The world got to watch one of Illinois’ dirt Late Model stars finally take the checkers at the state’s signature event last year.
If it’s up to Brian Shirley, this year’s post-Prairie Dirt Classic storylines will be exactly the same.
Most drivers from the region have a story about making the pilgrimage to Fairbury Speedway as a child and watching their first PDC from the stands, a moment that ignited their dream of someday being the one in Victory Lane. But not Shirley. The Chatham, IL native’s first Fairbury experience didn’t come until he was behind the wheel, trying to manhandle his 800-horsepower beast around the tight 1/4-mile dirt track.
“That’s the tough part about racing with me, before I started racing, I didn’t even know what race cars were,” Shirley said. “I know I’ve been around for 20 years, so it’s not like it’s been crazy long. I don’t know, Fairbury’s just been one of those deals, I remember the first time I went there, just how crazy the town and all the people are. One of the things I remember the most is just how people stay up all freaking day and all night. They party like rockstars there.”
Shirley’s introduction to Fairbury came back in the mid-2000s, when the PDC was primarily a Midwestern tradition. While that’s still the case, Shirley has watched firsthand as the event has risen to national prominence and grown into the biggest race on the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision schedule.
“Winning the PDC was kind of, at first, just like winning a Summer Nationals race,” Shirley said. “It really wasn’t what it’s turned into now. It’s obviously turned into a pretty big extravaganza, a crown jewel. The craziness and the hype of everything being there is just 10 times what it was when I first got introduced to it.”
The event’s growth over the past two decades has only multiplied Shirley’s desire to add a Prairie Dirt Classic trophy to his collection. He’s been a frontrunner in the main event more often than not, beginning with a fourth-place run in his first Feature start at the PDC in 2006.
Shirley’s top-10 total rose to 10 with a seventh last year, although he was on pace for more than that in the middle stages of the race. The likes of Bobby Pierce and Nick Hoffman may have stolen the spotlight at the front of the pack in 2024, but Shirley was in position to fight it out with them at the end until mechanical gremlins killed his chances at victory yet again.
“Last year, we were up to second and our fuel line broke on the carburetor, so the carburetor just wouldn’t run right there the last 25, 30 laps,” Shirley said. “I really felt like last year was probably one of the best odds of me having a shot to win, because I was able to still be up there. The biggest key is you’ve got to be around when it comes to 20, 10, five to go. You’ve got to put yourself in the right spot and get in the right place at the right time when the laps are winding down, and hopefully you set the car up right to have a shot. Sometimes the biggest, hardest part about a 100-lap race is what time does the car peter out. We’re setting up our own cars, and it’s a guessing game as far as setup of how good the car can be at lap 80 to 100.”
If Shirley needed any reassurance that his Fairbury setup is capable of winning, he got it last month. “Squirrel” topped the DIRTcar Summer Nationals event at the track on June 14 against a stacked 58-car field featuring several of his fellow Outlaws and plenty of others he’ll be battling against this weekend.
“Even the time before that, I ran second to [Jason] Feger this year,” Shirley said. “It’s like any regional guy going into his home track and you’ve got the big boys coming in, you know that regional guy’s always tough, got a little bit of an advantage because he’s got that notebook. That’s where I feel like we should hopefully have a little bit of an advantage over some of them, our notebook has obviously been pretty good there the last few times we’ve been there, so hopefully it’ll carry over into this weekend.”
Should Shirley find himself out front at the end of 100 laps for the first time, he’ll get one extra accolade that didn’t come with any of his Hell Tour or MARS Late Model Championship wins at Fairbury – the ceremonial drive across town to the Bank of Pontiac.
Since the tradition began with Tim McCreadie in 2014, Shirley has been loading up his equipment while someone else paraded down South Third Street. Now, he feels like it’s his turn.
“That probably would be one of the coolest things you could do,” Shirley said. “Knowing that you just won 50 grand, and then a couple minutes later you’re going to roll up and act like you’re going to cash a check at the bank. It’s pretty cool.”
Shirley and the rest of the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will tackle Fairbury Speedway in the Prairie Dirt Classic, Friday-Saturday, July 25-26, before heading north to Wilmot Raceway on Monday, July 28.
For tickets and more information on every race in 2025, click here. If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.