FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 5, 2010
Kenny Wallace headed to Humboldt to take on USMTS Modifieds
CONCORD, N.C. (March 5) – Kenny Wallace is a favorite among NASCAR faithful and racing fans everywhere. He is a successful driver, racetrack owner and television personality, but the 46-year-old is looking to add one more feather to his cap in 2010.
Wallace will be looking to capture his first checkered flag with the United States Modified Touring Series when the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour kicks off the 2010 campaign next Friday and Saturday, March 12-13, at the Humboldt (Kan.) Speedway.
Friday's lidlifter will be Wallace’s fourth career stop at the exciting high-banked 3/8-mile bullring.
“Every time that I race at Humboldt, the people are nice and the competition is tough,” said Wallace, who competed with the NASCAR Nationwide Series this past weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “The USMTS series is the NASCAR Sprint Cup of Modified racing in the United States. I really respect the drivers and the officials in the USMTS.”
After 29 starts over the course of the last three seasons, Wallace has 15 top-ten finishes with three of those inside the top five. His two runner-up finishes came last June when he ran second to Jon Tesch at the Park Jefferson (S.D.) Speedway on June 16, then followed Ryan Ruter to the checkers eight days later at the I-35 Speedway in Mason City, Iowa.
Born in St. Louis on Aug. 23, 1963, Wallace is the youngest of three boys and racing was a household reality before any of them could wheel a car. Their father, Russ Wallace, was a winning race car driver on dirt and asphalt. Lake Hill Speedway track promoter Bob Miller noticed Kenny’s boisterous behavior and started calling him “Herman,” after a mischievous cartoon character named Herman the German. The nickname has stuck through his rise through the racing ranks.
Wallace won the first race he ever entered. His Illinois Street Stock State Championship victory would be the first of many in his racing career. After winning that first race in 1982, Wallace decided that his place in racing was in the driver’s seat. That day was a preview of things to come.
In 1986, he joined the ASA ranks and won Rookie of the Year honors, then in September of 1988, Dale Earnhardt gave Wallace the seat for his first-ever NASCAR start. He finished seventh in his first Nationwide Series event at Martinsville, Va., and then raced the full Nationwide Series schedule the following season in a car owned by older brother Rusty, earning the Rookie of the Year award and finishing sixth in points.
Wallace’s Nationwide Series accomplishments include nine wins, ten poles and nine seasons in the top ten in driver points. Kenny has over 425 Nationwide Series starts, making him only the second driver with this distinction. He is the only driver to have won the Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver Award three times.
Wallace also has over 340 starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He has grabbed three poles, six top-five, and 27 top-ten finishes, including three career-high second-place runs. Wallace’s most well known finish probably came when he pushed Earnhardt to his final Sprint Cup Series victory at Talladega in 2000 in a thrilling last-lap shootout.
Although he cut his teeth racing on asphalt, “The Hermanator” also has an admirable résumé of racing on the dirt. He was the winner of the first “Prelude To The Dream” Super Late Model charity race at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway, and has numerous wins at Volusia Speedway Park during the Florida Winter Nationals.
Wallace currently drives the #28 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He also works as an on-air personality for SPEED Channel on shows such as NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane, and is co-owner of the Macon (Ill.) Speedway. He has two older brothers who are also NASCAR drivers: Rusty and Mike Wallace, as well as a nephew Steve Wallace who races in the Nationwide Series, and niece Chrissy Wallace who has competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Getting that first USMTS win at Humboldt will be a tall order. More than 50 top-level teams are expected to pack the pit area of Ron and Rhenda Whitworth’s facility for the fifth annual “Havoc at The Hummer.”
Among those is Jason Hughes – the hottest Modified driver on dirt in 2009 and already off to a good start in 2010 with a $5,000 win at the Texas Winter Nationals on Feb. 20 already in his pocket this season.
One of his 19 wins under the USMTS banner in 2009 came when the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour last visited Humboldt on Aug. 14.
In addition to Hughes, race fans can expect to see at least four other former Humboldt Speedway winners, including nine-time USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock (3 wins at Humboldt), Johnny Bone Jr. (2), Jon Tesch and Steve Holzkamper.
Hughes leads all drivers with five career wins at Humboldt.
Drivers who will be looking to score their first win at “The Hummer” include Rodney Sanders, Zack VanderBeek, Dustin Boney, Bryan Rowland, Dereck Ramirez, Scott Green, Chad Wheeler, Johnny Fennewald, Mark Dotson, Melvin Pilcher, Brandon Davis, Nick Deal, Tommy Weder Jr., John Allen, Jeremy Ross and more.
Drivers expected to defend their home turf include 2008 Humboldt Speedway track champion Jess Folk Jr., Rodney Sigg, Ryan Whitworth, Scott Daniels, Dennis Bishop, Brian McGowen, Jessy Willard, Riley Whitworth, Dan Daniels, Gary Langworthy Jr., Jake Richards and others.
Both days will be two separate complete shows and will pay $2,000 to win and a minimum $250 to start each day.
On Friday, pit gates will open at 1 p.m. while grandstand gates will open at 4, hot laps start at 6:30 and racing will start at 7. On Saturday, pit gates will swing open at 12 noon with grandstands opening for general admission seating at 3, hot laps at 5:30 and racing at 6.
B-Mods and Factory Stocks will also be on the racing card both days.
The Humboldt Speedway is a quarter-mile semi-banked clay oval located on US 169 to the Humboldt Exit, then 0.1 mile west, then 0.5 mile south, then 0.9 mile east on Georgia Rd. For more information call 620-431-2470 (office) or 620-473-3694 (track) or visit www.humboldtspeedway.com.
To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also follow the USMTS on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
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USMTS TITLE SPONSORS: Casey’s General Stores, Castle Rock Recruiting.
USMTS OFFICIAL SPONSORS: American Race Tires, Awesome Racewear, AwesomeRacesuits.com, Intercomp, Karl Chevrolet, Kevko Oil Pans & Components, New Vision Graphics, Nitroquest, RACEceiver.
USMTS PARTICIPATING SPONSORS: ASi Racewear, Bear Tire, Big Dog Chassis & Fabrication, BRODIX Cylinder Heads, DandyLand Farms, Day Motor Sports, Dirt Track Racing School, Dirthead.com, Falcon Wind Power, Farm Boy BBQ Sauce, Gressel Oil Field Service, Intensitee Custom Racewear, Just Say Yes, Olympic Fire Protection, Ramirez Race Cars, Ruter Farms, Yeager Machine.
USMTS CONTINGENCY SPONSORS: AFCO Racing Products, Ai-Racing, Belleville Motorsports, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, COMP Cams, Dynatech Racing Exhaust, Eibach Springs, Fast Shafts, GRT Race Cars, Hyperco, ISKY Racing Cams, KSE Racing Products, Marsh Racing Wheels, Out-Pace Racing Products, PBM Performance Products, Quarter Master, QuickTime Inc, Real Racing Wheels, RHS – Racing Head Service, SuperFlow Technologies Group, US Brake.
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Contact Info:
Jeff Nun
Communications Director
United States Modified Touring Series, Inc. (USMTS)
P.O. Box 905
Webster City, IA 50595
tel: 515-297-3835
email: [email protected]web: www.usmts.com
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