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Jason Feger Carries UMP DIRTcar Racing National Points Lead
Into This Weekend’s World 100 At Eldora Speedway
ROSSBURG, OH (Sept. 10) – Jason Feger will receive more attention than he
ever has before at Eldora Speedway when he takes to the famed half-mile oval
for the 39th annual UMP DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned World 100 this weekend
(Sept. 11-12).
That’s because the 31-year-old from Bloomington, Ill., is rolling into the
most prestigious dirt Late Model event of the season as UMP DIRTcar Racing’s
national points leader.
A dirt Late Model racer since 2001, Feger is chasing his first career UMP
DIRTcar national crown. He enters the weekend holding a mere 10-point lead
over two-time defending national champion Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville,
Ill., but with eight of his career-best 18 feature wins this season coming
over the past month he has plenty of momentum on his side.
Throw in the fact that Feger happens to be one of just 12 drivers who have
qualified for the last three crown-jewel UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned Super Late
Model events at Eldora – the World 100 in 2007 and 2008 and June’s $100,000
Dream XV – and there’s no denying that he’s a guy to watch.
“It’s hard to take a lot confidence into the World (100) because it’s just
such a tough deal,” said Feger, who finished 17th (2007) and 18th (2008) in
his previous World 100 A-Main starts and placed 16th in the Dream earlier
this year. “That’s the race everybody takes their best stuff to and prepares
extra-hard for, and with so many cars (entered) there’s not a whole lot of
room for error. You need to have some luck on your side.
“But I feel pretty good about our chances. Our car has been really good this
year, I’ve been driving good, and I really like running at Eldora. We’ve had
some success there the last couple years, so hopefully everything will click
for us and we’ll get in the race again and get a good finish.”
Feger will go into battle this weekend behind the wheel of a family-owned
car built by 1990 UMP DIRTcar national champion Bob Pierce, who finished as
high as third in the World 100 during his successful driving career. A
freshened powerplant from Rhyne Competition Engines will be bolted inside
Feger’s ‘tumbling dice’ No. 25, which will sport a slightly different
graphics scheme than he’s used all season and carry the logos of two new
sponsors, Stearn Ironworks and Jaxon Chase Steel Detailing, that he recently
signed for the remainder of 2009.
Demonstrating his growing popularity around the Midwest, the personable
Feger will also have a merchandise trailer parked along Eldora’s T-Shirt Row
for the first time. He’ll have plenty of sharp swag for sale – all of it
designed by his family’s Absolute Apparel business, where he works when he’s
not going racing.
This season, of course, racing has taken up much of Feger’s time. The driver
known as the ‘Highside Hustler’ has made nearly 70 starts during his
official coming-of-age campaign and been a contender for the checkered flag
in most of them.
After earning the 2008 UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model Most Improved Driver
Award following a 13-win season that ended with a third-place finish in the
national points standings, Feger has busted out as an all-over threat this
season. His 18 victories have come at an amazing 13 different tracks in four
states, including four wins at Kamp Motor Speedway in Boswell, Ind.; two at
Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill.; and single scores at Wisconsin’s
Charter Raceway Park (his first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series
triumph), Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway, Missouri’s Lake Ozark Speedway and
Illinois’s Charleston Speedway, Fairbury American Legion Speedway, Farmer
City Raceway, Highland Speedway Kankakee County Speedway, Lincoln Speedway,
Peoria Speedway and Shepp’s Speedway.
“I think I’ve matured a lot as a driver in the last couple years,” said
Feger, analyzing his rise to UMP DIRTcar stardom. “I’ve calmed down and
learned to race smarter. That’s just come for experience, from seat-time.
“And we’ve worked harder in the garage to be prepared. Just going to the
track knowing that everything is prepared the way it should be has made me a
better driver this year.”
The run of success has put Feger on the verge of unseating Erb, 36, as the
UMP DIRTcar national champion, an honor that will be determined using
drivers’ best 40 finishes/points nights. Feger grabbed the points lead at
the beginning of August and hasn’t relinquished it since, but he knows he
can’t make any missteps if he wants to stay atop the standings through the
points-season-ending UMP DIRTcar Nationals on Oct. 9-10 at Eldora.
Feger and Erb figure to see a lot of each other over the remaining weeks of
the UMP DIRTcar points season. They’ll probably enter the same events each
weekend, setting up a dramatic head-to-head battle to the finish.
“He’s going to be tough to beat,” Feger said of Erb, who is attempting to
sweep the UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals and national points titles for the
third consecutive season. “He’s really good everywhere we’ll be going the
rest of the year and he knows what he’s doing in these points races. You
don’t see him break and fall out of races, so if we’re gonna win this thing
we’re just gonna have to keep beating him.”
If Feger holds on to win the title, he’ll have earned it. He’ll also cherish
the accomplishment.
“It would mean a lot,” Feger said when asked about the significance of a UMP
DIRTcar national crown. “The money would be great, sure, but it would also
give us some recognition that will help us when we talk to product sponsors.
And I know (a championship) would mean a lot to Bob and Angie Pierce.
They’ve worked so hard on this chassis deal (Feger began running Pierce cars
last year) and they deserve the success we’re having.”
Feger paused. Considering his own march through the UMP DIRTcar ranks that
started in the Sportsman division, he said, “Knowing where we came from, how
we’ve been building our stuff up over the years, a championship would be
very satisfying. We’ve sort of done it our way and that always makes you
feel good.”
This weekend’s World 100 activities at Eldora Speedway begin on Friday night
(Sept. 11) with time trials and non-qualifiers’ races. Heat races,
last-chance events and the $42,000-to-win World 100 will be contested on
Saturday night (Sept. 12).
For more information on the World 100, visit
www.eldoraspeedway.com .
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