Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH: Big-Block Wrap-Up

FLORIDA TOUR 2009 PIT NOTES

Saturday - February 14

*Hearn Third Alltel All-Star Big-Block Candidate…The ’09 edition of the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH at Volusia is over and Advance Series DIRTcar racer Brett Hearn has joined Big-Block brethren Pat Ward and Jamie Mills in the fans’ voting as he is now in the running for the lucrative $10,000 top prize awarded to just one winning driver. “I think it adds a level of recognition to the cars and the guys who do this,” remarked Hearn about why fans should choose him as the Alltel All-Star. “It raises the level of professionalism of the event. This whole event is just an awesome event. It’s unbelievable racing every night. We were blessed with beautiful weather. It’s a blast. I really appreciate Alltel being here.” The final list of Alltel All-Star candidates and their text message Letter Codes are: Big-Block Modifieds – Pat Ward (i), Jamie Mills (L), Brett Hearn (n); Sprint Cars – Donny Schatz (b); Stevie Smith (d); Joey Saldana (f); UMP DIRTcar Modifieds – Jared Landers (a), Austin Dillon (c), Randy Hall (e); UMP DIRTcar Super Late Models – Darren Miller (g), Earl Pearson Jr. (h), Dan Schlieper (j); World of Outlaws Late Models – Josh Richards (k), Steve Francis (m). Fans can vote by visiting www.AlltelAllStar.com or texting their drivers code to 247253.




*General Motors Plants Seeds of Speed In Florida…What do DIRTcar Modified racers Brett Hearn and Jimmy Johnson share in common with World Racing Group officials Brian Carter and Gary Risch Jr.? Each logged track time at Volusia this past week behind the wheel of Risch’s Teo Pro Car that was the first to house an experimental GM Performance Parts Engine. “We’re very pleased with the forward progress made using this particular engine,” said Jeffrey Shaw, Power Train & Performance Parts Specialist for GM’s Northeast Region. Shaw worked alongside DIRTcar NE Director of Technical Operations Bob Dini and tech assistant George Johnson monitoring nightly test runs made with the 572/720R powerplant. “This engine was originally developed for drag racing applications and built to provide a comfortable 720 horsepower. What we took down to Florida was really an unknown package in this type car so everything we learned will be a great asset for improving its performance in the coming months.”

*VP Racing Fuel Powers Big-Blocks At Volusia…Just in time for the DIRTcar Northeast’s 25th winter of competition in the Sunshine State, the World Racing Group announced that VP Racing Fuels recently signed a multi-year agreement to be the Official Racing Fuel of the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series and in 2009 the only fuels allowed in the Big-Block Modified and 358-Modified divisions at sanctioned events will be VP110 and C12. The multi-faceted deal began with the season-opening Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park, where VP was the only fuel supplier at the high speed, half-miler. “We did a random fuel check for the first time on Thursday and the top-five all passed,” noted Fred Turza, VP Racing Fuels Research & Development Director based in Newark, Delaware, who singled out Big-Block winners Pat Ward, Jamie Mills and Brett Hearn as those finding immediate success in the recent transition. Ironically, Hearn was formerly a staunch supporter of VP Racing Fuels while associated with the no. 6 Freightliner Trucks of Newburgh team while Mills is currently a recognized distributor of VP Fuels to fellow racers in the Blue Hen State. “Teams will find that running VP will keep water temperature down around 10 degrees, and in the longer races that’s quite significant in the engine department. We’re confident that racers will also find our C12 to provide more consistency, something that will become evident as they grow more accustomed to its use on a regular basis,” added Turza, who served in a similar capacity with the NASCAR sanctioning body for a dozen years. With the timing of the VP Racing Fuels program, teams were allowed to burn off their own supplies of competing brand fuels during the week and VP reps stationed trackside even afforded them the opportunity to trade gallon for gallon up to a drum of their own fuel for the required VP blend.

*Cice, Señor…Making a rare appearance at the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals was Chuck Cice, proprietor of C.C.Performance, a high-performance engine builder based in Bolivar, Ohio. Looking to drum up more business in the Big-Block ranks after an exclusive arrangement with Carl Myers and his Sweeteners Plus Team was voided last season, Cice spent most of the week in the JB Motorsports camp tending to his newest customers, Matt Sheppard and Jeff Brownell Jr. “Matt has been using the ‘house’ engine and we’ve made more changes with him, although Jeff probably has the better of the two right now,” stated Cice, 55, who started building engines in 1978 that were later found under the hood of such noted Cup drivers as Harry Gant and the late Neil Bonnett. His creations also carried Vic Coffey to a pair of Super DIRT Week Rite Aid 200 victories, helped put Sheppard on the outside-pole in last October’s Advance Auto Parts Series Rite Aid 200 at the Syracuse Mile, and powered Tim McCreadie to the ’06 World of Outlaws Late Model Series points championship. “I began building off-shore power boat engines for Carl in the early 90s after one of my friends told me he was looking for more power. The first time out we broke the kilo record by 12 mph and after that won two world championships together. Jeff ordered two from us last summer and I’m hoping to bring similar success to more drivers this year not being under contract.”

*Unmatched Track record…Spearheaded by winter tour head groundskeeper Gary Risch Jr. from Western Pennsylvania, the unheralded track maintenance team of Empire State transplants Eric Fink and Larry Fink, and Lernerville (Pa.) Speedway prep master Chad Alchier had no rivals in February as they produced one of the finest racing surfaces ever presented for 12 consecutive shows at Volusia Speedway Park. With upwards of 90 UMP DIRTcar Modifieds, an average of 70 Late Model contenders, nearly 50 Sprinters and 34 Big-Block Modifieds, hundreds of laps were turned in less than two weeks of continuous head to head competition from short-track stars converging on the ultra-fast 1/2-miler from throughout the United States and Canada.

*Stat Attack…For more than a decade of DIRTcar Big-Block Modified competition in Florida, 148 of the 179 drivers entered have qualified for feature events. The average annual car count during this 12-year span is 40 with a DIRTcar Nationals record 56 drivers participating in 2006 and 31 entered in 1999. Including events staged at East Bay Raceway outside Tampa, nearby Putnam County Speedway in Palatka and Volusia, 48 feature races have been run since 1998 and 16 drivers have now qualified for at least half: Brett Hearn (48), Jamie Mills (43), Danny Johnson (40), Pat Ward (37), Tim Fuller (35), J.R. Heffner (35), Jimmy Horton (32), Ray Swinehart (30), Alan Johnson (28), Jim Rasey (28) Tim McCreadie (27), Doug Hoffman (27), Deron Rust (27), Vic Coffey (26), Rick Laubach (26), and Andy Bachetti (25). In 2009, open-wheel racers Jeff Brownell Jr., Dave Camara, Michel Chicoine, James Michael Friesen, Matt Jester, Rex King Jr., Brian Sadler and Guy Sheldon made their maiden voyages to VSP while Jeff Brown and Brad Trice qualified for their first feature after first circling the Barberville oval in 2006. Vermont veteran Camara towed down his Small-Block in 1991 and scored a feature win at Putnam while Nassau, New York Sheldon’s rookie season in ’95 opened at St. Augustine Speedway where he place 15th in the four-race finale…..Despite just one blemish on his Florida Tour transcript, Brett Hearn continued his unparalleled streak of success down south. Saturday’s victory was the fifth 50-lap triumph for Hearn in the Sunshine State and he has now captured at least one Alltel DIRTcar Nationals feature every year since 1998 except for 2007, when he mustered just a single top-five. The ‘Jet’ has now cracked the winner’s circle 19 times ---16 at VSP--- and taken the checkered flag among the top-five finishers in 39 of 48 starts…..The 2009 trip to gator country was the 25th for DIRTcar Northeast Big-Block travelers and Pat Ward emerged as the third driver in a row to cop the tour opener and continue on to claim the overall Advance Auto Parts mini-series points title. Jeff Kappesser was the first to pull off the feat in 1982 and with Ward’s recent reign has now been done 11 times since…No formal recognition was given to the race hard charger in the DIRTcar Modified mains yet if there was, Jamie Mills (Finish=6/Start=20, Feb. 11), Jimmy Horton (F=11/S=21, Feb. 12; F=8/S=18, Feb. 14) and Andy Bachetti (F=5/S=22, Feb. 13) would have collected the phantom hardware for their perseverance throughout the week.....Customary pre-race driver draws were held all four nights and for the first time the top-two heat race finishers redrew to help determine the feature line-ups with the remainder of the field staged using a standard heads-up format. With exactly 45 pills filling the basket nightly, New Jersey drivers Brett Hearn (10.0) and Rich Scagliotta (16.3) and New Yorker Jeremy Markle (12.3) had the best average draw for the four events while ’08 Rookie of the Year Larry Wight (34.0), Maryland upstart Brad Trice (34.0), two-time Florida Tour Champion Jimmy Horton (31.3) and Trice’s brother in-law Jeff Brown (31.0) had the worst. Overall points king Pat Ward (18.8) was among the top-third while.....The first time Pat Ward collected the overall Alltel DIRTcar Nationals Championship hardware was in 2004 as he topped both Brett Hearn and Doug Hoffman by a 154-152 point margin heading into the traditional 50-lap finale that was ultimately cancelled due to rain. A brief evening rainfall threatened to reproduce the same scenario this year, although the seasoned chauffeur from Genoa, New York erased any doubt with a fifth-place finish to hold off Andy Bachetti, 208-202, in the final Big-Block standings. The big difference was a pair of runner-up feature race finishes for Ward in ’04 while he reached victory lane twice in the ’09 edition.

*See You Next Year…The 39th Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH has been scheduled for February 2-13, 2010. Reserved tickets will go on sale on-line at www.dirtcarnationals.com beginning June 1. To renew current reserved seats for the following winter, call the Volusia Speedway Park office at 386/985-4402 on Monday, Feb. 16 and get an early jump on next season.

FLORIDA TOUR BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED POINT CHAMPIONS: 1978-2009

*DIRTcar-sanctioned events.

YEAR CHAMPION (wins) TRACK(S)

*2009 Pat Ward(2) Volusia Speedway Park

*2008 Brett Hearn(1)/Billy Pauch(1) Volusia Speedway Park

*2007 Danny Johnson(2) Volusia Speedway Park

*2006 Brett Hearn(2) Volusia Speedway Park

*2005 Brett Hearn(1)/Andy Bachetti(1) Volusia Speedway Park

*2004 Pat Ward Volusia Speedway Park

*2003 Tim Fuller(1) Volusia Speedway Park

*2002 Brett Hearn(2) Putnam County, Volusia Park

*2001 Brett Hearn(3) East Bay, Volusia Park

*2000 Brett Hearn(3) Volusia Speedway Park

*1999 Jimmy Horton(1) Volusia Speedway Park

*1998 Brett Hearn(2) Volusia Speedway Park

1996-97 -no races-

*1995 Doug Hoffman(1) St. Augustine

1994 -no races-

*1993 -Invitational- Volusia County

1990-92 -no races-

*1989 Alan Johnson Volusia County

1988 Danny Johnson(1) Volusia County

*1987 Danny Johnson(3) Volusia County

*1986 Jimmy Horton(2) Volusia County

1985 Billy Pauch(3) Volusia County

1984 Kenny Brightbill(2)/Jack Johnson Volusia County

*1983 Alan Johnson East Bay, Volusia County

*1982 Jeff Kappesser(2)/Billy Pauch East Bay, Volusia County

*1981 Jack Johnson(1) Florida State Fairgrounds

*1980 Kenny Brightbill(3) Florida State Fairgrounds

1979 -no races-

1978 Walt Breeding(1) Volusia County

FLORIDA TOUR BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED FEATURE RACE WINNERS: 1978-2009

(108 events / 5 tracks / 33 drivers)

WINS DRIVER FIRST WIN LAST WIN

19 Brett Hearn Volusia County, 2/11/93 Volusia Park, 2/14/09

11 Danny Johnson Volusia County, 2/9/87 Volusia Park, 2/17/07

9 Kenny Brightbill Volusia County, 2/13/78 Volusia County, 2/13/87

8 Doug Hoffman Volusia County, 2/18/84 Volusia Park, 2/14/98

6 Jack Johnson Tampa Fairgrnds, 2/14/81 Volusia County, 2/14/89

6 Jimmy Horton Volusia County, 2/12/86 Volusia Park, 2/16/08

5 Tim Fuller Volusia Park, 2/15/01 Volusia Park, 2/16/07

5 Billy Pauch Volusia County, 2/11/85 Volusia Park, 2/13/08

3 Merv Treichler Volusia County, 2/13/82 Volusia County, 2/17/83

3 Doug Ingalls East Bay, 2/15/83 Volusia County, 2/16/84

3 Jamie Mills Volusia Park, 2/15/00 Volusia Park, 2/13/09

2 Will Cagle Volusia County, 2/17/78 Volusia County, 2/18/78

2 Tommy Hager Volusia County, 2/16/78 Tampa Fairgrnds, 2/8/80

2 Gary Iulg Volusia County, 2/12/78 East Bay, 2/8/82

2 Jeff Kappesser East Bay, 2/7/82 Volusia County, 2/10/82

2 Kenny Tremont Volusia County, 2/13/93 Volusia Park, 2/12/99

2 Bob McCreadie Volusia Park, 2/10/99 Volusia Park, 2/16/01

2 Billy Decker Volusia Park, 2/12/04 Volusia Park, 2/16/05

2 Pat Ward Volusia Park, 2/11/09 Volusia Park, 2/12/09

1 Lou Lazzaro Volusia County, 2/10/78

1 Walt Breeding Volusia County, 2/11/78

1 Kevin Collins Tampa Fairgrounds, 2/13/81

1 Ray Dalmata Volusia County, 2/15/84

1 C.D. Coville Volusia County, 2/16/85

1 Alan Johnson Volusia County, 2/11/86

1 Richie Tobias Jr. Volusia County, 2/13/89

1 Jeff Heotzler St. Augustine, 2/14/95

1 Steve Paine St. Augustine, 2/16/95

1 Tim McCreadie Volusia Park, 2/16/02

1 Craig VonDohren Volusia Park, 2/11/03

1 J.R. Heffner Volusia Park, 2/13/04

1 Andy Bachetti Volusia Park, 2/15/05

1 Dale Planck Volusia Park, 2/15/08



Headquartered in Roanoke, Va., Advance Auto Parts, a leading automotive aftermarket retailer of parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items in the United States, serves both the do-it-yourself and professional installer markets As of April 19, 2008, the Company operated 3,291 stores in 40 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Additional information about the Company, employment opportunities, customer services, and on-line shopping for parts and accessories can be found on the Company's web site at www.advanceautoparts.com.

The Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series for Big-Block Modifieds is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Advance Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire and VP Racing Fuels. Promotional partners include Rite Aid Corporation, Dig Safely New York and the University of Northwestern Ohio and the contingency sponsors are Bars Leaks, Bert Transmission, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Crane Cams, Ferris Industries, Holley HP Carburetors, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, KSE Racing Products, Motorsports Safety Systems, Penske Shocks, Racing Electronics, Rislone Oil Stabilizer and Wrisco Industries.