Barberville,FL — Jan. 26, 2009 — It’s the one award in racing that lets you know “They like me … they really, really like me!” Dave Hess Jr. found out last year during the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH he probably has more fans than he realized.
After winning a UMP DIRTcar Modified feature, Hess became eligible for voting in the Alltel All-Star online competition. It wasn’t enough to merely defeat 100 of the toughest UMP DIRTcar Open-Wheel Modified racers in the country, in order to be crowned the Alltel All-Star he would have to defeat 18 of the biggest names in any form of dirt track racing, drivers like Donny Schatz, Billy Moyer, Josh Richards, Brett Hearn and Wayne Johnson. And the only way to win was to get as many fans as possible to cast a vote for you at AlltelAllStar.com. Only eight days remain until a new set of drivers will try to claim the Alltel All-Star crown at AlltelAllStar.com.
By the time the contest ended in mid-March, thousands of fans had logged onto AlltelAllStar.com to cast their vote for their favorite drivers, who were vying for a $12,000 grand prize. When the clock struck 11:59 p.m. on March 16, Hess was in the lead. He squeezed out a victory by just 1 percent of the votes over Sprint Car star Wayne Johnson.
“I just want to thank everybody,” said the newly crowned Alltel All-Star Hess. “Every morning we were checking the AlltelAllStar.com Web site. That $12,000 is going to help. I’m going to put it back in the car to help our program and put on a show for all of the fans that supported me. I want to thank Alltel for putting this together. I’ll show them as much support as I can for them supporting this program. I can’t thank them enough.”
Looking back a month prior to Hess’ All-Star moment, fans were unsure whether the rising star would even be in contention after a disastrous start to the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH, crashing his car during the B-Main feature on Feb. 8. Nevertheless, like any fierce competitor, Hess wasn’t about to throw in the towel as he showed up with a vengeance merely 24 hours after the non-qualifier to take home the checkered flag in a commanding performance for the first victory of his career at Volusia Speedway Park.
To see who emerges as a star in the Feb. 3-14 running of the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH, make sure to reserve your favorite seats in advance at the sweeping half-mile oval. With infield trailer heights limited to 9 feet, 6 inches, there are no bad seats in the grandstands at Volusia Speedway Park, which is only 15 miles inland on State Road 40 from Ormond Beach, Fla.
Take advantage of special ‘Super Ticket’ deals that offer seats for all the events contested by each headline division, including six Sprint Car events (All-Star Circuit of Champions on Feb. 3-5, World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on Feb. 6-8); eight nights of UMP DIRTcar Modified action (Feb. 3-10); six-nights of Dirt Late Model racing (Feb. 9-14); the and four Advance Auto Parts DIRTcar big-block Modified dates (Feb. 11-14).
To reserve your seats, follow the ticket links at http://www.volusiaspeedwaypark.com, http://www.dirtcarnationals.com or call the Volusia Speedway Park office at 386-985-4402.
