Department of Music News

WKU graduate Todd Turner of Louisville, managing editor of DirtonDirt.com, was one of eight inductees in the National Dirt Late Model of Fame’s Class of 2024.

Turner, who received his bachelor’s degree in history and journalism in 1988 and a master’s degree in history in 1990, has written about late model racing for more than 30 years.

“Not all my WKU friends knew I’d slip away on Saturdays to Barren County Speedway in Glasgow, Ky., during my years there. It was part of the beginning of what led to my motorsports journalism career,” Turner said. “I’ve been blessed and am so grateful to have a career I’ve loved. There’s no doubt my journalism professors, classes, peers and especially the College Heights Herald were key to my success. I was fortunate to marry journalism up with my love of auto racing to have a special career, and to be honored for it by the Hall of Fame was so gratifying.”

In his acceptance speech at the August 10 ceremony at Florence Speedway, Turner noted: “When I was a kid in the early 1970s watching cars go around in circles while devouring every auto racing story in the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, I never could have imagined a career as a short-track motorsports journalist. To say it was a dream wouldn’t be accurate – it wasn’t in the realm of possibility.”

Turner launched the DirtNews Digest email newsletter in April 1995 and has seen the Dirt Late Model media landscape evolve from newsprint to digital delivery to livestreaming. “I’ve been blessed to ride that wave in the development of a media environment that spotlights a sport that’s long been overlooked,” he said. 

Read more at https://www.dirtondirt.com/blog.php?cat=2&id=652

Caption: Todd Turner (left) with Gerald Newton, president of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame