By Jeff Pederson
Pedal Down Promotions
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) July 10, 2020 – For 17 consecutive seasons, racing was an all-consuming passion for Kyle Odekirk of Plymouth as he never missed a season and rarely missed a race in his division of choice during that lengthy timespan as a hard core weekend warrior race car driver.
After getting out of the weekly grind of racing following the 2016 season, Odekirk is now back in the driver’s seat after a few years away from the sport.
Thus far during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 racing season, Odekirk currently finds himself a strong third in the PDTR B Mod point standings just 14 points behind defending division champion Tim Warner of Fond du Lac after two nights of PDTR action.
Like most racers, Odekirk was introduced to the sport at a young age through family connections.
“My brother took me with his friends to the races in Plymouth when I was 9-10 years old back when you had to get there early to get a good seat before qualifying,” Odekirk said. “I started racing in 2000 with a Chilton Challenger at Chilton Speedway the first year that was a division. We bought a 1978 Oldsmobile with a 403 off the police auction. I remember it had a factory posi rearend, rear disc brakes and weighed a ton.
“During my racing career, I’ve run Chilton Challenger, Super Stock, Mighty 4s, IMCA Modified, Late Model and Sport Mod, or B Mod,” he said. “I’ve won more heat races than I can remember in every division I’ve run in. As far as features, I had a couple in Super Stock and a couple in Late Model. I’ve always been a consistent top-five car in features and when we points raced it seemed I always ended up third in points no matter what division I was in.”
Over the years, Odekirk enjoyed his far share of success in each division he has competed in, including the highly competitive Late Model division in which he has compiled two A-main victories in PDTR action.
“Career highlights to me are obviously the feature wins, but also the many times I was able to run well against stout competition when we ran WDLMA, Corn Belt Clash, and Lucky 7 Late Model races,” Odekirk said. “There was my first visit to Wilmot when I qualified third and got to run the fast dash with Russ Scheffler, Gordie Seegert, Pete Parker and Brett Sievert or the time at Oshkosh for Corn Belt Clash when there were 58 cars and I was able to flat foot my Late Model for seven laps and finished third behind Chad Simpson and Jason Utter, who were leading the points in that series to make the show. I watched a lot of good cars not make the show that night.
“Then the next night at Plymouth I finished third again to those two in the heat,” he said. “Think I finished 13th and 10th in those two features respectively. One of the last Lucky 7 races at Manitowoc I won my heat race and ran the berm flat out on the wall to finish third or fourth. With the competition level in Late Models, any time I had to go to tech after a feature it was a win for me to be able to run with that group.”
Odekirk stepped aside as a regular local dirt track racing competitor following the 2016 season.
“I sold the Late Model mainly because of rule changes,” Odekirk said. “They went to a softer tire that didn’t last nearly as long and we couldn’t afford to keep buying tires and the other was everybody started going to motors and my little steel block motor just couldn’t keep up anymore. For years, Bill Behling kept the rules so the bigger motor really was at a disadvantage and over the last couple years that has changed. Also, my pit crew kept getting older and having kids and getting married, which made it a lot harder to do this thing and I was starting to feel like a burden on them asking them for help.”
Ever the racer, Odekirk decided to get back into the sport by running a handful of Sport Mod events at various tracks during the 2019 season. So far this year, he has definitely made his presence felt in a big way with strong showings in the B Mod ranks at The Plymouth Dirt Track. However, he still hasn’t committed to a full-time schedule at any track and is racing when and where it feels right to him.
“The reason I went back to B Mod is it’s easier to show up once or twice a year at a track and still be competitive,” Odekirk said. “I feel with a Late Model or IMCA Mod, you need to be in the car at least two nights a week to stay on top of your game and the price tag is getting way out of hand. For 17 years, we didn’t miss a season. We ran every weekend that we could and now I scaled things back. We race when it’s convenient. When it’s not convenient, we don’t race. We leave the car in the shop. that allows me to be flexible for my work and also spend time with my family camping and hanging out with friends on weekends as well.
“I’ve had a lot of friends that basically knew not to call me during racing season because I probably wasn’t going to show up on the weekend,” he said. “I honestly haven’t committed to one track but just to show up wherever we feel like going that weekend. I’ve had lots of good sponsors over the years that stuck with me through thick and thin, but with my limited schedule and not knowing where we’re going to race and when, I decided not to take on any sponsorship because I didn’t want to be cheating any sponsors out of their money for not racing where they wanted me to race or enough nights to make it worth their while.”
Odekirk relies mainly on his close family members to assist as pit crew members these days.
“My crew is mostly my wife and kids my father-in-law, Randy, and my brother, Ken,” Odekirk said. “I have many other crew members and friends that show up part time when they can and I welcome them every time they do it’s always fun to hang out with them again, but I don’t want them to feel like they have to show up anymore.”
In looking ahead to the remainder of the 2020 season, Odekirk has his sights set on enjoying himself at the track.
“As far as goals, I just want to run competitive each time I show up,” Odekirk said. “There’s a lot of good guys in this division and I just enjoy the competition. With the limits on suspension and tires, these B Mod cars are actually fairly hard to drive and I give anybody credit that can get one around the track cleanly and competitively.”
***
After two rainouts and a week off due to the Fourth of July holiday, The Plymouth Dirt Track will return to action this Saturday, July 11 by hosting one of its biggest events of year with the third consecutive appearance of the national touring Morton Buildings World of Outlaws Late Model Series at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds third-mile clay oval.
Two-time and defending World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill. has won the last two events at The Plymouth Dirt Track and he will be back as the series’ 2020 point leader to try to make it three in a row. So far this year, Sheppard has won a series-high six main events on the 2020 World of Outlaws tour.
Among the other top World of Outlaws regular expected to compete are former series champions Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn. and Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ken., along with top national competitors Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., Chase Junghans of Manhattan, Kan., Ricky Weiss of Headingley, Manitoba, Canada, Cade Dillard of Robeline, La., Ashton Winger of Hampton, Ga., Rick “Boom” Briggs of Bear Lake, Penn. and Brent Larson of Lake Elmo, Minn., along with a handful of PDTR regulars and regional Late Model competitors.
Also on the card will be PDTR Grand Nationals and B Mods.
Grandstand gates open at 4:30 p.m. with hot laps at 5:30 p.m. and racing at 6 p.m.
Tickets will be available at the gate on the day of the race.
The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds is located at 229 Fairview Drive in Plymouth, Wis. For more information, visit www.plymouthdtr.com or check out Plymouth Dirt Track Racing on Facebook.
Pedal Down Promotions is a full-service public relations and media services company devoted to helping clients effectively communicate with targeted audiences through a diverse array of promotional strategies and methods, including press releases, newsletters, profile and feature articles, website and social media content development, printed media, editing and layout, graphic design and book publishing services.
For more information on Pedal Down Promotions, email pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com or call 920-323-7970.
