Catchfence

The expression “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” proved to be true as El Paso’s Ryan Unzicker and his team rallied in the closing two weeks to claim the 2011 UMP late model national champion.

Unzicker took the points lead in April, lost it to defending champion Rusty Schlenk in late August and had to fight down the stretch to get it back.

“We put a lot hours in the shop,” Unzicker said. “Any part on the car that we had a question about, we would go ahead and replace it. After a second-place finish at Farmer City Labor Day weekend, we won four straight races to retake the lead.

“The last five races in September, we had five top seven finishes and then, at Kankakee Speedway during the second night of Rocktoberfest, won the race to wrap up the title.”

Unzicker’s interest in racing began at an early age when his Grandpa Unzicker used to take him to the races at Fairbury.

“I was a Kevin Weaver fan, when he used to drive the Pizza Hut car,” Unzicker said.

With the success he had in the street stocks, Unzicker approached Gridley’s Bill Hendren, a car owner on the ARCA circuit, about putting together a car for that circuit.

Unzicker placed sixth in his ARCA first race, which was on the Springfield mile track. At DuQuoin, he stayed in the top five for most of the race until getting knocked out late because of an accident. That race featured NASCAR’s Tony Stewart and Ken Schrader. The team felt optimistic and turned its attention to the half-paved, high-banked Salem (Ind.) Speedway.

- Pontiac Daily Leader