DIRTcar Summer Nationals / Summit Modifieds

July 17, 2010. A date that stood as a reminder of Rusty Schlenk’s last Feature win with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals. That was, until Wednesday.

July 8, 2026. The 2018 DIRTcar Late Model national points champion from Jackson, MI, returned to Victory Lane on the Hell Tour for the first time in nearly 16 years in front of a packed home-state crowd at I-96 Speedway to celebrate his third career series victory.

“I’m a sore loser, man. I hate losing and I know it’d be different if I knew we couldn’t win them,” Schlenk said. “We’re competitive with these guys; we always run good with them. I knew we could do it, so I kept trying. I love the Hell Tour. We’re always in contention; we just could never pull off another one. We’ve had stuff break, crashes, you name it. So, thank goodness we got it done tonight.”

The 30-lap main event in the Hell Tour’s return to Lake Odessa for the first time in five years started with a three-car battle for the lead in the opening laps between Sam Seawright, Frank Heckenast Jr. and Tanner English.

Seawright took the lead on Lap 1, but behind them, Schlenk was on the move as he charged to the front of the field from fifth on the starting grid. On Lap 6, Schlenk found momentum off the exit of Turn 2 and crossed under Heckenast to take third as he set his sights on the lead duo of Seawright and English.

Schlenk continued to work his way around the 3/8-mile oval on the top side in pursuit of the leaders, and by Lap 13 had closed the gap to their rear bumpers. When Seawright and English both went low in Turns 1 and 2, Schlenk powered by both on the top, getting both cars in one corner to take the lead on Lap 14.

Schlenk hit lap traffic just after the halfway point, but a caution on Lap 17 for a slowing Heckenast in Turn 1 paused the action gave him a clear track for the restart.

English was strong on the bottom as the field went back to green, but Schlenk was too strong on the cushion, pulling away over the final 13 laps and leading the field back around to the checkers.

“Winning is cool but winning in front of your home state crowd is even cooler,” Schenk said. “We moved back to Michigan this year, so I consider this one of our home tracks. I’ve won a lot of races around this place, and it’s always been one of my favorites. I got a whole bunch of fans up in the stands, so to do it in front of them, it’s absolutely huge.”

English finished second, Feger was third, Travis Stemler charged from 12th to finish fourth, and Luke Morey rounded out the top five.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals heads to Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, MI, on Thursday, July 9 for the tour’s second of three stops in the state of Michigan. Tickets for the event will be sold at the track on race day.

How can you watch the DIRTcar Summer Nationals? Every race is broadcasted live on DIRTVision.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 91-Rusty Schlenk[5]; 2. 96-Tanner English[4]; 3. 25-Jason Feger[3]; 4. 4-Travis Stemler[12]; 5. 49-Luke Morey[6]; 6. 42-Chad Finley[11]; 7. 21B-Rich Bell[9]; 8. 51-Devin Shiels[10]; 9. 41-Mike Vandermark Jr[7]; 10. 74-Mitch McGrath[18]; 11. 87-Rich Neiser[17]; 12. 07-Rylee Knoll[22]; 13. 46-Colin Shipley[20]; 14. 27-Eric Spangler[21]; 15. 94-Bill Bray[16]; 16. 30-Mark Voigt[19]; 17. 23-Brian Ruhlman[13]; 18. 16S-Sam Seawright[2]; 19. M14-Brandon Thirlby[8]; 20. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 21. 1*-Kyle Moore[14]; 22. 21N-Logan Nickerson[15]

David Stremme has accomplished a lot in his motorsports career. But never had he won with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals, until now.

Since the days of his career in the top divisions of NASCAR, Stremme has made the commitment to Dirt Modified racing as both a driver and co-owner/founder of popular UMP Modified brand, Lethal Chassis. From Volusia Speedway Park to the high banks of a dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway, Stremme has tasted victory on some of the sport’s biggest stages.

Wednesday night at I-96 Speedway, the native of Mifflintown, PA, punched through to win for the first time in his career with UMP Modified racing’s most prestigious touring series.

“It just feels good to run good,” Stremme said. “We’ve had a good car; we just had engine problems last night and didn’t get to run. We still got some work to do, but it is cool to win a Summit Modified race, finally. We’ve had some get away from us, so it’s neat.”

Stremme and Curt Spalding led the 22-car field to green from the front row. Spalding took the lead on Lap 1 and continued to work the top, but Stremme was consistent and fast on the low side of the speedway. On Lap 10, the leaders hit lap traffic, giving Stremme the opportunity he needed as he worked the low side underneath Spalding.

The lead duo went side-by-side around the 3/8-mile oval, and it was Stremme who led by a nose at the line on Lap 11. Spalding refused to go away quietly as the No. 5CS machine worked the middle lane, finding speed and traction to maintain the battle for the lead.

A slip-up off Turn 4 cost Spalding and allowed Stremme to sneak away and build a half-second lead on the field. However, Spalding was persistent in the middle lane and caught Stremme in lap traffic, but the caution flag waved on Lap 22, extinguishing the momentum Spalding had built.

“I just ran my own race and Curt (Spalding) is really good,” Stremme said. “But we’ve been really good in our own stuff, so I just needed to run my own race, my own pace, and I knew I’d be fine.”

The green flag dropped once more and Stremme pulled away from the field, leading the rest of the way to seal the win over Curt Spalding, Tyler Spalding, Dillon Nusbaum in fourth and Mike McKinney rounding out the top five.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals head to Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, MI, on Thursday, July 9.

How can you watch the Summit Modifieds if you’re not at the track? Every race is live on DIRTVision.

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 35-David Stremme[1]; 2. 5CS-Curt Spalding[2]; 3. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[9]; 4. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[3]; 5. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 6. 3W-Dylan Woodling[8]; 7. 49-Brian Ruhlman[6]; 8. 24-Zeke McKenzie[14]; 9. T23-John Toppozini[13]; 10. 60-Shannon Fisk[11]; 11. B5-Matthew Baker[7]; 12. 9R-Garrett Rons[17]; 13. 43-Mark Anderson[5]; 14. 84-Brandon Beeching[15]; 15. 1A-Andrew Hollister[20]; 16. 14T-Mario Toniolo[22]; 17. 87Z-George Zieman[19]; 18. 17J-Jarrod Klay[12]; 19. 12M-John McClure[18]; 20. 14-Dalton Lane[10]; 21. 74M-Manix Furqueron[16]; 22. (DNS) 32H-Dan Hubbell