Familiar names to vie for Hell Tour crown during annual stop at Quincy Raceways

QUINCY — When the DIRTCar Summer Nationals Hell Tour motors into Quincy on Wednesday night, the names to watch will be familiar ones.

Jason Feger, Dennis Erb Jr., Drake Troutman and Brian Shirley have been the steadiest drivers through the first week of the 40th annual, 31-races-in-34-nights marathon that will criss-cross nine states from early June through early July.

By the time the tour finds its way to 8000 Broadway it will have already made stops at five Illinois tracks (Brownstown, Kankakee, Peoria, Fairbury and Maple Lake), plus one apiece in Wisconsin (Wilmot) and Iowa (Davenport). By the time the Hell Tour is finished, it will also visit Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio and Arkansas.

During the Hell Tour’s first week of competition, drivers from 16 states have taken the green flag. Drivers from as far west as Oregon, as far east as Pennsylvania, as far south as Louisiana and Mississippi and as far north as Minnesota have been in the pits.

Feger has two early victories in his bid to repeat his 2010 championship. Erb has yet to win, but has been racking up podium finishes in a bid to claim his first Hell Tour crown since 2009. Shannon Babb, who is tied with Billy Moyer Sr. for the most wins in series history at 101, figures to be another threat Wednesday night. So does Brian Shirley, who has one win so far this year and last won the tour championship in 2020.

Here’s a quick recap of what has happened so far in the 2025 Hell Tour:

June 16 at Wilmot, Wis. — 1. Drake Troutman, 2. Jason Feger, 3. Joseph Joiner, 4. Dennis Erb Jr., 5. Kyle Bronson. Troutman, who hails from Hyndman, Pa., should be a major contender at Quincy, where he holds the track record with an 11.89-second qualifying lap in June  2023. Troutman’s victory was worth $6,000. (Austin Howes of Lewistown, Mo., who frequents Quincy at times, finished 20th in the feature.) 

June 15 at Maple Lake, Ill. — 1. Jason Feger, 2. Brian Shirley, 3. Dennis Erb Jr. “I think everybody thought it was going to be bottom-dominant, and we were able to get close to the top and drive down into the crumbs,” Feger said.

June 14 at Fairbury, Ill. — 1. Brian Shirley, 2. Jason Feger, 3. Dennis Erb Jr. The tour victory was the 43rd for Shirley, a five-time series champ, who made the most of the high groove. “(Clean air) was huge,” Shirley said. “Feger was just really good on (the bottom) again.”

June 12 at Peoria, Ill. — 1. Drake Troutman, 2. Ryan Unzicker, 3. Dennis Erb Jr. Troutman benefitted from a late flat tire on Shirley’s car. “I hate to get (a victory that) way,” Troutman said. “(Shirley) was pretty good … but I’ve led races before (and lost) … it’s part of racing.”

June 13 at Granite City, Ill. — Rained out.

June 11 at Kankakee, Ill. — 1. Jason Feger, 2. Dillon McCowan, 3. Brian Shirley. “It feels good to get (that first win) out of the way early in the tour,” Feger said.

June 10 at Brownstown, Ill. — 1. Billy Moyer Sr., 2. Shannon Babb, 3. Brian Shirley. “It kind of feels like the good old days again,” said Moyer, a resident of Batesville, Ark., who is the elder statesman of the tour at age 67.

Modifieds

Once again, part of the Summer Nationals annual stop in Quincy will be the Summit Modifieds as the Hell Tour’s No. 1 support series. Former Quincy Raceways track champ Michael Long of Fowler won his first Summit feature of the season with a victory last Saturday at Fairbury, outpowering Michael Ledford and Derek Losh.

“I was good on the bottom when I could keep speed up,” Long said. “With the yellows, the track really cleaned up. When I had to really slow down there, I just got too tight and Ledford had a better car than me. Then, I kinda found that line up top … hit the cushion and go.”

Long won last year’s modified feature on Hell Tour night.

Other Summit Modified winners so far this year have been Joel Seegert (Wilmot), Trevor Neville (Peoria), Losh (Kankakee) and Treb Jacoby (Brownstown). Neville and Jacoby have already raced this season at Quincy.

Times to remember

Racing is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Gates open at 4:30 p.m.

Admission prices are $35 for adults, $25 for seniors (62 and older), $25 for students (6-17) and free for kids 5 and under. Pit passes are $45, kids 14 and under $25.