$5,000 awaits RPM's Fall Nationals winner

10/12/2011

By NICK SCHWIEN

nschwien@dailynews.net

Fast is the key.

Or is it keeping your car clean?

Or drawing good?

Or grabbing a good finish Friday night?

It just might be all the above entering the fifth annual Fall Nationals at RPM Speedway in Hays. The annual event kicks off Thursday, with the sport compact feature and test-and-tune for all other classes.

On Friday, hobby stocks, stocks, Northern sport mods and modifieds will take to the 3âÑ8-mile dirt oval to compete, then finish off the three-day show Saturday with large payouts for all four classes.

The largest payout will come in the modified feature Saturday, with the winner pocketing $5,000.

"You kind of get up for it," said Oberlin's David Murray Jr., who won the modified feature two years ago. "It's an adrenaline deal."

In the previous four years in the modified feature, only one driver outside Kansas took home top honors. That happened last year when Colorado's Will Brack snuck into the lead near the end to win the wild feature. As he pulled into victory lane, his right rear tire went flat.

Murray finished fourth a year ago after winning the previous year. He'll be breaking in a new car this weekend for the second year in a row.

"The main thing is to draw good the first night," said Murray, a four-time IMCA national champion. "You're probably going to have to get into the first four or five rows. Sometimes the track rubbers up and turns into one lane. If it rubbers up, it can get racy. It's going to take a little luck and hit the driver set-up right."

Jeremy Zorn won the inaugural race five years ago, followed by Galva's Jerry Phillips in 2008. Murray won in 2009, with Brack taking home the large payout last year.

"I hope for a good, fun weekend," Phillips said. "It would be awesome to pull it off again."

Phillips was putting a new engine together this week for the special show. His $5,000 win in 2008 was the largest of his career, and one of his most memorable.

He knows he'll have to be on top of his game this weekend to become the first driver to win more than one modified feature at the Fall Nationals.

"You get the hot dogs from all over coming in," Phillips said. "And you know you have to be a hot dog, too. The Sherfick boys are running really good right now. They're good kids and hard racers. I wish them well also. But I'd like to put it to those young whipper-snappers."

The Sherficks definitely have been fast at RPM. Dylan Sherfick won the Sept. 30 race in Hays, beating his older brother, Travis, to the checkered flag.

But Travis Sherfick has been fast the second half of the season, winning the final four races at WaKeeney Speedway and the next-to-last race in Hays.

"There will be some heavy competition, as far as guys who have won some big, big races,"  Travis Sherfick said. "Hopefully we'll be able to keep the momentum going. Running it weekly is better for us guys than the ones who don't run it all the time, but you never know what can happen."

One driver who has been consistent all year long in the area has been Dighton's Shannon Maughlin. That helped him claim the state title in the modified class.

"It will be a challenging race,"  Maughlin said. "There's a lot of competitors there. Getting in the A-main is a win in itself. I hope we'll be in there to go for the money. It will be a fun weekend. There's going to be lots of race cars there."

And with so many cars competing, each driver will have a different idea on what it will take to win.

When they get a whiff of that $5,000, things could get interesting -- like they have in past years.

"You throw $5,000 around, and guys will do just about anything to win,"  Travis Sherfick said. "There's going to be some rubbin' going on, but I guess they say rubbin's racin,' right?"