7/26/2022
Ransomville Speedway
37th Annual Summer Nationals Set for Wednesday, August 24
RANSOMVILLE, NY (July 26, 2022) The 37th running of the Summer Nationals for the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds will take place on Wednesday, August 24. The 75-lap event will pay $7,500 to win, with sponsorship from Stirling Lubricants, National Maintenance Contracting Corp (NMCC), Wendt’s Propane, Lawns Unlimited, Evergreen Lawn & Tree Service, and Hebeler Sales & Service.
The Super DIRTcar Series will be joined by the DIRTcar Sportsman in the 2nd annual Mike Bonesky Memorial, a Western US and Central Region event.
The Summer Nationals at Ransomville Speedway is a tradition unlike any other. The race celebrates its 37th anniversary this year, and there have been many memorable moments throughout the years.
Three drivers share the all-time record for most wins in the Summer Nationals: Alan Johnson, Danny Johnson and Stewart Friesen. Friesen claimed his sixth win in 2018. The driver from Niagara on the Lake, Ontario also won the Summer Nationals in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016.
“AJ Slideways” Alan Johnson won the inaugural edition of the event back in 1985. The all-time winningest driver in a DIRTcar Modified had to use a provisional to qualify for the event and started dead last in the 30-car field. Johnson won again in 1987 driving the Billy Taylor #1 Modified. It would be ten years and four runner-up finishes before he would win the event for a third time in 1997. He’d make it back-to-back wins in ‘98 for win #4 followed by wins in 2001 and 2003.
“The Doctor” Danny Johnson has been one of the all-time greats when it comes to racing at Ransomville. His first Summer Nationals win came in 1989 as he fended off a late-race challenge from Brett Hearn. He beat brother Alan in 1996 for his second win. He responded to Alan’s back-to-back wins in ‘97 & ‘98 with two in a row of his own to close out the 20th Century and begin the 21st Century. He added wins in 2004 and 2009.
“Barefoot” Bob McCreadie has won the Summer Nationals five times in his hall of fame career. McCreadie is the only driver to win the event four-straight years during the early 1990s.
With four drivers accounting for 23 of the 35 wins in the history of the Summer Nationals, only nine other drivers have won the event. Brett Hearn, Matt Sheppard, and former track champion Todd Burley are the only other drivers with more than one Summer Nationals win. Hearn has the record for the longest gap between wins at 15 years. His first win came in a rain-shortened affair in 1990. Hearn wouldn’t win again until 2005 when he made a late race pass on Friesen to win. “Superman” Matt Sheppard won his first in 2017, and scored his second win last season. Burley won in 2008 and 2011. The man known as “The Tornado” never finished out of the top ten in ten career Summer Nationals starts.
That leaves us with the six drivers that have won the Summer Nationals on one occasion: Billy Pauch (1988), Steve Paine (1991), Vic Coffey (2002), Pat Ward (2007), Erick Rudolph (2013), and Billy Decker (2014). Will a Ransomville track regular score the win against the top Super DIRTcar Series drivers? Erick Rudolph’s win in 2013 was the last time that a Ransomville track regular has won the Summer Nationals.
Pit gates open at 3pm, grandstands open at 5pm, and racing will get underway at 7:15pm. More information can be found by visiting the newly designed www.ransomvillespeedway.com
Article Credit: Steven Petty
Submitted By: Steven Petty
