Josh Dietz may have fell short of winning a championship, but he has come a long way. In 2022, he ran 15 races, mostly close to home. This year, he followed the full schedule for the Dirt2Media American All-Star Series Presented by PPM Racing Products, finished runner-up in points, and ran his first super late model races.
“Every lap you can make on the track makes you better,” Dietz, of Florence, Kentucky, said. “That’s one thing I learned this year. Every lap you can get to race, that’s what you need to do.”
Dietz added that he ran 10 new tracks this past year. He did so on the American All-Star Series circuit primarily with himself and his crew chief Dylan Rivers turning the wrenches.
(For more on the team, read “Josh Dietz & Dylan Rivers: Engineers Gone Racing.”)
“We got one car, one motor,” said Dietz. “We don’t have a ton of backing. So, we ran a couple [American All-Star] races last year [in 2022], ran well, and I was like, ‘Let’s run a couple races to start off the season and see how it goes.’ We came out of that first weekend leading the points.”
Dietz ran well throughout most of the season. Unfortunately, he encountered a string of bad luck midseason.
“We had three or four flat tires, and we lost a ton of points,” Dietz said. “However, we came back from a 60- to 50-point deficit to be tied for points entering the final race.”
Eventual champion Jesse Lowe finished ninth, Dietz 14th.
Dietz’s performance caught the attention of others. Dirt late model driver Scott James recommended him for the super late model ride owned by Mike Weinle.
“They had asked Scott who would be a good driver to drive the car,” said Dietz. “Scott said, ‘Well, Josh had never run a super before, but I watched some of his crate stuff, and he amazes me.’”
When Dietz had an open date on the American All-Star Series schedule, he ran Weinle’s car. Those events included the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series’ North/South 100 at Florence Speedway in Kentucky and the World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Ohio.
“When you only have a couple of laps under your belt and you got to line up in a heat race against Brandon Sheppard, Jimmy Owens, and Tanner English next to you, it’s a little intimidating,” Dietz said. “The more laps we get, the better we’ll be.”
That was evident when Dietz traveled to St. Louis for the Gateway Dirt Nationals. He time-trialed third quickest in his group that night, made the feature and finished 14th.
Josh Dietz said his plans for 2024 remain up in the air, but there’s no taking away this past year as one to remember for the up-and-coming dirt late model racer.
Outside Groove Note of Transparency: Outside Groove is a sponsor of the American All-Star Series. The American All-Star Series paid for the production of this article. The content is not subject to the approval of the American All-Star Series.
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
