Sure, Dakota Ewing won his second consecutive DIRTcar pro late model championship. That didn’t mean it came easy.
Dakota had to relocate his shop, not once, not twice, but three times. Then he and his family moved into a new home. And, to add a little more adversity to the mix, the engine on his tow vehicle blew up.
“All that happened and we still got it done,” Dakota, of Warrensburg, Illinois, said. “It’s just me, my wife, Sabrana, and our six-year-old son Dawson. We didn’t have all of our resources on hand all of the time. It was just me and them making it happen every race night.”
And a good friend helped, too. When Dakota waited on moving from his old shop to the one at his new home, Darrin Shasteen offered his shop to Dakota. After his truck blew its engine, Darren helped once again, ensuring Dakota never missed a beat.
On Fridays, he raced Farmer City Raceway or Lincoln Speedway. On Saturdays, it was either Charleston Speedway, Fairbury Speedway or Spoon River Speedway. As the season wound down, the points battle tightened up with Denny Woodworth, of Mendon, Illinois. Dakota made the two-plus-hour trek to Quincy Raceways to face Denny. Dakota won three features there, beating Denny by 45 points. In total, Dakota scored 18 feature wins in 28 DIRTcar-sanctioned starts.
Dakota Ewing has raced pro late models since 2015, but next year may be different. He has sold his late model. Dakota said while he’s open to driving for someone else, he’ll concentrate on his son’s .25 midget racing.
“I’m 26 — I have a family; I have a house,” Dakota said. “We lived paycheck to paycheck in order to win those championships. In victory lane it is sunshine and rainbows. People don’t see that there is a lot more to winning. It’s the work behind the scenes that my wife and I do every day. It’s not just the dedication; it’s also the financial commitment.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
