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Popejoy Plumbing, Heating, Electric and Geothermal Presents the Illinois Dirt Shootout Powered by Hotrod Septic Treatment Entries #46 - #60

Popejoy Plumbing, Heating, Electric and Geothermal Presents the Illinois Dirt Shootout Powered by Hotrod Septic Treatment Entries #46 - #60

Over the course of the next couple of months, the MARS Modified Championship Powered by Summit Racing Equipment will be spotlighting each of the drivers entered into the upcoming Illinois Dirt Shootout being held at Fairbury American Legion Speedway on May 23 - 25.

Randy Dickman
Event Car #: 21
Hometown: Troy, MO
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

St. Louis area driver that typically competes at the Federated Auto Parts Raceway @ I-55 but raced a limited schedule last season. The trip to FALS will be a first time visit for the Troy, Missouri native. He opened his 2024 last season at I-55 where he was credited with a 19th place finish.

Justin McCoy
Event Car #: 21JR
Hometown: Tonica, IL
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

Former Modified racer in the Northern Illinois area that has not competed for around a decade. Could the Illinois Dirt Shootout be the return of the 21JR?

Will Bennett
Event Car #: 22
Hometown: Frankfort, IN
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

Weekly competitor at Circle City Raceway (where he finished 2nd in points in 2023) and Lincoln Park Speedway that has shown flashes of speed when visiting the Land of Lincoln. His last visit to FALS was for the $10,000-to-win American Modified Series event in 2022 where he finished 15th in the 56-car field. Bennett picked up 1 victory last season at Circle City.

Brian Skaggs
Event Car #: 20
Hometown: Pedro, OH
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

2021 Portsmouth Raceway Park track champion that is always a strong contender anywhere he unloads. Last season he made his first visit to Fairbury for the Prairie Dirt Classic where he finished 12th on the preliminary night. Skaggs captured 2 feature wins last season at Portsmouth.

Ryan Hamilton
Event Car #: 58R
Hometown: Fairview Heights, IL
Best MARS finish: 9th at Brownstown Bullring

Hamilton hit the road frequently in 2023 as he hit 39 different events and captured 29 top-10’s along the way. He picked up his lone feature win in Midwest Big 10 action at Jacksonville last season. This will mark Hamilton’s first visit to FALS in DIRTcar Modified competition.

Collin Alexander
Event Car #: 150
Hometown: Decatur, IL
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

A driver that has been racing DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on a very limited schedule the past few seasons that hopes to get a few more starts under his belt in 2024. Last season he raced weekly events at Charleston and Farmer City, with his best finish being a 6th at Farmer City in July.

Guy Sutton
Event Car #: 310
Hometown: Hobard, IN
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

The second year DIRTcar UMP Modified driver will look to enter the largest event of his career this Memorial Day weekend at FALS. Last season Sutton was able to get his feet wet in the division while hitting a handful of tracks and will be looking to use those notes to better his program in year 2. Sutton is a former DIRTcar Sport Compact ace that frequented Shadyhill Speedway most Saturday nights.

Dalton Bishop
Event Car #: 77B
Hometown: Gas City, IN
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

A driver still very fresh in the Modified world and will be looking to make his first career start at FALS in May. Bishop picked up top-10 finishes last season at Gas City I-69 Speedway and Montpelier Motor Speedway over the course of his 15-race schedule.

Dave Wietholder
Event Car #: 05
Hometown: Liberty, IL
Best MARS finish: 6th at Adams County Speedway

Wietholder had one of his busiest seasons ever in 2023 as he entered over 50 shows (including 5 MARS events). He notched a pair of victories at both Adams County Speedway and Jacksonville Speedway and finished 30th in DIRTcar national points. Surprisingly though, his most recent event at FALS was back in September 2022 where he failed to qualify for the main event during the American Modified Series sanctioned FALS Super Nationals. The #05 opened his 2024 campaign in Florida, where he hopes he left the gremlins that plagued him over speedweeks.

Carson Friedman
Event Car #: 3CF
Hometown: Fairbury, IL

Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event
The Friedman name is known by most in the Central Illinois, and 2024 will bring a new one to the mix… Carson. Carson has not turned a competitive stock car lap on dirt in his career but will jump into the mix in DIRTcar UMP Modified action primarily at Farmer City and Fairbury this season. With his dad Daren, former DIRTcar Late Model driver, and his brother Austin, current DIRTcar UMP Modified driver climbing the ranks in the Midwest, Carson is destined to have success once he gets past the learning curve.

John Clippinger
Event Car # 16C
Hometown: Evansville, IN
Best MARS finish: 7th at Red Hill Raceway

The 16C will be one to watch as he tends to come out of the box sneaky quick at times. Clippinger sat fast time at the MARS event at Red Hill last season and went on to finish 7th that night in the feature event. He picked up top-5 finishes last season at Volusia Speedway Park and Bloomington Speedway. The 2024 campaign kicked off in Florida for the team, and while starting off rocky at East Bay, they bounced back at Volusia with 3 top-10 finishes.

Devin Wright
Event Car #: 37
Hometown: Rensselear, IN
Best MARS finish: Has not qualified for a MARS feature

Primarily a Shadyhill Speedway regular, Wright will be looking to make a rare visit to FALS in 2024. Last season, Wright was able to find victory lane despite only making it to the racetrack 6 times throughout the year. He will easily surpass that number this season, as he made 4 starts in February at East Bay Raceway Park where he tallied a pair of top-10 finishes.

Alan Stipp
Event Car #: 88S
Hometown: Chatsworth, IL
Best MARS finish: 6th at Fairbury Speedway

A weekly competitor at FALS that has shown plenty of flashes of speed over the past few seasons at the speedway. In 2023 Alan captured top-5 finishes at Peoria, Charleston, Farmer City, and Fairbury, but his most impressive finish of the season was a 6th place at FALS on Memorial Day weekend with the MARS series.

AJ May
Event Car #: A9
Hometown: East Peoria, IL
Best MARS finish: Has not qualified for a MARS feature

AJ May is a driver that has found success across the Midwest in recent years, but primarily in DIRTcar Pro Late Model competition. In 2018 he was crowned the DIRTcar Pro Late Model national champion in a season where he captured 15 feature wins. Now competing mostly in the Modified, AJ found victory lane last August at Spoon River in the division.

Macy Vaughan
Event Car #: 36V
Hometown: Fairbury, IL
Best MARS finish: Has not qualified for a MARS feature

Macy, a weekly competitor exclusively at Fairbury Speedway, has worked on logging consistent laps and finding speed since joining the DIRTcar UMP Modified ranks in 2021. While it would be easy to get discouraged racing against the best in the division week-after-week, she has not backed down from the competition and in return, has gradually found speed as time has gone on. Vaughan will be looking for her first career top-10 in UMP Modified competition at FALS in 2024, after a successful winter of Megatraxs action.

For complete event information visit marsracingseries.com.

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