The excitement among racing fans is already mounting with the news that the SuperClean Modified Racing Series will be dropping the green flag on its 2009 racing season. This outstanding open wheel modified series officially kicks off the new season on March 28th at the Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu City-Arizona. This race will be the first of eight official points events scheduled all the way through October 17th. Additionally there is a ninth race, the Road To Las Vegas Fall Classic 2009, which is a non points event scheduled for the weekend of November 6th and 7th.
El Cajon-California's Jimmy Dickerson is the reigning 2008 SuperClean Modified Racing Series champion. Last season he won five feature events, backed with nine top five finishes and took home $12,300 in winnings and bonuses. However, Dickerson had to wait all the way to the final race of the season to claim the points title. He won three of the first four races in 2008 but it became quickly apparent that driver Andrew Phipps was going to be his chief source of competition for the series' championship. But during the course of a race at the Orange Show Speedway last July it appeared that Dickerson's championships hopes had unravelled when an unexpected mechanical failure created a rare DNF. Dickerson spent the second half of the 2008 season chasing Phipps who now appeared to be championship bound. Amazingly, that effort unravelled on the final night of the season when the Phipps car ended up behind the wall with mechanical problems. Dickerson wound up claiming the series' championship that night by 18 points. Dickerson was the first to credit team owners Eric and Jennifer Brucher for his success and said "they gave me an awesome car to race. They're willing to do whatever it takes to make that car the top dog. The guys in this series are awesome. They're the best I've ever raced with from first to all the way back. This racing class is not an easy one."
However other racing opportunity may find Dickerson not defending his SuperClean Modified Racing Series championship. When asked about his 2009 plans he said "right now we're set for a limited schedule for this series. We have a new late model car so we'll be running both the modified and the late car in selected events." However the reigning champion did indicate that if additional sponsorship money became available they would consider putting their emphasis on the modified series full time so the competition should not be breathing a sigh of relief just yet.
Despite having to settle for second in the series' final championship standings, Phipps still had an outstanding 2008 season that included three feature wins and eight top five finishes. He also collected $8,125 in purse winnings and post season bonuses. In a post season interview, held at the awards banquet last January, the Simi Valley-California driver said the SuperClean Modified Racing Series schedule was perfect for him adding "this is exactly what we were looking for, a short schedule with one race per month. The guys who run this series understands exactly where we're at and they know if they try and run a 20 race schedule that we just won't be able to do it. It's perfect for what I want to do. It's absolutely fun. All of these guys who run this series are good people and we all get along really well."
When asked about preparations for the upcoming 2009 season Phipps said "we completely stripped the car down to nothing and then put it all back together like it was a brand new car which we didn't get to do before this year. Last season we just bought the car and raced it as it was while making improvements as we went along. Now that we've got to go through it there's no doubt that the car is going to be even better. I got to drive on all of these tracks last year, some of them two times, and that also is going to make us better next year."
While Phipps is certainly excited about his series' prospects for 2009, he's more excited about racing with his new team mate: his dad Dave Phipps. "I'm really excited about getting to race with my dad, he's an eight time champion from the Saugus Speedway," Phipps said."My dad raced from the time I was born and he's probably won more modified races than I've ever been in. He hasn't raced since 1999 and he seemed to be burned out with driving all together. But he started coming to some of these races with me. He got really excited about the SuperClean Series, and the people who run it, so he decided to get back into it. I've never got to race with my dad. We've raced at the same track before but he was always driving in a higher division so this will be first time that where we actually get to race together and it should be a lot of fun. I don't know exactly what to expect but I guarantee you he will be fast and it will really be neat to get to race with my dad."
Chris Gerchman finished third in the 2008 championship standings with one feature win and eight top five finishes that netted him $6,400 at the end of the year. Many series observers felt that had it not been for mechanical problems, in two consecutive races in the middle of the season, Gerchman would have been a major player in the championship picture. " It was an awesome season," he said adding "this is the best group of guys that I've ever raced with."
Those same series observers are already saying that this is the driver to watch during the SuperClean Modified Racing Series' 2009 season. Gerchman has been spending the winter racing months competing in the regular modified division events at both the Lucas Oil I 10 Speedway and the Havasu 95 Speedway. At this point in time it appears that he has a better than good chance to winning both track titles. When he wasn't racing in the two winter series, Gerchman was busy building a new race car for the SuperClean Series. "I plan to keep on moving forward during the '09 season," he said adding "we have a new car coming. It's an STR modified, the same type of car that Jimmy Dickerson ran this year. A lot of people kept saying that Dickerson's car was the difference so I guess we're going to find out."
Tim Morse finished fourth in the final 2008 series' standings. The Burbank-California driver ran a consisent season with five top five finishes and nine top tens that netted him $6,150 in season's earnings. Morse called his 2008 season in the SuperClean Modified Racing Series a learning experience and said "It was an unbelievable season for me and probably the hardest I've ever worked on a race car. It was a good experimental year, I learned a lot and it led to setting a new track record and three fast times."
Many series observers are also saying that 2009 could be a break year for Morse. He's really looking forward to the start of the 2009 season on March 29th and said "I'm going to start with a brand new car and see what I can do. I really want to win a main event badly. I was so close last year but somehow never got there. I'm really looking forward to 2009."
Series promoter Greg Scheidecker was thrilled with everything about the 2008 season and is looking for bigger and better things for the upcoming new season. Commenting on the new season he said "with the economy in the state that it is, to be able make a list of 13 new drivers requesting car numbers is really something. If half of those new cars do participate in the series in 2009, only half, that alone will increase our average car count to well over 30 cars per race."
Series co promoter Bill Rozhon said "our group of racers as a whole are very competitive, they get along great and they help each other. There are a lot of facilities who have shown interest in our series and we're very proud of that. It's almost like our SuperClean Modified Series is taking over the individual track modified series in general in the western states."
Series technical inspector Allan Brown was very happy with the level of preparation and cooperation that the SuperClean teams displayed last year during inspections. He was also impressed with the series' level field of competition and said "as a tech official I truly thought that every car had an equal chance." Commenting on the upcoming 2009 season Brown said "I see even better prospects coming down the road. We're not changing any tech procedures or any rules. It will be easier on me because these guys will know what I'll be looking for."
The SuperClean Modified Racing Series is very happy to announce that the state of national economics has not impacted the purse and points fund. They will remain at the same levels from last year. That includes $1,000 to win and a guarantee of $250 to start the A Main. Also remaining in place will be the $100 bonus money for Hard Charger, Fast Time, Clean Pass,B Main winner and Trophy Dash Winner. The 2009 series champion will again receive $2,500 in cash and $1,000 in Lucas Oil Products.
Scheidecker was especially thrilled to announce the return of the series' sponsors and welcomed some new series sponsors for 2009. Once again the series will benefit from the highly potent marketing group known as "Team Lucas". The team includes: SuperClean, Lucas Oil Products, E3 Spark Plugs, R&L Carriers, Dixie Chopper, General Tire, K&N Performance Filters and Jim Beam.
Also returning as series sponsors this year are: SuperClean, Hoosier Tire West, Budweiser, Blue Water Resort and Casino and Sunoco Fuel. New series sponsors signed for the new season are: Frank's Radio, DJ Safety and STR-Steve Teets.
For more information about the excitement of the 2009 SuperClean Modified Racing Series dial up their official website at www.lucasoilmodifieds.com.
SUPER CLEAN MODIFIED RACING SERIES. 2009 SCHEDULE
MARCH 28. HAVASU 95 SPEEDWAY. LAKE HAVASU CITY-AZ.
APRIL 18. LUCAS OIL I 10 SPEEDWAY. BLYTHE-CALIFORNIA
MAY 16. THE BULLRING. LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY. LAS VEGAS-NV
JULY 11. ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY. SAN BERNARDINO-CA
AUGUST 15. THE BULLRING. LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY. LAS VEGAS-NV
SEPTEMBER 5. ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY. SAN BERNARDINO-CA
SEPTEMBER 26. HAVASU 95 SPEEDWAY. LAKE HAVASU CITY-AZ
OCTOBER 17. LUCAS OIL I 10 SPEEDWAY. BLYTHE-CA
NOVEMBER 6TH-7TH. THE BULLRING. LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY. LAS VEGAS-NV
