Over the past 18 years, Kyle Strickler has established himself as one of the top talents in DIRTcar UMP Modified racing. But in 2024, he’s getting back in touch with his Northeast Modified roots at Super DIRT Week 52.
Strickler, 41, of Mooresville, NC, has entered his first Super DIRT Week in nearly 20 years this weekend and will pilot Big Block Modified driver Robert Bublak’s 358 Modified as he attempts to qualify for his first Salute to the Troops 150 at Oswego Speedway on Friday.
“It’s awesome to be back in the area that I’m originally from,” said Strickler, who is originally from Sinking Spring, PA. “Super DIRT Week was always such a cool event and a big part of what my racing career was. This was the one race or one week that we always looked to. Even if we weren’t racing, I would go and crew for Kenny Brightbill and hangout and have a good time.
“It’s awesome, with all that I’ve done with the Late Models and UMP Modifieds to be able to come back to your roots and get to run [a Northeast Modified] again.”
While he’s become more widely known for his UMP Modified and Super Late Model success — winning 15 Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals Features between both cars and the 2023 UMP Modified Big Gator championship — Strickler started his racing career in the Northeast, racing Sportsman Modifieds at tracks such as Big Diamond Speedway (Pottsville, PA), Grandview Speedway (Bechtelsville, PA), and BAPS Motor Speedway (York Haven, PA) in the late 1990s.
Strickler then moved up to the Big Block Modified division in the early 2000s, supported by former car owner Don “Slick” Fanslau, of Swedesboro, NJ. The two contested the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons together, including an appearance at Super DIRT Week 2005.
After his move to North Carolina in 2006, Strickler made only occasional appearances in a Modified with Fanslau until 2010 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte — his most recent appearance with the Super DIRTcar Series.
Since then, he’s been away from the discipline that sparked his love for motorsports. That was until this year, when his sponsors at SRI Performance / Stock Car Steel and Aluminum pushed for him to return to the Northeast at the biggest event of the year. While his first options for a ride fell through before the event, he was encouraged to come to Oswego with his racing gear anyway.
He was in town only a few hours before a Super DIRT Week ride was his.
“We were at dinner last night, and (Robert) Bublak was behind me,” Strickler said. “Him and his crew guys came over and talked to me for a while, and then they came and found me this morning and said that he wanted to run his Big Block, but if I was up for running his 358 car, I could run it.”
Though he’s contested Super DIRT Week on the mile at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse multiple times, Strickler took his first laps at Oswego Thursday afternoon in two practice sessions before laying down a best lap of 21.126 seconds in “Super Six” Time Trials.
In only a few laps, he was able to detect the similarities between the 358 Modified and the feeling of a Late Model and UMP Modified.
“It’s really cool to see how technology has changed, and these cars are pretty much still the same as what they were back when I left, except they were all on torsion bars back then and now everybody’s back on coils,” Strickler said. “It’s a lot closer to what we do on the Late Model stuff. Now, they can stack springs. Being in race city USA in North Carolina, we’ve got a lot of technology, and I’ve stayed close with a lot of guys over the years that would call me and want to talk about what they were doing on these cars to try to get them faster and do more of the aero platform stuff and shock and spring stuff that we do on the Late Model.”
Before Thursday, 2005 was Strickler’s last appearance at Super DIRT Week. Though it’s moved locations since then, he sees the magic kept from Syracuse and the new strides the event has made at its new home in Oswego.
“It’s still kinda got that same vibe and feel as it did at Syracuse, and Syracuse is pretty wild,” Strickler said. “It’s neat to have a track that people don’t race on all the time and still kinda have it as a one-off event. That’s what I think makes it so special.
“I think that with the media attention, and if you’re going to do one race a year, you might as well do this one.”
See Strickler on track at Oswego throughout the day Friday, Oct. 11, as he attempts to qualify for a spot in the Salute to the Troops 150. Tickets for the event are on sale — click here to purchase — and will also be available at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream live on DIRTVision.
