The Solo 275 at Ark-La-Tex Speedway may very well have assembled the oddest collection of cars for a race. Luke Johnson hauled a school bus-bodied car from Alabama. Gene Birmingham brought a Family Truckster from Mississippi. Anything seems to go for the event that pays $10,000 to the victor and has a $30,000 overall purse for a 275-lapper.
Why the great diversity in cars? Simple rules.
For the most part, run what your brung.
Nothing on the roof, however, such as wings.
Any motor. Any fuel system — carbureted or injected.
Eight-inch wheels can use any tire. Ten-inch wheels must run slicks.
Cars must not exceed 92 inches wide. They must weigh at least 2800 pounds with driver after the race and cannot weigh more than 3600 at the start.
No more than 32 gallons of fuel permitted.
Racers Alan Lindow and Matt Ryan promote the event they started three years ago at LoneStar Speedway. The second year it moved to Ark-La-Tex Speedway. In 2025, they had 54 entries. This year 65.
“The crowds grew bigger and bigger each year — people come to see the spectacle,” Lindow said. “Nothing like it anywhere.”
Corey Neil Jr. won this year’s race. He usually competes in a limited late model and a Crate Racin’ USA-legal street stock. Neil’s Solo 275 winning ride consisted of an early 2000s IMCA sport mod chassis and a 5.3-liter LS engine picked up for $500 from a junkyard. The Solo 275 is his second $10,000 enduro win, with his first coming at the Lone Star 600 that took place at the now-defunct Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Texas.
“Winning an enduro is winning the biggest money in the cheapest car,” Neil, of Bridge City, Texas, said.
Got the urge to build something for next year? Lindow and Ryan have a date set at Ark-La-Tex Speedway for the second weekend of March in 2027.
Outside Groove Note of Transparency: Corrected the width rule (2026-03-19).
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.
