Hello and Happy Friday!

This Friday Features looks at five more drivers who scored rookie of the year honors in pavement Late Model divisions at their respective racetracks.

Two are linked together, as 2025 Kulwicki Driver Development Program winner Derek Gluchacki performs a good bit of the service and instruction on both New England rookies. Jacob Burns (inset image from Ashley Ford Photography) won three times in his first season of Pro Stock/ Super Late Model action at Seekonk Speedway, while Shawn Gaedeke won once as a rookie in ACT-legal Late Model Sportsman class at New London-Waterford Speedbowl.

There's another familiar name to longtime Late Model Stock Car followers. Mark King ran with the old UARA STARS tour in the mid-2000s, and now he's back as a mentor for Walker Cole at Newport Speedway in Tennessee (the team hauler, still used by Cole, is shown right below; photo courtesy CWC Motorsports). And in the western half of the United States, there's a page looking at Holly Clark at Colorado National Speedway and Kyle Lang at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash.

We'll have at least a half-dozen more 2025 rookie profiles in next week's Friday Features, while waiting for the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing to wrap up in Florida. In the meantime, scroll down to the large-type underlined link near the bottom of this email to read this week's edition!

To continue seeing LMD releases (other than the Monday Digest) in your email box after this week, you'll need to subscribe at a cost of $30 per year. The cost winds up being about 27-28 cents per release. And once you subscribe, we encourage suggestions from subscribers on topics for Thursday Throwback and Friday Features articles (Wednesday Winners subjects are more obvious).

The grace period has been extended one more week because of a delay in our ability to accept credit card payments. Those wishing to subscribe may send checks to the address at the bottom of this email. We are also set up on Zelle and Venmo; please contact me for that information at this email address, jimcarsonlmd@gmail.com. PayPal is also an option but we'd have to email you an invoice. We will do our best to make it worth the $30 per year for the subscription.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend, especially those who are at or headed to New Smyrna Speedway. Thank you for your support of Late Model Digest!

Above: Derek Gluchacki and his wife Madison show off the hardware for the 2025 title in the Kulwicki Driver Development Program. Gluchacki, the 11th KDDP winner who earned $20,000 for this season-long honor, is a mentor and setup man for 2025 Pro Stock rookie of the year Jacob Burns at Seekonk, Mass., and Late Model Sportsman top newcomer Shawn Gaedeke at Waterford, Conn. (photo courtesy Tom Roberts Public Relations)

Below: These are the two Pro Late Models which Wyatt Gardner drove in 2025; the newer white one nicknamed Amelia, and the familiar black car nicknamed Bonnie. Gardner, from Lake Stevens, Wash., won the Tri-State Challenge points crown and also advised rookie Kyle Lang at Evergreen Speedway. (photos from Elevate Racing Media)

Below Right: Holly Clark shows off her NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series state rookie of the year award from the pits at Colorado National Speedway. (Joe Starr photo)

CLICK HERE: Late Model Digest - February 6, 2026 (Friday Features)