Chris Simpson Dominates For UMP Summer Nationals Win At His Home Track

Yes, it has been six years since Chris Simpson had raced at the West Liberty Raceway, according to his recollection, but this is the track that he grew up at. The track where he started his racing career with he and his brother Chad adopting the car numbers of their West Liberty heroes; #25 for Chad in honor of Dave Birkhofer and #32 for Chris to follow in the footsteps of Mel Morris. And from the moment that the #32 roared into turn one during the first set of hot laps this evening, you could tell that it stood above the rest of the twenty-seven car field assembled for the night's UMP Summer Nationals stop.

Chris would back that up by setting a new rack record in qualifying with a lap of 18.165* and he would then walk away with the opening heat race to put him in the draw for the first three positions of the thirty lap main event. And in that draw he would pull the pole position, much to the delight of the near capacity crowd on a beautiful Tuesday evening.

Fellow heat race winners Dallon Murty and his brother Chad Simpson would keep pace through the first couple of laps before Chris pulled away to just more than a straightaway lead by the mid-race mark even after a lap eight restart, but the race would start to change from there. Curt Schroeder had been added as a provisional and was running at the back of the field and after looking to his outside in turn three, Simpson tucked back in behind Schroeder down the front stretch. This would happen almost the same way for the following three laps and now it was obvious that Schroeder had picked up speed and was now even passing some cars as Simpson continued to trail him.

However, that duo was not faster than Murty and Chad Simpson who were now closing quickly as they themselves exchanged the second spot a couple of times and just as Murty was within a car length and ready to challenge for the lead, the caution would wave on lap twenty for a slowing Mark Voigt. Chad would beat Dallon to turns one and two on the restart and as they picked up their battle for second, Chris again put some distance on them until Murty established himself as the primary chaser on lap twenty-three. With the laps clicking away, Murty would get back to within striking distance until one slight bobble in turn two on lap twenty-eight set him back and it was game over as Chris Simpson recorded the flag-to-flag victory.

Murty was the runner-up in his Hell Tour debut with Chad Simpson in third, Cade Dillard's fourth place finish has the Louisiana driver just three points out of first in the Week Two point standings for the Tour while Dylan Thornton closed out the top five. Billy Moyer, who was the runner-up to Rick Aukland the last time that the Summer Nationals ran at West Liberty in 1995, finished sixth on this night, Jason Feger advanced from eleventh to seventh, Derrick Stewart from nearby Ainsworth had a solid night in eighth, Frank Heckenast Jr. gained five positions to finish in ninth while overall Hell Tour point leader Tanner English used a provisional to start twenty-first and finish in tenth.

Typically the Hell Tour leadership insists on being the first feature on the card at each venue, but on this night two of the five support classes would contest their main events first and while the solid field of twenty Stock Cars put on a great show up front while under green flag conditions, six cautions and a red flag definitely made for a later show than what the Late Model fans had hoped for.

The red flag came on lap six of eighteen when Rusty Zook was on the outside of a three-wide battle down the front stretch and contact got him crossed up entering turn one. He then took a hard hit from Casey Shelliam sending Zook's car up and over a couple of times ending up on his roof. Thankfully both drivers escaped injury in the incident. The six cautions were all for drivers who were running in the back half of the field at laps three (twice), five, eleven (twice) and fifteen all interrupting an amazing battle for the lead between Greg Gill, Norman Bean, David Brandies, John Oliver Jr. and Nathan Wood.

Gill would lead the first six laps before Oliver took the point on lap seven. Brandies, who was making hay by slamming the cushion in turn one and then
aiming for the bottom to exit turn two would take the lead on lap eight and when Wood would mimic that line in turns one and two late in the race, it would give him the run that he needed to drive around the outside of Brandies in turns three and four with two laps remaining to take the lead and then the win in a thriller. Brandies, Oliver, Gill and Bean would complete the top five in that order.

The ten car, fifteen lap Sport Mod feature would also precede the Late Models and a big section of the crowd cheered as Bryson Eckrich established the early pace. Shaun Slaughter would drive by him on lap four, but two laps later when Slaughter went above the cushion in one and two, Eckrich was able to regain the lead on lap seven. On the following lap as Slaughter tried to again go around the outside of Eckrich on the front stretch, contact between the two front runners would send Slaughter into the wall at the entrance of turn one ending his evening.

On the restart Colton Livezy would go to work on the young leader taking the point on lap ten and then driving away to his fourth win of the season. Eckrich would do his cheering section proud by running second followed by Trey Rock, Justin Schroeder and Nick Aupperle.

We kept tabs on the IMCA Modified feature on the way home as front row starters Spencer Diercks and Kurt Kile ran one-two with second row starters Jace Eckrich and Matt Fulton Jr. next in line. Chris Zogg would complete the top five. The Vintage Late Models and the Midwest Jalopies would close out the evening.

It was great to see the West Liberty Raceway, the track that I spent my early years as a race fan at, having a "big show" feel to it with a vendor's row, long lines at the ticket window and only a few open seats come race time. It will be hard to match, but I hope that we see similar crowds for the remainder of the 2026 schedule here with the annual Fair Race on Wednesday July 15th featuring the Premier Late Model Tour, the return of the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders on Saturday September 5th and the revival of the Liberty 100 featuring the MLRA Late Models on Friday and Saturday October 23rd and 24th.

Watching the radar this morning as I continue to plan my drive to Stuart to fill in for Tony Paris at tonight's Bill Davis Memorial and as of 10:50 a.m. it looks like Davenport is still hoping to run tonight's Hell Tour event. On Friday I look forward to the Sprint Invaders' return to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, then on Saturday the Invaders go back to their home track of 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Thanks to Mike Ruefer for providing all of the photos here!

Plenty of racing for you to find in your area and I hope to see you on the Back Stretch soon!

* Scorer Extraordinaire Kevin Feller reports that the actual track record of 18.148 by Darren Miller still stands