Blaster 57 Special

Tyler Erb was rolling onto the track preparing to go green when he received the most unforgettable one-way radio message of his career.

Moments before the start of Friday night’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision Feature at Mansfield Speedway, the Niss family, philanthropists local to the Mansfield community, offered up a generous donation that took the standard $12,000-to-win race and raised it to a staggering $100,000-to-win.

Before Erb had time to process the news, it was time to go to battle in what instantly became one of the highest-paying races on the calendar. Some solid speed early in the night put “Terbo” in position to contend for the incredible payday from the second starting spot, and he did more than contend. On the opening lap, Erb rallied around the outside of Bilstein Pole Award winner Ricky Thornton Jr. and cleared him exiting Turn 4.

As the race progressed, Thornton started to fall back and eventually dropped out of contention with a flat tire. In his place, Brandon Overton emerged as Erb’s biggest threat, as “Big Sexy” was hungry for a six-figure payday to cure his well-documented struggles over the past two seasons. Several cautions gave Overton his opportunity to pounce, but he never had enough to deny Erb from the biggest payday of his career.

The New Waverly, TX native is no stranger to success in his Late Model career, amassing five World of Outlaws victories, a championship and 21 race wins on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals trail and wins in multiple marquee events, including the Gateway Dirt Nationals and the National 100. But Erb had yet to join the elusive six-figure winners club until now.

It had already been a special week for Erb, as the day prior, he and girlfriend Emma Hodge announced the upcoming birth of their first child later this year. Thanks to his performance at Mansfield, the couple now has reasons to celebrate both on and off the racetrack.

“For $100,000, I kind of rethought my corner entry into [Turn] 1,” Erb said. “Just decided that, obviously you want to get the lead, that’s the most important thing in any race. You want to have the ability to lose the race and win the race. I took off into flight into [Turn] 1, which was no different than Qualifying. Was able to gather it back up, and Ricky didn’t completely use me up there in [Turns] 3 and 4 and I appreciate that. After that, I was like, ‘I led Lap 1, 39 more laps and I’m a hundred thousand-aire.”

Overton came up short by a half-second for a heartbreaking runner-up finish, while Bobby Pierce climbed from 10th in the starting order to third at the checkered flag. Josh Rice scored the second World of Outlaws top five of his career in fourth, while Hudson O’Neal completed the top five.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision wraps up the Blaster 57 Special at Mansfield Speedway with the $57,000-to-win, $5,700-to-start finale on Saturday, May 30. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

RACE NOTES:

Tristan Chamberlain set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Ethan Dotson won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Ethan Dotson won Heat 1.

Brandon Overton won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Tyler Erb won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Daulton Wilson and Dallon Murty won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Trey Mills won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Trey Mills won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.

Brandon Overton was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Josh Rice was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Hudson O’Neal was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Devin Moran was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Garrett Alberson was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Ethan Dotson was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.

Brandon Sheppard was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Trey Mills was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

Daulton Wilson was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[10]; 4. 11-Josh Rice[9]; 5. 71-Hudson O’Neal[11]; 6. 99-Devin Moran[13]; 7. 9-Nick Hoffman[6]; 8. 58-Garrett Alberson[7]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[3]; 10. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[19]; 11. 9M-Tim McCreadie[15]; 12. 22*-Drake Troutman[8]; 13. 14-Trey Mills[25]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[14]; 15. 44-Chris Madden[5]; 16. 71R-Rod Conley[22]; 17. 19R-Ryan Gustin[23]; 18. 58V-Daulton Wilson[17]; 19. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[26]; 20. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 21. 22-Chris Ferguson[12]; 22. 17M-Dale McDowell[16]; 23. 19-Dustin Sorensen[24]; 24. 13-Dallon Murty[18]; 25. 1*-Kyle Moore[20]; 26. 111-Max Blair[21]