A DIAMOND IN THE RED DIRT

BY ASHLEY ALLINSON

ALONG HIGHWAY 18 in the small town of Meeker, Oklahoma lies a racetrack that has started to make waves in the racing world. When given a map of the state, most Oklahomans couldn’t tell you where Meeker is located. However, if you gave the same map to someone who is involved in dirt track racing, they could tell you exactly where that quarter mile track is located. Red Dirt Raceway, appropriately named for its red clay, is owned by the Brewer Family.

Cody has been in the racing world since he was two weeks old, his father Ken Brewer having raced in the mid1970s at the Oklahoma State Fair Speedway as well as other tracks in the Midwest up until 1997. Like most Oklahomans that attended races at the Fairgrounds, the Brewers were greatly affected when the Speedway was torn down in 2010. This led Cody and his wife, Melissa, to purchase Red Dirt Raceway, formerly known as Brill Motor Speedway, in 2016. They have continued to hold regular Friday night races throughout the years.

Cody is very excited about his 2022 race calendar that saw the USMTS make their first appearance on May 13. After that, “The NOW 600 returns in June for a Sooner Speedweek show plus the OCRS Sprints return at the end of June for the 5th Annual Mike Peters Freedom 40 Classic, which is one of my favorite races of the year and one with a special place in my heart! July 12th will see the USAC National Midget Series return for the fifth year in a row for Tuesday Night Thunder and then the American Racer Modified Series makes their only stop of the year on July 22nd for the 4th Annual Cowboy 100! Overall, it looks to be a good mix for the fans and racers!”

Red Dirt Raceway has some specially themed races throughout the year, such as Gamblers Night, one of Brewers favorite themes. “Gamblers Night is cool because it allows the scheduled front row starters (based on passing points from the heat) the option to start tail-back and in return they receive double pay for wherever they finish.” The track also opts out of a banquet that most tracks will do and instead they host a bonfire on the last race of the year and according to Cody, “Clean out the concession and feed everyone for free while giving out season awards! It’s fun for us because we can relax a bit and drink a beer with our racers!”

One race in particular stands out at Red Dirt Raceway, which happened in June of 2020 when the All Star Circuit of Champions came through the Midwest and made a stop at the racetrack. “We had just opened back up, that first week of May, after the initial month of covid and the unknowns associated with that while many other tracks remained closed for many more weeks or months. The All Stars wanted to get racing again and it seemed that the southern states were re-opening a little quicker so they called in the middle of May and wanted to do a race in June, so I agreed after approximately a two minute phone call to do a show 17 days later! I then called my wife Melissa and said, ‘Hey babe we are doing an All Star show in two weeks and its three times more expensive than any show we have ever done!’”

Red Dirt gained fame from that particular race between Aaron Reutzel, Kyle Larson and Danny Dietrich all battling for the lead, throwing slide job after slide job. The crowd was one of the biggest that the track had ever seen, with standing room only on that night. It just so happened that Red Dirt was the only track running that night, which brought in a huge audience via FloRacing. “Probably the neatest thing about that All Star show was that people drove from all over the country to Meeker, Oklahoma, because they had been locked down and hemmed up for a couple of months and they just wanted to have a bit of normalcy back. We had people from California, Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, and everywhere in between at Red Dirt for that show and it was awesome for the track to showcase what we do on a weekly basis for everyone in the world to see.”

This track has a special place in many Oklahomans hearts, calling it ‘Our Track’, which Brewer says, “the races are the excuse to get everyone to the track, but the relationships and camaraderie that are built in the race shops and at the track between everyone involved is the most special thing to us.”

While there are several other tracks that are in the state, this one is definitely a jewel among them, having an owner that has been around racing most of his life as well as USAC’s 2021 Promoter of the Year, he is someone who knows what racing is all about: the fans. If you are ever in Oklahoma and have a chance to sit down at a local track, Red Dirt would love to show you a good time and don’t forget to order a street taco while you’re there.