by Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, NC | Dec. 12, 2013 - A record number of events appear on the 2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals ‘Hell Tour’ schedule, which was released Thursday by DIRTcar officials during the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Indianapolis.
Stretching nearly six weeks for the second consecutive year, dirt Late Model racing’s biggest test of man and machine will feature 33 races at 32 tracks in nine states over a period of 39 days.
The DIRTcar Summer Nationals will begin and end with traditional dates, kicking off on Wed., June 11, at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway and concluding on Sat., July 19, at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio. In between competitors will travel nearly 6,000 miles and compete for $215,000 in first-place prize money.
“The expansion of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals to six weekends in 2013 proved to be a big success so we’re sticking with the same time frame for the 2014 ‘Hell Tour’ schedule,” said DIRTcar UMP director Sam Driggers. “Extending the Summer Nationals not only allows us to slot in more off days for the race teams but also gives us the opportunity to accommodate more racetracks that desire events – and that, of course, brings the Summer Nationals to more fans across the Midwest.”
While weather prevented the 2013 ‘Hell Tour’ from boasting a record number of events (26 of the 32 scheduled points races were run), Driggers’s scheduling of 33 races in ’14 once again puts the circuit in line for a new high-water mark. The current record for DIRTcar Summer Nationals points races is 28 in 2010 and 2012.
As has become customary, racing in the DIRTcar UMP hotbed of Illinois dominates the 2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals schedule with 15 tracks located in the Land of Lincoln set to host events. The series will also compete at four tracks in Ohio; three in Indiana; two in Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee and Wisconsin; and one in Michigan and Missouri.
The only track scheduled to hold more than one DIRTcar Summer Nationals event is Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., which will make its ‘Masters’ weekend a part of the ‘Hell Tour’ for the fifth consecutive season. The one-third-mile oval will run a $5,000-to-win A-Main on Fri., June 13, and a $10,000-to-win affair on Sat., June 14.
The lone track that will hold a DIRTcar Summer Nationals event for the first time in 2014 is Atomic Speedway (formerly K-C Raceway) in Chillicothe, Ohio, which leads off the series-ending four-race swing through the Buckeye State with a $5,000-to-win show on Wed., July 16.
Most of the host tracks are stalwarts on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals – none more so than Fairbury (Ill.) American Legion Speedway, which is set to present a record 26th ‘Hell Tour’ A-Main on Sat., June 21.
Among the notable returning tracks are Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, which is back on the ‘Hell Tour’ schedule after a two-year absence on Fri., July 11, and Farley (Iowa) Speedway, which will host its first Summer Nationals event since 2005 on Tues., June 17.
A total of 10 DIRTcar Summer Nationals events will offer $10,000 first-place checks. Another 22 features will pay $5,000 to win and a single race has a posted winner’s check of $7,500 (July 4 at Fayette County Speedway in Brownstown, Ill.).
Purses for the ‘Hell Tour’ will total nearly $900,000. Another $65,000-plus in points-fund money will be on the line, including a $25,000 check for the 2014 champion.
Twenty-year-old Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., won the DIRTcar Summer Nationals championship in 2013, becoming the youngest driver to capture the title since the series began in 1986.
Most of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals programs will be run as doubleheaders with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals, a points series showcasing the open-wheel UMP Modified division. The full 2014 DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals schedule will be announced in a separate press release.
Additional info on all of the series, sanctioning and member tracks of DIRTcar Racing is available at www.DIRTcar.com .
UMP DIRTCAR SUMMERNATIONALS
2014 Event Schedule
11-Jun Brownstown Speedway, Brownstown, IN 5,000
12-Jun Kankakee County Speedway, Kankakee, IL 5,000
13-Jun Cedar Lake Speedway, New Richmond, WI 5,000
14-Jun Cedar Lake Speedway, New Richmond, WI 10,000
15-Jun Wilmot Raceway, Wilmot, WI 5,000
17-Jun Farley Speedway, Farley, IA 10,000
18-Jun Spoon River Speedway, Banner, IL 5,000
19-Jun Quincy Raceways, Quincy, IL 5,000
20-Jun Tri-City Speedway, Pontoon Beach, IL 10,000
21-Jun Fairbury Speedway, Fairbury, IL 10,000
22-Jun I-96 Speedway, Lake Odessa, MI 5,000
23-Jun Peoria Speedway, Peoria, IL 5,000
25-Jun Clayhill Motorsports Park, Atwood, TN 5,000
26-Jun Clarksville Speedway, Clarksville, TN 5,000
27-Jun Paducah International Raceway, Paducah, KY 10,000
28-Jun I-55 Raceway, Pevely, MO 10,000
29-Jun Lincoln Speedway, Lincoln, IL 5,000
01-Jul Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, IL 5,000
02-Jul Jacksonville Speedway, Jacksonville, IL 5,000
03-Jul LaSalle Speedway, LaSalle, IL 5,000
04-Jul Fayette County Speedway, Brownstown, IL 7,500
05-Jul Highland Speedway, Highland, IL 10,000
06-Jul Tri-State Speedway, Haubstadt, IN 5,000
08-Jul Florence Speedway, Union, KY 5,000
09-Jul Terre Haute Action Track, Terre Haute, IN 5,000
10-Jul Macon Speedway, Macon, IL 5,000
11-Jul Farmer City Raceway, Farmer City, IL 10,000
12-Jul 34 Raceway, West Burlington, IA 10,000
13-Jul Vermilion County Speedway, Danville, IL 5,000
16-Jul Atomic Speedway, Chillicothe, OH 5,000
17-Jul Brushcreek Motorsports, Peeble, OH 5,000
18-Jul Attica Raceway Park, Attica, OH 5,000
19-Jul Oakshade Raceway, Wauseon, OH 10,000
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