wave when Briggs Danner made right rear contact with the wall in turn three while running ninth and came to a halt just as Cummins made a rare mistake slipping off the flat edge of turn four losing two spots to Moles and Grant. The caution saved Cummins as the passes were negated by the stoppage.

With nine to go it was Bacon, Cummins, Moles, Grant and Seavey. On the restart Grant discovered a new lane around the D-shaped oval going hard into turn one, using the diamond maneuver off turn two and getting a massive run down the dogleg. It immediately paid dividends as he streaked by Moles to take third and went after Cummins next. On lap later the same maneuver found him moving by Cummins for second in turn three and only Bacon stood between him and the lead. Bacon was not going to be as easy as the other two because he was still six car lengths ahead of Grant. He went to work and tracked down Bacon and on lap thirty seven blasted by Bacon down the backstretch into the race lead. Only the remaining three laps Grant pulled away to an impressive 1.5 second lead when the checkers waved at 9:22 to complete his surgical precision like slicing to the front. It was Grant’s first win of 2026 and it could not have come at a better time with $10,000 big ones at the end of the rainbow. Grant garnered his ninth career win at Ocala, most of any driver, and also increased his USAC National sprint car win total to 66, also the most of any driver. Bacon would have to settle for a disappointing second after leading the first 36 laps with Cummins third, Moles fourth and Seavey rounding out the top five. Seavey would capture the Winter Dirt Games XVII point title and go home with an extra $12,000 in his pocket. Jake Swanson would lead the second five across the line in sixth with Robert Ballou moving from 13th to seventh with Chase Stockon eighth, Kevin Thomas Jr ninth and Jadon Rogers with his second straight tenth after starting 14th. Grant also won the hard charger award after starting eighth in the field. It was a good race with an impressive surgical like run to the front by Justin Grant.

That’s all for us from Florida as we make our way back to Indiana Sunday as the temperatures there are suppose to rise into the fifties and sixties in the next two weeks. Comments, positive or negative along with anything else of interest can reach us at eckel9K77@gmail.com. Get ready for a good year of racing in 2026 and be safe out there. As always thanks for reading our efforts and we hope that you continue to do so and enjoy them. In closing, remember to be good and be kind to everyone you meet as you don’t know what that stranger might be struggling with in his or her life and maybe you can put something positive into their day