While Dennis Erb Jr. hasn’t been to Victory Lane with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision in over two years, he’s never been closer to ending that drought.
Since his win at 81 Speedway on June 24, 2023, Erb endured a 2024 season that fell short of expectations. It was his first winless World of Outlaws campaign in five years, and his top-five total was his lowest since joining the Series full-time.
The opening portion of the 2025 season wasn’t much better, but things finally started to click in June.
When the tour headed to the upper Midwest, Erb rattled off back-to-back podiums at River Cities Speedway and Norman County Raceway – his first two top fives of the year – and finished the weekend off at Nodak Speedway with another top 10. The Gopher 50 at Deer Creek Speedway the following week brought another third-place run on Friday, and three more podiums soon followed at Sharon Speedway, Fairbury Speedway and Wilmot Raceway. That makes six podiums in the last 11 races, more than any other driver over that span.
“It’s going in the right direction,” Erb said. “Just glad to see we’re running consistent, being up there. I’d like to get some wins now, but as long as we keep running up front, we’re happy with that.”
The recent hot streak has sent Erb from eighth in the standings entering River Cities to six points shy of Drake Troutman in fifth. The Carpentersville, IL native is hitting his stride at the perfect time with less than three months remaining until World of Outlaws World Finals, although he doesn’t plan on letting all the possible points scenarios distract him from the immediate task at hand.
“You know, we’re just concentrating on running good,” Erb said. “You run good, win races, run up front and those points will take care of themselves.”
However, Erb isn’t the only one experiencing a return to form in 2025. It’s been a resurgent season for the entire Rocket Chassis fleet between Brandon Sheppard collecting three wins, and counting, in his first year back with Rocket1 Racing, Tyler Erb beating the World of Outlaws at Mississippi Thunder Speedway and contending for the DIRTcar Summer Nationals title, and plenty of other drivers winning on the local, regional and national levels.
“Just a lot of hard work,” Erb said when attributing the brand’s boost in performance. “Everybody’s working together here. Just trying to get these things running better and winning races.”
Erb will get four more chances to do that when the tour resumes next week in Illinois and Iowa. The first stop is Highland Speedway for the Beat the Heat 40 (Wednesday, Aug. 13), where Erb has one Hell Tour win from 2007 and finished 10th in World of Outlaws action last year. Then comes the one place Erb’s had circled on his calendar for months – Spoon River Speedway.
The Spoon River Showdown on Thursday, Aug. 14 will be the first World of Outlaws event at a track Erb has been among the best at for decades. He hasn’t finished outside the top 10 with any tour at Spoon River since 2005. The list of accomplishments includes wins with the Northern Allstars, Summer Nationals, Illinois Speedweek and most recently against the MARS Late Model Championship in May.
Late Model fans know that Erb ripping the cushion anywhere in the country is a rare sight, but that’s exactly what he did in the closing laps to fend off Shannon Babb for his only win so far this year. Spoon River’s wide surface and high speeds make it unlike most Illinois tracks, but that’s also what makes it play right into Erb’s wheelhouse.
“It’s just a racetrack that I really like running,” Erb said. “It’s high-banked, it’s fast, just fits my driving style really good. Just a place that we’ve run good for years. I look forward to going there and really looking forward to trying to get a win.”
The weekend concludes with two nights at Maquoketa Speedway for the Hawkeye 100 (Friday-Saturday, Aug. 15-16), where Erb has the thinnest notebook out of the three tracks coming next week. Following two mid-pack finishes in the inaugural World of Outlaws visit last year, Erb returned in March for the MARS season-opening weekend and picked up a best finish of seventh against a field featuring four of his fellow Outlaws and numerous other big names.
That has Erb confident that his Maquoketa setup is trending in the right direction, and he’s looking forward to continued progress next weekend.
“I mean, we got some runs there last year with the Outlaw field and then earlier this year,” Erb said. “We got some notes from that, so hopefully we can put it all together and have a good run there.”
The 2025 World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision season continues next week at Highland Speedway (Wednesday, Aug. 13), Spoon River Speedway (Thursday, Aug. 14) and Maquoketa Speedway (Friday-Saturday, Aug. 15-16). For tickets and more information, click here.
If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.