The decision to return to asphalt was an obvious one for Dennis
Simunovich Jr., a 15-year-old at San Andreas School in Hollister,
even if the last year and a half of racing atop dirt surfaces has
been rather fruitful.
Although the 10th-grader got his racing start on the hard
surface when he was just 5, Simunovich has been focusing upon dirt
tracks recently, and his performance in the United States Auto
Club’s Ford Focus Midget Class this past season yielded positive
results.
HOLLISTER
The decision to return to asphalt was an obvious one for Dennis Simunovich Jr., a 15-year-old at San Andreas School in Hollister, even if the last year and a half of racing atop dirt surfaces has been rather fruitful.
Although the 10th-grader got his racing start on the hard surface when he was just 5, Simunovich has been focusing upon dirt tracks recently, and his performance in the United States Auto Club’s Ford Focus Midget Class this past season yielded positive results.
Simunovich, competing in a class that included races upon both asphalt and dirt surfaces, competed in 12 dirt races this season and finished in third place overall, a standing that netted seven first-place finishes — including three in a row — three second-place finishes, one fourth- and one fifth-place result.
He never finished lower than fifth place.
“I’m happy,” Simunovich said simply. “I think the dirt’s funner because you get to slide around, but more people look at (asphalt racing) than dirt racing, so you get noticed more.”
Hence, the return to the asphalt series next season, which will kick-off in March.
But Simunovich’s third-place finish atop the dirt should not be overlooked, as his standing was within a series that included both asphalt and dirt races. Simunovich never competed upon asphalt this past season, whereas the top two competitors in the series earned points while racing upon both surfaces.
“There was a separate asphalt series that factored into the whole series itself,” said Simunovich’s father, Dennis Sr. “We figured we’d just concentrate on one car.
“And we still finished in third place.”
But despite Dennis Jr.’s recent success on dirt, Dennis Sr. too sees the benefits of returning to the asphalt circuit.
“If you go anywhere in the sport, you’ve got to get asphalt under your belt,” Simunovich’s father said. “The dirt series was just to get dirt under the belt.
“You need to be able to conquer both fields.”
And Simunovich is doing just that. Last year, which was his first racing within the USAC dirt series, Simunovich finished in fifth place. Prior to that, Simunovich was racing atop asphalt in the International Kart Federation, where he won the Buffalo Bill national championship in 2002, and the California state championship in 2003.
“If you’re gonna be competitive, you’ve got to have the right stuff,” the racer’s father said.
While Simunovich simply focused upon the soft surface this season, his return to asphalt actually took place on Thanksgiving Day at Irwindale for the 57th running of Turkey Night, a season-finale race that brings in drivers from all over the country.
“It’s a big race,” Simunovich said. “All the guys from back east come out to race that race.”
Following the end of the dirt series, Simunovich and his father spent the next three weeks — or roughly 60 hours — putting together an asphalt-ready sprint car that utilized a low chassis, unlike the high-chassis dirt car they had used all season.
And they completed it without a moment to spare.
“We drove it up and down the driveway to make sure it ran, then loaded it into the truck and went to Irwindale,” Dennis Sr., said. “It was down to the last minute.”
And although Simunovich had never driven his new sprint car, with the exception of his driveway-test drive, the 15-year-old racer qualified toward the main event in 14th place, and was one of the youngest competitors to do so.
However, Simunovich raced his way to seventh place by lap 28 when he developed brake issues at Turkey Night.
Said Dennis Sr., “The rotor was glowing red-hot. That’s a no-no.”
“But I probably could have gotten at least top five,” Simunovich added.
The two will use the same chassis in March, but are currently stripping it down and building it back up again — the brakes, especially. With a full offseason to develop and build the engine, though — and not 60 hours — Simunovich is confident in his return to the hard stuff in March.
“I’m just trying to finish good,” Simunovich said. “But I think I’m gonna do pretty good. I’ll be up there.”
