ROSSBURG, Ohio — Running double-duty at Eldora Speedway during the track’s annual mid-week Dirt Derby special is a feat dreamed of by some, thought feasible by fewer and actually attempted by only the truly special.
By that definition, Stewart Friesen is one of those truly special race car drivers.
Friesen will be tackling the unique challenge of running in both the Super DIRTcar Series big-block modifieds and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series during the two-day special.
Tuesday night consists of two practices in the Truck and a full program with his modified, topped off by a 75-lap feature, while Wednesday sees the 33-year-old Canadian qualify and race his Truck in addition to running in the Super DIRTcar Series all-star spectacular at the half-mile dirt oval.
It’s a loaded schedule that would make most drivers blanch just thinking about it.
But for Friesen, it’s just another day in the life.
“We’re just racing,” Friesen said Tuesday as cars rolled into the upper pit area for modified practice. “This is what we do, what we love to do.”
“Our Halmar team has been great this year on the dirt side, and we’ve been learning quite a bit with the Truck, so to be able to do both at an awesome track like Eldora is just super cool. It’s probably one of the highlights of our schedule all year and it’s certainly something we look forward to. We’re doing it; we’re here and now it’s just time to get things rolling.”
Friesen said on a week as hot as the one teams are faced with at Eldora this year, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 80s both days, that stamina will be one of the key challenges of running double-duty.
“To be completely honest, (running double-duty) is one of those ideas that’s great in your head and you’re all pumped up about it, but once you’re doing it and you’re sweating like crazy you want to shoot yourself for bringing it up,” Friesen joked with a big smile.
“In all seriousness, though, it’s a ton of fun. For someone like me that just loves to race, I don’t know if there’s much of a challenge at all. The challenge is just logistically putting everything together to get to where we are now at the race track … but I’m really fortunate to have great guys on both the (No.) 44 modified team and the (No.) 52 truck team. It’s more of a people deal than anything, and once that’s in place then it’s easy for me to just bounce back and forth (from one car to the other).”
After his run in last year’s Dirt Derby at Eldora was foiled by a mechanical failure, Friesen is determined to avenge that disappointment with a strong run in Wednesday night’s Truck race.
It doesn’t hurt that he’s been following the Truck Series full-time this year, either, save for missing two races at Gateway Motorsports Park and Iowa Speedway for his team to regroup following a spate of crashes in the first seven races of the season.
“Man, I hope we can put something together and have a strong run come race time,” Friesen said. “We were able to do the Goodyear tire test here a couple months ago, and I think that provided us with a lot of valuable information, but it’s just a different animal (the Trucks running on dirt).”
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