MACON, IL (July 6, 2023) – For the second time in his career and first in eight years, Ryan Unzicker is victorious in one of Illinois dirt track racing’s most prestigious events – the Herald & Review 100.

Unzicker, the 2011 DIRTcar Late Model national points champion from El Paso, IL, won a late-race duel with Brian Shirley, retaking the lead for good on Lap 85 and holding off Shirley and Jason Feger to bank the $7,500 grand prize and his first win in the 100-lap event since 2015.

“It feels good, honestly,” Unzicker said. “Macon’s one of my favorite places. What better way to win at one of your favorite tracks. It races so well.”

Unzicker took the green from third on the starting grid and stayed patient through the first half of the race, keeping pace with the leaders until it was time to strike. After getting by Feger for third after a Lap 63 restart, Unzicker got that chance as he continued to hammer the extreme bottom around the 1/5-mile oval.

“The car was just good enough to roll that bottom enough to where we weren’t getting too tight, and we could hug that left-rear [tire] into the traction and shoot off there where some of the other guys couldn’t,” he said.

Unzicker pulled even with five-time event winner Shannon Babb and took the runner-up spot from him on Lap 68. Then, he set his sights on leader Brian Shirley, who had been in control since before the halfway point.

With a head of steam and plenty of traction on the bottom, Unzicker nipped Shirley at the start/finish line to take over the top spot on Lap 80. Shirley was pounding the cushion on the top side and took the lead back the next time around, but Unzicker was not done yet. He battled back on the inside and beat Shirley to the line to take the lead back on Lap 83.

Shirley retook it once more on Lap 84 but made significant contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 on Lap 85, scrubbing off major speed and allowing Unzicker to sneak past him on the bottom.

From there on out, it was all Unzicker out front. Even a last-laps push from Feger on the top side was not enough for another good bid for the lead as Unzicker cruised across the line to take the win.

“I knew somebody was there, but I didn’t know it was Feger,” Unzicker said. “I could hear him just a little bit. I went up there one time and was like, ‘Oh boy, I better get back down.’”

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models are back in action Friday, July 7 at Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, IL. Tickets will be on sale at the gate; streaming is available at DIRTVision.com.

Feature (100 Laps): 1. 24-Ryan Unzicker[3]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[2]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[9]; 4. 18-Shannon Babb[1]; 5. 1-BJ Robinson[5]; 6. 38J-Jake Little[8]; 7. 12-Ashton Winger[7]; 8. 4G-Bob Gardner[16]; 9. 44-Blaze Burwell[13]; 10. 51B-Brandon Carpenter[18]; 11. 9Z-Jayme Zider[11]; 12. 99-Jeff Larson[6]; 13. 31AUS-Kye Blight[12]; 14. 30-Mark Voigt[19]; 15. 15-Clayton Stuckey[15]; 16. 16-Rusty Griffaw[20]; 17. 6JR-Parker Martin[21]; 18. 5-Austin Vincent[10]; 19. 21B-Rich Bell[17]; 20. 91-Rusty Schlenk[4]; 21. 51-Dean Carpenter[14]; 22. 38-Thomas Hunziker[22]

Last Chance Showdown (10 Laps): 1. 21B-Rich Bell[4]; 2. 51B-Brandon Carpenter[6]; 3. 16-Rusty Griffaw[2]; 4. 6JR-Parker Martin[7]; 5. 35-Claude Walker[10]; 6. 17-Todd Rehg[14]; 7. 11M-Ryan Miller[12]; 8. 1H-Josh Heuiser[8]; 9. 1G-Graham Fate[1]; 10. 78S-Steve Stultz[15]; 11. 25E-Dakota Ewing[11]; 12. 38-Thomas Hunziker[3]; 13. 23NZ-Mick Quin[5]; 14. 4-Jordan Suhre[13]; 15. (DNS) 5S-Stevie Sheppard

Consolation Race (8 Laps): 1. 4-Jordan Suhre[1]; 2. 17-Todd Rehg[2]; 3. 78S-Steve Stultz[3]; 4. 30-Mark Voigt[4]; 5. 27-Greg Kimmons[7]; 6. (DNS) 14-Braden Johnson; 7. (DNS) 6P-Jose Parga; 8. (DNS) 4D-Doug Tye; 9. (DNS) 82B-Jason Milam

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Jason Feger[1]; 2. 1-BJ Robinson[5]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 44-Blaze Burwell[7]; 5. 1G-Graham Fate[10]; 6. 23NZ-Mick Quin[8]; 7. 5S-Stevie Sheppard[2]; 8. 4-Jordan Suhre[3]; 9. 14-Braden Johnson[9]; 10. (DNS) 82B-Jason Milam

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Ryan Unzicker[3]; 2. 12-Ashton Winger[4]; 3. 9Z-Jayme Zider[2]; 4. 15-Clayton Stuckey[7]; 5. 38-Thomas Hunziker[1]; 6. 6JR-Parker Martin[5]; 7. 25E-Dakota Ewing[9]; 8. 17-Todd Rehg[8]; 9. 6P-Jose Parga[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Rusty Schlenk[3]; 2. 99-Jeff Larson[2]; 3. 5-Austin Vincent[1]; 4. 51-Dean Carpenter[4]; 5. 16-Rusty Griffaw[5]; 6. 51B-Brandon Carpenter[6]; 7. 35-Claude Walker[8]; 8. 78S-Steve Stultz[9]; 9. 27-Greg Kimmons[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb[1]; 2. 38J-Jake Little[2]; 3. 31AUS-Kye Blight[4]; 4. 4G-Bob Gardner[5]; 5. 21B-Rich Bell[7]; 6. 1H-Josh Heuiser[6]; 7. 11M-Ryan Miller[8]; 8. 30-Mark Voigt[3]; 9. 4D-Doug Tye[9]

Qualifying A: 1. 25-Jason Feger, 00:10.347[9]; 2. 38-Thomas Hunziker, 00:10.361[11]; 3. 5S-Stevie Sheppard, 00:10.388[12]; 4. 9Z-Jayme Zider, 00:10.444[2]; 5. 4-Jordan Suhre, 00:10.451[7]; 6. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:10.472[16]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:10.639[3]; 8. 12-Ashton Winger, 00:10.714[10]; 9. 1-BJ Robinson, 00:10.812[19]; 10. 6JR-Parker Martin, 00:10.819[13]; 11. 82B-Jason Milam, 00:10.885[17]; 12. 6P-Jose Parga, 00:10.886[5]; 13. 44-Blaze Burwell, 00:10.920[18]; 14. 15-Clayton Stuckey, 00:10.928[6]; 15. 23NZ-Mick Quin, 00:10.949[14]; 16. 17-Todd Rehg, 00:11.019[4]; 17. 14-Braden Johnson, 00:11.152[1]; 18. 25E-Dakota Ewing, 00:11.341[15]; 19. 1G-Graham Fate, 00:11.938[8]

Qualifying B: 1. 5-Austin Vincent, 00:10.583[1]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:10.584[6]; 3. 99-Jeff Larson, 00:10.622[7]; 4. 38J-Jake Little, 00:10.653[3]; 5. 91-Rusty Schlenk, 00:10.793[14]; 6. 30-Mark Voigt, 00:10.824[2]; 7. 51-Dean Carpenter, 00:11.037[4]; 8. 31AUS-Kye Blight, 00:11.083[16]; 9. 16-Rusty Griffaw, 00:11.092[8]; 10. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:11.093[13]; 11. 51B-Brandon Carpenter, 00:11.154[18]; 12. 1H-Josh Heuiser, 00:11.192[10]; 13. 27-Greg Kimmons, 00:11.285[5]; 14. 21B-Rich Bell, 00:11.362[15]; 15. 35-Claude Walker, 00:11.447[11]; 16. 11M-Ryan Miller, 00:11.459[12]; 17. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:11.829[17]; 18. 4D-Doug Tye, 00:11.829[9]