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Teenagers Reddick & Pierce Ready To Inject Youth Into 2013 DIRTcar Summer Nationals ‘Hell Tour’ Competition

SummerNationalsGrueling Schedule Featuring 31 Dirt Late Model Races In 39 Days Kicks Off Tonight At Indiana’s Brownstown Speedway

CONCORD, NC – June 12, 2013 – School’s out for summer, but two rising-star teenage drivers are ready to continue their education – their Dirt Late Model education – by spending the coming weeks attacking the DIRTcar UMP circuit’s marquee series.

When the DIRTcar Summer Nationals ‘Hell Tour’ kicks off its grueling schedule of 31 races in 39 days tonight (Wed., June 12) at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway, Tyler Reddick and Bobby Pierce – talented youngsters hailing from the heart of DIRTcar UMP country – will embark on the racing odysseys of their lives.

Neither Reddick, 17, of DuQuoin, Ill., nor Pierce, 16, of Oakwood, Ill., can really be considered newcomers to the dirt Late Model division; Reddick has been running an almost exclusively national schedule since 2009 and Pierce has been steadily raising his competition level since ’10. But focusing on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals is a new challenge for both fresh-faced kids, who will combine to give this year’s expanded Hell Tour an intriguing infusion of youth.

“I’m looking forward to running the Summer Nationals,” said Reddick, who made his dirt Late Model debut in 2009 by traveling the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and from 2010-12 was a regular on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. “It’s definitely gonna be fun – and, as they say, it’s the ‘Hell Tour,’ so I’m sure it’s gonna be hell at times as well.

“Running that many races in such a short amount of time is something that not a lot of people get a chance to do, so I think it will be a good experience for me and my dad (Clarence). Being in DuQuoin, we’re in a good location to run the series, so we’ve been thinking about doing it for awhile and I think this is the year to try it.”

Pierce is equally excited about making a serious assault on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals and its $25,000 championship prize. His family-owned team even decided last week to step off the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, which Pierce has been chasing this season as a Rookie of the Year candidate, to concentrate on the Hell Tour.

“It’s really hard to pass up running the Summer Nationals,” said Pierce, who got a major taste of the Hell Tour last year when he entered about three-quarters of the events. “A lot of the tracks are only a few hours from my house and I’ve raced a lot at some of them too. The competition is ridiculously tough, but being familiar with the tracks gives me confidence that I can get some good finishes.”

While Pierce has virtually grown up on the DIRTcar UMP circuit – his father and chassis builder, Bob, is a former DIRTcar UMP Late Model national champion – Reddick will blaze new trails as he hits the DIRTcar Summer Nationals road. Despite living in central Illinois since his family relocated from their native Corning, Calif., so Tyler could pursue his racing career, he never entered a single Summer Nationals event during his first four seasons behind the wheel.

But this year Reddick isn’t following the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, so for the first time he’s been active in DIRTcar UMP competition in his adopted home state. He’s already raced at six tracks that appear on this year’s Summer Nationals schedule – Highland, Quincy, LaSalle, Tri-City and Jacksonville in Illinois and Iowa’s 34 Raceway – and in those six starts he has accumulated four top-five finishes (a second-place run on June 2 at Jacksonville is his best).

Reddick has found that he’s very comfortable racing at the DIRTcar UMP ovals, which bodes well for his Summer Nationals assault.

“Honestly, I see the UMP Summer Nationals tracks as more cushion-banger type deals,” said Reddick, whose equipment is fielded by his grandfather and wrenched by his father. “That’s something my car (Team Zero by Bloomquist chassis) hasn’t been too bad at, and it’s what I like driving on most. I just like that style of racing. It’s my favorite. Right now I’m more suited toward a hooked-up track so I’m definitely looking forward to the Summer Nationals.”

Reddick has just one feature win on his dirt Late Model resume, a Lucas Oil Series score at Florida’s East Bay Raceway Park in February 2011 when he was a shaggy-haired 15-year-old. But he’s been knocking on the door to Victory Lane this year – in addition to Jacksonville two weeks ago, he has runner-up finishes on Feb. 13 at East Bay (Lucas Oil Series) and May 23 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. (MLRA) – and is hopeful that the Summer Nationals will serve as his breakthrough.

“When you’re running World of Outlaws, Lucas or really any show that’s $5,000-to-win or more – which is mostly what we’ve run since I’ve been racing – you’re never gonna catch a break,” said Reddick, who has also won on pavement after capturing a NASCAR K&N Pro Series event at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway last fall (he’s been making some stock-car and Truck appearances on asphalt in hopes of furthering his career). “There’s always gonna be a lot of guys there with a serious chance to win, a lot of guys who have been doing it a long time. That makes it tough for young guys like me and Bobby to get a win. It’s tough to figure everything out.

“But we’re gradually getting closer (to winning races) – and hopefully once we get there, we can stay there. We just have to put everything together.”

The day-in, day-out racing routine of the Summer Nationals is something Reddick is ready to embrace.

“We’ve just been picking-and-choosing this year, so honestly I feel like I haven’t raced enough,” said Reddick, who will travel the Hell Tour with his parents and younger sister and receive assistance at selected events from crewmen Jason Cooper and John Hamel. “I’ve gotten to hate just sitting at home and not racing. I like racing every day. I love going to East Bay and Volusia in February and racing every single day, so I think this is something I’m really gonna enjoy.”

Pierce, who just completed his sophomore year of high school, also loves the busy Summer Nationals schedule, which this year has been stretched to nearly six weeks of competition to allow for several off days amidst a record number of races.

“It’s just non-stop racing,” said Pierce, who, like Reddick, will make the Summer Nationals a family affair with his father, mother Angie and older sister Ciara by his side. “Working on the car during the day and then racing at night – you just do that every day, and you skills get so much better.”

Pierce enters the Summer Nationals coming off a rough stretch of racing highlighted by the worst crash of his career, a wild series of flips in a Lucas Oil Series event on May 31 at Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway. He escaped injury in the wreck, but his car was a virtual write-off save the engine and some other assorted parts so his father’s chassis-building team has had to quickly put together a new machine to give Bobby two cars for action on the Hell Tour.

Pierce has already enjoyed successful runs on the Summer Nationals, finishing a career-best second last year at Kankakee (Ill.) County Speedway. He also owns 13 career dirt Late Model feature wins (six in ’11, six in ’12, one this season), including victories at five tracks (Kankakee, Tri-City, Fairbury and Tri-City in Illinois and Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Missouri) that will host events on this year’s Hell Tour.

With the added experience he gained running nationally with the Lucas Oil Series this year, Pierce figures to be ready to battle for checkered flags with a talented group of Summer Nationals hopefuls led by former series champions Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., and Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill. There will be plenty of others to contend with, including former DIRTcar UMP national titlists Ryan Unzicker of El Paso, Ill., Randy Korte of Highland, Ill., and Kevin Weaver of Gibson City, Ill.; Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill.; Jack Sullivan of Greenbrier, Ark.; Frankie Heckenast of Orland Park, Ill.; and Walker Arthur of Forest, Va., who plans to make his Hell Tour debut by hitting a large portion of the schedule.

“To run with the guys (following the Hell Tour) you gotta be almost perfect on your game,” said Pierce. “The car’s gotta be at its best for the track conditions, and as a driver you gotta learn to know what that track’s gonna do. That’s one of the things when you first start racing – you don’t pay attention to the track surface enough. As you get racing more and more, you start to look at the track and start to realize that, Hey, If I slow down just a little bit and get into the traction line a little bit more, it’s gonna make me faster. That’s something you definitely pick up faster when you race every night.”

And if everything goes right for Pierce? Well, then he’d be able to join his father as a major DIRTcar UMP champion.

“It would be really cool to win (the Hell Tour),” said Pierce. “These days, with the competition so tough, to win even a race on the Summer Nationals is a big accomplishment. So to win a championship – man, that tells a lot about you. You gotta have a lot of consistency to do it – your car’s gotta be running right, you gotta have your head in the game, you gotta run every lap hard.

“You have to earn a championship, and that’s what we’re going to try to do. If we could pull it off, it definitely would be really cool.”

For more information on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals and DIRTcar UMP Racing, visit www.thehelltour.com and www.dirtcar.com.

To receive updates from every DIRTcar Summer Nationals event, follow on Twitter @SummerNationals.

2013 DIRTcar Summer Nationals Scheduled (Date/Day/Track/Location/To-Win)

June 12-Wed. Brownstown Speedway/Brownstown, IN $5,000

June 14-Fri. Cedar Lake Speedway/New Richmond, WI $5,000

June 15-Sat. Cedar Lake Speedway/New Richmond, WI $10,000

June 16-Sun. Wilmot Raceway/Wilmot, WI $5,000

June 19-Wed. Spoon River Speedway/Banner, IL $5,000

June 20-Thurs. Belle-Clair Speedway/Belleville, IL $5,000

June 21-Fri. Tri-City Speedway/Pontoon Beach, IL $10,000

June 22-Sat. Fairbury American Legion Speedway/Fairbury, IL $10,000

June 23-Sun. I-96 Speedway/Lake Odessa, MI $5,000

June 24-Mon. Peoria Speedway.Peoria, IL $5,000

June 26-Wed. Clarksville Speedway/Clarksville, TN $5,000

June 27-Thurs. Clayhill Motorsports Park/Atwood, TN $5,000

June 28-Fri. Paducah International Raceway/Paducah, KY $10,000

June 29-Sat. Federated Raceway at I-55/Pevely, MO $10,000

June 30-Sun. Lincoln Speedway/Lincoln, IL $5,000

July 2-Tues. Quincy Raceway/Quincy, IL $5,000

July 3-Wed. Jacksonville Speedway/Jacksonville, IL $5,000

July 4-Thurs. LaSalle Speedway/LaSalle, IL $5,000

July 5-Fri. Fayette County Speedway/Brownstown, IL $7,500

July 6-Sat. Highland Speedway/Highland, IL $10,000

July 7-Sun. Tri-State Speedway/Haubstadt, IN $5,000

July 9-Tues. Florence Speedway/Union, KY $5,000

July 10-Wed. Terre Haute Action Track/Terre Haute, IN $5,000

July 11-Thurs. Macon Speedway/Macon, IL $5,000

July 12-Fri. Kankakee County Speedway/Kankakee, IL $10,000

July 13-Sat. 34 Raceway/West Burlington, IA $10,000

July 14-Sun. Vermilion County Speedway/Danville, IL $5,000

July 17-Wed. Brushcreek Motorsports Complex/Peebles, OH $5,000

July 18-Thurs. Twin Cities Raceway Park/North Vernon, IN $5,000

July 19-Fri. Attica Raceway Park/Attica, OH $5,000

July 20-Sat. Oakshade Raceway/Wauseon, OH $10,000

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