Tanner English
Those who follow the Dirt Late Model racing closely have known the name Tanner English for some time. Now, however, even casual followers of the sport are learning the name of the Benton, Kentucky racer after some impressive recent runs. The No. 81 Riggs Motorsports Longhorn Chassis has, over the past few weeks, pulled into some prominent victory lanes and has collected some lucrative payouts.
Although he currently sits second in the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series standings, English had never won a feature race on that tour until the weekend of August 26th and 27th. Now, he has won two such events with both victories coming at Iowa’s Davenport Speedway with one of them handing out a cool $30,000 to its victor.
But those wins didn’t just appear out of nowhere. During the summer months of June, July and August, the 29-year-old driver compiled 17 top-5 finishes including the two wins at Davenport, two DIRTcar Summer Nationals(Spoon River Speedway & Highland Speedway) wins as well as another DIRTcar victory at Fairbury American Legion Speedway.
So does English feel like his team is building momentum going into the second half of the 2022 season?
“I do, it’s been building for a little bit,” he replied in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “We’ve had our top-fives and stuff leading up to this and getting real close. The car has been good. Yeah, it can snowball like crazy. When things go your way, they go your way. We’ll just ride it as long as we can and see if we can’t click off a few more.”
The driver and his team attribute much of their recent success to a new Longhorn Chassis.
“We’ve had this car since June, this Longhorn,” English pointed out. “I feel good in it ever since we got it. We’ve won some races and finished fifth and sixth but we haven’t been like top-three consistently and in contention for wins at a lot of places. At some places we have won and been good, but I don’t know, I feel like we have now hit on something with the car and we’re learning what to do.”
Tanner English in the No. 81E Riggs Motorsports Longhorn Chassis
English is a regular on the WoO Late Models tour but over the course of the past three months he added in other events such as Summer Nationals, DIRTcar, Castrol FloRacing Night in America and even an unsanctioned affair at Paducah International Speedway where he won and collected $10,000 for his efforts. He believes the added seat time has aided the development of the team’s new ride.
“It’s definitely a big help, especially that Summer Nationals deal,” he stated. “We pretty much broke this car out in a Summer Nationals weekend. We ran it the first time at Quincy and the next night was at Spoon River and we won the second night out. If anything, it just gave us a lot more confidence to try a new car and to get out of our comfort zone a little bit to try to get better and not just be complacent with where we’re at. It’s definitely good to get out and race. More seat time is always better.”
After a 7th place effort in the World of Outlaws race held at Smoky Mountain Speedway last weekend, English currently trails series points leader Dennis Erb Jr. by 104 points, a margin that has decreased over the summer as English rose through the standings to his current second-place position.
“Going into this deal, I was confident going into it, but you just never know,” English explained. “Things went south there for a little bit then we started running better and the next thing you know, we’re beating Dennis just about every race. We started clicking off points and getting way better. You’ve just got to keep plugging away, you don’t ever know what might happen. Most of the time, the harder you work, the better you get and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
English is quick to point to crew chief Blake Cannon and a number of volunteer helpers such as his father-in-law Rodney Melvin and wife Mallorie, who sells T-shirts and other merchandise, as reasons for his recent achievements. The second generation racer also acknowledges his father, Terry English, is a key instrument in his racing success.
“He’s always helped me out and got me out of a lot of tight spots like when I needed some equipment or if I forgot to order something,” English declared of his father. “With the way parts are right now, you can’t get anything. I can usually call on him and he can help me out and get me out of a pinch. It’s good to have him supporting me like that. My wife sells T-shirts and I couldn’t do it without her, it’s a big group effort.”
Whatever the cause, this is a driver and team on the rise and they are working hard to continue their recent run.
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