Terry "Kinser" Houston and his "Wing Thing."

And so it ends.

It only seems like yesterday we had gathered for the April 1 opener at the Bullring, and now we’re pulling the curtain on the 2012 season.

Dustin Griffin, Craig Spegal, Tony Dunker, Terry Houston, Jeff DeLonjay and Austen Becerra provided us with the final Sunday night feature wins of the season, but before we touch on those, here are some quick thoughts about what we saw this season and what the immediate future will hold:

1. EVEN BETTER IN 2013?: Hands down, the biggest story of 2012 was the arrival of UMP late models. It was a smashing success, and will only be better in 2013. Late model car counts improved 50 percent over 2012, and it will climb higher next season when more of the “travelers” work Quincy into their schedules. Sam Driggers, the UMP director who was in town a week ago, predicts the same.

2. WHAT WILL IT BE?: Look for a relatively quick decision on the future of the stock cars, which for the third straight season struggled for numbers. Drivers and car owners need to know how to plan for next year, so track officials will let them know as soon as possible.

3. MORE OF THE SAME?: The sport compacts arrived as a competitive, entertaining class. And like the UMP late models, the sport compacts should continue to thrive as the years progress.

Tony Dunker: More of the same in 2013?

4. CAN DUNKER BE STOPPED?: Can Tony Dunker possibly duplicate the domination he demonstrated this season? It should be fun to watch him try, and even more fun as he and the rest of Team 3 (or 4, or whatever it is) go post-to-post with “flyby,” their online nemesis, during the offseason. The rest of the sport mod class needs to step up its game or Dunker — the man they love to hate — will again demolish the opposition.

5. THE MORE THE MERRIER: The 2013 season will open with late model and modified qualifying in place, which will be great. That has added a sweet new wrinkle to both of those classes. I love the dashes for those two divisions, and again I ask … why not have dashes for all six classes? (I know I’ll hear from someone about that comment.)

AROUND THE HORN

“Cheaters Night” turned out to be a lot of fun, especially in the stock and sport compact series. Houston showed up with a winged sprint car top, Michael Larsen added a spoiler that even NASCAR would ban in a minute and the sport compacts ran a 40-lap feature. (It’s rather ironic the only two 40-lap racers this season were the UMP Hell Tour on July 6 and the sport compacts on Sunday night.)

Late models: The Black Car Superstar – Dustin Griffin — won both his series-best fifth feature and fifth dash on the final night. Griffin’s victory from the pole was the division’s 11th in 21 features. His flag-to-flag domination was the 10th time that occurred. Both of those items were the most of any of the six weekly series. Denny Woodworth ran a strong second, his best showing of the season since a runner-up performance May 27.

Dustin Griffin: The Black Car Superstar

Griffin was the 19th consecutive late model winner to come from the first two rows of the starting grid. He was also the seventh different winner in as many weeks.

Modifieds: Craig Spegal’s victory was his first ever at the Bullring and it came in impressive fashion. He led the final 27 laps of a feature that was plagued by cautions and took almost 24 minutes to complete. Spegal’s 4.835-second margin of victory over runner-up Mark Burgtorf was the largest of the season in any of the weekly series. Track champ Steven DeLonjay was third, but posted the fastest qualifying speed (68.133 mph) since the mods began preliminary timing a month ago.

Sport mods: Dunker finished off  his career season by collecting his 15th checkered flag of the season, sixth in a row and ninth in the last 10 shows. Punctuating the night for The Villain was a 65.976 mph lap in the feature, the fastest of the season in this series. Dunker led 196 of the 354 feature laps he was on the track this season.

Stock cars: Terry “Kinser” Houston and his “Wing Thing” overpowered the rest of the field with relative ease. Houston’s feature win was his fifth and represented the sixth different winner in as many weeks in the stock cars.

Hobby stocks: Jeff DeLonjay’s first feature victory of the season was no fluke. He had the strongest car in the class throughout the night, dominating his heat and then leading the 11 laps of the main event. Jim Brown’s second-place finish was his best of the season. The hobbies concluded the season with no back-to-back feature winners in their 22 weeks of racing.

Sport compacts: This series normally runs a 12-lap feature, but chief steward Jake Croxton gave the thumbs-up for a 40-lapper that saw just four of the starting 13 cars running at the end. Becerra’s victory was his 10th of the year, fifth in a row and 10th in the last 12 weeks.

LEFFEW COLLECTS MODIFIED DIRT-y DRIVER OF YEAR AWARD

James Leffew won his first DIRT-y Driver of the Year fans’ vote for the modifieds, holding off a rally from Michael Long backers over the final 36 hours of the three-day ballot. Leffew finished with 25.4 percent percent of the vote and Long 23.8 percent. Jake Griffin (15.3 percent) and Dave Wietholder (13.8 percent) finished third and fourth, respectively.

Leffew follows these former winners among the modifieds: Todd Reed (2011), Jared Schlipman (2010) and Tony Dunker (2009). The final top 10 in points qualify for the fans’ vote each season.

The final ballot will be for the late model drivers, which opened at midnight Sunday and will run through Tuesday.

The awards don’t stop with the DIRT-y Drivers of the Year. The Stevie Dirt Drivers of the Year and the All-Dirt teams will also be revealed in the near future.

DUSTIN GRIFFIN “WINS” UNOFFICIAL DASH POINTS TITLE

When Dustin Griffin finished first in the late model Fast 6 Dash — one spot ahead of Mark Burgtorf, it gave him the unofficial points title in that event 79-78. We have been awarding drivers points on a 10-7-4-2-1-0 basis all season. Twenty-six different drivers qualified for the Fast 6 Dash during the season.

Final Fast 6 Dash points standings:

Dustin Griffin, 79 points
Mark Burgtorf, 78
Jason Perry, 50
Michael Long, 36
Justin Reed, 33
Jerry Lierly, 24
Dewayne Kiefer, 19
Jim Moon, 18
Denny Woodworth, 17
Jake Griffin, 16

SUNDAY NIGHT FEATURE WINNERS

Late models: Dustin Griffin (5th). Season leader: Dustin Griffin, 5.
Modifieds: Craig Spegal (1st). Season leader: Steven DeLonjay, 8.
Sport mods: Tony Dunker (15th). Season leader: Tony Dunker, 15.
Stock cars: Terry Houston (5th). Season leader: Abe Huls, 11.
Hobby stocks: Jeff DeLonjay (1st). Season leader: Jake Powers, 7.
Sport compacts: Austen Becerra (10th). Season leader: Austen Becerra, 10.

Fast feature laps

Late models:  Mark Burgtorf, 76.652 mph. (Fastest of season: Brian Shirley, 77.754 mph, Sept. 16)
Modifieds:   Craig Spegal, 68.607 mph. (Fastest of the season: Michael Long, 70.808 mph, June 17)
Sport mods: Tony Dunker, 65.976 mph. (Fastest of season).

QUALIFYING

Late models (top 6): 1. Dustin Griffin 75.232 mph, 2. Denny Woodworth 75.130, 3. Mark Burgtorf 74.486, 4. Rusty Schlenk 74.375, 5. Jerry Lierly 73.953, 6. Jake Griffin 73.932.

Sept. 30: Dustin Griffin, 75.232 mph.
Sept. 23: Brian Shirley, 74.876 mph
Sept. 16: Brian Shirley, 76.054 mph.
Sept. 9: Michael Long 74.216 mph.

Modifieds (top 6): 1. Steven DeLonjay 68.133 mph, 2. Jared Schlipman 66.786, 3. Robbie Reed 65.500, 4. Dave Wietholder 65.332, 5. Ryan Porter 65.144, 6. Craig Spegal 65.059.

Sept. 30: Steven DeLonjay, 68.133 mph.
Sept. 23: Craig Spegal, 65.332 mph.
Sept. 16: Jared Schlipman, 64.764 mph.
Sept. 9: Matt Dotson, 67.303 mph.

SUNDAY NIGHT HEAT WINNERS

Late models: Jim Moon (5th). Season leader: Dustin Griffin 8, Mark Burgtorf 8.
Modifieds: Adam Birck (2nd), Jake Griffin (5th). Season leader: Steven DeLonjay 7.
Sport mods: Joe Bliven (3rd), Rick Barlow Jr. (1st). Season leader: Tony Dunker 12.
Stock cars: Terry Houston (5th). Season leader: Michael Larsen 9.
Hobby stocks: Jeremy Buss (2nd), Jeff DeLonjay (2nd). Season leader: Jake Powers 9.
Sport compacts: Austen Becerra (6th), Josh Barnes (1st). Season leader: Austen Becerra 6.

Late model dash winner for pole position: Dustin Griffin (5th). Season leader: Dustin Griffin, 5.

Past dash winners
April 1: Brandon Sheppard
April 8: Dustin Griffin
May 6: Dennis Erb Jr.
May 13: Dustin Griffin
May 20: Mark Burgtorf
May 27: Mark Burgtorf
June 3: Jerry Lierly
June 10: Dustin Griffin
June 17: Dewayne Kiefer
June 24: Jason Perry
July 1: Late models did not run
July 8: Justin Reed
July 15: Matt Bailey
July 29: Mark Burgtorf
Aug. 5: Kevin Weaver
Aug. 12: Dustin Griffin
Aug. 19: Michael Long
Sept. 9: Steve Thorsten
Sept. 16: Brian Shirley
Sept. 23: Jake Griffin
Sept. 30: Dustin Griffin

Modified dash winner for pole position: Jared Schlipman (1st).

Past dash winners
Sept. 9: Robbie Reed
Sept. 16: Steven DeLonjay
Sept. 23: Steven DeLonjay
Sept. 30: Jared Schlipman

SUNDAY NIGHT STARS

10 stars: Craig Spegal, who won his first modified feature at the Bullring by the largest margin of victory this season — in any series.
9 stars: Jeff DeLonjay, who won his first hobby stock feature of the season in dominating fashion.
8 stars: Terry Houston, for not only winning his fifth stock car feature of the season but for introducing the “Wing Thing” to 8000 Broadway.
7 stars: Tony Dunker, who ended the season just as he began — with a victory. In between there were 13 other feature wins.
6 stars: Dustin Griffin, who won the late model feature and will likely enter 2013 as the man to beat for the track championship. He was also one of two late model drivers to win back-to-back features this season.
5 stars: Austen Becerra, who capped his dominating second half of the season with his 10th feature win in the last 12 weeks.
4 stars: Doug Mealy, the track announcer who provided another entertaining season behind the microphone.
3 stars: Jake Croxton, the chief steward who called for a 40-lap sport compact feature. It was great fun..
2 stars: The Rev. Dennis Thomas of Grandview Church, who again offered his services all season long providing the invocation before the races began.
1 star: Lee Ann Lambert, who provided the track with another season of outstanding national anthems.

10-star recipients this season: Dustin Griffin 3, Steven DeLonjay 2, Jake Griffin 2, Dave Wietholder 2, Justin Reed 2. These drivers have all have one: Tanner Klingele, Pat Dunker, Craig Spegal, Matt Bailey, Jason Perry, Abe Huls, Robbie Reed, Jim Hurley (sprint cars). Special award: Hall of Fame inductees, Charles “Photobilly” Haffer.

CAR COUNTS

Late models: 12 (Season average 17.6, six shows of 20 or more cars).
Modifieds: 19 (Season average 18.9, eight shows of 20 or more cars).
Sport mods: 11 (Season average 11.4).
Stock cars: 9 (Season average 8.4).
Hobby stocks: 12 (Season average 12.3).
Sport compacts: 14 (Season average 15.1).

Season high car counts

Late models: 23, May 6. (regular weekly show only)
Modifieds: 25, Sept. 9.
Sport mods: 18, May 13.
Stock cars: 12, April 1.
Hobby stocks: 16, May 13 and June 10
Sport compacts: 18, May 30

CAUTIONS

Late models: 2, 74 for the season. (Season high: 18, July 6.)
Modifieds: 10, 182 for the season. (Season high: 16, July 29.)
Sport mods: 5, 124 for the season. (Season high: 11, April 1.)
Stock cars: 0, 45 for the season. (Season high: 8, July 8.)
Hobby stocks: 2, 82 for the season. (Season high: 8, June 10.)
Sport compacts: 2, 61 for the season. Season high: 7, May 27.)

Recent season caution totals
2012: 576 (through Sept. 30)
2011: 255
2010: 289
2009: 450
2008: 468
2007: 493
2006: 448

Our friends at UMP DirtCAR racing have supplied us with the following information going into Sunday night’s season finale at the Bullring:

Brian Shirley, who has won two features this season at Quincy Raceways, stands on the brink of his first-ever DIRTcar UMP Late Model national championship, and how Sunday night plays out at the Bullring could have a big say in that quest.

Shirley holds a 53-point lead (2,551-2,498) over 1992 DIRTcar UMP Late Model national champion Kevin Weaver of Gibson City, Ill., entering the weekend. After the weekend is complete, the only opportunity left for Late Model and UMP Modified competitors to collect points will come in the annual DIRTcar UMP Nationals on Oct. 5-6 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

Coming off a successful weekend that saw him push his 2012 DIRTcar UMP win total to 12 with victories on Sept. 21 at Kankakee (Ill.) County Speedway and Sept. 23 at Quincy. Shirley’s next scheduled sanctioned start is the DIRTcar UMP Nationals at Eldora. But he can still clinch the national crown this weekend without turning a wheel under the DIRTcar UMP banner.

Brian Shirley

Weaver’s hopes for a second DIRTcar UMP national title two decades after his first remain alive, but he must be virtually perfect the remainder of the way. With the Late Model standings determined using drivers’ best 35 finishes/points nights, the veteran racer has three 60-point nights to replace on his ledger and could overtake Shirley if he wins three full-point features (bonus points are available based on car count) and Shirley, who has two 65-point nights to replace, does not finish second or better in any race.

Weaver, who has 18 feature wins this season, has three sanctioned events on his schedule this weekend: Kankakee on Friday; Highland (Ill.) Speedway or Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo., on Saturday; and Quincy on Sunday.

Shirley is bidding to become just the third driver in DIRTcar UMP history to win the DIRTcar Summer Nationals title and weekly-racing national championship in the same season, joining Indiana’s John Gill (1986) and Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill. (2007-08) on the select list. The national championship is worth $20,000.

DIRTcar Racing UMP National Points Standings (as of Sept. 24, 2012)
Late Models (rank/driver/races counted/points):
Drivers in blue have raced at Quincy this season
Drivers in red are track regulars at Quincy
1. Brian Shirley 35 2551
2. Kevin Weaver 35 2498
3. Jason Feger 35 2376
4. Ryan Unzicker 35 2368
5. Rusty Schlenk 35 2367
6. Shannon Babb 35 2365
7. Randy Korte 35 2343
8. Michael Kloos 35 2342
9. Brandon Thirlby 35 2246
10. Brandon Sheppard 35 2241
11. Bobby Pierce 35 2197
12. Dewayne Kiefer 35 2175
13. Jim Moon 35 2170
14. Dustin Griffin 35 2151
15. Scott Schmitt 35 2079
16. Chad Zobrist 35 2070
17. Dennis Erb Jr. 35 2050
18. Rich Neiser 35 2039
19. Jason McBride 35 2014
20. Eric Spangler 35 2006

UMP Modifieds (rank/driver/races counted/points):
Drivers in blue have raced at Quincy this season
Drivers in red are track regulars at Quincy
1. Devin Gilpin 30 2346
2. Nick Allen 30 2304
3. Mike Harrison 30 2242
4. Jamie Lomax 30 2191
5. Trent Young 30 2177
6. Jacob Poel 30 2166
7. Dave Wietholder 30 2144
8. Joey Kramer 30 2132
9. Michael Long 30 2127
10. Ray Bollinger 30 2116
11. Doug Adkins 30 2103
12. Jeremy Rayburn 30 2097
13. Brian Bielong 30 2075
14. Kenny Wallace 30 2055
15. Clayton Miller 30 2051
16. Donovan Lodge 30 2047
17. Matt Mevert 30 2046
18. Todd Sherman 30 2039
19. Steven DeLonjay 30 2038
20. Rusty Griffaw 30 2029

Everything Tony Dunker has touched this year has turned to dirt-track gold, including three track championships. Now he can add the DIRT-y Driver of the Year award to his list of accomplishments.

Dunker was easily the top voter-getter among the fans in the sport mod division. Dunker captured 47.5 percent of the three-day ballot to outdistance runner-up Joe Bliven’s 18.0 percent. Bob Anders (14.4 percent) and Tanner Klingele (11.5 percent) were the other drivers who capture more than 10 percent of the vote.

This is Dunker’s second DIRT-y Driver of the Year win. He was the top vote-getter in the 2009 UMP modified balloting.

Up next are the UMP modifieds, followed by the late models. The modified vote will start Friday and run through Sunday.

Gold medal: 06 Ford Racer Fan

“I do not think it would be good to do away with the stock cars. Granted, the car count is low, but they do have a good race. Every class but the Sports Mods put on a good show. The car count is low in Sports Mods too. There has only been about three good races in that class all year. Dunker’s car is so much better than the others that there is no competition. End the Sports Mods and let him go back to winning some heat races in the major leagues. He should be more proud of that than beating up on a bunch of kids starting out and under funded cars. Keep the stock cars, they are a good show.”

Silver medal: craig courty

“It would be interesting to know what the current stock cars would do if the class is eliminated shouldnt take much to do an unofficial poll on here i think all the drivers read this blog, would you quit, race another imca track or move to a different class sportmods would seem the logical choice for most but if a guy doesnt want to buy a different race car it would be nice to see if management could find some way to let them configure the cars they have now to race in the hobbys such as removing weight jacks additional weight for the stock cars maybe even allow the whole hobby class to run the sport mod tires see how the times stack up then make some tweaking to the rules like carb if necessary. the 48 changed class mid year not sure what equipment changes he made but wasnt like he was getting lapped every race he looked competitive so it cant be that hard to do.”

Bronze medal: SKIPP

“CHEATER.”

Steven DeLonjay

Steven DeLonjay has raced his way into the modified all-time top 10 driver rankings. The 20-year-old DeLonjay’s second straight track championship, which also represented his fifth straight modified season of finishing third or higher in the points, has moved him among the track’s elite in this series.

DeLonjay, the son of 13-time track champ Hank DeLonjay (who won 10 of his titles in an “A” modified), now has 56 rankings points and a No. 7 position in the all-time top-10. Various classes of modifieds have raced at 8000 Broadway for the past 24 years.

Three other all-time top 10 drivers improved their ranking points total, but stayed in their same ranking position: No. 2 Tony Dunker, No. 3 Michael Long and No. 5 Dave Wietholder.

DeLonjay is the new No. 1-ranked driver in the modifieds since 2006. That was the year the track went to one series in that class through 2011. The track returned to two classes of mods this season with the introduction of the sport mods on a full-time basis. The sport mods had run a four-week schedule in 2011.

ARE WE IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MODS?

Take a closer look at those all-time rankings. Are we living in the golden age of the mods at the Bullring? Dunker, Long, Wietholder, DeLonjay … those guys are all in their prime, or in the case of DeLonjay still about a decade away. It’s something to think about. We get to watch some of the best in track history on a weekly basis, and I think some fans may take that for granted.

I’ve also included several other sets of rankings for you to peruse, all using the same format that has been employed since all of this craziness began almost 15 years ago. What I find most interesting about the “retired” rankings involving the old “A” and “B” mod classes is only two of the 20 drivers listed — Dunker and Long — are still active on a full-time basis.

ALL-TIME MODIFIED DRIVER RANKINGS
Includes all modified divisions

Drivers receive ranking points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale for their position in the final top 10 points standing each season. Ties broken by number of championships, second-place points finishes, top five points finishes, top 10 points finishes, etc.

1. Hank DeLonjay, 220 points (10 titles)
2. Tony Dunker, 125 (3)
3. Michael Long, 97 (2)
4. Sam Burgtorf, 81 (3)
5. Dave Wietholder, 67
6. Lonnie Carter, 57 (2)
7. Steven DeLonjay, 56 (2)
8. Vance Wilson, 56 (1)
9. Mike Karhoff, 55
10. Bob Dale, 51

Other drivers active in 2012 (minimum 30 ranking points)
Joe Bliven, 41
Robbie Reed, 39
Jared Schlipman, 37
Shawn Deering, 36

MODIFIED DRIVER RANKINGS SINCE 2006
Premier modified series only

1. Steven DeLonjay, 56 points (2 titles)
2. Michael Long, 49 (2)
3. Dave Wietholder, 49
4. Tony Dunker, 39
5. Jared Schlipman, 37 (1)
6. Shawn Deering, 36
7. Robbie Reed, 31
8. Justin Reed, 21 (1)
9. Hank DeLonjay, 20
10. Jake Griffin, 12

MODIFIED DRIVER RANKINGS SINCE 2009
When series became UMP sanctioned

1. Steven DeLonjay, 48 points (2 titles)
2. Jared Schlipman, 37 91)
3. Dave Wietholder, 28
4. Shawn Deering, 23
5. Justin Reed, 21
6. Michael Long, 19
7. Tony Dunker, 14
8. Jake Griffin, 12
9. Donovan Lodge, 7
10. Vance Wilson, 7

Other drivers active in 2012 (minimum 3 ranking points)
Robbie Reed, 6
Todd Reed, 5
James Leffew, 4
Russ Coultas, 3
Trent Grotz, 3

RETIRED “A” MODIFIED RANKINGS (1988-2005)

1. Hank DeLonjay, 200 points (10 titles)
2. Sam Burgtorf, 81 (3)
3. Mike Karhoff, 55
4. Michael Long, 48 (2)
5. Vance Wilson, 46 (1)
6. Mark Van Winkle, 39 (1)
7. Darin Walker, 35 (1)
8. Brandon Brown, 35
9. Jeff Waggoner, 32
10. Gary Wilson, 30

RETIRED “B” MODIFIED RANKINGS (1993-2005)

1. Tony Dunker, 61 points (2 titles)
2. Lonnie Carter, 57 (2)
3. Bob Dale, 51
4. Greg Uppinghouse, 46 (2)
5. Gary Dreyer, 45 (2)
6. Kelly Bartz, 45 (1)
7. Wyatt Lantz, 40 (1)
8. Jim Leffew, 31
9. Jerry Poor, 29
10. Joe Hooper, 26

Terry Houston: No. 1 in the all-time stock car rankings.

If the stock car series is pulled from the 2013 lineup at the Bullring — or given another reprieve, which we hope — one thing is certain. Terry Houston has been the most successful driver over the course of its five-year existence. (Hopefully that sentence can be rewritten in a few weeks to say the first five years of its existence.)

Houston, who claims the outspoken Dave Moore among his racing friends, became the first stock car driver to win two track titles with his championship this year. Abe Huls, Jeff Mueller and Aaron Brocksieck have the others.

That second title kept Houston cemented atop the track’s all-time stock car top 10 driver rankings.

Houston has been far less flashy than some of his rivals — he has never had one of those Abe Huls-esque winning streaks, nor have any of his cars provided the eye candy as those of Aaron Brocksieck’s. But what Houston has had is an unrivaled consistency. He’s there week in, week out and barring a crash or mechanical issue will finish near the top most Sunday nights.

If the stock cars do return next spring, count on Houston to be in the title mix — again. That’s what consistency does for a driver.

STOCK CAR ALL-TIME DRIVER RANKINGS SINCE START OF SERIES IN 2008

Drivers receive ranking points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale for their position in the final top 10 points standing each season. Ties broken by number of championships, second-place points finishes, top five points finishes, top 10 points finishes, etc.

1. Terry Houston, 48 points (2 title)
2. Abe Huls, 38 (1 title)
3. Aaron Brocksieck, 28 (1 title)
4. Jerry Jansen, 26
5. Andrew Griffin, 24
6. Kevin Tomlinson, 18
7. Steve Steinkuhler, 17
8. Jeff Mueller, 15 (1 title)
9. Chris Wibbell, 14
10. Michael Larsen, 12

Other drivers active in 2012 (minimum 5 ranking points)
Gabe Harrison, 11
Darin Weisinger, 7

Tanner Klingele is the second winner in this year’s DIRT-y Driver of the Year fans’ voting. Klingele was the top vote-getter the past three days among hobby stock fans and joins sport compact vote winner Kim Abbott. Both are first-time DIRT-y vote winners.

Klingele captured 30.4 percent of the vote, holding off track champion Jake Powers (24.5 percent). Brian Hoener (14.7 percent) was third, Kelly Bartz (7.8 percent) fourth and Brandon Symmonds (5.9 percent) fifth.

Up next are the sport mod drivers. Voting for the sport mods will run through Thursday.

Jake Powers

Jake “The Snake” Powers collected his first hobby stock track championship this season, and in the process has put himself in position to crack the top 10 of the bomber/hobby stock all-time rankings in 2013.

Powers’ championship gives him 35 rankings points, moving him within one point of a top-10 position. The series began in 1987 as “bombers” and in 2007 it became the “hobby stocks.” Looking ahead, if Powers can win a second straight title next season he could move up as high as No. 7 on the all-time list.

Since the inception of the hobby stocks in the  2007 season, Powers is No. 2, trailing only five-time track champ Steve Carlin, who is also No. 1 on the all-time rankings list.

HOBBY STOCK/BOMBERS ALL-TIME DRIVER RANKINGS SINCE START OF SERIES IN 1987

Drivers receive ranking points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale for their position in the final top 10 points standing each season. Ties broken by number of second-place points finishes, top five points finishes, top 10 points finishes

1. Steve Carlin, 108 points (5 titles)
2. Eddie Dieker, 101 (4 titles)
3. Bill Genenbacher, 74 (2 titles)
4. Bob Uppinghouse, 57 (1 title)
5. Harold Ketchum, 57 (1 title)
6. Junior Tuggle, 56 (1 title)
7. Jim Powell, 46
8. Adam Birck, 37
9. Dale Hatfield, 36
10. Bruce Hatfield, 36

Other drivers active in 2012 (minimum 10 ranking points)
Jake Powers, 35
Travis Booher, 21
Jeff DeLonjay, 19
Jeremy Buss, 19
Tanner Klingele, 17
Brandon Symmonds, 16
Brian Hoener, 13
Nathan Hayes, 12

HOBBY STOCK DRIVER RANKINGS SINCE 2007 (when series changed from bombers)

1. Steve Carlin, 63 points (3 titles)
2. Jake Powers, 35 (1 title)
3. Jim Powell, 32
4. Aaron Brocksieck, 22 (1 title)
5. Jeremy Buss, 19
6. Bobby Anders, 18
7. Tanner Klingele, 17
8. Brandon Symmonds, 16
9. Mike Wiley, 16
10. Todd Reichert, 15 (1 title)

Other active drivers in 2012 (minimum 5 ranking points)
Brian Hoener, 13
Nathan Hayes, 12
Travis Booher, 10
Justin Bartz, 9
Nathan Anders, 9
Jeff DeLonjay, 6

UMP director Sam Driggers has liked what he has seen this year at Quincy Raceways, which is completing its first season as a UMP late model facility. The above action was shot at the July 6 Hell Tour event at the Bullring.

Sam Driggers, who is the director of United Midwest Promoters (UMP) DIRTCar racing, stopped in at Quincy Raceways on Sunday night. He was in town to see track officials and evaluate the Bullring’s first year under UMP affiliation for its late models.

Driggers has been pleased with what has transpired at Quincy this and predicts a bright future for the facility at 8000 Broadway, which also sanctions its modifieds with UMP.

Driggers also said the famous UMP Hell Tour — a.k.a Summernationals — will take on a different look in 2013. The event will be stretched out over six weeks instead of five and take Mondays and Tuesdays off instead of racing virtually non-stop for 30-plus straight days.

“It will be better for the drivers — and me,” he said, with an obvious smile.

Oh, and in case you are wondering … yes, Driggers expects Quincy to be on next summer’s Hell Tour schedule. The Bullring hosted a $7,500-to-win tour event July 6, won by Brian Shirley.

DRIGGERS EXPECTS MORE ST. LOUIS AREA RACERS IN FUTURE

But back to Quincy’s first year as a UMP late model track. Late model car count is up 50 percent over a year ago for the weekly shows. The weekly average this season has been 18. (Ironically, the lowest late model count since late 2012 — 11 cars — was on hand Sunday night. But that was of little concern to Driggers. He knew track points ended the week before and there is always an immediate fall-off in most classes after that point in any season.)

“What happened in Quincy was what I expected this year,” Driggers said. “The car counts usually go up when a track switches to UMP. I was a little surprised (the count was not higher). I thought more of the St. Louis guys would come up.”

Driggers expects more of those St. Louis cars in the future.

“Quincy is the only Sunday night track in the region and I think (the drivers) just have to get used to that,” he said.

Despite the economy, Driggers said UMP late model car counts were higher this year than in 2011. It was the lower classes that have seemed to get hit harder by the after effects of the still-lingering recession. Driggers said it became more commonplace this year if a lower-class owner sustained major damage to his car, he was likely to miss several weeks rather than be back the ensuing week.

Driggers said 50 percent of all UMP cars and drivers are either in Illinois, or race in Illinois.

“Illinois is UMP,” he said. “Other than Pennsylvania, Illinois has more dirt tracks than any state in the nation.”

Including one at 8000 Broadway in Quincy.

AROUND THE HORN

There were plenty of familiar faces in victory lane Sunday night — and one newcomer:

Late models: Brian “The Squirrel” Shirley won for the second time this season in Quincy — his first came July 6 on Hell Tour night — when he ran down Jake Griffin and then pulled away. Griffin led for the first 10 laps, before Shirley used the high line to take over on lap 11 and eventually post a 1.45-second victory in the 30-lap main event.

Brian Shirley

Modifieds: Track champ Steven DeLonjay’s eighth feature victory was the first flag-to-flag effort in the series since July 8. Jake Griffin was also second in this feature.

Sport mods: With one lap to go, Tony Dunker sat third, but a backstretch crash involving then-leader Bobby Anders and a lapped car knocked Anders out of contention and set up a green-white-checkers finish. Dunker eventually got around Joe Bliven to post his 14th feature victory of the season. The win was also Dunker’s fifth straight and eighth in the last nine features. Dunker has now won more than $5,000 in this series, which would place him among the top 10 late model money winners.

Stock cars: Michael Larsen led from start to finish for his second feature victory of the year. Going into the season, The Walking Taco had not won a main event since 2005.

Hobby stocks: Justin Bevill was the night’s only first-time feature winner. The rookie inherited the lead following a an early-race crash that knocked Richie Wagy Jr. out of the top spot — and the race. Bevill withstood several challenges from Brian Hoener and Tanner Klingele to hold on for the win.

Sport compacts: Austen Becerra just keeps on winning. He won his ninth feature and series-best 14th race, taking over the lead from track champ Seth Woodruff on lap eight and then turning away repeated attempts by Woodruff to get around him in a classic door-to-door battle.

DUNKER ATOP FIRST CAREER SPORT MOD RANKINGS

Anyone surprised that Tony Dunker is the No. 1-ranked sport mod driver in the series’ brief history at the track has not been paying attention — or is related to blog contributor “flyby.” (If you need an explanation for that last comment, you really haven’t been paying attention!)

Dunker has completely dominated this year’s first full schedule of sport mods. A year ago, he was runner-up to Joe Bliven in the abbreviated schedule the series ran in its debut season.

Dunker won this year’s track title by 36 points over Bobby Anders, which under the IMCA scoring system could be considered a full-blown rout. Dunker’s 14 feature victories are more than double the amount of main events won (6) by the rest of the field.

SPORT MODS ALL-TIME TOP 10 RANKINGS (2011-12)

Drivers receive ranking points on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale for their position in the final top 10 points standing each season. Ties are broken by number of championships, second-place points finishes, top five points finishes, top 10 points finishes, etc.

1. Tony Dunker, 25 points (1 title)
2. Joe Bliven, 23 (1 title)
3. Bobby Anders, 10
4. Brandon Dale, 8
5. Tanner Klingele, 7
6. Rick Barlow Jr., 7
7. Brad Holtmeyer, 6
8. Bob Woodrow, 6
9. Jim Gillenwater, 5
10. Charles Van Zandt, 5

SUNDAY NIGHT FEATURE WINNERS

Late models: Brian Shirley (2nd).
Modifieds: Steven DeLonjay (8th).
Sport mods: Tony Dunker (14th)
Stock cars: Michael “Taco” Larsen (2nd).
Hobby stocks: Justin Bevill (1st).
Sport compacts: Austen Becerra (9th).

Fast feature laps

Late models:  (Fastest of season: Brian Shirley, 77.754 mph, Sept. 16)
Modifieds:   (Fastest of the season: Michael Long, 70.808 mph, June 17)
Sport mods:  (Fastest of season: Tony Dunker, 65.340 mph, Sept. 16)

QUALIFYING

Late models (top 6): 1. Brian Shirley 74.876 mph, 2. Michael Long 74.285, 3. Mark Burgtorf 73.500, 4. Jim Moon 73.002, 5. Dustin Griffin 72.344, 6. Jake Griffin 72.164.

Sept. 16: Brian Shirley, 76.054 mph.
Sept. 9: Michael Long 74.216 mph.

Modifieds (top 6): 1. Craig Spegal 65.332 mph, 2. Dave Wietholder 64.748, 3.Steven DeLonjay 64.708, 4. Mark Burgtorf 64.636, 5. Adam Birck 64.250, 6. Jared Schlipman 64.163.

Sept. 16: Jared Schlipman, 64.764 mph.
Sept. 9: Matt Dotson, 67.303 mph.

SUNDAY NIGHT HEAT WINNERS

Late models: Denny Woodworth (1st).
Modifieds: Troy Grotz (1st), Danny Lake (1st).
Sport mods: Tony Dunker (12th), Bobby Anders (7th).
Stock cars: Terry Houston (4th).
Hobby stocks: Richie Wagy Jr. (1st), Brian Hoener (7th).
Sport compacts: Austen Becerra (5th), Kim Abbott (5th).

Late model dash winner for pole position: Jake Griffin (1st).

Past dash winners
April 1: Brandon Sheppard
April 8: Dustin Griffin
May 6: Dennis Erb Jr.
May 13: Dustin Griffin
May 20: Mark Burgtorf
May 27: Mark Burgtorf
June 3: Jerry Lierly
June 10: Dustin Griffin
June 17: Dewayne Kiefer
June 24: Jason Perry
July 1: Late models did not run
July 8: Justin Reed
July 15: Matt Bailey
July 29: Mark Burgtorf
Aug. 5: Kevin Weaver
Aug. 12: Dustin Griffin
Aug. 19: Michael Long
Sept. 9: Steve Thorsten
Sept. 16: Brian Shirley

Modified dash winner for pole position: Steven DeLonjay (2nd).

Past dash winners
Sept. 9: Robbie Reed
Sept. 16: Steven DeLonjay

SUNDAY NIGHT STARS

10 stars: Dustin Griffin, who along with Griffin Sign Co., helped raised more than $7,000 for the family of the late Charles “PhotoBilly” Haffer, the Quincy Raceways track photographer who was killed last month in a two-vehicle crash in southeast Iowa. Griffin presented a check to members of the Haffer family Sunday night during intermission.
9 stars: Justin Bevill, for winning his first hobby stock feature.

Brian Shirley: Ka-ching!

8 stars: Jake Griffin, for finishing second in both the late model and modified feature. The 13-year-old also won the late model Fast 6 Dash.
7 stars: Tony Dunker, who I’m sure does not want to see this season end. He won his 14th feature and 26th race Sunday night.
6 stars: Austen Becerra, who rallied past track champ Seth Woodruff to win his ninth sport compact main event.
5 stars: Brian Shirley, the late model faeture winner who with Sunday night’s paycheck has earned more than $9,000 this season at the Bullring.
4 stars: Steven DeLonjay, who continued his second half of the season decimation of the modifieds. DeLonjay won his eighth feature, seven coming in the second half of the year.
3 stars: Michael Larsen, who won his second stock car feature of the year after going winless since 2005.
2 stars: Brian Hoener, who won his seventh hobby stock heat race and became the third series driver to win 13 or more races this season. Hoener had more second-half points this season than any other driver in that division.
1 star: Darin Weisinger, who raced the final event of his carer Sunday night. Enjoy your “retirement” as a car owner, Darin.

10-star recipients this season: Dustin Griffin 3, Steven DeLonjay 2, Jake Griffin 2, Dave Wietholder 2, Justin Reed 2. These drivers have all have one: Tanner Klingele, Pat Dunker, Matt Bailey, Jason Perry, Abe Huls, Robbie Reed, Jim Hurley (sprint cars). Special award: Hall of Fame inductees, Charles “Photobilly” Haffer.

CAR COUNTS

Late models: 11 (season average 17.8).
Modifieds: 22 (18.9)
Sport mods: 11 (11.3)
Stock cars: 6 (8.3)
Hobby stocks: 14 (12.3)
Sport compacts: 12 (15.1)

Season high car counts

Late models: 23, May 6. (regular weekly show only)
Modifieds: 25, Sept. 9.
Sport mods: 18, May 13.
Stock cars: 12, April 1.
Hobby stocks: 16, May 13 and June 10
Sport compacts: 18, May 30

CAUTIONS

Late models: 0 (72 for season).
Modifieds: 11 (183)
Sport mods: 2 (119)
Stock cars: 0 (45)
Hobby stocks: 5 (60)
Sport compacts: 3 (62)

Recent season caution totals
2012: 555 (through Sept. 16)
2011: 255
2010: 289
2009: 450
2008: 468
2007: 493
2006: 448

The sport compact fans have spoken. Kim Abbott is their choice as the 2012 DIRT-y Driver of the Year.

Abbott, who was runner-up in track points and the highest finishing female driver in track history, garnered 51.2 percent of the vote. Austen Becerra, who was third in points but has won series-best eight features, was second with 18.4 percent. Two-time track champ Seth Woodruff was third with 16.8 percent. No other driver had more than 4.8 percent of the ballot.

Up next are the hobby stocks. The top 10 drivers in points are eligible to be in the fans’ ballot. Voting will run through Monday.