One of dirt track racing’s most enthusiastic and recognizable names made his long-awaited return to DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Victory Lane Saturday night. Kenny Wallace is once again on top of the heap.
“There were years where I was winning everything,” Wallace said in Victory Lane. “Now, I guess I’m back.”
Indeed, the 2012 Summit Modified champion was back – right on the top side berm of the quarter-mile Fayette County Speedway. With the utmost car control and speed, Wallace cruised to his eighth career Summit Modified victory and a $3,000 check with the American Modified Series co-sanction. But not without a frightening sight heading into Turn 3 on the opening lap.
Polesitter Rick Conoyer went into Turn 3 with a full head of steam and lost the handle right in front of Wallace, and the rest of the 24-car field, sending cars into a frenzy to try and avoid him spinning. Wallace did just that and continued on, albeit with a rapid heartbeat.
“I was ready to go, and when Rick spun out, it was one of those deals like, ‘oh my gosh.’ But we got lucky and missed it,” Wallace, of St. Louis, MO, said.
A complete restart was in order, and Wallace jumped right on the opportunity to swipe the lead away on the outside. Which, he did, making the move around Conoyer on Lap 3.
Six-time Summit Modified champion Mike Harrison, of Highland, IL, managed to track down Wallace on the top side after another restart before halfway and was getting ready to make his move for the lead when he tagged the wall at the exit of Turn 4, sending his right-side wheels above the wall and back down again, damaging the car.
Immediately, Harrison fell off the pace and took it pit-side one lap later, done for the night. This freed up Wallace to maneuver through traffic at his own pace, as Conoyer was more than four seconds behind at that point.
With the laps winding down and thin traffic in front of him, Wallace cruised to the checkers for his first win with the tour since June 2018.
Piloting a new Elite Chassis for the 2021 season, Wallace has been spending lots of time in the seat getting used to driving it. The car was fabricated by three-time and defending Summit Modified champion Nick Hoffman, who opted to race in Indiana on Saturday, ending his eight-race win streak with the tour. However, Wallace was able to pick up the win and at least keep the streak going for the Elite brand.
“Nick Hoffman’s been good to me, but he always holds an ace up his sleeve. So, I had to find what I needed, and I drove it like asphalt,” Wallace said.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[4]; 2. J82-Treb Jacoby[2]; 3. 14C-Rick Conoyer[1]; 4. 128-Zach Schantz[8]; 5. 43A-Larry Anderson[13]; 6. 1A-Aaron Draege[10]; 7. 59R-Jacob Rexing[9]; 8. 87Z-Zeb Moake[6]; 9. 22-Wade Wenthe[12]; 10. 88L-Rob Lee[19]; 11. 4T-Jake Trebilcock[18]; 12. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[16]; 13. 13-Charlie Mefford[17]; 14. 15-Richard Gibson[24]; 15. 4TM-Timothy Monroe[22]; 16. 10-Jason Highley[23]; 17. 27-Keith Harre[21]; 18. 83-Kasey Schrock[20]; 19. 51-Phil Bible[15]; 20. 1S-Brian Shaw[5]; 21. 59N-Chad Evans[11]; 22. 24H-Mike Harrison[3]; 23. 5T-Rob Timmons[7]; 24. 9H-John Demoss[14]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 13-Charlie Mefford[1]; 2. 88L-Rob Lee[3]; 3. 4TM-Timothy Monroe[2]; 4. 9-Chad Cornett[13]; 5. 662-Joey Lee[5]; 6. 819-Chris Grigg[10]; 7. 4M-Clint Martin[6]; 8. 27-Keith Harre[4]; 9. 88-Chris Bolyard[8]; 10. 2H-Brian Hazlett[9]; 11. (DNS) 21M-Willy Myers; 12. (DNS) 22P-Wil Prater; 13. (DNS) M1-Mike Savage; 14. (DNS) 4-Brian Heizer
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 4T-Jake Trebilcock[1]; 2. 83-Kasey Schrock[8]; 3. 71-Rayce Baker[12]; 4. 24L-Lacey Risley[9]; 5. 1L-Mike Lentz[7]; 6. 19C-Carter Sinkhorn[3]; 7. 71S-Dakota Smith[4]; 8. 6C-Troy Carter[2]; 9. 69L-Josh Lemke[5]; 10. 15-Richard Gibson[13]; 11. 10-Jason Highley[10]; 12. (DNS) 67-Kelby Simmons; 13. (DNS) 40J-John Nethery; 14. (DNS) 79-Caleb DeMoss
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14C-Rick Conoyer[2]; 2. 1S-Brian Shaw[5]; 3. 59R-Jacob Rexing[1]; 4. 43A-Larry Anderson[4]; 5. 13-Charlie Mefford[7]; 6. 88L-Rob Lee[3]; 7. 662-Joey Lee[9]; 8. M1-Mike Savage[6]; 9. 2H-Brian Hazlett[11]; 10. 4-Brian Heizer[10]; 11. 9-Chad Cornett[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24H-Mike Harrison[1]; 2. 5T-Rob Timmons[6]; 3. 59N-Chad Evans[2]; 4. 51-Phil Bible[10]; 5. 4TM-Timothy Monroe[8]; 6. 27-Keith Harre[9]; 7. 4M-Clint Martin[4]; 8. 88-Chris Bolyard[5]; 9. 819-Chris Grigg[11]; 10. 21M-Willy Myers[3]; 11. 22P-Wil Prater[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[1]; 2. 87Z-Zeb Moake[3]; 3. 1A-Aaron Draege[2]; 4. 9H-John Demoss[4]; 5. 4T-Jake Trebilcock[5]; 6. 19C-Carter Sinkhorn[8]; 7. 69L-Josh Lemke[9]; 8. 1L-Mike Lentz[10]; 9. 24L-Lacey Risley[11]; 10. 40J-John Nethery[7]; 11. 15-Richard Gibson[6]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. J82-Treb Jacoby[1]; 2. 128-Zach Schantz[2]; 3. 22-Wade Wenthe[5]; 4. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[4]; 5. 6C-Troy Carter[11]; 6. 71S-Dakota Smith[9]; 7. 67-Kelby Simmons[8]; 8. 83-Kasey Schrock[3]; 9. 10-Jason Highley[6]; 10. 71-Rayce Baker[10]; 11. 79-Caleb DeMoss[7]
Qualifying Group 1 (3 Laps): 1. 59R-Jacob Rexing, 00:13.775[20]; 2. 24H-Mike Harrison, 00:13.878[1]; 3. 14C-Rick Conoyer, 00:13.975[10]; 4. 59N-Chad Evans, 00:14.104[14]; 5. 88L-Rob Lee, 00:14.295[7]; 6. 21M-Willy Myers, 00:14.326[19]; 7. 43A-Larry Anderson, 00:14.418[18]; 8. 4M-Clint Martin, 00:14.619[8]; 9. 1S-Brian Shaw, 00:14.623[16]; 10. 88-Chris Bolyard, 00:14.638[15]; 11. M1-Mike Savage, 00:14.641[6]; 12. 5T-Rob Timmons, 00:14.648[12]; 13. 13-Charlie Mefford, 00:14.791[4]; 14. 22P-Wil Prater, 00:14.844[2]; 15. 9-Chad Cornett, 00:14.865[3]; 16. 4TM-Timothy Monroe, 00:14.909[11]; 17. 662-Joey Lee, 00:14.931[22]; 18. 27-Keith Harre, 00:15.176[21]; 19. 4-Brian Heizer, 00:15.331[5]; 20. 51-Phil Bible, 00:15.528[17]; 21. 2H-Brian Hazlett, 00:15.818[9]; 22. 819-Chris Grigg, 00:15.963[13]
Qualifying Group 2 (3 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace, 00:14.044[9]; 2. J82-Treb Jacoby, 00:14.061[12]; 3. 1A-Aaron Draege, 00:14.308[1]; 4. 128-Zach Schantz, 00:14.456[3]; 5. 87Z-Zeb Moake, 00:14.499[16]; 6. 83-Kasey Schrock, 00:14.500[5]; 7. 9H-John Demoss, 00:14.641[11]; 8. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr, 00:14.691[22]; 9. 4T-Jake Trebilcock, 00:14.715[19]; 10. 22-Wade Wenthe, 00:14.755[14]; 11. 15-Richard Gibson, 00:14.918[6]; 12. 10-Jason Highley, 00:14.969[17]; 13. 40J-John Nethery, 00:14.985[2]; 14. 79-Caleb DeMoss, 00:14.987[20]; 15. 19C-Carter Sinkhorn, 00:15.063[13]; 16. 67-Kelby Simmons, 00:15.212[21]; 17. 69L-Josh Lemke, 00:15.230[18]; 18. 71S-Dakota Smith, 00:15.692[8]; 19. 1L-Mike Lentz, 00:15.704[15]; 20. 71-Rayce Baker, 00:15.820[10]; 21. 24L-Lacey Risley, 00:16.190[7]; 22. 6C-Troy Carter, 00:16.596[4]
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