By NICK SCHWIEN

nschwien@dailynews.net

Most racers would look at a forecast with 100-degree temperatures for days straight as a bad sign.

Not Cody Graham. That's right up his alley.

The hobby stock driver from Hays is well-adapted to racing on dry-slick dirt ovals in the region, and it's that type of track where he excels.

Need evidence? Look no further than last weekend, when Graham ran second to a "thumper" car at the Great American Dirt Track at Jetmore Motorplex, then backed it up with a win Sunday night at WaKeeney Speedway.

"Another thing that helps us out is when the tracks get dry-slick," Graham said. "This year, our set-ups for dry-slick are great.

"That's huge. The guys that were having real huge success on big, heavy tracks like Hays and WaKeeney earlier this year, they're going to be behind when we run the dry set-ups -- I hope. It will take them a little bit to adjust to the dry-slick tracks. That's good for us."

Graham will get another crack at posting his first victory at RPM Speedway in Hays this season Friday night. The regular five classes are scheduled to begin racing at 7:30 p.m.

This week's hot, late-June temperatures have Graham smiling.

"It's finally getting hot and dry-slick," he said. "That's how I like it."

Another reason Graham is starting to hit full stride again is he's back in his own car. He dropped an exhaust valve in his engine June 12 while running up front at WaKeeney. That caused additional damage that needed repaired.

So Graham borrowed Randy Murphy's hobby stock for the June 17 show at RPM, where he finished seventh and was able to salvage a few track points.

Entering Friday, Graham is fourth in the hobby stock standings with 213 points. His brother-in-law, Luke Pfannenstiel, leads the way with 221, followed by Kent Tammen (220) and G.W. "Cheeseburger" Fuller (217).

"We were a couple points out of the lead, but Luke's running good and Kent Tammen's running good and Cheeseburger's running good," Graham said. "We're kind of behind the eight-ball right now."

Graham acknowledges he is playing catch-up in the points standings after trying new things early in the year that didn't pan out.

"We had a great year last year," he said. "Basically every track we've went to we won at. We tried to do a few things over the winter to make the car faster, but it just didn't work. So we were already behind everyone else. We were trying to make the car better and just fell behind. We finally went back to our old set-ups, and now we're finally starting to get back on track."

That track to success has been aided by being back in his own car, too. He got his car and engine put back together late last week before running at Jetmore and WaKeeney.

"You know the feeling of what it's like being in your own car,"  Graham said. "You can drive it with your butt. It's a nice feeling."

Now, his recent outings on the dirt oval are as hot as the June temperatures. And he's within striking distance for track titles at Hays and Jetmore, which is IMCA sanctioned for the first time this year.

"Maybe we can get that first Great American Dirt Track hobby stock track championship," said Graham, who has won twice there this season. "Nobody can ever really take that from you. You're the first."