Matt Bailey looks poised to elevate his game from sometimes-contender to weekly threat.

Five things to think about with the dirt-track season now less than six weeks away:

1. The drive for five: Four different late model drivers have been track champions this decade. That’s one more than any other decade in track history. Champs since 2000 have been Mark Burgtorf, the late Brent Slocum, Lonnie Bailey and Jason Frankel. Can there be a fifth different champ? If there is, my guess is it will be Justin Reed.

2. Breakout driver(s) of ‘09: It all depends on how you define “breakout.” That’s why I have two picks here. Reed is the breakout threat when it comes to winning the title, and Matt Bailey is the driver when it comes to joining the elite class of drivers at the track.

Reed has been knocking on the door the past two years, and if defending champ Frankel or 14-time king Burgtorf allow him an opening, that orange No. 1st is talented enough to take it.

Bailey looks poised to elevate his game from sometimes-contender to weekly threat. Bailey, an engineering student, has grown up around the track and knows all the intricacies of the machine he drives. Another consideration — Bailey led all late model drivers in heat points. If he carries that consistency over to the features, he will be joining his dad, Lonnie, running up front on a weekly basis.

3. Select club: Since the track adopted the IMCA style of scoring in 1998, only two drivers have reached 5,000 career points — Mark Burgtorf (6,451) and Denny Woodworth (5,430). Two more could join that group this summer.

Lonnie Bailey (4,933) is just 67 points shy and should gain membership the second week of points racing. Terry Gallaher, who has raced at Quincy since the track opened in 1975, needs 171. Terry’s future is uncertain for this year, but my gut feeling is we’ll see him enough for him to reach that milestone.

4. Wild card: The real question mark for this season: How will this economic mess affect the product on the track and the fans in the stands? The thing that worries me most is not the threat of gas rising to $4 again (I don’t see that happening), it’s the layoffs and changing face of the workforce. How many fans will the track lose because dad or mom — or both — have lost their job(s) since the end of last season? How many drivers? Crew members? Until those first few weeks of the season, this is the true wild card for ‘09.

5. All-time rankings: There won’t be much movement in The Herald-Whig all-time rankings this year. The only possibility for change finds Woodworth with an opportunity to move from No. 9 to No. 8 and Frankel maybe cracking the top 10.

If Woodworth finishes sixth or higher in the final track points, he will move past Slocum in to No. 8. If D.W. would wind up second or higher, he could also pass Sonny Findling for No. 7.

If Frankel can finish fourth or higher, he will bump Tom Long out of the No. 10 ranking.

Drivers earn points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for their annual position in the final track standings.

Here’s the all-time rankings going into the season:

1. Mark Burgtorf, 267 points: 14 track championships and 20 top-five points finishes cement his best-ever ranking.
2. Terry Gallaher, 232 points: Four titles and a record 28 top-10 finishes.
3. Steve Fraise, 178 points: Nine championships between 1976-90.
4. Lonnie Bailey, 123 points: Only three drivers have more top five (13) finishes than No. 25.
5. Dick Crane, 104.5 points: Won title in 1986.
6. Jim Swank, 73.5 points: 1978 track champ.
7. Sonny Findling, 70.5 points: Highest-ranked driver who never won a championship.
8. Brent Slocum, 64 points: How many more titles could he have won if he were still with us?
9. Denny Woodworth, 61 points: D.W. will likely be spending a lot of time on the MLRA circuit this summer.
10. Tom Long, 49 points: Jason Frankel is right on his rear bumper in these rankings.
Other active drivers of note: Jason Frankel (43), Ron Elbe (38), Jerry Weisenberger (28), Joey Gower (23), Justin Reed (22).

Tony Dunker is one of a handful of racers who have a chance to unseat Michael Long for the modified title.

Realistically, can Michael Long be stopped from another dominating season at Quincy Raceways?

Actually, “dominating” is being kind to the modified opposition. “Smothering” might be more accurate.

A week ago in this space, I asked if late model legend Mark Burgtorf could be beaten if he ran a full points schedule. It’s more or a less repeat of that same query, except insert “Michael Long” in place of “Mark Burgtorf.”

In the 10 years I have covered dirt-track racing in this area, I have not seen anything comparable to what Long managed to accomplish in 2007-2008. The twentysomething Long put together a career year in ‘07 — and then matched it in ‘08. Long won more races (71) in those two years than all but two other drivers — Hank DeLonjay (134) and Dunker (86) — had in the previous 10 seasons combined.

Whatever he is doing and whatever he has figured out has placed him at an entirely different level than any other modified driver at the Broadway Bullring.

For the most part, Long’s accomplishments completely overshadowed guys like Tony Dunker, Steven DeLonjay, Robbie Reed, Dave Wietholder, Wyatt Lantz and others. And those “other” guys are quality drivers who, if not for the presence of Long, were all capable of winning a track championship. (In fact, as I look at that list, they all have in one class or another.)

Let’s examine who has the best chance of uneathing Long, who if he opts to run a full points schedule will be trying for a third straight track championship. Only two other modified drivers, Hank DeLonjay and Sam Burgtorf, have managed to win as many as three in a row. Both DeLonjay and Burgtorf are now retired.

Right now, four guys are capable of wrestling the title away from Long if the stars are aligned properly:

Tony Dunker: He was the No. 1 all-time “B” modified driver, according my rankings for The Quincy Herald-Whig, and had won two championships when the “A” and “B” mods were combined into one class prior to the 2006 season. Dunker has been steady, a contender and consistently run up front in the three years of the combined mod series, but he has not won a feature since 2005. To supplant Long, Dunker has to find victory lane, which is easier said than done. Long has won 31 of the last 46 features at the cathedral of commotion.

Steven DeLonjay: This will only be his second season in a modified, but “Little Crank” is definitely a gem in the making. DeLonjay was actually in position to win the track title in his rookie season after Long took a week off late in the year to run a big-money race at another track, but the teenager was unable to hold off Long upon his return. Two numbers to remember entering the ‘09 season: DeLonjay is 17 years old, and he has already won 37 races.

Robbie Reed: The Quincy-Mexico, Mo.-Quincy resident is the ultimate points racer. He knows how to win a championship (see 2006) without winning a ton of features, and he will always be a contender with his plethora of top-five finishes. Reed will be the guy hanging around at second or third in points going into August, waiting for Long (or whoever might be leading the parade) to make a mistake.

Dave Wietholder: This guy is one of my favorites to watch. At one point in his career it was because I never knew what car he might be bouncing off of, but now it’s because I have enjoyed watching him mature as a driver. Wietholder is getting close to putting all the pieces together and if he gets off to a fast start he might be the most capable of the challengers of riding a wave of momentum to a commanding position.

If Mark Burgtorf races every week at Quincy Raceways this year,
it could mean for a great points race with defending champ Jason Frankel.

Thinking back, ole Doug may have been rather prophetic.

"Ole Doug" is Doug Mealy, a good ole boy from the heart of — as he says — "Mi-zur-ah." Ole Doug also is the track announcer at Quincy Raceways, and he almost makes me cry some Sunday nights because I am laughing so hard at what he says into the microphone.

His best line came during a late model feature near the end of the 2008 season. He was as excited as the rest of the crowd about a duel between "Superman" Sam Halstead and 14-time track champ Mark Burgtorf.

Halstead had enjoyed a sizable lead most of the race, only to see Burgtorf make one of his patented charges to the front. As the race got closer, ole Doug got more excited.

"Superman better watch out, because here comes Kryptonite!" Mealy told the crowd as Burgtorf prepared to take the lead — which he did, and eventually won another main event at 8000 Broadway.

Ole Doug's words have been ringing in my ears again lately as the start of a new season draws closer. (For those counting, we're less than two months from the first green flag at the Sunday night cathedral of commotion.)

I hear Burgtorf will be racing closer to home more often this year, like many other drivers. (This recession thing is a major pain in the quarterpanel.)

If Burgtorf runs Quincy every week, that could/should translate into a great, summer-long late model championship points race between himself and defending champ Jason Frankel. Denny Woodworth would certainly be in the mix, too, if he opts to do the same, but I believe Denny will still do some semi-serious traveling.

If Burgtorf decides to run the full points schedule on his home track, he will be tough to beat. Next to impossible might be more like it. Kind of like that Kryptonite and Superman combination. (I wish I knew more the mystique of Superman, but I never liked comic books. I was always too busy with my NASCAR media guides.)

But Frankel won last year's title, you say? That he did, and he was a deserving champion. But don't forget, Burgtorf missed a points night early in the seaso,n and if you would award him his weekly points average for that night he missed, his total would have surpassed Frankel's. Of course, he could have crashed that night, too. We'll never know.

That kind of fodder is simply food for thought. The decision to miss that one night was Mark's call, so there's really no use in playing the what-if game.

What I do know, however, is if Mr. Kryptonite commits to a full points season, only a small group of other drivers have a realistic chance of beating him.

STEVIE DIRT REGIONAL RANKINGS SET TO RETURN

The Stevie Dirt Regional Rankings (SDRR) for late models will return for a second season starting in April, using the same format, tracks and points system as in 2008. Features at Quincy, West Burlington and Donnellson will count toward the championship. Drivers will earn feature points on a 25-20-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 scale.

We'll have to wait and see how the news that Donnellson is adding a half-dozen more nights of late models affects the rankings. Probably nothing dramatic, but only time will tell.

We'll soon have details on the second year of modified rankings and the first year of stock cars in the SDRR. Stay tuned for that info.

Here's a look back at the final 2008 late model rankings:

1. Jason Frankel, Quincy, Ill., 578 points (TOP ILLINOIS DRIVER)
2. Mark Burgtorf, Quincy, Ill., 337
3. Lonnie Bailey, Quincy, Ill., 273
4. Denny Woodworth, Mendon, Ill., 271
5. Justin Reed, Quincy, Ill., 227
6. Keith Pratt, Mendon, Ill., 206
7. Tom Goble, Burlington, Iowa, 179 (TOP IOWA DRIVER)
8. Matt Bailey, Quincy, Ill., 166
9. Jay Johnson, West Burlington, Iowa, 162
10. Tom Bowling, Danville, Iowa, 136

11. Tom Darbyshire, Morning Sun, Iowa, 130
12. Matt Strassheim, West Burlington, Iowa, 127
13. Boone McLaughlin, Mediapolis, Iowa, 105
14. Jason Perry, Payson, Ill., 94
15. Sam Halstead, New London, Iowa, 91
16. Nick Ingalls, Quincy, Ill., 87
17. Kevin Tomlinson, New London, Mo., 86 (TOP MISSOURI DRIVER)
18. Robby Warner, Quincy, Ill., 83
19. Colby Springsteen, Morning Sun, Iowa, 81
20. Dustin Griffin, Quincy, Ill., 76

21. Terry Gallaher, New London, Mo., 71
22. Dustin Neese, Nebo, Ill., 65
23. Bill Genenbacher, Camp Point, Ill., 59
24. Jay Chenoweth, Wapello, Iowa, 57
25. Terry Neal, Ely, Iowa, 56