The Turning Point For Tanner English

CONCORD, N.C. — On May 17 at Marion Center Raceway, the last engine in Tanner English’s trailer went up in smoke with the next race less than 24 hours away.

It was another hit in an already tough start to the season, with one top 10 finish in the first five months.

But it was also the start of his turning point with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.

Help came in the form of family friend Jim Bernheisel, who let English race his car at Bedford Speedway to maintain his full-time status.

Then, it was all hands on deck once the hauler returned from Bedford. The break in the schedule before the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway and the next World of Outlaws event at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park couldn’t have come at a better time, as the Coltman Farms Racing crew went into overdrive rebuilding their inventory ahead of the busiest portion of the season.

“First off, we had to pull motors and get them shipped off,” English said. “Clean oil systems, stuff like that. That’s the stuff people don’t see, you can’t just slap a motor back in. I wish you could, but when you blow one up, you’ve got to do a whole switch. We got those shipped off, Glen [Clements] had actually just finished a motor of mine, so I had one motor two or three days later when we got back home.

“Brett [Coltman] knew the situation we were in, so we actually were able to buy another new motor, so then we had two. We had that new car on order at Longhorn, and it was actually done that next week also, so we had a really busy week that next week. Went to Longhorn, built that car and raced once before Eldora at Brownstown [Speedway]. Ran that car at Eldora also, ran good there and was good from there.”

A strong performance at Eldora and finishes of fifth and sixth with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals showed early signs that English and the No. 96 team were turning the corner.

Then, they took the confirmation a step further when the World of Outlaws tour resumed in June. He earned back-to-back top-10 finishes at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park to start a run of six top 10s in the last seven events, including back-to-back fourth-place finishes last weekend at Deer Creek Speedway.

“I feel like I’m kind of hitting a reset button, mentally and setup-wise,” English said. “When we went to Longhorn and we built that car, I told them I wanted to leave there like they want me to leave setup-wise and everything like that. Kind of just washed my hands of it so I could just think about driving and not think about the car. Did that and it was good right out of the box. I really haven’t changed much since then, just tweaked a few things here and there, been in close contact with Matt Langston. Just trying not to mess it up, that’s the main thing, just don’t overthink everything.”

English has been adamant since joining Coltman Farms Racing in 2024 about how the team provides more quality equipment, funding, and other ingredients for success than any other organization he’s raced with.

“You want to perform to what you feel like you’re equipment is capable of,” English said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. I don’t feel like I need any coaching or anybody telling me to pick it up, because I’m constantly feeling like I need to improve and be better. It takes some stress off of you just knowing that you’ve got new stuff, and you know it’s going to make it. You’re not looking for little things that could be wrong when trying to find some speed. You try to find new ways to do different things, and it takes your mind off of stupid stuff.”

The upcoming slate of races are right up English’s alley as he aims to keep the momentum rolling, starting with Sharon Speedway this weekend. He’s never finished worse than eighth in five World of Outlaws starts at the track and picked up a career-best second in his most recent visit two years ago.

“When I first went there, I was like, ‘this is an odd joint,” English said. “It’s just really slick and you can get up there by the wall and really get after it sometimes. More than anything, it just slows down and gets really technical, and that’s what I like to do. Everybody knows I’m not really a bounce-off-the-cushion kind of guy, so anytime it gets like that, I seem to do better than if there is a cushion and a really aggressive-type track.”

From there, English will chase his second podium appearance in both the Prairie Dirt Classic (July 25-26) and USA Nationals (July 31-Aug. 2) on back-to-back weekends, with his first trip to Wilmot Raceway (July 28) since 2014 on the itinerary between them.

Three drivers are within 24 points of English in the standings, meaning a few more solid finishes in the coming weeks could elevate English several places up from his current 10th spot in the points table.

“We’re in striking zone right now anyways to maybe get to sixth,” English said. “That’s kind of my goal to get there. Maybe even further if we can, but we’ve had such a bad start that you’ve got to kind of set realistic goals. I feel like we can do that, and we’ve set ourselves up in a good spot in the year, good tracks that I feel like we can make up some ground and get on up there in points.”