Northern drivers have edge on Southern Modified Tour

So far this season, Northern drivers have been a force on the Southern tour.

That peculiar twist should make for an interesting weekend when NASCAR's Whelen Southern Modified Tour makes its only visit to Bowman Gray Stadium, the staple site for Modified racing in the South.

George Brunnhoelzl III, originally from West Babylon, N.Y., is the tour's season leader heading into the Advance Auto Parts 199. Qualifying will be tonight, and the 199-lap main event is set for Saturday.

Northern drivers are 5 for 5 on the southern tour this season.

Brunnhoelzl won the most recent race, July 3 at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro. Andy Seuss of Hampstead, N.H., is second in the standings and has wins at South Boston (Va.) and Lanier (Ga.).

Ted Christopher of Plainville, Conn., has the other two wins, at Caraway and Concord, but probably won't race at Bowman Gray this weekend because of a conflicting race in NASCAR's northern-based Modified tour.

Brunnhoelzl isn't reading too much into northern dominance, especially at Bowman Gray, the only southern track that features weekly Modified racing.

"It's really cool to race there," Brunnhoelzl said. "When you first pull out on the track and you see the grandstands filled with 10,000 fans, that's pretty wild."

All four of the previous Southern Modified Tour races at Bowman Gray were won by drivers with a history of racing at the stadium - Burt Myers, Jason Myers and Brian Loftin.

"It's a help for those guys," Brunnhoelzl said. "A lot of those guys have raced there for years, all season long, and some of us on the tour have been there only a time or two. That knowledge and experience of running there weekly has to be an advantage."

Loftin, who won last season's tour race at Bowman Gray and went on to claim the tour's season championship, isn't sure how much of an edge experience at Bowman Gray is in a tour race.

He said that wider 15-inch tires used on the tour, compared to 10-inch tires used in weekly Modified racing at Bowman Gray, negate a lot of the advantage.

"Any time you've been at a racetrack regularly, it has to be an advantage, but one thing that equalizes it is the 15-inch tires," Loftin said. "In my eyes, that changes the track because the cars handle so much differently on 15-inch tires than the 10-inch tires. It's a totally different tire.

"Those guys are so good that come down from the north that they can adapt and run just as good. But you do look at Burt (Myers) and Tim (Brown) and how good they are every week, and with their experience on that track, they're going to be the ones to beat for the pole no doubt."

Brunnhoelzl will be one northern driver looking for a breakthrough at Bowman Gray, but he knows it will be a challenge to knock off the locals. As for the tour itself, Brunnhoelzl said that the competition is equal, regardless of logistical background.

"Several years ago it used to be more of a big deal when northern-based drivers raced down here, because the Modified tour originated in the Northeast," Brunnhoelzl said. "It used to be like the northern guys are coming down and they've got the best of everything, but now the southern tour is more established and it's more of an equal deal.

"You look at the combination races, and the southern guys run just as good as the northern guys now. The competition has really stepped up in the southern tour."

Brunnhoelzl has raced twice at Bowman Gray. He finished a respectable sixth in his first try in 2007, and dropped out early last year with a blown engine.

"It's a little more challenging than some other tracks, but I grew up racing on a quarter-mile track so I kind of know what to expect going there," Brunnhoelzl said. "It's a lot of fun racing there. It's difficult to pass, but if you get out front you're in good shape."

Brunnhoelzl, who now lives in Mooresville and manufactures aluminum jacks for NASCAR teams, cut his racing teeth near his hometown, at Riverhead Raceway on Long Island.

"Riverhead had some banking to it," Brunnhoelzl said. "The biggest challenge at Bowman Gray when you first go there is not overdriving the corners. There is no banking to help hold you so you've really got to slow the car down to get it through the turns."

Loftin, from Lexington, hopes to make it two in a row in tour races at the stadium and end this year's string of victories by northern drivers.

"There's a lot of luck involved to win over there," Loftin said. "You've got to get in the right position and you've got to be patient. The northern guys have been on their game this year and have one-upped us, no doubt. But we're trying to chase them down."

Tommy Bowman can be reached at 727-7320 or at tbowman@wsjournal.com.