A look at prominent Pro/Super Late Model Racing Regions Part 3 (California)

January 31th, 2024

California

Once again, another region that could fill a volume of articles for it’s Pro & Super Late Model asphalt template-bodied racing. For the purposes of this piece, it will just include some notable information, drivers, races, etc. Sunny California is a long trek away from the Southeast, Carolina, The Northeast, or Wisconsin, 4 of the most significant hotbeds for this type of racing - particularly Late Model Stock Cars in the case of Carolina. Despite this, California has established itself quite a resume.

Between Northern Cali & Southern Cali, action can be found regularly with: The Lunkerdaddy Pro Late Model Series at Madera Speedway (televised by MAVTV), the 51FIFTY Jr. Late Model Series, the SRL Pro Late Model Series, the SRL Southwest Super Late Model Series, and starting in 2024, a new division of the CARS Tour Pro Late Model Series (West), debuting in the west Coast (most dates are in California, with a couple of races scheduled for the bullring in Vegas).

The SRL Winter Showdown is a major race in the region at Kern County Raceway, paying $25,000 to-win.

Some notable drivers from the region include: Jeremy Doss, a driver with quite an impressive resume within California. He won the 2018 SRL Southwest Super Late Model Tour Championship and the 2021 SRL Pro Late Model Championship with an impressive 9 wins in 11 starts, and finishing no worse than 3rd. In 2023 he won the Blizzard Series Championship at Five Flags Speedway, Florida, and finished 3rd in his Rattler 250 debut, en route to winning 2 of his 5 starts in the SRL National Series (his other 3 finishes all being 3rd).

Derek Thorn, hands down the best active Super Late Model driver out of California, and one of the very best anywhere. Along with winning more than half of his 106 SRL Southwest Series races, and 6 Series Championships. He has 2 SRL Winter Showdown victories, 2 Snowflake 100 victories, and a Snowball Derby trophy to his credit. Culminating in his 2022 Derby win, he finished a 3 year streak of races where he shattered records for all-time laps led by a driver in just a 3 year stretch, including the most ever for one race with 318 en route to his 2022 win.

Jacob Gomes, a strong racer with 3 SRL Southwest Tour titles, 2 SRL Winter Showdown wins, and a victory in 1 of his 2 starts in the 2023 SRL National Tour.

Jesse Love IV, making his entrance into Late Models via Naake-Klauer Motorsports, and eventually finding his way onto Donnie Wilson Motorsports is a young up-and coming driver who will be making his full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in 2024, coming off of the back of a successful 2023 campaign: Love won 1 of his 2 ASA National starts, had a top-5 in 1 of his 3 NASCAR Truck Series starts, and dominated the ARCA Series with 10 wins in 20 races, matching the win total achieved by up and coming NASCAR phenom Ty Gibbs in 2021, with their respective 10 wins being the most in a single season since Frank Kimmel in 2002.