Blog – TJSlideways.com

Great Lakes Edition: Tylar Rankin Finally Breaks Through to Victory Lane

Fourth generation race car driver Tylar Rankin from Coldwater, Michigan made headlines last week picking up the feature win with the Sprints on Dirt series at Butler Motor Speedway on Saturday. When you look at Tylar Rankin’s career statistics to date you will not find a long list of wins. Instead you will find a winding road with a little success in some higher profile moments with the potential of more wins in the future. […]

T.J.’s Notebook: the Urge to Step Away Starting Earlier for Many Drivers

Daryn Pittman’s announcement that he would come off the World of Outlaws tour for 2021 to pursue other business interests continues a trend of top drivers in various disciplines scaling back their racing endeavors or hanging up their helmet entirely.
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Great Lakes Edition: Trying to Exit 2020 on a High Note

While racing season started extremely slow in Michigan due to the COVID-19 outbreak September is shaping up for the year to send on a high note with several special events sprinkled throughout the state. […]

Great Lakes Edition: Zane Devault Looks to Defend Home Turf Against FAST at Butler

Zane Devault has been opening eyes again this season running well every Friday night at Attica Raceway Park, scoring three feature victory, and leading the points at Butler Motor Speedway. […]

T.J.’s Notebook: Late Models on the Front Page, Heroes and Villains, and More

With Labor Day on the horizon and more of my free time becoming available I decided to knock out some writers block and empty out my noteboook from the past week of racing. […]

Getting Creative to Make 2020 a Year to Remember

Not going to any races in person doesn’t mean that 2020 won’t be a year to remember. […]

T.J.’s Takeaways About Saturday at Pevely and Knoxville

T.J.’s thoughts on Saturday’s wild affair at Pevely leading into next week at Knoxville…. […]

T.J.’s Notebook: Does Thunder Through the Plains Continue Post Pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the biggest challenge I have seen the entire motorsports industry forced to take on in my lifetime. Since series and tracks have slowly returned to action one unintended benefit has been some tremendous races taking place every week. […]

T.J.’s Notebook: Consumed with the Ever Changing Calendar

Life may not seem normal if you are stuck at home, not working, or are suffering from catching COVID-19. The sprint car world is slowly awakened over the past three weeks. […]

T.J.’s Takeaways from the Opening Night of the Great Lakes Shootout

Who was that masked man running up front on Friday and other takeaways from the opening night of the Great Lakes Shootout at Jackson Motorplex… […]

T.J.’s Takeaways From the “Return to Racing” at Knoxville

T.J. tries not to fall out of the seat returning to the keyboard with a few takeaways from Friday’s race at Knoxville… […]

T.J.’s Takeaways: Covering the COVID Race from the Couch

I’ve covered a lot of unusual events during my tenure running TJSlideways.com, but writing about the first live auto race since in over a month since the COVID-19 pandemic hit may top the list. […]

T.J.’s Notebook: Supermodified Turning Laps at Homestead Attracts Social Media Attention

One of the most unusual moments that went viral around racing circles on Saturday was Otto Sitterly blasting around the Homestead Miami Speedway high banked 1.5-mile oval in a winged supermodified. […]

No Outlaws, No SOD, No Problem: Strong Dirt Sprint Car Schedule in 2020 for Michigan

By T.J. Buffenbarger (February 28 2020) — Our readers from the Great Lakes State has had a rough off season. Turmoil stemming from the end of last season (before that even depending on your perspective) […]

T.J.’s Takeaways from the Sprints on Dirt Situation

With the news breaking yesterday of two tracks that were considered fixtures on the Sprints on Dirt schedule dropping their race dates for the 2020 season, here are a few takeaways from this developing story. […]