UMP Slowly Gaining National Recognition

The United Midwestern Promoters has become one of the largest racing organizations in the United States without becoming a household name, at least as far as the national media are concerned.
Whether it’s the lack of a catchy acronym or its small town, heartland focus, UMP trails the recognition level of its own corporate cousins, the World of Outlaws and the northeastern DIRT circuit, not to mention NASCAR, in the short-track world.
That perception, however, may be in the process of change. Under the brand identity of UMP DIRTcar Racing, new and expanded events and at least one driver breaking out on the national scene hold the prospect for UMP to step out of the shadows.
For three decades after its formation in the 1970s, UMP was synonymous with one man — Bob Memmer of Evansville, Ind. A big man in both stature and vision, Memmer saw runaway costs tearing at the framework of the dirt-late-model racing he loved and he resolved to do something about it.
Sam Driggers, who directs UMP’s racing program, discussed the organization’s growth. “Bob Memmer started primarily in the Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky area. In that day, the wedge cars were around and everything was fading so a group of promoters got together and unified the rules and put him in charge,” Driggers explained. “The others lost interest and he carried on and grew it into what it is today.”
Memmer’s health eventually led to the company’s sale to a partnership that included promoters Bob Sargent and Bob Lawton, as well as NASCAR driver and track operator Ken Schrader. The World Racing Group, parent of the World of Outlaws and DIRT Northeast, added UMP to its portfolio in 2004.      
“I think a lot of people look at UMP as an Illinois-Indiana type thing, but we’re in 17 states and Canada now with eight divisions of race cars. Contracts aren’t all in for 2008, but last year we had 125 tracks,” Driggers noted.

SOUTHERN SWING: Josh Richards (1) and Jeep Van Wormer race for position last month at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. (Dan Fennell Photo)

While smaller than its Midwestern rival, IMCA, its a larger weekly track base than NASCAR or DIRT Northeast. Some tracks carry sanction on multiple classes. The most widely sanctioned class is the UMP modified, a slightly less restrictive version of the IMCA modified concept.
The late models, however, are clearly the big show, headlining the card at the major weekly tracks and on tours like the Sunoco American Late Model Series and the O’Reilly MARS Series. Even the Eldora late model classics, The Dream and World 100, are run under the UMP rulebook. The signature event is the Summernationals, 27 races in 31 nights from mid-June to mid-July.
“Bob Memmer started (the Summernationals) in 1988 with maybe seven or eight races in a week,” Driggers related. “By 1995, it was up to 21 days and it kept getting bigger to where the last four years I’ve had to cut it back because the drivers can only take so much.”
The UMP national point system melds the Summernationals, the recently concluded February series at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park, and the weekly shows throughout the season into one system.
“Nobody today will tell you they are running for points,” said Driggers. “But come May 1, if they find themselves in the top 20 and they’re doing well, they’re chasing points.”
In 2007, Dennis Erb, Jr. took the green flag 84 times on the way to his unprecedented double of the Summernationals and the national point title. 
Erb, whose base is at Carpentersville, Ill., admits he didn’t have much time off in his championship quest, despite racing mainly in his home state. After the month-long Summernationals is over, it’s still no picnic.
“Sometimes we run three or four nights a week. If there are any weekday shows, we try to pick up on that, too. Mostly it’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” he added.
Despite chasing the UMP point title, Erb was able to pick up several high-paying wins outside his regular circuit.
“We do everything on our own. I own my own stuff. We try to get to the money races,” he declared. “Last year, we were in a position after the Summernationals to chase after the national points. If not, we go here and there on basically an outlaw schedule.”
No doubt UMP’s poster child is Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who graduated from weekly racer at Macon Speedway to full-time touring pro in 1998. Gradually expanding his field of operations, he won the UMP Summer-nationals three years in a row before tackling a combined World of Outlaws and Lucas Oil Series schedule in 2007. For 2008, he’s landed one of the highest profile rides in the World of Outlaws late-model ranks, with the new team owned by NASCAR Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer.
Babb firmly believes the quality of UMP competition was the foundation of his success.
“You have to run your best every night to make a living out of it, but you also have to have good sponsors and chassis builders and product people behind you that are going to stay together so you can grab a paycheck,” he said.
Bowyer isn’t the only prominent NASCAR name with a UMP presence. Kenny Wallace races a modified when his schedule permits and Ken Schrader, once a part owner of the organization, is active in both modifieds and late models, as well as co-promoting I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., where the inaugural UMP DIRTcar Roundup is scheduled in October for all eight UMP classes.
Driggers points out that Wallace and Schrader do more than just bring name recognition; they’re highly competitive racers and “they have great senses of humor, so people enjoy hearing them tell about what they’re doing.”
Schrader was the modified point champion in the recent Florida series.  
The concept of driver development has filtered into most corners of the racing world. Babb’s success and UMP’s corporate affiliation with the World of Outlaws through the World Racing Group raises the question of whether UMP should be considered a developmental circuit.
While delighted with Babb’s national presence and the exposure it brings his circuit, Driggers is very specific about his organization’s stance on that issue.
“The priority for me is weekly racing and the priority for everyone should be weekly racing,” he stressed. “The larger touring series, if they don’t have weekly racers moving up to them, have nowhere to go. It goes to show when (those series) come to the Midwest where most of our teams are located, their car count is better than anywhere else.
“There’s a need for all of us to make sure that base stays strong,” he concluded. “If that goes away, we’re all in trouble.”