Tyson Turnbull is discovering that modified racing isn't the only kind he can succeed at.
The Estevan driver tried his hand at late model racing for the second time this winter on the weekend, and he was satisfied with his results.
Turnbull raced Friday and Saturday at the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., placing 13th and 17th, respectively, in the features.
On Friday, Turnbull began the night with a third-place finish in his heat, in a field of nine.
That qualified him to go straight to the feature, where he started seventh but slipped back to 13th.
On Saturday, Turnbull was second in his heat and again advanced directly to the feature, where he started in ninth position.
He was the only Canadian in the field either night.
Turnbull was expecting to have to grind his way through the B-mains to reach the feature, but that wasn't the case.
"I'm really learning a lot and to make it into the features through the heat races both nights, I didn't expect that in a field of 50 cars.
"I'm looking at that, I'm looking at all these guys in the pits and I'm thinking, 'Wow, the A main is going to be stacked full of these guys, not guys like me. I hope I can just keep up in the heat races,' but it went good."
Turnbull said that although there aren't a lot of differences between racing mods and late models, letting off the wheel for even a moment can be costly.
"They're similar in the way you gotta drive them. The biggest thing is they like to be driven harder. Everything works better. They're not real forgiving though, you really have to drive them hard.
"The minute you decide to take a breather, that's when they bite you, when you start relaxing and not getting right up on the wheel. I was in the top 10 and I'd passed last year's series champion. He got me back and then before I knew it, I'd dropped five or six spots. That's just how it is in the late models. You can do that in a mod and maybe lose a spot, but you do that in the late models and it bites you hard," Turnbull said.
"I was happy with it. Things didn't work out perfect, and if everything would've gone right and I was really on my game, I probably could've been top five."
Turnbull had previously driven a late model for three nights in Arizona in January.
"I had the itch after that. I came home and said, 'Man, I want to race this thing again,' so I got looking at schedules for the series in the States and found one reasonably close. It was a really nice track. It's a beautiful track they've got down there.
Turnbull said he's considering heading to a few more late model races this summer, while also driving his mod at Estevan Motor Speedway.
Turnbull also tried out snowmobile racing over the winter, attending a competition in Deadwood, S.D.
"I kinda ran at the back. It was a late race and I was in over my head. I was expecting (that). I didn't have real high expectations, so I didn't have my feelings hurt," he laughed.
