Illinois Driver Overcomes Setbacks to Claim $20,000 UMP National Points Title
A season's worth of hard work and determination culminated in one stellar night for Bobby Pierce at Eldora Speedway. Pierce, 17, of Oakwood, Ill., led every lap of Eldora's DIRTcar Fall Nationals A-Main to emphatically wrap up his first ever DIRTcar Late Model national points title, and in doing so become the youngest driver ever to claim the weekly-racing Late Model championship.
"It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into this deal and this year we had a little bit of all of that," said Pierce, whose 14 DIRTcar-sanctioned victories represent the upside of a 2014 campaign that also saw the second-generation driver experience his fair share of bad luck and unavoidable setbacks. "Our team definitely deserved (the championship). I think my team worked harder than anybody this year with everything we had to overcome. It's been a lot of fun this year, but it definitely took a lot of work for it all to pay off."
Indeed, Pierce's championship season on the whole didn't mirror its spectacular conclusion at Eldora. After a hot start to the season, Pierce soldiered through mid-summer slump plagued by mechanical woes and other bad luck circumstances that derailed his hopes of adding his first ever DIRTcar Summer Nationals 'Hell Tour' championship to his season's accolades. But Pierce kept his poise through his mid-season trials and with the help of his race team's hard work, overcame the setbacks to claim the $20,000 DIRTcar championship.
"When we first set out this year, our goal was to win the [DIRTcar] national championship and the Summer Nationals," said Pierce, who also claimed his first championship on the West division of the DIRTcar-sanctioned Sunoco American Late Model Series. "Things didn't work out with the Summer Nationals, but we still got the [DIRTcar] national championship. That's a big deal for us.
"It's been a year with many good things and some not so good. We've been in positions to win a lot of races and broke or other stuff like that happened. But all in all, to wrap up a championship with a win at Eldora - my second win at Eldora - I think it all turned out pretty good in the end."
Pierce may have missed out on a few extra victories along the way, but he still managed to put together a season of which most any regional racer would be envious. He was most successful during the first half of the 36-week season with 9 of his wins coming before Memorial Day. Besides his UMP Fall Nationals victory at Eldora, Pierce's other notable DIRTcar wins included his first-ever Eldora victory in April's Spring Nationals, a $10,555 payday in 34 Raceway's Slocum 50 and a Summer Nationals victory at Belle-Clair Speedway.
In all, Pierce drove his Champion Spark Plugs-sponsored Bob Pierce Race Car to DIRTcar victories at nine different tracks in tying Randy Korte of Highland, Ill., for the most DIRTcar Late Model victories in the country. He ended the season with 2,561 points to beat out Ryan Unzicker (2,423 points) of El Paso, Ill.
Coming off a runner-up finish to fellow young Illinois racer Brandon Sheppard in last season's national points chase, Pierce expected to not only contend for the title in 2014 but to also challenge to win every race he entered. Pierce credits that confident approach for his successful season.
"I joked before the year started that we were going to go out and win every single race," said Pierce, who also claimed a pair of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series triumphs to push his overall season wins total to 16 races. "You know that's not going to happen, but that's really how I like to think about my racing. When you think you're gonna win, then when you're leading a race or racing a guy for the lead, you don't get distracted thinking 'Oh my God, I might win this race.' You're prepared for that and you do whatever you need to actually win the race."
Just as the Fall Nationals victory at Eldora marked a spectacular end to the season for Pierce, his first DIRTcar national points championship is a monumental achievement in his young career.
Born and raised in the heart of DIRTcar UMP country in central Illinois, Pierce grew up dreaming of one day matching his Hall of Fame father Bob Pierce in claiming a national championship. Likewise, the elder Pierce had such achievements in mind when he helped his son launch his Late Model career five years ago. But neither would've ever believed that a national title would come so soon.
"Out of everything, it's definitely one of the biggest accomplishments I have yet," Pierce said. "My dad, he won it back when he was racing and I knew it was something I wanted to do when I started racing. For me to win it now, at 17, it's crazy.
"I remember when I first got into racing and we'd go to Farmer City Raceway on Friday nights. I never really thought that today I would be racing at this level the way I am. It's pretty cool to think about that."
While he may find it hard to believe that he's already reached such lofty heights, Pierce isn't resting on his accomplishments. In fact, he's already looking forward to what he hopes is an even better season in 2015.
"I'm happy as long as we keep advancing and keep getting better," said Pierce, who recently added major sponsorship from Texas-based Allgayer Inc. to help with his plans of traveling more broadly in 2015. "That's really been my goal all along is just to keep improving, and I'm satisfied for now because I think we've been doing that. We'll enjoy this and have a good time at the banquet, but yeah, I'm already excited to see how much better we can do next year."
Bobby capped his UMP championship season on Saturday night by winning the $5,000 UMP Fall Nationals at Eldora. Taking the lead at the start from his pole position, he led all 40 laps. This race was the finale for the American Late Model Series season and Bobby was crowned the ALMS West Champion. 
Making his first start in an Open Wheel Modified since his days of racing in the KidModz Series, Bobby didn't miss a beat as he came from deep in the field (16th) to post a podium finish in third on Thursday night at Tri-City. This was after he came from 14th to fourth in the B-Main to advance into the feature. In a race that is tough to even make with so many cars on hand (72), it was an impressive return to the open wheel ranks. He also moved up in the Late Model feature as well as he came from ninth to finish second.
Bobby and Team 32 were at Fairbury on Saturday night looking for valuable UMP points as he chases his first series championship. It was a good points night. The Smooth Operator grabbed the lead at the start of the feature and built up a cushion of 4.643 sec at one point as he led every lap and cruised to a 3.572 sec win.
Taking the lead from Jimmy Owens on lap 79, Bobby looked to grab his biggest victory of his young career. But Owens battled back and retook the lead on lap 87. Bobby stayed close and when Owens slapped the backstretch wall on lap 93, Bobby went back to the front leading lap 94. Owens powered off the outside of turn four the next lap to go back ahead for good. Bobby had to settle for a heartbreaking $20,000 runner-up finish, 1.083 seconds behind Owens. "That was one of the most exciting races I've ever been in," said Pierce, who scored his third top-10 finish in three career USA Nationals A-Main starts. "To do it with Jimmy Owens just makes it that much more awesome. Coming here, I just was hoping to make the race. Finishing second, it's just phenomenal."
Making his first start since his Sunday flip at Lincoln, Bobby was overall fast qualifier, won his heat by a straightaway and went on to pick up his first Summer Nationals win of the season Tuesday night at Belle Clair. Starting third, the "Smooth Operator" took the lead on lap 18 and held it until lap 26 but stayed close and retook the lead with four laps to go and scored the much needed win by 0.618 seconds. "When you're leading the race and then you end up losing it, no matter what you have to do, you want to get that lead back," said the 17-year-old Pierce. "I had a couple of good corners right in a row there, I caught Babb, and I knew that [a slider] was the only chance I had."
Debuting a retro scheme of his father Bob's World 100 car from 1992, Bobby jumped to the lead at the outset of Thursday's feature at Eldora and led the first 14 circuits, building up a 10 car-length lead, before being overtaken by Jimmy Owens amid heavy traffic. Bobby held on for a runner-up finish on the opening night of the Dream weekend.
At the first "crown jewel" of the season, Bobby made his way to third in his second ever Show-Me 100 after starting 12th. "We battled carburetor problems all-night; I didn't think I was going to make it to the end. I probably could have used a caution there towards the end, but we had pretty good momentum there when we went by Bloomquist and Owens for third. Overall, it is a great honor to race with these guys, this is just a fabulous facility, the race track was well-prepared and we look forward to coming back here next year for this race," said the driver of the Champion Spark Plugs, Pro Power Racing Engines, and Pierce Race Cars entry.
Bobby and his team made a last minute schedule change on Friday as Farmer City rained out their program, so the team headed north to Kankakee for a $2,000 American Late Model Series event. Bobby clocked in quickest of the 19 cars on hand. He followed that up by taking the heat race victory. Starting second in the feature, he looked for the sweep of the night. He grabbed the lead and cruised from there, winning by nearly a half-track margin.
Bobby scored the biggest win of his young racing career Thursday night at Macon Speedway. Pierce pocketed $12,000 for his win in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned, St Louis U-Pic-A-Part 100. Pierce crossed the line a half a lap ahead of second place finisher, Brian Shirley.
Bobby took the lead on the fourth lap of the "Slocum 50" Saturday night at 34 Raceway and never looked back en route to scoring one of his biggest victories of his young career. It was his fifth straight win and seventh overall this season.
Bobby started ninth on Friday at Tri-City and came out on top of a spirited battle with Dennis Erb over the final few laps to grab his fourth straight win.
Bobby took the lead at the start of the race and never looked back as he went on to win Saturday afternoon at East Bay Raceway Park. It was his first ever win at East Bay as well as his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.