DIRTcar Summer Nationals: The Ultimate Race-cation
CONCORD, NC — June 5, 2018 — The 2018 DIRTcar Summer Nationals and Summit Modified Nationals are set to deliver the most accessible racing vacation in motorsports. The 28-race tour, known as the Hell Tour, will run for 33 days, from June 13 to July 14, providing ample opportunity for passionate race fans to enjoy their favorite pastime. This year’s tour will offer one of the best travel itineraries in recent history with 18 of the 28 events taking place in the great state of Illinois with stops in Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky only a short drive from the Illinois border
The DIRTcar Summer Nationals has long been on many race fans’ bucket lists. Watching races at 27 different facilities in a single season is a feat that most fans don’t get to experience. During DIRTcar Summer Nationals, you can do that in a single month’s time. Local and regional stars get a chance to mix it up with national teams at local tracks that many national drivers will only visit during the Summer Nationals. It’s a rare tour, where the lines between national teams and weekend warriors blur, providing the perfect opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow before they travel beyond their local areas.
The entire 28-race journey logs in around 4,300 miles, the longest stretch between tracks being the drive between the July 28 event at Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY and the July 29 race at LaSalle, IL at just over 350 miles. The shortest distance between tracks will be the drive from Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, IL to The Dirt Oval at Route 66 in Joliet, IL at only 45 miles. The average distance between tracks is just over 100 miles, making trips between events only around 1.5 hours apart.
The 2018 Summer Nationals will once again be broken into five separate week-long segments. Each week brings its own unique atmosphere and challenges. Early weeks will boast fresh equipment and drivers competing in Northern Illinois and Indiana. The following weeks will see the racers challenging endurance and each other as they battle on the bullrings of Southern Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and a stop in Northern Tennessee. The later weeks will see the teams battling the adversity of a long month while ending the tour with stops in Michigan and Ohio.
The shortest travel weeks will be the Northern Kick Off week at around 360 total miles between the four events and Champions Week at 380 miles traveled. Meanwhile, the aptly-named Challenge Week will sport the tour’s longest travel week at around 1000 miles between five events, still averaging only 200 miles between tracks or 3.5 hours of travel time. Every week of the tour has a built-in travel day, except for Champions Week, which culminates at Oakshade Speedway in Wauseon, OH for the final two events.
The DIRTcar Summer Nationals is perfect for campers as most tracks are RV- and camping-friendly, and nearly every route between tracks boasts rest stops or campgrounds. Fans pulling transportation behind RVs will find centrally located campgrounds from which they can drive to surrounding tracks without having to move camp each night. Much like Florida in February, the Summer Nationals offer a race fan’s paradise.
Follow @SummerNationals on Twitter or Facebook for updates during and between race seasons. The DIRTcar Late Models will be joined by the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds as the Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals runs parallel to the DIRTcar Summer Nationals. Information on the Modifieds can be found modifiednationals.com.
