FARMER CITY, Ill. – It’s simply stunning what Mike McKinney’s been able to accomplish in a DIRTcar UMP Modified at Farmer City Raceway this year.
Eight feature wins at the track coming into Thursday night’s DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment American Modified Series event, nine when the night was complete.
With 25 laps ahead of him and $1,500 on the line, The Magic Man wasted zero time from the drop of the green, plowing through lapped traffic with an all-star cast of UMP Modified talent right behind him. Faced with the No. 7 of Nick Hoffman on his back, McKinney never flinched and piloted his No. 96 Elite Chassis to victory lane in the caution-free event.
“We didn’t have one caution all race, and those lappers – they weren’t too bad, to be honest,” McKinney said. “Even with it being that slick, I was still able to move up to the middle of the racetrack and run the top of [turns] three and four a few times to get around them and keep my momentum up.”
Starting on the pole, McKinney jumped out to the lead immediately. His biggest threat, however, had to come from just slightly deeper in the field.
Hoffman started seventh and took 11 laps to reach second. Once he did, a bunch of lapped traffic stood in his way, which he was able to clear by lap 14. Hoffman began to reel in McKinney as they drove through a clear spot in traffic, shaving it down to under a half-second at one point.
“Dad was telling me somebody was close,” McKinney recalled. “I wasn’t 100-percent sure who it was. It’s hard being the leader; you don’t know where the guy’s at.”
“I figured it might have been Nick [Hoffman] or Tyler [Nicely] behind me; I kinda know the line they run. So, I was just trying to protect that bottom as best I could.”
As the laps wound down, McKinney was able to keep his momentum up in traffic just enough to keep Hoffman at bay behind him and led the field back to the checkers for the $1,500 victory. Fortunately, McKinney brought his A-game in lapped traffic, as Hoffman was right on him throughout the race.
“I really didn’t have to mess around behind them too much. It seemed like as soon as I got to them, I was able to get right by them. When you’ve got that No. 7 car chasing you down and the rest of the field there, you can’t mess around with them too long,” McKinney said.
With the competition level found at Farmer City on a weekly basis, winning just one Feature at the quarter-mile bullring is hard enough, let alone nine. But he’s the current DIRTcar UMP Modified National points leader, so if anyone could have done it this year, McKinney’s the guy. He’s come a long way in the division since his first steps after his 2012 Stock Car National points championship, and now he’s hot on the trail of clinching his first UMP Modified National points title.
“Years ago, I would have never told you I’d have this success here,” McKinney said. “I’ve blown motors here, I’ve flipped here… anything bad that’s happened has happened here. I’ve been close to winning races, but this year seems like I can do no wrong.”
The finish:
1. 96M-Mike McKinney [1][]; 2. 7-Nick Hoffman [7][]; 3. 25-Tyler Nicely [2][]; 4. 21D-Danny Schwartz [3][]; 5. 45-Kyle Hammer [4][]; 6. 3L-Jeff Leka [6][]; 7. 25W-Allen Weisser [11][]; 8. 24H-Mike Harrison [9][]; 9. 4-Victor Lee [10][]; 10. 77-Ray Bollinger [12][]; 11. 35-David Stremme [15][]; 12. 5-Steven Brooks [14][]; 13. T6-Tommy Sheppard [16][]; 14. 36-Kenny Wallace [8][]; 15. 1KS-Keith Smith [19][]; 16. 59R-Jacob Rexing [17][]; 17. 81C-Christopher Cole [22][]; 18. 21-Troy Dodson [18][]; 19. 81-Mark Cole [21][]; 20. 63-Dustin King [13][]; 21. 5S-Alan Stipp [5][]; 22. 327-Dustin Bruce [20][]; 23. O1-Don Kiger [23][]