{"id":4625,"date":"2008-12-10T09:42:40","date_gmt":"2008-12-10T15:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/100.24.212.105\/?p=4625"},"modified":"2010-11-18T09:44:36","modified_gmt":"2010-11-18T15:44:36","slug":"jeff-leka-will-pick-up-20000-modified-national-title-check-at-ump-dirtcar-racing-awards-banquet-on-jan-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dirtcar.com\/dirtcar-ump\/ump-modifieds\/jeff-leka-will-pick-up-20000-modified-national-title-check-at-ump-dirtcar-racing-awards-banquet-on-jan-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Leka Will Pick Up $20,000 Modified National Title Check At UMP DIRTcar Racing Awards Banquet On Jan. 10"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
<\/strong>
Jeff Leka<\/p><\/div>\n
Evansville, IN<\/strong> \u2014 Jeff Leka already celebrated his long-awaited first career UMP DIRTcar Racing Open-Wheel Modified national championship two months ago at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg , Ohio .<\/p>\n
But the veteran driver from Buffalo , Ill. , still has his formal coronation to go.<\/p>\n
That will come on Jan. 10, 2009, when Leka dons a suit-and-tie and accepts a $20,000 check during the 25th annual UMP DIRTcar Racing \u2018Night of Champions\u2019 Awards Banquet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Ill.<\/p>\n
Leka, 43, will stand in the spotlight at the gala with the national champions of seven other UMP DIRTcar Racing divisions, including repeat Super Late Model title-holder Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville , Ill.<\/p>\n
No driver, of course, will deliver a championship acceptance speech dripping with more relief and satisfaction than Leka.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been trying (to win the national crown) for a long time and came so close so many times,\u201d said Leka, who ran away with the title by 159 points (2,979-2,820) over Randle Sweeney of Clifty, Ky. \u201cTo finally win the thing after all the near-misses \u2013 yeah, it does make it sweeter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite a sparkling Modified resume that includes over 200 career victories and a 1999 NASCAR Winston Racing Series national championship worth $150,000, Leka had annually fallen short in the chase for UMP DIRTcar Racing\u2019s top prize. His national points finishes included second (2004 and 2007), third (1998), fourth (2006) and fifth (2003 and 2005).<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s runner-up was especially heartbreaking for Leka. He led the circuit in feature wins but lost the title by four points to his good buddy Denny Schwartz of Ashmore, Ill. , who claimed his second UMP DIRTcar national title.<\/p>\n
The eternally upbeat Leka didn\u2019t hang his head after the dramatic battle for the 2007 title, which went down to the final lap of the season-ending UMP DIRTcar Nationals A-Main at Eldora. He seemed more excited about racing his friend for the national trophy than disappointed about losing it again.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was so much fun, battling it out with Denny,\u201d said Leka. \u201cWe race the same racetracks and battle it out all year, and then we come to Eldora (for the finale) and I\u2019ve got to do so good and he\u2019s got to do so bad for us to tie or to win. It was good for the fans in the stands.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it was over, Leka simply stated that he\u2019d just \u201ctry again to win it\u201d \u2013 and not look back if fate continued to keep him from the brass ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, if I never do it, I can be like (NASCAR driver) Mark Martin,\u201d said Leka. \u201cHe\u2019s tried (for the Sprint Cup title) and come so close for so many years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we still had that NASCAR national championship to fall back on. We could still always say we did something bigger than anybody (in Modified racing) has ever thought of doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ironically, Schwartz played a role in pushing Leka over the hump in 2008. Schwartz, who finished 10th in the national points standings, offered his rival some sage advice for the stretch run. What\u2019s more, at Eldora\u2019s UMP DIRTcar Nationals in early October, Schwartz stepped out of the seat of his Modified and gave the ride to Leka, who had already clinched the title, after Leka\u2019s car was sidelined by a burnt piston during hot laps.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and Denny are good friends and we work real well together,\u201d said Leka, refuting any suggestion that the two competitors do not get along. \u201cOne day this year we were talking when I had the points lead and I was thinking about them, and he was like, \u2018Jeff, just settle down and drive your race car like you always do and you\u2019ll be good.\u2019 When you sit back you realize, \u2018You know, he\u2019s right.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NASCAR Winston Racing Series national deal in \u201999 paid $150,000 and I wasn\u2019t stressed out on that at all. This UMP deal pays $20,000 to win and it was a whole different story. I stressed on it quite a bit. It\u2019s something we\u2019ve come so close to winning before and have been wanting to do for such a long time to kind of fulfill what we\u2019ve done over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leka buckled down, regained his focus and rolled to the title. But even as his points lead grew and a crown seemed inevitable, he refused to think ahead to a championship celebration until he had first place officially cemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to believe until I had it (clinched) until (the last week in September) when UMP put it on their website,\u201d said Leka. \u201cI kept telling my wife, \u2018I think mathematically they can catch us.\u2019 She was like, \u2018Jeff, there\u2019s no way.\u2019 But you just keep looking at everything that can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leka earned his title in much the same manner as Schwartz did in 2007. It was Sweeney who led the circuit in feature wins this season, but Leka came out on top of the points race because he performed well in events with higher car counts.<\/p>\n
Under the UMP DIRTcar Racing points system, the national open-wheel Modified champ is determined using a driver\u2019s best 35 finishes\/points nights with an emphasis on car counts. A field of 21 cars provides one bonus point for each finishing position, with a one-point-per-car increase up to a maximum of 20 bonus points for fields numbering 40 or more.<\/p>\n
Leka certainly gathered his share of victories, however. He won 25 UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned features and four unsanctioned events, including the $7,000-to-win Big Dawg 100 at Union County Speedway in Liberty , Ind. , and the Modified World 100 (worth $3,000) at Peoria ( Ill. ) Speedway . In addition, he captured the Farmer City ( Ill. ) Raceway and Lincoln ( Ill. ) Speedway championships; the UMP DIRTcar North Region and Illinois State titles; and the Monster Midwest Tour mini-series crown.<\/p>\n
And Leka did it all with his own familiar No. 3L equipment. He runs cars built by Bob Pierce and uses powerplants from the Hovis Racing Engines shop in St. Charles , Mo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s taken so many people to do this,\u201d said Leka, who works as a mechanic at his brother-in-law\u2019s auto repair shop. \u201cIt isn\u2019t just me as a driver. It\u2019s everybody with this whole team \u2013 the guys on the team, the people who help us, our wives, my kids (a 24-year-old daughter and sons Jeffrey, 22, who finished third in the Lincoln Speedway\u2019s Modified points standings, and Justin, 16, who debuted in the Kid Modz class in 2008).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big deal for us to win this championship, and we\u2019re excited about it,\u201d he continued. \u201cNobody realizes how hard this is to do. There\u2019s a lot of good racers out there. At our hometrack ( Farmer City ), I race against probably five of the top 10 (drivers) in the nation every weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo to win (the national title) means a lot. It gives us a boost. It takes a lot of pressure off, and hopefully we can come back next year and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
*****<\/p>\n
Tickets to the 25th annual UMP DIRTcar Racing \u2018Night of Champions\u2019 Awards Banquet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Ill., are on sale for $35 each or $65 per couple. They can be purchased with a credit or debit card by calling the UMP DIRTcar Racing office at 812-426-1200 during regular business hours.<\/p>\n
Ticket reservations must be made by Jan. 3.<\/p>\n
For more information on UMP DIRTcar Racing, visit www.dirtcar.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Evansville, IN \u2014 Jeff Leka already celebrated his long-awaited first career UMP DIRTcar Racing Open-Wheel Modified national championship two months ago at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg , Ohio . But the veteran driver from Buffalo , Ill. , still has his formal coronation to go. That will come on Jan. 10, 2009, when Leka dons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[69,79,135,162,66,124,113,70],"division":[],"series":[],"regions":[],"class_list":["post-4625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ump-modifieds","tag-dirtcar-nationals-2","tag-eldora-speedway","tag-illinois","tag-lincoln-speedway","tag-monster-midwest","tag-ohio","tag-tracks-2","tag-world-100"],"yoast_head":"\n
Jeff Leka Will Pick Up $20,000 Modified National Title Check At UMP DIRTcar Racing Awards Banquet On Jan. 10 - DIRTcar Racing<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n