Nine Drivers
Survive DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour, Only One Can be Crowned
Champion this Weekend in Ohio
ATTICA, OH - July 15, 2010 - The miles, the sweat,
the frustration and the jubilation that comes with surviving the
DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour will culminate Friday and Saturday
with the championship weekend in Ohio.
This tour featuring DIRTcar Late Models is a month-long test of
endurance, a test of patience and a test of wills. Simply making
it to all 29 scheduled events in 32 days is a true measure of resilience.
Making it to the final checkered flag and knowing you have a shot
at winning the championship adds so much more pressure to crews
and equipment worn thin by night-after-night of abuse on dirt tracks
throughout the Midwest.
The Hell Tour kicked off June 16 in Indiana and has wound through
Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee
before concluding this weekend in Ohio. Nearly 300 drivers have
participated, but only nine have competed at every stop on the
tour entering the final two events Friday at Attica Raceway Park
and Saturday at Oakshade Raceway. Of those nine, reigning DIRTcar
Late Model national champion Jason Feger is on top and taking aim
at his first DIRTcar Summer Nationals title, which would put him
in the company of former champions like Scott Bloomquist, Billy
Moyer, Don O'Neal, Shannon Babb and Dennis Erb Jr.
It's those last two drivers plus Jeep Van Wormer, Ryan Unzicker
and Jack Sullivan that Feger will need to hold off if he is to
earn his first title this weekend. For Erb to win the first of
his three crowns, he supplanted Babb. Now Feger is trying to do
the same to Erb.
"A lot of guys have tried to win the Summer Nationals championship
and come up short," said Feger, of Bloomington, Ill. "If
we were able to pull this out I think it would be pretty cool to
be able to take the national deal away and this deal away from
Dennis because he's such a hard competitor and he's been so good
at it for such a long time. It would be pretty awesome. It would
be the first one for Bob Pierce Race Cars, too. It would mean a
lot.
"When you're on this deal, there's so much competition with
Dennis and Babb. They're really good at all these tracks we go
to. This year we've been missing Randy Korte and you know he'd
be right there, too. This really isn't Jeep's area but he's been
around here enough that he runs good at all these tracks. You just
really have to step it up. It's a long month to keep your stuff
together. Everybody has had some bad nights. It's just tough."
It doesn't matter if you're on top of the standings or giving
chase, the easiest way to capture the title is to focus on winning
each night.
"You just have to go out and do what you can do," said
Erb, of Carpentersville, Ill. "You can't worry about anybody
else. If you're behind now, you have to concentrate on winning.
If you're leading you can't really worry about the other guy, you
have to still run out hard because anything can turn around here
at any time."
Erb would know, too. Last year he trailed Korte going into the
finale at Oakshade in a similar battle to this year's that also
included Babb and Feger. He managed a runner-up finish to Tim McCreadie
in the race, and that was enough to clinch the championship by
a mere eight points.
"I don't think there is any science to this at all," said
Babb, a two-time Summer Nationals champion from Moweaqua, Ill. "It's
kind of been whoever breaks, been kind of up and down for everybody.
Everybody has had their good nights and bad nights. Nobody knows
how this thing is going to turn out."
It's that unknown which can be scary, that can prevent even the
most confident of drivers from celebrating too soon. A week ago
it looked like Erb was in the driver's seat for a fourth consecutive
title, but a flat tire with seven laps to go at Fairbury American
Legion Speedway shuffled the deck and put Feger on top.
"I was kind of like, 'Finally.' That guy, he's so consistent," Feger
said. "You very rarely see him break or have flat tires or
problems like that. I think that's the first problem he's had on
this whole deal. I've had three or four. Babb's had three or four.
Same way with Jeep. Everybody has had about the same number of
bad nights except for Dennis it seems like and he finally had one.
That's how the luck goes. Anybody who runs this many nights in
a row is going to have some bad luck, it's really hard to be Superman."
Feger is hoping he can avoid any encounters with kryptonite over
the final two nights because he knows Erb will keep the pressure
building until the final lap at Oakshade.
"You know that guy's not going to quit," he said of
Erb. "He's always right there, he's always so consistent.
You just have to try to stay ahead of him, that's the bottom line.
On the Summer Nationals deal, you just have to go. You just have
to try to do as good as you can. If you stress out about every
little thing it's not going to work out, especially with the day-after-day
grind. We just need to focus on trying to keep this up front, starting
with qualifying good, running good in the heat and starting in
the front of these things and keeping it in the front. That's what
we've been focusing on lately and we've been doing a pretty good
job of it. I'd still like to get a couple more wins, too."
Says Erb, "You just have to go out there and concentrate
on running good and winning and let the points take care of themselves.
We just need to get on a roll and have some good finishes so we
can be in the hunt for it."
For some of the others, winning the championship will be a long
shot, but the experience gained is crucial to future success.
"This is our third Summer Nationals, and in our first year
we were out to lunch," said Unzicker, a native of El Paso,
Ill., who earned the first Hell Tour victory of his career on Monday
night at Spoon River Speedway. "We didn't know what we were
supposed to do. We didn't know what to prepare for. Last year we
came in with a better approach and that definitely helped our game.
We gained on it again this year. We've only had a couple of parts
issues we couldn't deal with. If it wasn't for that, we could be
possibly right up in the running for the championship. We would
definitely love a top five out of the Summer Nationals."
Sullivan also has stepped up his Summer Nationals program this
summer, earning two victories heading into this weekend as he battles
with Unzicker for a Top Five finish in the overall standings.
"I've been in the top five most of this deal," said
Sullivan, of Greenbriar, Ark., after winning at Peoria Speedway
on Tuesday night. "We've had a few mechanical problems that
snookered us, there have been nights where I just couldn't hit
my tail. But that's part of the good thing about this tour, there's
always a next night. You can really learn some things about your
race car that will help you throughout the year."
Ultimately, that's the key for many of the drivers who survive
the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour, to gain enough knowledge
in one month of racing day after day that can be used in an effort
to win the DIRTcar Late Model year-long national championship.
"All these racetracks when you go in there are up for grabs," Babb
said. "We've learned a lot. This Summer Nationals deal is
good for everybody, especially me. I like racing every night. I've
been trying different setups every night. I've learned a few things
that will help me next year or if I go back to these same race
tracks. I'm happy and satisfied with that no matter how this thing
turns out."
By Saturday night, Babb and the rest of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals
followers will know if Feger was able to hang on, if Erb worked
a little magic for a fourth consecutive year or if he, Van Wormer,
Unzicker or Sullivan was able to sneak in and steal the top prize.
Heading into a weekend of unknowns with the championship on the
line, one thing is certain: expect high tension and high drama
- the Hell Tour never disappoints. |
