Ryan Gustin’s knowledge of Davenport Speedway and 34 Raceway isn’t merely limited. It’s virtually non-existent. But that’s OK. Both ovals are located in Iowa, which means Gustin will have the rare opportunity to race a Dirt Late Model in his home state this weekend when the tracks are part of a doubleheader sanctioned by the Cornbelt Clash Series and MARS DIRTcar Series.
“Honestly, I don’t really know anything about those tracks,” he said. “I haven’t even seen ‘em on video.”
A 23-year-old open-wheel modified ace from Marshalltown, Iowa, who is rapidly gaining notice as he transitions to the full-fender ranks, Gustin has made just one start at a Hawkeye State track since he began dabbling with a Dirt Late Model late in 2012. He didn’t win that event last June at Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa — he led the race early but finished fifth — so he’ll take another crack at his first home-state Dirt Late Model victory this weekend.
“I’m looking forward to going there and racing with guys like (Brian) Birkhofer,” Gustin said, singling out arguably the most well-known Iowa-based driver in the Dirt Late Model division today. “I’d love to win that one on Saturday (at 34 Raceway in Burlington) and take that $10,000 home. That would just be a great accomplishment for us.”
Saturday night’s Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway actually pays $10,550 from a total purse of over $40,000. It’s the largest first-place payoff in the history of the 3/8-mile track, which sits roughly 170 miles southeast of Gustin’s home in central Iowa. Davenport, which hosts a $3,500-to-win event on Friday night, is a bit closer for Gustin (about 25 miles north of Burlington) but still not exactly in his backyard.
“It’s not like we’ll be racing at Marshalltown (Speedway),” Gustin said, referring to his hometown track. “It will be nice to be racing in Iowa — and it would great to win one in Iowa — but there won’t be a whole lot of people I know at either place. My wife might come out, but my family all races so they won’t be there.”
Having his wife, Kendra, in attendance this weekend would probably be enjoyable enough for Gustin, who hasn’t seen much of her or his year-and-a-half-old son, Bradyn, lately. Between his two-week January trip to Arizona and Texas for National Dirt Racing League-sanctioned Dirt Late Model events, March excursions to Texas, Louisiana and Missouri and countless hours working in his team owner Ed Gressel’s Burton, Kan., shop, he’s been living out of a suitcase.
“Shoot, I haven’t been home but a couple weeks this year,” said Gustin, whose full-time deal driving for Gressel entails working regularly on Gressel’s equipment seven hours away from Marshalltown. “I gotta be down at the shop all the time to put in the work on the cars. It’s tough, but if you’re gonna go win races, that’s just how it is. I’m just lucky that my wife does an excellent job taking care of our son and everything at home so I can do what I love to do.”
Gustin is making the sacrifices to chase his dream of becoming a Dirt Late Model professional. He appears to have the ingredients in place to realize his greatest goals: desire, talent and, of course, solid backing from Gressel, a retired oil-field worker who hired Gustin in 2010, watched the youngster blossom into a star on the United States Modified Touring Series (over 60 wins and national titles in 2011 and ’12) and now is investing heavily to build a powerhouse Dirt Late Model program.
With Gressel Racing already boasting four Rocket Chassis cars and Mullins and ProPower engines, Gustin has plenty of firepower at his disposal. He’s proving he’s worthy of the equipment as well. It took him less than 10 starts to earn his first Dirt Late Model feature (a MARS event last May at Missouri’s Springfield Raceway). He turned heads last July when he marched forward from the 34th starting spot to take the lead in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., before a tangle with a lapped car ended his upset bid. And this year he’s been very impressive on multiple series, shining in appearances with the Southern United Professional Racing Series (finished third on March 8 at The Dirt Track at Texas Motor Speedway), Lucas Oil (third on March 14 at ArkLaTex Speedway in Vivian, La.), MARS (second on March 22 at Springfield) and NDRL (earned $10,000 for winning Winter Extreme finale on Jan. 19 at Tucson International Raceway).
“My confidence is building with every race,” Gustin said. “We’re learning more than anything — we’re getting a notebook put together with our setup stuff so we can look back on it — but we’ve had tons of help from a lot of great people (Rocket Chassis co-owner Mark Richards spent time with the team in Arizona) and it’s helped us do better than we could have ever imagined.
“Honestly, it was really a shock when we were that fast out in Arizona. I would’ve never thought in a million years that we would go out there and win the big money, but we did it and that gives me the confidence that we can do it again.”
Though Gustin makes it clear that the transition from open-wheel modifieds to Dirt Late Models is a supreme challenge, his performance has almost belied that idea.
“I learned quite a bit in modifieds but nothing really transfers over (to the Late Model),” said Gustin, who has barely three-dozen Dirt Late Model starts under his belt. “You gotta drive ‘em different. If you move a bar up on a modified and move it up on a Late Model, it does completely different things. With the Late Model you’e got a lot bigger tire, more downforce, way more horsepower — it’s almost like you’re doing everything backwards compared to the modified stuff.
“The biggest thing is driving ‘em hard enough. A lot of guys don’t drive a Late Model as hard as it needs to be driven — and the car won’t work right unless you drive it hard.”
Gustin’s strategy: “You just drive it in until you think you’re gonna crash. It took me a few races to get comfortable going that fast and driving it that hard, but you just have to get to the point where you trust it’s gonna stick.”
It’s pretty clear that Gustin is well on his way to mastering the art of manhandling a Dirt Late Model.
“We’re focusing on the Late Model from here on out,” said Gustin, who is making 2014 his first full season of Dirt Late Model competition. “There won’t be many more modified races for us. We’re working on selling our mod stuff.
“We’re trying to get our feet wet this year and learn the different tires and shocks and what adjustments do what in the race car. We figured it would be in our best interest to get a lot of experience this year — run some of the bigger shows like the Eldora races, the Show-Me (100), the Topless 100, I-80, Cedar Lake (USA Nationals) — and then follow a (national) tour next year. That’s our ultimate goal.”
