Circle City Raceway

Notes: Unzicker's solid runner-up finish at Circle City

August 22, 2026, 8:09 am

By Bryan Ault

Special to DirtonDirt

Ryan Unzicker (24) heads for a runner-up finish. (Ryan Roberts)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A change of scenery did Ryan Unzicker of El Paso, Ill., some good on Friday night.

The 45-year-old driver, who holds a 63-point lead over Jason Feger on the Illinois-based MARS Championship Series points, had two options: head to Iowa for FloRacing Night in America and World of Outlaws Late Model Series, or to Indiana on the Northern Allstars Late Model Series. | RaceWire

Unzicker opted for Circle City Raceway at the Marion County Fairgrounds Friday, and it paid off with a second-place finish in the C.J. Rayburn Tribute Race behind Josh Rice of Crittenden, Ky., the three-time Northern Allstars champ who captured the $10,000 winner’s prize.

“I’ve been sick all week and I hadn't been feeling that good, so I wasn't sure if I was going to come out, but s---, I hadn't raced in a couple weeks because all the rain and I figure we start MARS stuff here coming up next weekend, we’ll get back on the road with them,” Unzicker said. “I need to shake some dust off the old shoes, you know?”

Starting ninth, Unzicker railed the quarter-mile oval’s high side in heading for the front. Without a pair of cautions for Josh Lank on lap 37 and Tanner English’s flat tire on lap 41 flat, Unzicker thought catching Rice was a possibility.

“Up until that lap, my car was really on dig,” Unzicker said. “It felt good. Then that caution came out, and I just didn't fire off very good, so I don't know what happened. I just didn't fire off that good after that restart. I felt like at that point in the race, where my car was, you know, I could move around. And I don't know if (Rice) was moving around as much, but I know he had a little harder tire on than I did.”

“But. I mean, s---, I'll finish second to Josh,” Unzicker added. “You know, Josh is obviously, once he got that (Rocket Chassis) XR2, he's been fast. It would have been a long shot for me to try to pass him. … I just do this for fun. I own a business and my wife owns a business and we just try damn hard at it, but they do it for a living. I’ll finish second of that any day of the week, I guess.”

Instead of continuing to Saturday’s Northern Allstars race at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway, Unzicker tentatively planned to head back home to Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway’s FALS Cup action, where 13-year-old son Brody could also compete in the crate modified division.

“I'd love to go back (to Brownstown) because I always liked that place, but I don't know. Let's see what happens,” Unzicker said. “I might wake up in the morning and change my story, but I don't know. I want my boy to race, too, you know?”

Landrum’s rebound

After a frightening rollover wreck during Aug. 8’s heat race action at the Sunoco North-South 100, Trevor Landrum’s immediate racing future was in doubt. The violent wreck with Jason Jameson at Landrum’s home track, Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., left Landrum’s car was mangled and virtually destroyed.

Rather than sit back and get ready for next season, Landrum and his father Steve went right to work. To their surprise, the car endured the tumble better than expected. The Landrums took it to Longhorn Chassis headquarters in North Carolina for repairs that included replacing the rack among other repairs, then headed for Circle City for a solid fifth-place finish. To Landrum, it felt pretty darn good after a rough two weeks.

“All in all, it is definitely a win,” Landrum said. “I mean, being in the top-five, from what happened, just two weeks ago, we'll definitely take it as a win. I mean, as of a week from yesterday, it was a bare frame. We took it to Longhorn and they checked it, got it fixed up, and it's either as good as it was, or it's maybe even better.”

Landrum labeled the Florence wreck with Jameson as a “racing deal.”

“First off, I didn't think I had jumped to start,” Landrum said. “I definitely did jump to start. So, no dig at Lucas Oil for penalizing me there. I was definitely where I should have been. But, yeah, I mean, if you watch the slow-mo replay, you could see Jason just barely brush the wall there and come down and it looked like we hit just a little bit, and then you can see my wheels start to go back and forth.

“And then about the time I went to set it, I think, is about when our right rear, left rear, or whatever tires hopped. And from there on out, my memory was a little spotty here and there on it, but like I remember bits and pieces of it. I remember flying, and being like ‘I hope I don't land head-first into the wall.’ ”

The frame of the car wasn’t bent, to Landrum’s surprise. Longhorn repaired the underrails and left-front control arm. Otherwise, the suspension, drive shaft, motor, oil pump, and transmission survived.

After his top-five run, Landrum heads into the second half of the Northern Allstars doubleheader weekend concluding at Brownstown with momentum on his side.

“It definitely sucks that it happened,” Landrum said. “It was a lot of money. I feel sorry for my dad. It was a very expensive 14 days for sure, but I can't thank him enough. He got a stent put in his heart about a month ago and I had him out for the last seven days till 10 or 11 at night working on this thing to get her ready to be back here, so I couldn't ask for a better dad.”

Heckenast shows smoke

Frank Heckenast Jr. of Frankfort, Ill. raced like he had little to lose toward the end of the 50-lapper. Like Ryan Unzicker, the 38-year-old driver was railing on the tight oval’s upper grooves and was pressuring the runner-up before settling for third.

Heckenast certainly gave the fans a show. Racing in front of some of his team’s backers, notably those who help run his Indy U-Pull-It business on 16th Street in downtown Indianapolis, gave him some added motivation to race more aggressively.

“Once (the track) cleaned up, you pretty much you go anywhere you wanted,” Heckenast said. “Raced a little conservative there, like with 10 or 15 to go when I was in fifth, and then the caution came out, and I'm like, I got absolutely nothing to lose here. There's no difference from fifth to seventh, so let's at least try to get to third. It was a fine line on the top, I'll tell you that.”

But as the race concluded, ominous smoke appeared from Heckenast’s car, leaving the veteran driver unsure about the condition of his powerplant.

“We don't know yet,” Heckenast said. “It might be a motor. We're not sure yet. It happened right at the line. I thought it was a rear gear, the way it felt. I got to check it out, but it could be the motor. Hopefully, it's not the motor.”