Hearn Relishes
Florida Big-Block Racing to Kick Start 2012 Season
Super DIRTcar star
eager for UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit
BARBERVILLE, Fla. - Jan. 31, 2012 - There's no place
Brett Hearn would rather be during the month of
February than the Sunshine State.
"Oh, yeah, I always look forward to Florida in
February," said Sussex, N.J.'s Hearn, who will
migrate south for the 15th consecutive
year to compete in the Super DIRTcar Series
Big-Block Modified portion of the 41st
UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing
Equipment on Feb. 22-25 at Volusia Speedway Park. "I
don't know what I would do if we didn't make the
trip. I enjoy it and everybody on my team enjoys
it."
Much
of Hearn's affinity for his annual working vacation,
of course, derives from the sparkling performance
record he's put together in Florida Big-Block
Modified action over his legendary career. He's the
Northeast open-wheel division's resident Mr.
Florida, a winner of a record seven Super DIRTcar
Series Florida Tour points championships and 20
features. No other driver has won more than three
titles since Big-Block Modifieds began contesting a
mid-winter Florida series in 1978, and Hearn's
career victory total nearly doubles that of Danny
Johnson's second-best figure of 11.
Hearn,
53, celebrating triumphs in Florida has become a
constant, especially at Volusia, where the vast
majority of his checkered flags have come. Since
1998, he has won more races during Volusia's UNOH
DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit than any other
driver - Sprint Car, DIRTcar Late Model and DIRTcar
UMP Modified racers included.
Is
there a secret to Hearn's amazing success at the
sprawling half-mile oval located less than a
half-hour outside Daytona Beach? He said there's
nothing in particular, but he does note that
escaping the winter freeze at home for the sunny and
warm Southeast serves as a great "motivational tool"
for him and his team.
"We
all like going down there," said Hearn, a seven-time
winner of the overall Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block
Modified championship. "Not only do we get away from
the cold, but we're all Late Model and Sprint Car
fans so we get to see those divisions racing when
we're not running. That helps motivate my guys to
work harder in the winter time to go down and strut
our stuff."
This year Hearn will once again battle a
star-studded roster of DIRTcar Big-Block Modified
standouts in four programs during the UNOH DIRTcar
Nationals Presented by Summit. The division's
schedule boasts 30-lap features paying $2,000 to win
on Wed., Feb. 22, Thurs., Feb. 23, and Fri., Feb.
24, and a 50-lap grand finale offering a $5,000 top
prize on Sat., Feb. 25.
Hearn will be one of at least a half-dozen former
Florida Tour winners in the Big-Block field, joining
defending UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit
champion Stewart Friesen of Niagara-on-the-Lake,
Ont.; three-time titlist Danny Johnson of Rochester,
N.Y.; two-time champion Alan Johnson of Phelps,
N.Y.; 2010 DCN champ and defending overall DIRTcar
Big-Block Modified titleholder Matt Sheppard of
Waterloo, N.Y.; and 2003 titlist Tim Fuller of
Watertown, N.Y., a World of Outlaws Late Model
Series regular who will pull double-duty during the
week.
Last year Hearn fell short of the UNOH DIRTcar
Nationals points crown, finishing second to Friesen
by 10 points. But he won once - putting him back in
Volusia's Victory Lane after an uncharacteristic
winless visit in 2010 - and finished second (a rare
last-lap loss in the series opener at the hands of
Friesen), third and fifth in the other headliners.
It
was a typically solid week for Hearn, who ranks the
Volusia speedplant as one of his favorites.
"I
really like it," said Hearn, who won the 800th
feature of his distinguished three-decade-long
career in 2011. "It's always been a really fun,
racy, kind of cool place to race. It's wide, it's
pretty fast, and it has a little bit of an unusual
shape, which really mixes things up.
"It's also deceiving how much engine you can use
there. You're on the gas at that place."
Hearn will wheel around Volusia in his familiar
Madsen Motorsports Teo-Pro No. 20 machine, albeit
this year without the Wentworth Construction logo
gracing its bodywork for the first time in five
years. ("We're sponsor hunting right now," said
Hearn.) New to his operation will be car chief Matt
Hearn, the 23-year-old son of Brett's younger
brother and chassis builder Bobby.
Hearn's hauler will arrive in the Daytona area
several days before the scheduled start of DIRTcar
Big-Block Modified action at Volusia, giving him and
his crew some "fun time" - probably a stop at
Daytona International Speedway, a night spent
watching World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
competition at Volusia, a little nightlife in
Daytona. Then they'll unload their car and get down
to business running nightly doubleheaders with the
dirt Late Model class and soaking up the week's
unique atmosphere.
"There's two things I really like about (the UNOH
DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit)," said Hearn,
who is eyeing a 2012 schedule focused on the Super
DIRTcar Series and weekly DIRTcar-sanctioned racing
at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y., and
Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y.
"First, we always have fun when we get to race with
the Late Models. As much as anything, we all just
enjoy watching those guys race when we're not, but I
think that when we run a combo race with the Late
Models it's a big event. They draw a lot of fans and
we draw a lot of fans as well, and when you put all
that in one place it becomes pretty electric.
"And second, the fact that people who buy a ticket
for the stands can come through the pits (the 'Free
Fan Pit Pass With Every Ticket' offer) makes the
week a lot more interesting. We get to see a lot of
more people that might not otherwise come in the
pits. Every year I see people I haven't seen in
years who are down in Florida either for the 500 or
live down there now."
The
UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit is a
12-night short-track blockbuster that features
nightly doubleheaders. In addition to four evenings
of competition for the Super DIRTcar Series (Feb.
22-25) there will be six nights of Late Model action
(DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned on Feb. 20, 21, 22 and 24
and WoO Late Model Series 50-lap A-Mains on Feb. 23
and 25); the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on
Feb. 17-19; the UNOH All-Star Sprint Car Series on
Feb. 15-16; and the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on Feb.
14-21.
For more information on the
UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit -
including special pricing on advance-sale tickets
and details of the 'Free Fan Pit Pass With Every
Ticket' offer that allows fans to get
up-close-and-personal with the race teams every
night - visit
www.DIRTcarNationals.com
or call
877-395-8606.
For more information on the
Super DIRTcar Series, click
http://www.SuperDIRTCarSeries.com.
HEARN ENDS THE 2011 RACING SEASON ON A HIGH NOTE
Wins Two Races In One Day At Hagerstown Speedway
SUSSEX, NJ
(November 19)……..Following a rash of late season
mechanical woes which kept him from the Winner’s
Circle, Brett Hearn closed out his 2011 Modified
racing campaign with a pair of extra-distance wins
at Hagerstown (Maryland) Speedway. On Sunday,
November 13, Hearn, from Sussex, New Jersey, first
won the Octoberfest 50 for small-block Modifieds,
then captured the 50-lap headline Octoberfest
feature for the big-block Modifieds. The victories
brought Hearn’s win total for the year to 15.
“It
was an up-and-down season, that’s for sure,” said
Hearn. “There were some highlights, and we did score
51 top-five finishes, but there were several
disappointments---races we should have won---as
well.”
The
capstone of Hearn’s 2011 season was notching his 800th
career feature race victory on August 10 at New
York’s Fonda Speedway. Hearn first won a 30-lap
holdover race from a previous rainout for win 799
then captured the 60-lap headline race for victory
number 800, an unmatched achievement in Modified
racing. Hearn is one of only a few drivers in
American motorsports history to reach this mark.
For
the first time, Hearn raced weekly at Accord (New
York) Speedway, winning the Catskill Mountains
track’s Modified division point title, his 76th
career track or series point championship.
Hearn
ended the year with 804 career wins, of which
333---some 41 percent---have come in extra-distance
races of 50 laps or longer. His records include
victories at 48 different tracks in 10 states and
two Canadian provinces.
“Right
now February seems a long way off,” said Hearn.
“We’ll take a couple days off to unwind from our
ten-month season then we’ll be back in the shop
getting ready for 2012. That’s what it takes to stay
on top in this business.”
During the just concluded Northeast dirt track
racing season, Hearn drove his familiar No. 20 big-
and small-block Modifieds fielded by the merged
Madsen Motorsports/B.H.
Racing Enterprises, Inc.
team, which, for the sixth
consecutive year carried
Wentworth Custom
Homes of Oneida, New York as the primary
sponsor.
Additional support for the No. 20 Modifieds came
from Madsen
Overhead Doors,
Benjamin Moore
Paints,
Ultrablend,
Foxhill
Campground,
Don Kruger
Motorsports LLC,
WLR Construction,
417 Bus Line Ltd,
Accurate
Collision, and
Fairways of Halfmoon.
As in past seasons, Hearn relied on
Teo Pro Car
chassis and
Enders Racing Engines. Nearly two-dozen
product associates rounded out Hearn’s continued
quest for Modified racing supremacy.
