Minus rainouts, it was stop number five for the fortieth annual DIRTcar Summer Nationals at the Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot Wisconsin which just about rides on the border between Wisconsin and Illinois. The Monday night, June fifteenth event also marked the start of week two for the Summer Nationals in 2026, a grind that will see them race at least thirty times in the next month in one of the toughest racing series in the country. They will visit a number of states, race back to back for weeks on end, only get a night off if it rains with the rained out events then usually jammed back into the schedule at some point and work andrace in some of the finest facilities in the country and also some not quite so nice. Those that complete the tour will be left with tired equipment, tired teams and hopefully will have earned enough cash to cover their expenses.
The Monday night Wilmot race marks the only visit of the series to the state of Wisconsin and they barely get far enough into the state to sample the cheese before they head West for three nights of racing where Pork is king.
So far they have been catching a break from the weather, at least on the temperature side as often the Summer Nationals seems to stir up the hottest weather South of Hades but so far this year it has been relatively tepid, temperature wise. It was certainly so in Wilmot with a nice breeze to move the air around and temperatures barely breaking the seventy degree mark.
Monday night racing is tough but something the race teams are used to doing. It is even tougher for the fans but a late arriving but decent sized crowd would enter the Wilmot Raceway spacious grandstand with most arriving just at race time.
Wilmot is a pretty flat third mile oval where Sprint Car racing is king and both Late Models and IMCA Modifieds, which are the support class on Monday, only race here on rare occasions. Not surprisingly, the car counts are tested here in both classes as there are few if any local drivers to help supplement the travelers. There are a few Modified teams from the general area that race here and at other tracks along the tri state border but the closest Late Model teams are from the Milwaukee area and many of them are not up to the challenge of taking on the travelers from this series.
For those reasons, the Late Model field was the smallest for any series event so far with twenty two signed in to race while the Modified field was set at eighteen, many of them Freeport area drivers seen usually at Dubuque and other far eastern Iowa tracks.
The officials of DIRTcar understand that these are midweek events and do a very good job of moving their shows along, helping to make it quick and entertaining event for the fans so they will remember that next year and not be hesitant to return. Also the quick shows are important for DIRT Vision tv where the same holds true and their viewers have to get to work also on Tuesday morning.
With the smaller fields, officials forsake adding any extra races just to try and make it look like they have more cars than they do. Slam, bam, they race and send you on your way home. Three heats and a thirty lap feature for the Late Models and a pair of heats and a feature for the Modifieds constitute the program and I heard no one complain about that.
Off course the Late Models would qualify and start their heats straight up. The heat winners then redrew for starting spots in the feature with everyone else lining up based on how they finished in their heats. The Modifieds drew for starting spots in heats and then the top five in each heat redrew for starting positions in their main event with the others falling in behind them in the starting order.
The track started out slimy which required a little extra packing but that quickly got blown off and the track turned quite dry and slick. The preferred line on this relatively flat track in on the bottom unless a berm starts to build up and the bottom gets too slow and slick. Drivers have to be paying attention to when and if the track changes because that is a key time to make some moves.
The Late Models qualify by group of which there were three with the quick timers being Mike Spatola, Cade Dillard and Jake Rainey with Spatola quickest overall at 15.313 seconds. Heat races were relatively uneventful with all five going green to checkers. Four of the five were won from the front row with only Jason Feger making a big move on the opening lap of his heat to pass the front row drivers and set himself up well for the main event.
Often the outside pole is the place to start races here as the inside line seems to get pinched going into the flat first corner and that is Feger started the thirty lap feature race. It was then time for him to check out on the field which he mostly did for the length of the race. The main got off to a rocky start with a three car pile up in turn one that saw Turk Letezia planted on the hood of Mike Mataragas with all four tires off the ground. Turk restarted the race but Mike was done.
Feger then jumped away from the field and led without challenge for much of the race. A good battle for second saw Frank Heckenast Jr hold off Tanner English for a number of laps before English got by and then began to cut into the lead of Feger.
There wasn't a lot of lapped traffic but what there was proved to be tough for Feger to get past and English was able to close up on him as Jason tried to get past the slower cars. He did make one great move, splitting two drivers to give him more space but then that was negated when the second and final yellow waved with twenty laps complete when Doug Tye spun and collected fourth running Mike Spatola. Summer Nationals rules state that anyone that stops for a spin or wreck becomes part of the spin or wreck so Spatola was forced to tail back the field. He didn't like that and had a snit before he barreled to the pits and kicked up some dust.
Feger pulled away over the last ten laps as the yellow seemed to slow English's progress and he had to settle for second. Dillard made some challenges to Heckenast Jr before falling back and settling for fourth with Mitch McGrath completing the top five. There were just two yellows in the race and only four drivers that failed to finish.
On this night, the Modifieds produced much more passing in their main event and even a pass for the lead. All eighteen on hand took the green flag for their feature, run as the last event of the night with most of the crowd staying to watch, perhaps because it was still so early.
Dennis Schoenfeld, on his way home to Arkansas after racing a big event at 141 Speedway in eastern Wisconsin over the weekend, grabbed the initial lead by again using the top side to get a good jump. He then dropped to the inside, cat fishing around the dry oval to maintain the top spot.
There was some good racing back in the pack at this point while Schoenfeld built up a nice sized lead as the green remained out. Eventually, Jaden Fryer, who has had some experience at this track, tried out the second lane and found it to be very good. He was able to maintain speed in the corners and drive past other drivers spinning their tires down low. A big shelf developed in turns three and four and that gave him an extra boost if he hit it correctly. By the halfway point of the race, after starting eighth, he was up to second and Joel Crowbridge, who saw Fryer drive by him on the top side, moved up there also and was up to third.
Both were closing rapidly on Schoenfeld who had no idea what was going on behind him and on lap thirteen, Fryer went blasting by and took over the lead. A late yellow slowed the action for a spin and set up a three lap dash to the finish.
But another yellow slowed things down again and saved the day for Fryer who had opted to go back to the bottom and protect i guess, but that opened the door for Crowbridge to drive by him for the lead, only to see the pass negated by the yellow for debris.
Feyer didn't make the same mistake twice and got up on the cushion for the restart, effectively blocking Crowbridge from making another run at him. Jaden drove on for the win, riding the high side the last three laps to do so. Crowbridge finished up second while things went sideways for Schoenfeld who had last lap mechanical issues and failed to cross the line, giving third to Adam Abbey who also gained a number of spots late using the top side also. Only two drivers failed to complete the race.
Even with a couple of slowdowns during the Modified feature, it was still a quick night of racing, no doubt appreciated by the fans that came out on a Monday night. I think all racing was done about 9:`5 pm.
Thanks to all the DIRTcar officials and especially track promoter Chris Klemko for his help. The Tour moves on across the border to historic West Liberty Raceway on Tuesday night and DIRT Vision will be on hand to cover it for those fans not able to get to the track.
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