The day the Hell Tour Came to I-80 Speedway

By Lee Ackerman,

On July 11, 1995 the United Midwest Promoters Summer Nationals made its only stop ever in the State of Nebraska when it visited I-80 Speedway. The race would be the 8^th stop on what turned out to be a 12 race series in 1995. A crowd estimated at 3,600 turned out for the event which paid $8,000 to the winner.

In time trials, Bryan Dunaway of Reddick, Illinois set the standard at 18.03 seconds followed closely by Omahan Steve Kosiski and the hottest driver in the series at the time in Fargo, North Dakota’s Rick Aukland. Aukland had won three races in the previous six days, two in the UMP series including the night before at West Liberty, Iowa.

In the trophy dash which consisted of the six fastest qualfiers plus a track representative, a UMP Summer Nationals representative and a UMP series representative, Rick Aukland showed why he had been winning as he stormed to the front and picked up the win which would give him the pole in the Feature. Aukland was followed by Bob Pierce of Danville, Illinois and Bill Frye of Greenbrier, Arkansas.

The three heats went to Leslie Essary of Crane, Missouri over Freddy Smith then driving out of Baton Rouge, Lousiana. Steve Russell of Pontotoc, Mississippi in heat 2 over Kevin Gundaker of St. Charles, Missouri and Steve Kosiski of Omaha in heat 3 over Willy Kraft of Lakefield, Minnesota. The B feature was won by “the Marquette Missile” Kyle Berck as he held off Leon Plank of Altoona, Wisconsin and Jay Johnson of West Burlington, Iowa,

At the drop of the green in the 40 lap-26 car feature, Aukland took the lead and as they say “sailed into the sunset” easily picking up his fourth win in seven days. “We’ve been on a roll recently,” Aukland said after the race. “I hope it keeps rolling. I snuck a peek back a couple of times and thought we had a little room.”

Following Aukland to the line was Billy Moyer of Batesville, Arkansas, Bob Pierce, Leslie Essary and Bill Frye. Omahan Steve Kosiski finished a disappointing 13^th. “There were a lot of good cars,” said Kosiski after the race. “I would have liked to have been a little tougher on them. We didn’t find it tonight.”

Bob Pierce known as “the Tall Cool One” and a 2003 inductee into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame would win the 1995 Summer Nationals Title. The Summer Nationals would continue to grow over the years and a couple of years ago picked up the nickname of “the Hell Tour” because of their demanding schedule of racing 26 or 27 times in a 30 day period.

Modifieds, Pro-Ams and Grand Nationals also raced that night. Rudy Blake of Wilber picked up the modified victory followed by Kevin Larkins and Mike Meyer. Tim Tilley of Council Bluffs won the Pro Am feature followed by Larry Robinson Jr. and Russ Hadan. In the Grand National feature, a couple of early accidents slowed the start of the race but once it got underway, Steve Light of Elkhorn took command and won his third victory of the year at I-80. Bill Wrich was second and Gary Joens third.