I caught up with the UMP Summer Nationals "Hell Tour" on Monday night, June 16th at the Wilmot Raceway in extreme southern Wisconsin, actually just a couple miles North of the Illinois border. This is week two for the Summer Nationals tour with them making stops in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri before the week is concluded. Appropriate for the "Summer" part of this series, Summer weather has kicked in as it was a hot and humid day along the Wisconsin border, with T storms teasing but fortunately staying away from our door.
It has been quite a few years since I was last at Wilmot and things look considerably different than they used to. lots of upgrades to the infrastructure have been made, not the least of which is the towering grandstand that provides an excellent view of the track along with great track lighting and sound system.
About the only thing that still looks the same and that is the track itself, which sure is flat in the corners. It seems that Sprint Cars, which is the staple at this track, would find it hard to race on such a flat track and with plenty of space available, it seems interesting that they have never banked the corners up more than they are.
Thirty five drivers signed in to race with the Summer Nationals on this Monday night and the tour regular do indeed really support their series as the top twenty four in current points were all among the entrants on Monday. Along with the Late Models, local Street Stocks and IMCA Modifieds are also a part of the show with both running full programs.
One thing very Sprint Car like on this night was the way the track was prepped. The berm built up to be a monster one, with it having to be a couple feet deep or perhaps more as it was a monster on both ends. Eventually they worked on the third and fourth corner berm, but never touched the other corner all night and that was what eventually caught up with Ashton Winger, sending him on his feature race tumble. If you caught the cushion just right, it would give you quite a boost down the chutes but get sideways in it or jump it and you were in a world of hurt. If Sprint Cars were running on Monday, I feel we would have seen quite a few more of them on their tops.
The Hell Tour last raced here in 2016 and the current track record of 15.030 seconds was blown out of the water, with twenty drivers breaking that record and Winger being quickest overall at 14.394 seconds.
The normal Hell Tour procedures were again in place on Monday, with the heats set straight up with four moving on to the main event. The C Feature wasn't needed on Monday so they ran a bigger B Feature with only two moving to the main. They start a surprisingly small number of twenty two cars for most events but on Monday they added five provisional starters to make a twenty three car starting field. The biggest development during qualifying action was when Brian Shirley, in a battle with Jason Feger, snapped a drive shaft and was done for the night, heading out the gate early.
UMP officials realize that the Late Models are the show for this event and therefore, after some more berm beating down action, the Late Model feature would run off first, thus allowing those that came to see the Late Models the chance, if desired, to leave early and head home.
All night the outside line off turn four seemed to provide an extra boost to those drivers trying to get a good start or restart for races. It worked again during the thirty lap main event when Joseph Joiner got the jump on Feger to take the early lead in the Late Model main. Drake Troutman was right there also and it quickly became a three car race.
Numerous yellows early kept the field bunched with several spins and stalls slowing the action three times over the first eight laps. Then Winger, who was running in the top five, did his flip in turn two and the red flag stopped the action. It was the first 2025 appearance on the Summer National Tour for Winger, who won the points title in this series just last year. He was OK but the car left the track on a roll back.
While Joiner continued to lead, Feger and Troutman traded the second spot three times during the early going, but it generally didn't make much difference who was in front for the restarts, as Troutman always took the outside and Feger the inside, no matter what order they were running.
Troutman continued to try and get a run off the cushion in turn two and finally, on lap nineteen, following the fifth and final yellow, he got a big blast off the berm in turn two, drove around Feger and with a big burst of speed, dove low in turn three and slipped under Joiner for the lead. And once in front, he was gone as he received no challenges for the top spot the rest of the race.
Feger eventually got past Joiner for second with Dennis Erb and Kyle Bronson completing the top five. Fifteen drivers completed the race with all still on the lead lap while quite a few dropped out early when they found they were making no progress toward the front of the pack.
Nineteen Modifieds signed in to race on Monday night, most of them local drivers but interspersed with a few others that run other Wisconsin tracks. Their heat races were strewn with wrecks but they did a better job in the main event, only causing the yellow light to be triggered twice. Dan Jung took the early lead from the pole and paced the field for the opening seven laps.
However, Joel Seegert Sr was on the move after starting third and he was able to drive under Jung, who got high off turn two, and take over the lead. And once in front, he pulled away from the pack to take the win.
Past the halfway point, Joel Crowbridge was able to pass Jung and move into second but he wasn't able to put any pressure on the leader and Seegert Sr drove home for the win. Steve Mueller and James Fletcher completed the top five.
The Street Stocks completed the evening's entertainment and they were in a word, awful. It seemed that their sole mission in this race was to see how many other drivers they could run into and wreck, or as an alternative plan, see how many times they could spin out.
The yellow waved seven times during their endurance contest with track officials finally growing tired of the antics and sticking a fork in the proceedings by throwing the checkered flag two laps early.
Blake Kreuser started third, but was able to take the lead before one lap was completed and he was able to stay in front of the messy action going on behind him. Rob Olson, who got wrecked in a heat race and had to start at the back of the pack, came through the carnage to finish second with Robby Olson, his son, next in line. About half the starters limped home to see the checkers.
Racing got done a little later than it should have, largely due to the Street Stocks misbehaving but those fans that pulled the plug early got home at a reasonable hour. Thanks to all the UMP and DIRTcar officials on board tonight and particularly Nick Graziano at the home office of DIRTcar for his help. The traveling band of the Summer Nationals moves to the Davenport Speedway on Tuesday.
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