The MARS Late Model Championship alongside the World of Outlaws, DIRTcar, and the World Racing Group suspended Bob Gardner indefinitely after he retaliated against Darryn Klein during a race at Farmer City on Friday, July 18th.

At the beginning of the race, Klein threw a giant slider in three and four in an attempt to get around Gardner on the first lap of their heat race. Gardner did not let up and got underneath Klein’s rear end as Klein continued to slide up the track.  The contact shoved Gardner into the outside wall. As he came off the wall he appeared to try to ensure that Klein would get spun along with him, but only nicked him and instead plowed into the side of Dylan Thornton. Klein and the rest of the field continued to race as it stayed green.

However, after smashing into Thornton, Gardner drove through the infield and performed a U-turn to face the oncoming field head-on. Gardner made a move to go after Klein, but he was able to avoid it. Gardner then drove back into the infield and chased Klein through turns 3 and 4. He then slightly doored Klein in turn 4. As Klein sped up to get around, Gardner hit him in the door and flipped him upside down. He was then immediately disqualified with the tower stating, “4G, you are done. You are done for the night, 4G.”

💥 Some contact and extracurriculars during the @MARSDirtRacing heat races at @FarmerCityRacin.#MARSLateModels pic.twitter.com/DFj7OXRDx7

— FloRacing (@FloRacing) July 19, 2025

MARS announced that Gardner was indefinitely suspended “for a minimum of 6 months … before possibly reinstating.” Additionally, he was also indefinitely suspended for at least a minimum of six months from World of Outlaws Late Model events, DIRTcar and World Racing Group sanctioned events. The series stated, “This penalty report is being made public due to the severity of the on-track incident, to provide clarity and transparency of the incident, and to show we do not condone this type of behavior at our events.”

Gardner has not issued a statement following the suspension, but he previously admitted wrong doing in a YouTube upload. He said, “What I did was uncalled for, was wrong, was out of my character. But I did it and I’ll suffer the consequences for that whatever that may be. That wasn’t my intention. In the heat of the moment I wanted to flatten Darryn’s left rear tire. So, in my mind, he put me out of contention for not only that heat, but for the rest of the night for a possible win. And, in my mind, he wasn’t going to finish that heat race. I just wanted to flatten his left rear tire so he couldn’t finish the heat race. Give him a little bit of payback. Whether anybody thinks that’s right or wrong, that was my intention. Obviously, it didn’t go that way and went way wrong from that point on. There’s tons of factors in why it went wrong. I did make contact with him again. Should have never done that. That’s on me and I’ll take responsibility for it.”

He did note that while he’s not going to compete at the Prairie Dirt Classic this weekend, he will be across the street selling merchandise. He shared on Facebook, “BGR will be out and about at PDC this weekend even tho we are grounded! BGR will still be participating in the golf outing and will have a door panel up for grabs at the auction! We can’t sell shirts on the property but we can across the street! Stop over at Pacos house across the street, next to the school (307 W Pine St) to get your BGR merch and have some drinks!”

What do you make of MARS suspension of Bob Gardner?

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