My 2010 UMP Summernationals Review

Well, that time of year has come and gone again. The time of year where UMP Late Model drivers can go 29 races in 31 days. I always jokingly call it the traveling circus. I am referring to the UMP Summernationals, aka The Hell Tour. The UMP Summernationals is one of my favorite times of the year. So much racing back to back. I ended up hitting 12 tracks on this year's tour, 2 of which I had never been to. Since it has ended, it is time for me to give an overall review of the Summernationals.
The tour started this year at Brownstown Speedway in Brownstown, Indiana on Wednesday June 16th. Billy Moyer, who just won the $100,000 to win Dirt Late Model Dream that Sunday, continued rolling by winning stop 1 on The Hell Tour. My first night was night 2 of the tour when it rolled into Kankakee County Speedway in Kankakee, Illinois. That night saw Billy Moyer overtake Frank Heckenast Jr. and Jason Feger to win 2 in a row. My next stop was night 7, Tuesday July 22nd at Highland Speedway. This night would see Shannon Babb win a thriller over Jason Feger. Plenty of side by side, multi-grooved racing was seen that night. It was Shannon's first win of the tour. Night 8 took the tour and myself to Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois. This one saw Dennis Erb Jr. outlast a barrage from Shannon Babb. Those 2 ran side-by-side for the first 25 laps of the feature. This was Erb Jr's first win of the 2010 campaign. Night 9 almost didn't happen for me. I had a presentation I had to attend for a summer class. I ended up getting out right around 7 and booked from Springfield to Alexander, Illinois to Shepp's Speedway. Made it there in less than 30 minutes, and didn't miss the heats. Shannon Babb would claim his second win of the week and of the tour. The following night, night 10, took The Hell Tour to Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, Illinois. Don O'Neal rolled in driving for Larry Moring. At the end of the night, he lived up to his nickname of The Real Deal. He blew the field away and won. That was his first Summernationals race of this tour, and first win. My next night was Sunday, July 4th at Lincoln Speedway. This night was the first to have the racing be claimed by Mother Nature. Next up for me was the Thursday, July 8th event at Macon Speedway. This was the 30th Annual Herald & Review 100. The feature was probably one of if not the best I have seen this year, and in a while for that matter. It was a slugfest. It came down to 3 drivers in the end after Brian Shirley dominated the 1st half of the 100 lapper. Babb led a good portion. Jason Feger led a good chunk as well. But in the end, on lap 97, Babb went too high and Dennis Erb Jr. snuck by and led the rest of the race and took his first ever Herald & Review 100 win, which was win 2 of this year's tour. The next night took me to Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois. This night was made possible thanks to Tracy Feger, Jason's mom. This night was a good one for the Feger group as Jason scored his first ever $10,000 victory. He won it in dominating fashion, running his traditional high line. This was Jason's first win on the 2010 Hell Tour. The next night took The Hell Tour to Fairbury American Legion Speedway in Fairbury, Illinois. This is probably the most festive date on the whole tour. People come out in droves in campers and motorhomes to tailgate, have fun, and enjoy racing. The racing wasn't bad before the track locked down. In the end, Shannon Babb won his 3rd feature of the 2010 edition of the Summernationals. My next night was Monday, July 12th. This was originally an open date, but since Spoon River Speedway was rained out on Wednesday, July 7, the series decided to schedule the make up for this date. The racing this night was pretty good. This night saw Ryan Unzicker finally break through for his first ever UMP Summernationals win. The next night took the tour not too far, to Peoria Speedway in Peoria, Illinois. The racing wasn't too bad. This night saw Jack Sullivan survive a siege by Jason Feger. Jason was tough, and at one point passed Jack, but a yellow flag negated that pass. After that, Jack held on to win his 2nd win of the tour. My last of 12 races was the Saturday, July 17th date at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio. This trip was also made possible thanks to Tracy Feger. This was my first ever trip there. I loved the place. The racing was pretty good. Rusty Schlenk slipped by Dennis Erb Jr. on lap 17 and never looked back in the 60 lapper. This was Rusty's biggest win of his career, and his 2nd UMP Summernationals win of his career and of the week.
My overall thoughts of the tour this year was that it was a good one. The points weren't decided until the next to last night. There were 4 drivers in the running for a large portion of the tour for the championship. The tour saw 12 different drivers (Billy Moyer, Brian Birkhofer, Rodney Melvin, Jeep Van Wormer, Shannon Babb, Dennis Erb Jr., Don O'Neal, Jack Sullivan, Brian Shirley, Jason Feger, Ryan Unzicker, and Rusty Schlenk) capture feature wins on this year's campaign. Billy Moyer led the way with 6 feature wins. In the end, Dennis Erb Jr's stranglehold on the points championship was broken. Jason Feger was crowned the 2010 UMP Summernationals Champion.


This ended Erb Jr's streak of winning the points at 3 years in a row. There were some surprise drivers who followed the tour for part of if not the whole tour. Those drivers were Bub McCool, Wendall Wallace, Jack Sullivan, Richie Hedrick, and Jim Moon. Only Sullivan followed the tour for every event. I am glad, as the drivers are as well, that the UMP Summernationals is done for this year. It was fun, but now it is back to a state of relative normalcy here in the Midwest.

2010 UMP Summernationals WINS (per driver):
Billy Moyer-6
Jeep Van Wormer-4
Don O'Neal, Shannon Babb-3
Dennis Erb Jr., Jack Sullivan, Jason Feger, Rusty Schlenk-2
Brian Birkhofer, Rodney Melvin, Brian Shirley, Ryan Unzicker-1

To see pictures from the Hell Tour, just visit my Facebook album titled 2010 UMP Summernationals. The link is http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=188264&id=503429247&l=5662abba64


Before I end this, I have to thank numerous people. First I have to thank my Mom. Without her, most if not all of my tour wouldn't have happened. The same goes to my Grandpa as well. I would like to thank Tony Hubert as well. He did Twitter updates every night and I was able to follow when I couldn't be there. I'd also like to thank Tracy Feger for the rides to Granite City and Oakshade. To anyone else I missed, THANK YOU!! It was a good tour. Look forward to what the rest of 2010 has in store.

2010 Mid-Season Recap/Analysis

Wow, this season has really flown by. We are already to the midpoint of the 2010 racing season. That means it is time for my mid season review of the racing I have seen so far. On to the grades for the tracks I have been to:

Farmer City: C. What has happened with Farmer City Raceway this season has been a travesty. It is a shame to see such a racy facility sit idle like it has this year. The racing action, the nights I have been and they raced, have been pretty good. The Illini 100 was a decent race. The weekly racing, when they ran, was ok. Crowds were scarce. When they race, the racing isn't too bad.

Macon: C-. Macon Speedway has definitely had an off year, even for it's standards. This year started out with some great car counts in all classes. The track conditions haven't been as good. There were 3 nights early in the season where the track ate tires up on the cars. FOr a month, between rain and scheduling, there were no late model races for a month and 2 weeks, which sucks for myself as a fan. There has been some good racing there this year as well. Last week was a very off night with the fireworks malfunction and dryslick, hard, one grooved race track. The biggest race of the year is Thursday night with the UMP Summernationals Late Model 30th Annual running of the Herald & Review 100.

Shepp's: B-. I have been to about a handful of shows at Shepp's Speedway this year. Only once did I see a bad night. THat was the first night they had ever run the POWRi Midgets there. There was weather threatening earlier and that may have been to blame. Opening night was one of the best nights of racing I have seen all year long. Brian Divley, Dick Taykor, Jeremy Nichols, and Mike Hammerlee were all in the mix and running multiple grooves late in the race. Divley went for broke on the last lap into turn 2 and stuck it into the outside wall. Nichols ended up winning this free for all event.

Kankakee: B. I have attempted to make 2 shows there this year. The first was leg one of their late model triple crown. It got rained out as we rolled into town. I did make the UMP Summernationals race there, They ran just late models and modifieds. The track wasn't as racy as it usually is, but wasn't terrible. They did run quite late that night, the first time I had that problem there. Look forward to hitting more shows later on.

Fairbury: B. The environment there is by far the best there is locally. I always enjoy my trips to Fairbury. There had been a lot of rain leading up to the Bob and Pappy Allen Memorial. The track was rougher than usual> They worked to do what they could but it was choppy all night. It was still very racy however.

Lincoln: D. This grade isn't totally based on the racing. This has to do with how the show is ran. Both trips this year there was a threat of rain. It rained before the main event, the UMP Late Model features, had been ran. Last night's UMP Summernationals event was one that has me quite irritated. You could see there was rain in the area. Yet they ran the Crate Late Model and Modified features before the Late Model feature. Nothing against those classes, but when weather is a threat, you change the order of events to make sure the show that the people paid their money to see is ran. Pure and simple. Racing last night was blah but they kept working on the track and it did get better.

Highland: A. This was my first ever visit to the Highland Speedway located on the Madison County Fairgrounds. It is a unique little track. The racing I seen there was fantastic. They even went out after the semi's, cut the track up all the way around, and watered it. The results was fantastic feature racing in all classes. I had heard they had been doing this, and to see it with my own eyes was a good thing. Definitely will go back there again.

Belleville: B+ Belle-Clair Speedway was eventful as usual. The gates opened 20 minutes late due to their people not being there on time, which wasn't a good thing. The racing was pretty good. Dennis Erb Jr. and Shannon Babb ran side by side for 25 laps in the late model feature. The modified feature, even though it had 10 cars, produced a photo finish with Tyler Dibert winning his first ever feature. Another good night overall.

Brownstown (IN): C+. This is where I kicked my season off this year. I went there for the Indiana Icebreaker Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event. The weather for late March was beautiful and warm. The week before they had a lot of rain fall there. The track showed it as it was quite choppy in turns 1 and 2. The racing wasn't too bad. Definitely a racy track when right.

Eldora: A. I went to Eldora for the 16th Annual Dirt Late Model Dream, my 4th Dream event I have attended. The heats were some of the best I have seen at Eldora before. It rained during the 5th heat, but we got the heats in. After that the bottom fell out of the sky. Then it quit. It stunk, but it happens. The racing resumed 12:30 PM EDT with the C-Main. Don O'Neal actually made it from the C to the B, to the Dream. The race started with Ray Cook, who had just won the Show-Me 100 earlier on Memorial Day weekend, jumped out the the early lead. Moyer made his move on a restart on lap 20. After that he lived up to his moniker or Mr. Smooth. The racing behind him was pretty good for a day race. In the end only 13 cars finished but overall the racing wasn't too bad.

All in all, it has been a somewhat rainy season. The racing has been decent overall. Looking forward to what the second half of the season has in store.

Happy 4th of July

Hello everyone!! If you have seen the calender, it is July 4th. Happy Birthday America!! Today is the day we celebrate our freedom and independence. We have that freedom thanks to our fighting men and women, from the Revolutionary War days until now. I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every soldier who has served. Some made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom. I know for sure I have enjoyed every bit of my freedom. Hope everyone celebrates responsibly and has a good time!! I am going to enjoy it the way I love to, going to the races!! However you celebrate, I hope it's both fun and safe!!

Father's Day: Racing Style

Today is Father's Day. This is the day where we take time to thank our fathers and/or grandfathers for what they have done for us. For a lot of us in the racing community, whether it be drivers or fans, our fathers/grandfathers introduced us to the sport. I want to thank my grandpa for taking me to my first race. I grew up with NASCAR on the television, and when I was 5 I went to my first dirt race at Macon Speedway. After that night, I was hooked for life. Some people grew up in racing families. One example that comes to mind is Billy Moyer, 5 time World 100 winner and 2 time Dream winner, and his son Billy Jr. Billy Jr. grew up traveling the road with his dad. He eventually began helping his dad working on the race cars. When Billy Jr. turned 16, he started racing late models, just like his dad. Here in the last couple of years, Billy Jr. has really began to taste some success. This year, Billy and Billy Jr. have had more opportunities to race with one another the last couple of years. When you talk to Billy, he couldn't be prouder of his son. He is quickly becoming a mature racer. Another example, here on the local level, is the Sheppards. Steve Jr. was introduced to the sport by his dad who raced. Stevie (Steve Jr.) started racing himself. Now, he and his son Brandon race. Racing has been passed down from generation to generation in the Sheppard family. There are literally numerous other stories that mirror these, in all forms of racing. To wrap this up, I want to wish a Happy Father's Day to all of the dads and grandpas out there!!

16th Dirt Late Model Dream recap

Hello everyone. As most of you know, this past weekend was the 16th running of the Dirt Late Model Dream, paying $100,000 to win for UMP Super Late Models. The weekend for me started Friday morning making the near 300 mile trek from Decatur, Illinois out to the middle of Western Ohio to the Big E. When I got there, I noticed some big things. One was that there were a LOT fewer motorhomes in the rock lot at the track. It is usually close to capacity. Also it was weird seeing the top pit be nearly empty. I went through and talked to people I know, which is always fun. I walked through vendor's row to see what all was offered. I made numerous trips to the pits both days. I was even caught in a couple pictures talking to one of my childhood heroes, Shannon Babb along with my Grandpa. These photos were taken by Nick Jensen.



I would like to thank Nick for these shots. After this I made a trip over to the Kreke race team since I know a couple of their crew members. This was only time 1 of 2 for me that day of hanging out with them. We BS'ed for a good couple of hours about anything. Around 4 Eastern time, a big shower blew through the track, getting things pretty wet. Everything got dried out and we started qualifying on time. After it was all done, Tim McCreadie was fast qualifier with a 15.629 second lap. Second fast was track owner and NASCAR star Tony Stewart with a 15.714. At the end, Tim rolled the wheel to see how many cars were inverted for the heats the next night. Tim rolled a 5. After qualifications, I made a trip down to the pits and ended up hanging out with the Kreke group again. Got to talk to Brent, the driver, along with his did Al, and the crew. Had a couple cold beers and just bs'ed some more and had a good time. Thanks guys for the cold beer!! When it started spitting rain, I knew I needed to go back to where I was sleeping, the car.

After sleeping for about 6 hours, I then got up, showered, and headed on the bus to the St. Henry Night Club for their breakfast buffet. For $7, it isn't bad at all. After getting back, I went down vendor's row to pick up the souvenirs and shirts I wanted. I walked through the pits probably 3 or 4 times before 7 PM rolled around. At 7 the track was still wet and was being rolled in. At 7:25, the trucks pulled off, and the heats got started. Overall, the heats weren't too bad. They got better as the track had a few more laps on it. The 5th heat was where trouble was obvious. Lightning was lighting up the skies behind the grandstands and the turn 1 and 2 area. At one point with 2 or 3 to go, the cars were pulled off. They pulled back on less than 10 minutes later, and finished that heat. We got the 6th heat in, but you could tell that rain was close as the sky was lighting up, and rain drops started falling past half way of the heat. It gradually grew, then poured. The track was packed in and looked good, but it wouldn't be raced on again that night due to the inclement forecast. It ended up not doing anything, which made the track look bad. I know why they did what they did, and they couldn't just change their mind on an instant. The decision was postponed to Sunday 8 AM as to what would happen. I ended up going with a group of friends I know, one being a driver's mother, to a camp site and having a nice adult beverage and having some entertaining conversations. Got to see UFO's (Walmart sacks, balsam wood, and candles that make a sort of hot air balloon), and even fireworks.

That Sunday morning, the call was made to start racing at 12:30 since Ohio can't race before 12 due to state law. At 12:30 the C main rolled onto the track. We got through the C and B, and it was obvious that starting position would be a key to the Dream. Only Don O'Neal made it from the C to the Dream. The Dream was brought to the green flag by Billy Moyer and Ray Cook. Cook got the jump early and looked tough. Moyer made a move on lap 17 but Cook shut the door on him. Moyer knew he had something. He had his next shot on a lap 20 restart. He layed back, got a run going into turn one, made a slide job, and took the lead. This pass happened to be the winning pass. However, it was far from boring behind him. Attrition was phenominal in this one. At one point, only 11 cars remained out of the 26 car field. It allowed guys farther back to move up easier, but there were some wars waged. Don O' Neal and Chris Madden both made charges from the 20's to run in the top 5 during the race. Scott Bloomquist tried to lurk like he usually does, but had a flat tire on lap 75. This led to a huge roar of cheering from the crowd. He got back out, and was a man on a mission. He ended up finishing 5th. Shane Clanton looked like he might have something for Moyer, even showing the nose under him in 1 and 2 once, but he lost a shock bolt. Steve Francis ran in the top 5 early, but the treacherous cushion right up by the wall bit him as he hit and rode the turn 4 wall around half way and pulled in the lap after that. Cook looked like he might catch Moyer a couple times, but never had anything. Moyer lived up to his nickname of Mr. Smooth. He was very consistent and wasn't challenged in the closing laps. This win was the first for Moyer at Eldora in a decade. My congratulations goes out to Billy, crew chief Steve Norris, and the entire Moyer Racing crew on winning the 16th Annual Dirt Late Model Dream!! Also a big congratulations to local girl Lauren Stewart of Jacksonville, Illinois on winning the Ms. Eldora pageant and becoming the Queen for the next year!!

The Dream turns Sweet 16

In 1994, Earl and Bernice Baltes had the 1st ever race paying $100,000 to win for dirt late models, unheard of at the time. Freddy Smith won the very first Dream race. Since then, other powerhouse names in the sport, such as Billy Moyer, Scott Bloomquist, Rick Eckert, and Jimmy Owens have all won the race. Others have shocked the racing world and broke out for big wins at Eldora and having their dreams come true. Jimmy Mars, Matt Miller, and Steve Casebolt are all drivers that scored their first crown jewel wins in their careers. The Dream has had some extra buzz added to it with the addition of the Prelude, which first came along in 2005. This event has helped raise money for charities by having NASCAR and other various drivers racing in the same late models that we dirt late model fans will watch in the 16th Annual Dirt Late Model Dream. This year, the hype is as big as ever. The fans still look forward to the pilgrimage to the Big E. This is one of those events where a lot of people come together, for one of maybe two times a year. It is really a Dream, for the drivers and fans. I personally can't wait!! I will order the PPV of The Prelude and will head to Eldora Friday morning. Can't wait to see everyone!!

Memorial Day Tribute

On this Memorial Day, be sure to thank ANY man or woman you know who has served in our nation's armed forces, is currently serving, or will be serving in the near future. As we talk about this, it should be known that some of our favorite drivers may have served or even currently serve in the military. One driver I know here locally is Ryan Little. Both he and his brother have served in Iraq during Operation Enduring Freedom. Our local videographer was gracious enough to send them DVD's of the racing action each week while they were in Iraq. I know they greatly appreciated that. As soon as they got back they were back behind the wheel of their race cars. I know this is just one of many stories that are out there in the racing world. I know of another racer, Randy Korte, who's son Dustin is currently in the United States Army. He is a Private. He enrolled in 2007. I thank him, the Littles, and EVERY OTHER man and woman, racer or not, who have served, currently serve, or will serve in the future, for defending our nation. Without people like them, we wouldn't be able to enjoy our many freedoms, including racing. THANK YOU!!