When it comes to the annual DIRTcar Nationals at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park, the first image that comes to mind is of the mighty winged sprint cars of the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series, which often steal the show during their portion of Florida in February.
But the true heart and soul of the two-week event lies in a division that fans often overlook, as it serves as the undercard to the headlining classes throughout much of the opening 10 days of racing — the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.
The UMP Modifieds make up the true essence of the DIRTcar Nationals, showcasing battles among upstart young guns and grizzled veterans, the stars of NASCAR and drivers who have made the class their livelihood. The modifieds feature participants from all walks of life whose only goals are to have fun and compete at a high level in a division that stands as one of the last true working-man’s classes in all of short-track racing.
This class doesn’t necessarily take a high-dollar budget to be competitive, nor does it require weeks and months on the road like a touring series schedule does.
Instead, it’s a class where the headline is racers being racers and where virtually anyone has the potential to play a starring role during one of the biggest race weeks of the season.
The class also tends to present some of the hottest-button action during the entire two-week stretch of the DIRTcar Nationals, something that DIRTcar’s chief marketing officer Ben Geisler says endears them to fans on a nightly basis.
“If you look at why the UMP Modified class is so important at the DIRTcar Nationals, I think it really is because it produces some of the best racing on a nightly basis during the event,” Geisler said. “It is an awesome product on the race track. Obviously, your headline series is a sprint car series or a late model series, but to have just one division racing is really not what DIRTcar Nationals is about, right? It has always been about the really strong value for the race fans.
“If you look at the quality of the racing in the UMP Modified division and the impact it has on the fans, you see that we’re delivering two great features every night,” Geisler continued. “We’ll have a sprint car race finish up and the modifieds will be up next, and the majority of the crowd stays. It’s not just a time-filler … the fans respond to the racing and we have an awesome group of racers that come down for it each year.”
The UMP Modified class reads like a who’s who of short-track and dirt racing when it comes to the names that have participated through the years, with current and former NASCAR stars such as Austin and Ty Dillon, Matt Crafton, David Stremme, Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader going toe to toe with UMP kingpins including Nick Hoffman and Mike Harrison.
It’s that kind of diversity in competition and star power that Geisler says has helped turn the DIRTcar Nationals into a crown jewel event for the class.
“Kudos to this group of (NASCAR) guys that we’ve had come and run during DIRTcar Nationals, for noticing that the UMP Modifieds are a great division to just go and race,” Geisler said. “You can be competitive, have fun … it’s become a great landing spot for those groups of drivers.
“There’s a fun factor for our regular guys to race against the Kennys and the Stremmes of the world. I think it’s more fun for the Nick Hoffmans and those guys like that to just go out there and race against that group, because they are competitive drivers and not just former NASCAR guys,” he added. “But it’s those guys that have helped to elevate the profile of this event for the class even that much more.”
Geisler stresses that the DIRTcar Nationals isn’t just another event, especially for this class. It has become a true crown jewel and one of the ultimate tests of skill for the drivers who compete at Volusia Speedway Park year after year.
“It has truly become a marquee event for UMP Modified racing,” said Geisler. “If you look at other marquee events … this is one that stacks up right with them, where people say, ‘I have to run Volusia.’
“I think if you look at some other things to add to that, the racers know that they are going to be treated well, they’re going to have a great racing surface and the events are going to run efficiently,” Geisler noted. “It’s kind of a test of your mettle as a driver when you think about it. You’re not just going to Volusia to race 70 or 80 cars; you’re going there to race 70 or 80 of the best cars in the country and see how you stack up.”
