MANSFIELD — It’s clear Dan and Brenda Niss want to see the Mansfield Speedway succeed.
The Mansfield business leaders and philanthropists on Friday night donated significant money to the prize purse for the winner of the night’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series at the dirt track on the city’s north side.
That meant the winner of the feature would cash a winner’s check of $100,000, instead of the standard $12,000 prize on the track that former NASCAR racer Matt Tifft brought back to life this season.
MORE COVERAGE OF THE MANSFIELD SPEEDWAY
Texan racer Tyler Erb was ready for the 40-lap battle with those five figures in mind.
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 the race at Mansfield Speedway, the Niss family made their donation.
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. 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, Texas, 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. He and girlfriend Emma Hodge on Thursday 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 after the race.
“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 weekend at Mansfield Speedway with the $57,000-to-win, $5,700-to-start finale on Saturday.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.
(The World of Outlaws Late Model Series contributed to this report. Visit the series website for more information on all of the World of Outlaws racing action.)
