Tyler Erb is one of the hottest dirt late model drivers in the country. He cashed a $100,000 paycheck at Mansfield and then followed that up with a second place preliminary finish during the Dirt Late Model as well as a $30,000 to-win race at West Virginia Motor Speedway this past weekend.

He was also in contention to battle for the win for the Dirt Late Model Dream, but unfortunately had an issue while he was running in second that sidelined him and ended that dream. He ended up finishing 20th.

Erb spoke about his Dream run on the most recent episode of DirtVision’s Pit Bull describing the finish as “pretty disheartening.” His Saturday Dream was going in the right direction early on. He finished the first heat in second, which set him up to start 7th. He moved his way into the top five within the first five laps of the race. He was up to third around 20 laps in. Just a little more than a handful of laps later he was up to second. He would remain in second until Bobby Pierce got around him just before halfway. 

He would slide back to fifth with about 30 laps to go. Then with 21 to go, Brandon Sheppard, who was running in second, saw something on his right front break or a tire go down and he slammed hard into the outside wall collecting Hudson O’Neal, who had nowhere to go. Erb was able to avoid the wreck, but during the caution he brought his car to the hot pit and eventually called it a night. 

Erb explained to Pit Bull hosts Hannah Arnold and Conner Wade what happened, “At the Dream, I ran second to Bobby in my prelim. Felt like I was right there all over him. And then in the big race I was running second and just had a wheel that was breaking, really is what happened. It broke. And I pulled off with 19 to go because it just started vibrating worse and worse and worse.”

“That was pretty disheartening because I really felt like I legitimately had a shot there and ran 40 laps with this thing bouncing my teeth out. And that’s when Bobby got by me and things were just kinda getting away,” he continued. “When I left there I was like not down, but really upset because you don’t get that chance-. You get that opportunity twice a year to win at Eldora. You’ve got the Dream and the World and most people go there and they’re like, ‘If I just make the race that’s awesome.’ I’ve gone there long enough where I’ve had runs. I’ve run top 5 in both of them multiple times. I’m like, ‘That was the best I’ve ever been.’ And never blew the deck out for three nights. When I left there I was upset, but I was like, ‘Okay, I have a really good car.’ And like you said we didn’t want to have to do a lot of work and tear stuff up.”

While Erb was disheartened after the Dream, he went to work and got a new car prepared that he debuted at the Shale Crescent Dirt Cup at Muskingum County Speedway and is feeling extraordinarily confident heading to the World of Outlaws Late Models northern run where there is big money on the line.

“I built another car after Eldora, before this week. Not save a car. I’m not an Eldora car guy yet. I don’t think you save a car for Eldora until you win, personally. I was like I needed to get another car ready that way I’ll have all my ducks in a row because once the Summer hits you don’t have time to go spend two weeks to build car. We built a new car, went to Muskingum. … It was a good night for us to shake this new car down. I was like, ‘Ah, it’s okay.’ And then didn’t feel that good. … We got all these times on the race track and by the feature, I was like, ‘Okay, yeah, I got this thing. It feels just as good as my Eldora car did last week. And then went to West Virginia and run third the first night. And same thing, felt like I was right there just didn’t win. When you don’t win, you run third, and Bobby wins you’re like, ‘Pretty good. He’s just really good.’ The next night everything came full circle, worked out in our favor, redraw two was better than redrawing a four. … It just worked out.”

“Things are flowing good. Your guys are working good. I don’t have people quitting in May and starting again. My guys are pretty good about we start the year, we finish the year. IT’s a really good time to get hot because all the money is on the line. From  the Dream to the World that’s where all the money can be made in what we do. I feel like we’re at the top of our game right now and I’m excited to race,” he said.

Erb will be back in action this weekend when the World of Outlaws Late Models begin their trip north with a two-night race at 141 Speedway in Maribel, Wisconsin with $12,000 and $25,000 on the line to-win on Friday and Saturday nights. It then has two $12,000 to-win races at Ogilvie Raceway and I-94 emr Speedway on June 22nd and June 24th. 

On June 26th, the series stops at River Cities Speedway for a $15,000 to-win race and then goes to Nodak Speedway for a $20,000 to-win race on Sunday, June 28th. On June 30th, there’s another $20,000 up for grabs at Norman County Speedway.

Finally, the northern trip ends with the Gopher 50 at Deer Creek Speedway. On Thursday and Friday July 2nd and 3rd, they’ll race for $10,000 to-win. That increases to $40,000 to-win for the Saturday feature.

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