FAIRBURY, IL (July 22, 2026) – The past two editions of the Prairie Dirt Classic have ended with an Illinois native making their first drive down South Third Street to the Bank of Pontiac. If everything goes Nick Hoffman’s way, it will happen for the third consecutive year on Saturday night.
Two years ago, Bobby Pierce’s years of heartache at Fairbury Speedway were erased with a victory in his home state’s biggest race. Brian Shirley had also discovered plenty of ways to come up short in the PDC, but he finally broke through in 2025 for the most meaningful win of his career.
If that trend is going to continue this year with another driver from the “Land of Lincoln” who knows what it feels like to have his heart ripped out in the PDC, Hoffman certainly fits that bill. He’s called Mooresville, NC home for his entire adult life, but Hoffman’s original stomping grounds are in Belleville, IL, three hours south of Fairbury in the greater St. Louis area.
Even though Hoffman spent a large portion of his childhood traveling around the region watching his dad, Darrell, wheel a Modified, his first visit to Fairbury didn’t come until he was the one in the driver’s seat.
“My dad raced all over Illinois, but we never went to Fairbury,” Hoffman said. “I wouldn’t say Fairbury really got on the map as being a massive national racetrack until the mid-2000s, I would say. I think most people would agree with me on that, and I had already moved to North Carolina by then. So yeah, we never went there. We went to Farmer City [Raceway] and a bunch of other places close, but never went to Fairbury.
“Went there as a Modified racer and sucked pretty often there. I wasn’t great for the longest time, it never really fit my style. And then things just started clicking for me there for some reason, I would say around 2015, 2016 range. Started winning races and running up front in the Modified. I still don’t think it fits my style, but for some reason I found a lane there that I’m kind of able to make work, and I’ve been pretty fortunate to run really well there.”
Between running the last five PDCs in a Late Model and his time before that running the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals portion of the event – which he won twice – Hoffman has witnessed the event’s evolution firsthand. The PDC has always been an important part of the dirt Late Model calendar in the Midwest, but it garnered little attention outside the region for most of its early years. The race’s addition to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision tour in 2013 gave it the national exposure it needed, and once the world got their first taste of FALS, they kept coming back for more.
This week, one look at the packed pit area, the campers all over town or the fanfare leading up to the 100-lap duel on Saturday night tells you that the PDC has cemented its spot as one of the sport’s top crown jewel events.
“I tell people, especially race fans that have never been before, there’s only a couple places in the country that we see that many fans in the pit area,” Hoffman said. “Especially after the race is over, when they open those gates, it’s like flood waters coming in of people. And then everybody hangs out well into the wee hours of the next morning. It gets pretty wild at Fairbury; it’s a marquee event as far as a fan. If you’re a spectator, there’s really only two or three events that I’ve been to that I could say are even remotely close as far as a good time for a fan to go watch a really good race. But the race is only a small part of what happens at Fairbury.”
The fans may be there solely for a good time, but if you’re a driver with a realistic shot to win like Hoffman, your focus can never venture from the ultimate goal. The top teams will spend countless hours trying to make their machine as fast as possible at the end of 100 laps around the 1/4-mile bullring, a distance seen at Fairbury only once a year. That creates what many competitors view as a guessing game in terms of what the track will be like at the end, but Hoffman’s strategy has always been to eliminate as many potential surprises as possible.
“They always work the racetrack before our 100-lapper, so we kind of know what to expect,” Hoffman said. “I take notes of how much they work the racetrack every year and so on, so I know what to expect. It goes from basically almost Qualifying speeds again at the beginning of that 100-lapper to pretty slick and slow. In years past, it’s been pretty notorious that the guy who can run the top the best ends up winning the race. So, I take into account what I need to do to get better in order to win that deal because I haven’t been the best at running the cushion. And I think in that race, it’s just what it takes at the end of it. You’ve got to be able to slide across and bang against the fence or whatever. You know, 100 laps at any racetrack is a bunch, but that place especially, it’s a pretty big difference from one to 100.”
Make no mistake, Hoffman has been good at the end of 100 laps around Fairbury, but not good enough. No one in attendance will ever forget 2024, when Hoffman led 79 laps before Pierce came blasting past on the final circuit. That heartbreak was just one of several near misses in recent years, as Hoffman has finished second at Fairbury on three other occasions since 2023 across the Friday Showdown Features at the PDC, Illinois Speedweek and the FALS Frenzy.
As if that wasn’t reason enough to be sick of running second, Hoffman has also been the runner-up five times in the last eight World of Outlaws races leading up to the PDC. Hoffman knows his program has reached the point where he’s capable of winning any race in the country including the PDC, and all of those shortcomings would sting a whole lot less if he’s standing in the Bank of Pontiac drive thru long after closing time on Saturday.
“It would just be cool to win the deal,” Hoffman said. “I’ve made a lot of money there in the last 10 years of my Modified and Late Model racing, I’ve done pretty well. It’s just part of the tradition and history of Fairbury. Hopefully I’m the one that gets to do it this year.”
Hoffman and the rest of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will travel to Fairbury Speedway for the Prairie Dirt Classic on Friday and Saturday, July 24-25. General admission tickets will be available at the gate.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.
Shedding Fairbury Bridesmaid Status is Hoffman’s Mission at Prairie Dirt Classic
FAIRBURY, IL (July 22, 2026) – The past two editions of the Prairie Dirt Classic have ended with an Illinois native making their first drive down South Third Street to the Bank of Pontiac. If everything goes Nick Hoffman’s way, it will happen for the third consecutive year on Saturday night.
Two years ago, Bobby Pierce’s years of heartache at Fairbury Speedway were erased with a victory in his home state’s biggest race. Brian Shirley had also discovered plenty of ways to come up short in the PDC, but he finally broke through in 2025 for the most meaningful win of his career.
If that trend is going to continue this year with another driver from the “Land of Lincoln” who knows what it feels like to have his heart ripped out in the PDC, Hoffman certainly fits that bill. He’s called Mooresville, NC home for his entire adult life, but Hoffman’s original stomping grounds are in Belleville, IL, three hours south of Fairbury in the greater St. Louis area.
Even though Hoffman spent a large portion of his childhood traveling around the region watching his dad, Darrell, wheel a Modified, his first visit to Fairbury didn’t come until he was the one in the driver’s seat.
“My dad raced all over Illinois, but we never went to Fairbury,” Hoffman said. “I wouldn’t say Fairbury really got on the map as being a massive national racetrack until the mid-2000s, I would say. I think most people would agree with me on that, and I had already moved to North Carolina by then. So yeah, we never went there. We went to Farmer City [Raceway] and a bunch of other places close, but never went to Fairbury.
“Went there as a Modified racer and sucked pretty often there. I wasn’t great for the longest time, it never really fit my style. And then things just started clicking for me there for some reason, I would say around 2015, 2016 range. Started winning races and running up front in the Modified. I still don’t think it fits my style, but for some reason I found a lane there that I’m kind of able to make work, and I’ve been pretty fortunate to run really well there.”
Between running the last five PDCs in a Late Model and his time before that running the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals portion of the event – which he won twice – Hoffman has witnessed the event’s evolution firsthand. The PDC has always been an important part of the dirt Late Model calendar in the Midwest, but it garnered little attention outside the region for most of its early years. The race’s addition to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision tour in 2013 gave it the national exposure it needed, and once the world got their first taste of FALS, they kept coming back for more.
This week, one look at the packed pit area, the campers all over town or the fanfare leading up to the 100-lap duel on Saturday night tells you that the PDC has cemented its spot as one of the sport’s top crown jewel events.
“I tell people, especially race fans that have never been before, there’s only a couple places in the country that we see that many fans in the pit area,” Hoffman said. “Especially after the race is over, when they open those gates, it’s like flood waters coming in of people. And then everybody hangs out well into the wee hours of the next morning. It gets pretty wild at Fairbury; it’s a marquee event as far as a fan. If you’re a spectator, there’s really only two or three events that I’ve been to that I could say are even remotely close as far as a good time for a fan to go watch a really good race. But the race is only a small part of what happens at Fairbury.”
The fans may be there solely for a good time, but if you’re a driver with a realistic shot to win like Hoffman, your focus can never venture from the ultimate goal. The top teams will spend countless hours trying to make their machine as fast as possible at the end of 100 laps around the 1/4-mile bullring, a distance seen at Fairbury only once a year. That creates what many competitors view as a guessing game in terms of what the track will be like at the end, but Hoffman’s strategy has always been to eliminate as many potential surprises as possible.
“They always work the racetrack before our 100-lapper, so we kind of know what to expect,” Hoffman said. “I take notes of how much they work the racetrack every year and so on, so I know what to expect. It goes from basically almost Qualifying speeds again at the beginning of that 100-lapper to pretty slick and slow. In years past, it’s been pretty notorious that the guy who can run the top the best ends up winning the race. So, I take into account what I need to do to get better in order to win that deal because I haven’t been the best at running the cushion. And I think in that race, it’s just what it takes at the end of it. You’ve got to be able to slide across and bang against the fence or whatever. You know, 100 laps at any racetrack is a bunch, but that place especially, it’s a pretty big difference from one to 100.”
Make no mistake, Hoffman has been good at the end of 100 laps around Fairbury, but not good enough. No one in attendance will ever forget 2024, when Hoffman led 79 laps before Pierce came blasting past on the final circuit. That heartbreak was just one of several near misses in recent years, as Hoffman has finished second at Fairbury on three other occasions since 2023 across the Friday Showdown Features at the PDC, Illinois Speedweek and the FALS Frenzy.
As if that wasn’t reason enough to be sick of running second, Hoffman has also been the runner-up five times in the last eight World of Outlaws races leading up to the PDC. Hoffman knows his program has reached the point where he’s capable of winning any race in the country including the PDC, and all of those shortcomings would sting a whole lot less if he’s standing in the Bank of Pontiac drive thru long after closing time on Saturday.
“It would just be cool to win the deal,” Hoffman said. “I’ve made a lot of money there in the last 10 years of my Modified and Late Model racing, I’ve done pretty well. It’s just part of the tradition and history of Fairbury. Hopefully I’m the one that gets to do it this year.”
Hoffman and the rest of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will travel to Fairbury Speedway for the Prairie Dirt Classic on Friday and Saturday, July 24-25. General admission tickets will be available at the gate.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.