The checkered flag waved over the 2016 Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH, on June 11, but the ripple effect of a tire controversy is still being felt today.

On Monday, the World Racing Group announced that DIRTcar, the MARS Series, and the American Late Model Series have withdrawn the sanction from March 24's Thaw Brawl at La Salle Speedway after track management allowed "a DIRTcar suspended race team to participate in defiance of the sanctioning bodies' warning."

La Salle was scheduled to run two events in the Summer Nationals Hell Tour on June 16-17. Those dates will be reassigned. 

DIRTcar Racing also issued a fine and penalty to Josh Richards for filing a deceptive entry.

Richards won night one of the Thaw Brawl in a car entered by Best Performance Motorsports, which was one of the teams that failed post-race tire inspections at the 2016 Dream. Best Performance was hit with a suspension from all DIRTcar-sanctioned events for the infraction.

Also on Monday, Jimmy Owens and Ramirez Motorsports--along with the other teams implicated in the scandal--announced they were dropping their lawsuit against World Racing Group, the parent company of DIRTcar. 

"It was a very tough decision for us to make because we do have such a strong case and I'd like nothing more than to prove my innocence and clear my name from that whole deal," Owens said in a press release on his Facebook page. "But at the end of the day, the longer a potential lawsuit would draw out -- the more the fans are hurt and really the entire sport would suffer. I have a bunch of great and loyal fans and I'm looking forward to be able to race in front of them in certain races we were forced to skip last year.

"The fans are really the ones suffering from the fallout after last year's Dream race and I've heard from so many of them wishing that we could run at this event or that event."

Owens will now run the Dream on June 8-10 and World 100 on September 7-9 at Eldora.


(Jimmy Owens had dropped his lawsuit and will compete in DIRTcar races this season, Photography by Paul Arch.)

For what brought this all about, flash back one year: Dennis Erb Jr. crossed under the checkers first, but that was not the enduring story from the race. 

In fact, it came from a driver who did not even make the A-Main.

Scott Bloomquist finished fifth in his heat, which sent him into the B-Main. He led that consolation race before fading at the end to finish fifth--one spot out of the transfer position. He went from a paragraph at the bottom of the 2016 Dream results page to the headline 10 days later.

The biggest impact from the race came with the announcement that five drivers had been suspended for violation of Rule 15.11-G, "Chemical alterations, vulcanizing, tire softening, defacing and/or altering the face of the tire lettering and/or tire stamping will not be permitted."

A total of 32 samples of tire compounds were taken throughout the weekend.

One of those came from Bloomquist's car. Four other drivers and teams were also impacted.

Ricky Thornton Jr. finished 10th. Brandon Sheppard in a Best Performance Motorsports entry was 13th. Owens was 20th, and Gregg Satterlee failed to advance from his B-Main along with Bloomquist.

All five were suspended for three months, but lawsuits and contention over the findings prolonged that well into 2017.