Four years ago when the last asphalt race track in Utah closed, it put modified driver Eric Rhead in a tough situation.
Because even though his home track went away, “the racing itch didn’t,” Rhead said.
To continue racing, Rhead, who grew up in Utah and still lives and works there today, would have to drive four hours north to Idaho to compete at Magic Valley Speedway, or seven hours south to Nevada to race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“They’re long weekends,” he said.
Rhead’s team started out at Las Vegas, which is currently off for a summer break. The team has been focusing this month on Magic Valley, where they’ve won the last two ICCU Modifieds division championships.
The team hopes to get back to Vegas again this fall.
The extra travel hasn’t slowed Rhead down. This season it’s actually been the opposite. He currently leads the modified points at Magic Valley, and he’s sixth in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I standings and leading the West Region by 38 points.
RELATED: Magic Valley points leaders | NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I standings
After struggling to find victory lane since June, the team swept two features at Magic Valley last weekend to give them seven wins and 19 top-5 finishes in 21 races this season.
“It’s been kind of up and down, to be honest,” Rhead said of his season. “We started off pretty much on fire and we fell off in the last month and a half, but I think we finally got our mojo back last weekend so I think we’re doing all right now.”
Having to travel that much every weekend is anything but easy, and Rhead credits his team with making the miles worth it and still finding success wherever they go. The crew had done some tour racing in the past, so they had an idea of the difficulties and time commitment of traveling.
Rhead has had largely the same crew for several years, even before he moved to Magic Valley.
“All friends of mine. I don’t know how I’ve been so lucky to get them to work on the car for free for so long,” he said.
Friends Jeremy Newcomb and Jeremy White, former sponsor-turned-crew-member Mike Austin, father/son duo Dan and Keaton, and former teammate Lane Hardy, Rhead’s girlfriend Roxi, plus all of their spouses travel with the team every weekend.
“Everybody helps. It’s definitely not just me. It’s a group of people, for sure,” he said. “It’s a huge advantage. If you’ve ever traveled with any of your friends the first time you learn a lot about them. After you’ve done it and you find a good group of people that click really well it just makes life easier. There’s a lot of emotion in this sport and obviously, we’re competitive… It’s a good thing to have a team that’s been together a while and I’m fortunate enough to have that.”
Rhead wasn’t planning to do as much asphalt racing this year. He bought a dirt car they were going to try to race.
But when the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series announced the introduction of regional champions this season, the team reignited their dreams of running for national points and a bigger title.
RELATED: Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series information
When the chance for a regional championship was announced, Rhead said they had to scramble to get their cars – they have to take different cars to Magic Valley and Las Vegas – ready.
Coming into this season, the highest Rhead had ever finished nationally was somewhere in the top 20.
“Nowhere near where are right now,” he said.
“We’re pretty excited about where we’re sitting. We obviously want to get better and higher ranked in the nation. I think realistically now that we’re back on track if we can continue what we do I think we can get into the top three. I think we’re a little far out to have a realistic shot at the national championship, but our goal right now is to win the region and get into the top 3 in the nation and I think that’d be a good year for us.”
Having a career season in his 21st year behind the wheel, the competitive nature that initially got Rhead into racing hasn’t left.
Finding victory lane is what it will take, he said, to continue moving up in all the standings.
“Winning is important to us. I’m a competitive person,” he said. “It’s good to be able to go out and do something where you’re on the edge and able to compete against other people and see if you can beat them.
“We’ve got to keep winning. Before last weekend I hadn’t had a win since the middle of June and that was kind of weighing on us. Before last Saturday we had our first two races where we didn’t finish in the top 5… We think the key to what we’ve got going on the rest of the year is we just need to start winning again.”
This weekend is a good time to start a winning streak, Rhead said, with a higher car count expected for Saturday’s race at Magic Valley.
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“We’ve been in the same kind of car at Magic Valley the last three years and I felt like we learned a lot the last three years. Not that we weren’t successful when we first stated but we just been dialing in and dialing in on our car, and I’ve been reluctant to take that car to any other track because we’ve got it dialed in really well,” he said. “This weekend, it should be some good competition. The car count will be pretty high this weekend so if we can get a win this weekend and just keep winning, we’ve got to do that.
“I think we just need to stay focused and keep winning and make sure everybody is all on the same page as far as our team goes, and I think we’re there.”
After this week, Rhead’s team will take a final weekend off before going non-stop until November.
It’ll be a lot of hours on the road going to races, but, he said, “I don’t see us quitting any time soon.”
“It’s the atmosphere,” he added. “Anybody that’s ever been involved with short track racing, it’s a different thing. It’s a culture, it’s a family. It’s a little bit of everything.”