THUNDER BAY – In dirt track racing, adapting on the fly is part of the game during the course of the night.
That’s also true for drivers as they map out their plans during the course of the season.
Thunder Bay’s David Simpson has had to do just that as he’s racked up victories in his #70 Midwest Modified machine.
“If we had no wins at this time of the year, we were probably going to be heading to the lake and hanging out with the family a little more,” Simpson said.
Instead, Simpson has gone to victory lane on 10 occasions this season, with his most recent triumph coming on Wednesday night at the Thunder City Speedway.
With his success, the 13-year veteran leads the national Midwest Modified point standings for the WISSOTA sanctioning body.
“This was kind of a goal for us when the season started, but we were just going to see how things were going,” Simpson said.
“Now that we’re leading it . . . we kind of got to go for it.”
As of June 30, which was the last time the standings were updated on the WISSOTA website, Simpson held a 675-point edge over former national champion Lucas Rodin of Marion, N.D. and was 890 markers ahead of Gillette, Wyo.’s Tony Leiker.
The points are determined by the driver’s best 30 results over the course of the season.
“You usually need about 20 to 25 race wins and five second place finishes to win the deal,” Simpson said. “So, we’ve still got a lot of work to do and those guys that are second and third in the standings are coming fast.”
Simpson is racing five nights a week, weather permitting.
After competing at Thunder City on Wednesday, he heads to Grand Rapids (Minn.) Speedway on Thursday, Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wisc. on Friday, ABC Raceway in Ashland, Wisc. on Saturday and Proctor (Minn.) Speedway on Sunday.
“It’s just like anything else,” Simpson said. “The more you do it, the better you get at it.
“We treat everybody that we race against the same because you never know what’s going to happen. Some guys are really fast at certain tracks, but some nights they are a little bit off and then they are back up to speed the next time out.
“That’s just racing and the same thing goes for us. We’re not at 100 per cent all the time either.”
While most of Simpson’s success has come at this home track – he’s picked up four wins at Thunder City so far this year – he’s also tasted victory south of the border.
Simpson has claimed a pair of checkered flags at Grand Rapids and has gone to victory lane at Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo, Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, Wisc., ABC and Proctor.
However, the field that he faces at Thunder City might be the stoutest.
“We go down to Grand Rapids and they’ll get about 15 cars in our class and 20 cars is a really good night for them,” Simpson said.
“Up here, we had over 40 cars (on Wednesday) and that’s great for this track. The support that Thunder City gets is unheard of and the people that come here are awesome.”
If Simpson can stay at the top of the standings until the end of the season, he’d be the first Canadian driver to win a WISSOTA national title since Manitobans Ricky Weiss and Ward Imrie captured the Late Model and Modified crowns in 2018.