6/13/2024
Travis Denning
Return to Late Models with major goal
When Travis Denning sold out his Late Model equipment a few years ago, the Sterling, Ill., driver figured he was through with the full-fendered division after spending most of his racing career in the high-profile class.
But after a few seasons concentrating solely on IMCA modifieds — including an impressive 16-victory campaign in 2022 when he finished fourth in the competitive IMCA points — Denning is back home again in the Late Model division, at least for now.
"I kind of grew up in a Late Model, so it was time for me to go back to one, I guess,” the 39-year-old Denning said. “So, kind of going back to your roots, I guess.”
The return to his roots has been successful as he’s clicked off three East Moline (Ill.) Speedway victories and has designs on an all-out assault on the overall IMCA Late Model crown. While the early-season standings are a bit unstable with some drivers enduring more rainouts than others, Denning has flirted among the top five in overall points and topped the Illinois points through May to put him atop DirtonDirt.com's Weekly Notebook presented by FK Rod Ends.
Denning has opened his Late Model season running weekly at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway on Fridays, splitting time between Maquoketa (Iowa) Speedway and 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, on Saturdays and East Moline on Sundays. But by mid-June the delivery company owner plans to commit more time to racing and compete as many as four times a week, including visits to Park Jefferson (S.D.) Speedway’s Thursday events.
“That’s where (IMCA points leader) Evan Miller is racing and (four-time IMCA champion) Cory Dumpert, like all those guys,” Denning said. “You gotta go race against those guys to beat them, you know?”
The bearded Denning has competed in about every flavor of Late Models over the years, running a Limited division at the now-closed Freeport Raceway Park (where he was a winner of the track’s high-profile Rebel event), shifting to IMCA spec engines by 2011 (when he was the division’s Rookie of the Year) and then driving open-competition engine Late Models (under DIRTcar, formerly UMP, rules) at Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Ill.
He added modified racing a half-dozen years ago — typically splitting time between modifieds and Late Models in the same seasons — and sold out his Late Model equipment a few years back.
“It was a deal where we were racing modified on Fridays, Late Model on Saturday and modifieds again on Sundays,” Denning said. “And it just got to be too much. So I just bought two modifieds and that's what I did. I had two mods in case I got tore up or whatever. Just more practical.”
But after a few years in modifieds, including that impressive 16-victory campaign, “the Late Model really started pulling on the heartstrings then, you know? So I’m like: It’s time to go back.”
He had to buy back Late Model equipment, but he’s using the same crate engine he used with his modified. The fact that modified equipment now rivals the costs of Late Models made it a little easier to make the move, along with the fact he “felt a lot more comfortable in a Late Model.”
Additionally, “times have changed, like, on our level, like on the IMCA Late Model level, where more of an average guy can be competitive vs. a guy in a modified. They’re racing (modifieds) six nights a week, five nights a week if they want. And if you're not doing that with them, you’re just not gonna be competitive.
“You can buy a Late Model for the same amount of money and you can race for more (money). … So there's not a cost difference like there used to be either.”
Returning to Late Models with a crate motor does require an adjustment, and Denning admits “the rush is gone” to some degree compared to full-blown powerplants.
"Kind of what we're doing now, with these IMCA motors, they’re only 450 or 500 horse or something like that,” Denning said. “And when I was UMP Late Model racing, my last motor I had was about 860 horses. So, you know, the horsepower is quite a big change. That changes the driving style. The cars, in my mind, the horsepower makes them more forgivable and now you don't have that. So, you know, cars just drive way different. You don't have the horsepower to get yourself out of trouble, if that makes sense.”
In his IMCA Late Model, “it’s kind of like you're on a Sunday cruise right now, vs. with 800 horse, you gotta get up on the wheel, or even with the modified, you had to get your elbows up on that.”
Along with an engine adjustment, Denning is also adjusting to a new Late Model chassis in piloting a BMF Race Car designed by Loudon, Tenn.-based racer Cory Hedgecock.
"It was one of those deals. It’s kind of a long story, but in the modified division, everybody wants the same two cars around here: a Performer or a Rage car. That's the only two types of modified they want. Late Model, you know, it's Rocket or Longhorn. Why wouldn’t you? Everybody’s got one,” Denning said. "So it's kind of one of those things where I really wanted to be different and I kinda started asking around, you know, and kind of looking around myself. I have had Black Diamonds in the past, I’ve had Barry Wrights, I’ve had a MasterSbilt. They said these cars are pretty good down there in the South and I'm like, ‘Well, nobody's really got one up here,' so I ordered one. And now there's like seven of them. It’s just one of those deals, too.”
Denning’s season started a bit rough. Before his BMF was ready, he borrowed the Late Model normally driven by Joe Ross, breaking a front bumper on a rough surface and causing a pileup at Davenport. His second night out (and his debut in the BMF), he hit an infield tractor tire. He also had a disappointment at Maquoketa on May 18, leading 19 laps from the pole before fading to fourth in the 25-lapper.
“I lost a three-second lead in lapped traffic. Yeah, that was a hard one,” he said. “It was just kind of a locked down track or whatever and we got lapped traffic and I just was trying to be patient — and was patient way too long and just got passed.”
Winner Evan Miller went by along with former IMCA champs Justin Kay and Matt Ryan. "I haven’t lost one like that in a really long time,” Denning said.
Is Late Models where he’ll end his career? Denning isn’t done with modifieds, but the future is fluid.
“I don’t know that answer to be honest. I’ve been driving another guy’s modified this year,” Denning said. “He’s kinda asked me to drive a couple different times. It's a lot different. (Mike Garland) built it in his garage vs. a factory car, I guess I would say. We've been working on that thing and it's been getting faster. It's pretty competitive right now. Realistically, that's the fun part: Trying to get faster.
"So, I don't really know. I don't know what that entails for me. I mean, I don't know how much really longer I'm gonna drive and, I mean, I might put somebody in this (Late Model), you know? So as of right now, I'm gonna finish the year out for sure.”
Article Credit: Tod Turner | DirtonDirt.com
