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Three-time Snowball Winner Hamrac Leads Modifieds of Mayhem Back to Five Flags on Friday

By Chuck Corder

When it comes to winged pavement sprint cars, you’d be hard pressed to find a bigger fan than Donnie Hamrac.

While the Semmes, Ala., driver will have a Modifieds of Mayhem 50-lap feature demand most of his attention Friday night at Five Flags Speedway, Hamrac will find time to stop what he’s doing when the King of the Wings climb Pensacola’s high banks.

Would he ever want to trade seats and get behind the steering wheels of one of those alien-looking automobiles?

“No, thank you,� Hamrac said, giving a hearty laugh at the mere mention of the hypothetical. “They are fun to watch, but I’m not that crazy.

“I love watching them, though. They are so fast and, wow, that vapor trail coming off the top wing is what I really love.�

Hamrac is pretty fast in his own right, and hopes to be the fastest when the Modifieds of Mayhem make their season debut at the famed half-mile asphalt oval Friday night.

“I just think it’s the horsepower ratio to the eight-inch tires,� he said. “It’s like an overgrown go-kart. You’ve gotta manhandle it.�

It’ll be an open-wheel extravaganza come Friday as motorcycles join the modifieds and sprints.

Gates open at 4 p.m. with racing slated for 8. Admission is $20 for adults; $15 for seniors, military and students; $5 for children ages 6 to 11; and free for kids 5-and-under.

Just months after being crowned the inaugural champion of the Modifieds of Mayhem, a series that tours across the southeast’s most iconic tracks, Hamrac and his Alabama Pipe and Supply team owner David Jones are taking a step back and decided to not run for points.

“It’s a great series, and I’d love to run every race, but we just can’t,� Hamrac said. “We’ll pick and choose what we run.�

The team extended a lot of energy into winning the modifieds feature at the Rattler earlier this month at Opp’s South Alabama Speedway.

When Hamrac finished a close second to Jeff Letson, who is also expected to race Friday in Pensacola, it was time to regroup.

It certainly isn’t because Hamrac has grown tired of the team or the car that has brought him so much success at Five Flags, including two track championships and capturing the last three straight modifieds Snowball Derby races.

“(Jones) and his dad love racing and I love it, too,� Hamrac said. “They take my wife and daughter in, and it’s like family with them. We get along very well together.

“And, for some reason, we adapt very well to Pensacola. I don’t know if it’s tire management or what, but we’ve had very good luck over there. I hope it continues Friday night.�

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