Muskingum Motor Speedway holds 4th of July weekend event *UPDATED*

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — The Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series race took place at the Muskingum Motor Speedway Monday evening.

The event has been going on for approximately 15 years, last year being the first year that a driver repeated as the grand prize winner. A total of 94 drivers from four different class from all over the country took place in the event tonight. Roughly 4,000 people from all over turned out to watch.

Tristin Moran says there is a lot that goes into preparing the course for an event like this. They work all throughout the week, mowing and prepping the track, getting concession stands ready; and once the races begin, the work doesn’t slow down. Moran said on a night like this, the final race may not finish until after midnight. Though he says it’s the volunteers within the community that help make it possible. And he also talked about the quality of the racers in the field tonight.

“You can’t beat the quality of racers that are here tonight. It’s a touring series and they travel as far south as Florida, they go out to Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi– all over the place. A couple big name guys like Scott Bloomquist…Don O’Neal, Darrell Lanigan; there’s just a lot of big name drivers here and it really doesn’t get any better than these guys,” said Moran.

Among those big drivers included Moran’s older brother, Devin.

Tristin and Devin’s father was a racer, and Devin says that he grew up watching his Dad, being around racing, and it was a part of his life. He’s now a full-time racer and it’s all that he does.

Devin says he competes in between 60 to 80 raises throughout the year, and was just in Missouri two days a go for a race. He says there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes– always working on the car, maintaining and trying to improve.

Competing in the event since 2009, Moran won this event in 2013 and got off to a great start on Monday night.

“Well this night’s going pretty smooth and easy. We were fast time and won our heat, so we’ll  be on the poll in the featured. It’s not always that easy so usually you just have to make sure everything is maintenance straight– keep the car clean, and try to not get it tore-up throughout the night and it just makes it pretty smooth like that.”

The event cost was $30 for General Admission and $45 for a Pit Pass. The speedway held a fireworks display after the event.

*UPDATED*

Eddie Carrier Jr. won Monday night’s featured race and took home the $12k grand prize. Carrier took the lead at lap 25 after mechanical issues for Devin Moran. Carrier Jr. is the 14th different winner on the tour this season, and it’s his 9th career victory. A full list of results is below.