Mikey Kopka grew up watching drivers he considered icons make a name for themselves at Volusia Speedway Park.
Since 2024, Kopka has gotten to work closely with two greats of Florida’s dirt Late Model history, piloting a 604 Late Model for Joe Kump and serving as a teammate to former Southern All-Star Dirt Racing Series champion Ivedent Lloyd Jr., who competes full-time in the Southern Clash Late Models.
Kopka, an Astor, FL local, can trace his family’s racing ancestry to the pioneers in Stock Car racing who competed on the sands of Daytona Beach. He started his own path in racing by riding in the Volusia tow trucks as a kid with his dad, Jeff, during DIRTcar Nationals.
“(Our racing history) goes back to my mom’s side of the family racing on the beach,” Kopka said. “My grandfather Bill raced all over the place, and my dad raced all over the place, and then I got to racing all over.
“My earliest memory at Volusia was riding in the wrecker with my dad during (DIRTcar Nationals). Just getting to enjoy the races and riding around, not really being in the grandstand, just in there watching. But watching him hook up the cars and watching all the (World of Outlaws drivers) that went and talked to him. You know, stuff like that, it was awesome.”
Kump links his early days of racing at Volusia to the 1990s when he won his first race at the former dirt track in the campground, while the familiar half-mile track was covered in asphalt.
The Lake Helen, FL driver won three track championships in the Late Models, with his most recent title win coming in the 604 Late Models in 2022.
“I had first gone to Volusia when the go-kart track was the dirt track,” Kump said. “I think I won my first race around 1992. I won my first title in 2010, then again in 2017, but 2022 was the hardest one because it was such a long year, and so many people helped that year. I didn’t really appreciate it until I won it.”
Kump competed at the 2024 season opener, finishing the night with a top-10 result. When work priorities took away his chance to compete at the next Volusia race, he knew who to call to pilot his No. 721 604 Late Model.
“I got extremely busy at work, and that’s when I started having Mikey drive,” Kump said. “He was helping me already because of my car and Ivedent’s. He’d been helping try to maintain both of them, and I was having to work Saturdays a lot, so it was hard for me to get back for the second race. So, my wife (Pam) took the truck and trailer, I called Mikey, and I knew that (work conflicts) was gonna continue for the rest of the year. I told him to go for it, and we won the points title.”
The 31-year-old Kopka made his first 2024 start in the Barry Wright Race Cars machine in the second race of the points season and finished third in the Feature.
Kump wanted him to continue racing for the title, and Kopka managed to crawl out from a one-race points deficit to win his first 604 Late Model title by 26 points over Donnie Chappell.
“Joe had to go to work,” Kopka said. “He was not happy about it and wanted to race. He was like, ‘Look, are you heading to the track?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you know, I’m already on my way, I’m halfway there.’ He was like, ‘Ok, well, Pam’s gonna meet you there, and you can race my car.’ It was one of those deals where I unloaded, then come home to finish third, and he was like, ‘Do you wanna race the next weekend?’ I’ll take every opportunity, absolutely, and that (604 Late Model title) fell right into my lap.”
The new challenge Kump faces is managing two drivers with different racing styles. What helps him ease that hurdle is keeping every part and piece of his two cars the same to aid the setting up and tuning adjustments to the Late Models.
While Joe expects to return to the driver’s seat once his Saturday nights open up, he is learning to enjoy the life of a team owner with two championship-winning drivers.
“It’s a different opinion from both of them,” Kump said. “Ivedent is a phenomenal driver, and he’s been going for so long. I think it’s that he can drive around handling problems, so to setup their cars is a minimal adjustment. I tried to carry over to Mikey’s car so we don’t have to change a whole lot of stuff.
“We just try to accommodate around the issues as they come up, and (Volusia) last year was different to now. That was a little bit of a struggle last year because I was still used to the older Volusia, and it took us a couple of races to get that figured out. With Mikey’s deal, I try to keep everything the same, so they’re both (Barry Wright Race Cars), same shock package, and I try to keep everything the same just for simplicity’s sake.”
Kopka said he feels honored to race for Kump and be a teammate to Lloyd, as the two Florida figures are his childhood heroes whom he watched on Saturday nights at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.”
“We got a lot of confidence right now, especially for me,” Kopka said. “I get to work with Ivedent and with Joe, and they’re two of my childhood heroes. Then I get to put my head in the ring with them guys, and it’s pretty humbling sometimes. These guys knew me a long time; they trust me to drive the car, they listen to me, and we all put our heads together in trying to go faster. I think that’s really why we’re doing so well right now.”
Kopka keeps his racing experience diverse by recording starts in the “Fab 5” divisions throughout his career at Volusia Speedway Park.
After finishing second to Kump in the 2022 points standings, Kopka took a step back from Late Model competition in 2023 to race a DIRTcar UMP Modified for Orange City, FL-based Tad Olmsted. He made starts around various southeastern tracks and the DIRTcar Summit Modified Nationals, where he scored a best finish of 19th at Highland Speedway.
Moments after Kopka celebrated his win in the 604 Late Model Feature in the 2025 season opener, he hopped into the seat of a DIRTcar Factory Stock and picked up a top-10 finish.
Having to switch mindsets and approaches with each car, Kopka sees his approach similar to reigning DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator Champion Kyle Larson.
“Honestly, I just get in there and drive it,” Kopka said. “You realize that it’s in something different, but at the same time, it’s just you still looking for traction, and you’re still looking for maneuverability. You’ve got a lot more weight, so the first lap gets you back in the mindset.
“I heard an interview Kyle Larson did, and he explained that when he’s gotta sit there in staging, he thinks about what technique to use to drive this car. For me, it’s like I sit there, and I think about how I’ll drive the car into the corner, how I gotta do this or that. Sometimes, I go out there and I still suck. I’m not the greatest, but I do give it 110% effort, so I’m very fortunate to get to drive all these cars. The fact everybody has that much faith in me makes me very appreciative of all of it.”
Kopka and Kump continue the quest for a second consecutive Volusia Speedway Park 604 Late Model title at the Short Track Showdown on Saturday, April 26. For more information and tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.