Nick Hoffman waiting for just the right Late Model opportunity

To say that Nick Hoffman has dominated the ranks of Dirt Modified racing over the past few seasons would be an immense understatement. The 30-year-old driver’s record over the last decade speaks for itself as he has piled up scores of feature wins and championships along the way.

In 2021, the native of Belleville, Illinois who now resides in Mooresville, NC racked up 19 wins in 20 starts as he earned his fourth UMP Summer Nationals title. And the three-time UMP National Modified champion has shown no sign of letting up in this year’s version of the Summer Nationals as he has scored 10 feature triumphs in his first 12 tries so far.

At the time of this interview, Hoffman had won the first seven Summit Modified Summer Nationals events as the tour moved to Federated Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Missouri. While leading one of those two races held on the Missouri track, mechanical issues doomed the red hot driver’s chance for a victory.

“Our stuff is really good right now and we haven’t had any issues yet,” Hoffman told InsideDirtRacing.com prior to the first of two I-55 races. “Last night(Spoon River) we had a setback and had to start pretty deep in that feature but was able to overcome all of that and come through the field.”

At different times, Hoffman’s Modified success has opened the door for Late Model opportunities. In 2021 while Scott Bloomquist was experiencing physical issues related to his injured hip, Hoffman was called upon to take the controls of that famed ride. Earlier this year, the ‘Thrill from Mooresville’ took the seat in Barry and Lance Wright’s car to compete in the Eldora Million and the Dirt Late Model Dream for the South Carolina-based car builders.

“I have ran some part time Late Model stuff over the past couple of years,” Hoffman explained. “The deal with Barry came along pretty quick, right before Eldora. They needed somebody to drive the thing at the Million and they called me to do it. Scott Bloomquist was actually the one who tested it last and they were trying to figure out who they would put in it and Scott put my name in the hat to call me and they did.”

Hoffman made the feature for the Eldora Million after finishing 11th in his preliminary race. He added a 9th place result in one of the races leading into the Dirt Late Model Dream. Plans had been made to race again but those had to be laid aside. Still, another run in the Barry Wright Race Cars house car is a possibility.

“We had a pretty successful run at Eldora to make it into the Million,” he recalled. “We were pretty good all weekend and I was happy with how Eldora went. We were actually going to try to run this weekend at Spoon River and Pevely with Barry’s car but he ended up coming down with a sickness. He says he is feeling better but it kind of sucks that we weren’t able to race this weekend. We’ll get everything prepared and go again sometime soon.”

With all of the Modified success he has had, did Hoffman expect more Late Model opportunities by this point in his career?

“I don’t know,” he answered. “Obviously, my wins last year propelled me to the opportunity to drive for Bloomquist. I was able to do that for a while when he was hurt. All you can do is go out and win races and put yourself on a national stage in front of everybody and hope you end up with something decent. It’s worked out so far.”

One factor Hoffman would have to consider before moving into any Late Model ride would be the impact on his Modified chassis building business. Hoffman opened the doors of Elite Chassis in 2012 and has since built that company into one of the top producers of open wheeled race cars.

“Yeah, I’d love to be on the road doing a full tour with a Late Model deal, but at the end of the day, I have a chassis business,” the husband and father pointed out. “My Modified stuff is what pays the bills so it’s hard to turn away from it. Right now, with not a whole lot of Late Model racing going on for me, it’s an easy time of the year to come out and race a bunch of races and try to chase that national title with the Modified. Once this deal ends up, I can go race a Late Model quite a bit.”

For Hoffman to race more often in a Late Model just the right opportunity would have to come along.

“It would have to be a pretty decent deal,” he declared. “As far as to go full time, right now I feel like I could run forty or fifty Late Model races pretty easily and not really affect my chassis business or my Modified program or anything. I’ll run a couple of Midget races too. I try to run close to 100 races a year in whatever type of race car. The Late Model deal is really challenging but I enjoy that right now.”

In terms of Modified racing, the highly successful driver feels the pressure to continue doing what he has been doing.

“The Modified is a lot of pressure to make sure you win every night,” Hoffman insisted. “The Late Model deal is a lot of pressure to perform and put yourself up front. That Late Model deal is very tough. If you’re not racing every single night like these guys are, it’s tough to keep up and that’s why I was excited to go to Eldora and run as well as we did.”

Ultimately, Hoffman does feel as if his prowess in a Modified benefits him to a degree when he takes a seat in a Late Model.

“In a way, they are the same. The way the suspensions work is very similar, but as far as driving wise, they aren’t even close. The Modified is way more laid back, a lot easier on the gas and you don’t have to hustle near as hard. The Late Model is very aggressive and up on the wheel, if you don’t slide the guy, they’ll slide you. It’s a lot more aggressive racing, for sure. The Modified competition level is great, but that Late Model deal, when you’ve got thirty guys that are pretty much every week racing for a living it becomes very tough. It’s so rewarding when you run well in a Late Model.”

Please consider also reading:

Donald McIntosh: “Racing got to where it was a job”

Respond to this post on Twitter by following @RichardAllenIDR and @MichaelRMoats or by liking the InsideDirtRacing.com Facebook page.

Also, NASCAR and pavement racing fans can check out InsideCircleTrack.