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Hamm exploits FUEL's first season, finds success
By Alli Collis
DirtonDirt.com staff writer
Brett Hamm celebrates one of his FUEL victories. (Howard Lawson)
The inaugural year of the Fast Unified Engine Late Model Series opened up new opportunities for drivers to excel on the regional CT 525-engine Late Model scene, and Brett Hamm took full advantage. With four series victories and a runner-up in points on the North Carolina-based tour, Hamm is anxious to carry his newfound experience into 2015.
Hamm, 30, of Newberry, S.C., set an early standard for the season with a $3,000 triumph in the FUEL series opener at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., on April 12. He went on to notch three more tour victories, nearly sweeping the month of July with another win a Cherokee, as well as victories at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, N.C. and Fayetteville (N.C.) Speedway.
“It’s gone fairly well,” Hamm said of his 2014 season. “I can’t really complain about it. We’ve accomplished pretty much all of our goals. We kind of figured if we ran this new FUEL series, and we could win a couple races and finish in the top five or so in points, we’d be happy. We’ve done a lot more than that and we’ve learned a bunch.
“We’ve always been local racers, we never really traveled anywhere but our local tracks. So there was a lot of learning curve in that, a lot of tracks that we had never seen before. It was fun, but on the same token, stressful. But we’ve learned a ton. I’m looking forward to going into next year kind of already knowing all that.”
Hamm fell just short of capturing the FUEL series championship, finishing 24 points behind champion Ross Bailes of Clover, S.C., in the final standings. While the two aren’t exactly teammates, they work closely with Hamm assisting his competitor with mechanics from time to time. Finishing first and second in the points was a great way to close the tour.
“I wouldn’t say we work 100 percent together, but we use the same information and we benefit from either of us doing well,” Hamm said of his relationship with Bailes. “It wasn’t a bad situation to have both of our cars that we were working on in the top two in points. It was a good, friendly battle.”
Outside of the FUEL series, Hamm picked up three weekly victories while competing in the Limited Late Model division at Laurens County Speedway in Laurens, S.C. Running a limited schedule and entering fewer than 20 events, Hamm chalked up seven victories overall.
“Laurens County Speedway is the closest track to us, about 45 minutes away,” Hamm said. “It’s cool. We know a lot of people up there … we kind of go there just because it’s a lot of fun. It’s not as much fun as going to all this different places and running for bigger money, but it’s nice to get out and relax and go somewhere you’re familiar with.”
While the season was good to Hamm, it didn’t come without its share of struggles. Traveling with a regional series provided new challenges to the driver, who visited multiple racetracks for the first time this year, alongside experienced competitors.
“One, you’re upgrading competition,” Hamm said of following a regional series. “You’re going from running with the same guys every week and having a gameplan for what’s going to happen. With the traveling deal, of course it’s more money and more investment to travel with fuel costs and all that kind of stuff.
“But the other thing is just not having a lot of experience at a lot of these racetracks. You’re going to racetracks that you’ve never stepped foot in before and you’re making five hot laps and qualifying and you’re running for cash. You really have to speed up the decision-making process. It took us a while to get to that. That’s been a big learning curve for us, being able to take notes to know what gear we’re going to use, to know what spring combination. A lot of times we were just out in left field and worked the whole night long to come up with a set up.”
His 2014 season may have just ended, but Hamm is already looking forward to next year, when he will once again chase the FUEL championship.
“If we can win four or five races, that’s an accomplishment,” Hamm said. “I think this season we attended 10 races and we won four of them. It’s hard to beat that. The competition’s going to pick up next year … we hope so. You have to beat the best to be the best. We want to go after a championship. On the series, we want to win four or five races and that will be a pretty good year.”
At the same time, Hamm is also aiming to make continued strides as a driver, with the ultimate goal to move up in to the Super Late Model ranks.
“At the end of the year, if we can pick up some sponsor money or win enough money to get ourselves in to a Super ride, that would be great,” Hamm said. “It’s just going to be a play-it-by-ear situation on that. We want to make that step sometime, but you have to be extremely lucky. It takes a lot of talent, takes a lot of work, takes a lot of money and it takes a lot of luck to get in that situation. We’re extremely fortunate where we’re at.”
