What a long strange trip this year has been my friends. Finally it’s almost great-fully over. Before long we can plan out our new adventures in 2021 and hopefully without all the hysterical drama that played out before our eyes this past season.
Many accolades and wholehearted appreciation go out to everyone in the Dirt Late Model sport to make it a roaring success even though many politicians tried their best to hold us back. I think we found our inner strength to persevere and have the best racing season we could all have.
Without further ado I might as well just jump right into my highlight of the Top 10.
The Best of the Best this year and all season long is #1 Rocket and Brandon Sheppard. From the sands of Arizona to the shores of Carolina and all points between he proved once again that he is the best and with the best team in Dirt Late Model Racing. Congratulations!
Our second place finisher is no slouch either. Jimmy Owens carried the Orange Spoiler in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and proved once again that Nightmares are real and hard to get rid of.
The best Victory Lane in America goes to Tim McCreadie, our thirds place finisher. T-Mac had a great year and brought a level of consistency to his roof pounding excitement.
If I can toot my own horn for a minute. The one of many things I like about the formula that’s used in the SLMP ranking is the opportunity to showcase regional drivers that have a very good year. Weekly and Regional Series racing is the heart and soul of the sport and the next three drivers show staying close to home can be very successful.
Coming in at #4 is Max Blair the Best in Pennsylvania. Year after Max gets it done. Next is #5 Travis Stemler the Michigan Hot Rod who makes a splash in the ranking with his highest finish ever. Next at #6 is Zack Dohm who is force to recon with wherever he races. Folks, these three drivers did a fantastic job!
The next three drivers are current stars and their futures will continue to be bright. Brandon Overton is one of the winningest drivers in the sport and finished in 7th. Ricky Weiss calls the lower 48 home during racing season and is one of the most consistent drivers you can find. He lands in 8th. Josh Richards has been on the biggest stage and is one of our biggest stars. He worked his way into the Top 10 and drove consistently to stay there and finished in 9th.
Last but not least is Dale McDowell. I love it when the older guys still teach the young guns a thing or two. Dale had another great year to go along with his Hall of Fame Career.
Folks, that’s enough for the trip this year. You can scroll through the rest and find your name or favorite driver. Agree or disagree but I can tell you there is no fuzzy math, just a complex Excel Spreadsheet that’s prone to human error. Just kidding. I actually take this real seriously. One little tidbit that I find interesting is the Top 10 drivers accounted for 116 Feature wins. According to the Great Coach Vince Lombardi, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” It pays the bills anyway.
The final event qualifier number for the year remained at 15 features. Since we lost most of March, all of April and didn’t get back going till May, I think 15 is a fair number for qualification. 150 drivers have met this threshold. All results are tracked via DirtonDirt. Without them and their attention to detail because they’re the best, I couldn’t do this and have this much fun.
With 1308 drivers tracked since January 1st, here is the Super Late Model Performance Ranking “Top 100” for November and final edition. It’s a strong list of the “Best of the Best” from around the country.
1 Brandon Sheppard
2 Jimmy Owens
3 Tim McCreadie
4 Max Blair
5 Travis Stemler
6 Zack Dohm
7 Brandon Overton
8 Ricky Weiss
9 Josh Richards
10 Dale McDowell
11 Ross Bailes
12 Jonathan Davenport
13 Ricky Thornton Jr.
14 Brian Shirley
15 Chris Madden
16 Bobby Pierce
17 Jason Feger
18 Tyler Erb
19 Michael Norris
20 Jared Miley
21 Shannon Babb
22 Gregg Satterlee
23 Shane Clanton
24 Ryan Unzicker
25 Jesse Stovall
26 Billy Moyer
27 Spencer Hughes
28 Frank Heckenast Jr.
29 Cade Dillard
30 Mike Marlar
31 Dennis Erb Jr.
32 Freddie Carpenter
33 Jimmy Mars
34 Devin Moran
35 Tyler Carpenter
36 Sam Seawright
37 Kyle Bronson
38 Kyle Strickler
39 Timothy Culp
40 Mason Zeigler
41 Tanner English
42 Payton Looney
43 Rick Eckert
44 Chris Ferguson
45 Ryan Gustin
46 B.J. Robinson
47 Kent Robinson
48 Chase Junghans
49 Donald McIntosh
50 Colten Burdette
51 Kyle Beard
52 Josh Rice
53 Cory Hedgecock
54 Darrell Lanigan
55 Steve Casebolt
56 Rusty Schlenk
57 Logan Martin
58 Chad Thrash
59 Chad Simpson
60 Michael Arnold
61 Michael Page
62 Tony Jackson Jr.
63 Gordy Gundaker
64 Jeremiah Hurst
65 Billy Moyer Jr.
66 Morgan Bagley
67 Ryan King
68 Mason Oberkramer
69 Ashton Winger
70 Devin Gilpin
71 Chad Finley
72 Earl Pearson Jr.
73 Tim Manville
74 Dan Stone
75 Johnny Scott
76 Josh Putnam
77 Cody Bauer
78 Chris Simpson
79 Hudson O’Neal
80 Wyatt Scott
81 David Scott
82 Jon Mitchell
83 Dustin Linville
84 Garrett Alberson
85 Shanon Buckingham
86 Ross Robinson
87 Neil Baggett
88 Terry Phillips
89 Scott Bloomquist
90 Mark Whitener
91 Dylan Yoder
92 Zack Mitchell
93 Steven Roberts
94 Scott James
95 Matt Cosner
96 Logan Roberson
97 Jason Covert
98 Rick Rickman
99 Michael Brown
100 Kyle Hardy
What is the Super Late Model Performance Ranking? The SLM Performance Ranking has its origins from the A-Team Ranking developed by Sam Holbrooks in 1996 and printed in “Behind the Wheel” and Late Model America.” The SLM Performance Ranking is a national ranking for Open Motor events that pay a minimum $2000 to win. Each driver who makes a feature event will earn a mathematical formula based rate built on performance, competition and durability. The final ranking is based on rate and logic rules that reward racing more. Nothing in the rate, rank or logic is subjective. It’s just all numbers, math and rules. The SLM Performance Ranking isn’t about who is best but who is having the best year. If you think that makes the driver “The Best” that’s ok with me.
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Mike Ruefer
Photographer & Writer