Ryan Unzicker has had plenty of memorable seasons in nearly two decades of Dirt Late Model racing, but when it’s all said and done, his 2020 campaign may turn out to be the one he remembers most. Unfortunately for the 39-year-old El Paso, Ill., driver, the reasons that make 2020 noteworthy for him aren’t all positive.

As it stands now, Unzicker’s 2020 season will be remembered fondly for producing what he considers the biggest win of his career. That victory didn’t come in his familiar No. 24 Pierce Late Model, but instead came in Sunday’s ARCA Menards Series race on the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, one of two dirt tracks in Illinois that the series considered as a proving grounds for future NASCAR talent visits almost every season. For Unzicker, who has entered every ARCA dirt track race since 2012, the victory at Springfield will be remembered as an emotional breakthrough that took him years to accomplish.

But when it comes to his Late Model, 2020 will be remembered quite differently. Or at least it could be if things don’t change for Unzicker in the handful of races left on his 2020 schedule. As he prepares to wrap up his season with five races over the next two weeks — plus a potential return to The Dome at America’s Center for the Gateway Dirt Nationals in December — Unzicker is dangerously close to something that he’s never experienced in his 18 years of Late Model racing: a winless season.

Conveniently for Unzicker, he has three inviting opportunities this weekend to try get a mark in the win column before the end the season. He plans to enter all three events during a lucrative weekend for the MARS DIRTcar Series in Illinois that kicks off with a $5,000-to-win event Friday at Peoria Speedway, the track where Unzicker earned his most recent Late Model win during last October’s Illinois State Championship. The tour moves to Fairbury Speedway on Saturday for the $15,000-to-win FALS Frenzy and to La Salle Speedway on Sunday where $10,000 is on the line during the tour’s final race of the season.

“This would be the first year I didn’t win in a Dirt Late Model in 18 years. Honestly, that pisses me off,” said Unzicker, who like most racers got a delayed start to the season thanks to Covid-19 restrictions that prevented him from racing until June. “Yeah, it’s been a crazy year, but it’s just tough to win these days. These Late Model guys are super tough. I’ve joked with my crew guys that if I don’t get a win this year I’m retiring. They told me I can’t retire now because I got my win in the ARCA race. I guess they have me there, but I still don’t want to end the year without winning a single race in my Late Model. It wouldn’t be a good feeling for me. It would be disappointing for sure.”

Unzicker’s ARCA win may not be enough to ease the disappointment of a winless season in his Late Model if that does end up being the outcome, but it certainly ranks as a major accomplishment. Unzicker has been a frequent competitor in the ARCA tour’s dirt track events for Illinois-based Hendren Motorsports for most of the past decade. Since entering his first series race in 2003, he’s has made a total of 20 appearances on the tour with all but one coming in the tour’s dirt track events between Springfield and DuQuoin.

His quest to win one of the ARCA dirt track races has featured many ups and downs with Unzicker logging multiple top-five finishes at both ARCA dirt tracks over the years. Things finally came together for Unzicker in this year’s event at Springfield as he qualified on the pole and controlled the entire distance of the 103-lap race. He pulled away from Ford Racing Development driver Hailie Deegan, a ballyhooed up-and-comer in the asphalt ranks, in a final green-white-checkers overtime finish to complete a sweep of the event and give car owner Bill Hendren his first ARCA victory in 46 years of trying.

“I’ve won some $10,000 races in the Late Model and I’ve got over 100 Late Model wins. But winning the Springfield ARCA race, that’s probably on the top of my list as far as biggest wins I have,” said Unzicker, whose previous best ARCA finish was third a Springfield in 2016. “I’ve been trying to compare it to achievements we’ve had in the Late Model. The (DIRTcar) National Championship was pretty big for me when I won that in ’11. But to win in the ARCA series, I think that’s up there at the top.

“I grew up in the stands at the Springfield Mile years ago watching. It was like for me, with a racer’s mentality, I wanted to do it some day. That’s part of what got me wanting to race. The next thing you know we were buying a street stock and then got into Late Models. Eventually Hendren Motorsports asked me to drive for them years back, and it’s just always been a good relationship. It was really special for me and the team. Just a big moment for all of us.”

With his dirt track background, it may seem like an easy transition for Unzicker to go from driving his Late Model to driving an ARCA stock car on a dirt track. Indeed, many of the ARCA regulars believe dirt ringers have an advantage at ARCA’s few dirt races. But Unzicker doesn’t believe that’s the case. He’s quick to point out the many differences between the two cars and the different driving styles it takes to be successful on Springfield’s long 1-mile track compared to elbows-up style typically required by the tightener bull-ring ovals where he competes in his Late Model.

“A lot of the asphalt guys look at it like the dirt guys have an advantage,” Unzicker said. “I don’t know about that. My thoughts on it is if you can wheel a race car and you’re a good driver, you can wheel about anything. So I don’t think there was any advantage coming from dirt. I think it’s more of advantage if you’re in those cars year-round and you’re more used to driving those cars. Whereas, I just drive them once or twice a year, and I show up the day of the race, have an hour of practice and that’s it, here ya go. I feel like if anything I’m at a disadvantage.

“For me, coming from mostly quarter-mile stuff, our Late Models are nowhere close to an ARCA car other than it has a seat, a steering wheel and pedals. An ARCA car on dirt is driven way more similar to an ARCA car on asphalt. Those things don’t travel. We don’t get sideways and you got to keep the car and the tires underneath you. It just doesn’t even translate anywhere close to what we do in our Late Models.”

Just as he sees the two cars as wildly different in handling, Unzicker views accomplishments in the two cars as quite different as well. He doesn’t believe his ARCA victory is something that can assuage the discontent he’ll feel if his 2020 season ends without a Late Model win. It also isn’t a replacement for some gaps that Unzicker sees on his Late Model resume.

Unzicker, the 2011 DIRTcar weekly champion prides himself on being a consistent contender at dirt tracks across the Midwest, and he’s made his name in the sport by winning anywhere from two to five regional specials in each of the past 11 seasons. He’s particularly stood out on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals tour. While he hasn’t followed the popular summer series full time in recent seasons, he’s been a stalwart on the tour for the past decade with 10 career victories and a best points finish of second in 2014. Of his five career victories paying $10,000 or more, four of them came on the Summer Nationals.

But for all his success and consistency over the years, Unzicker’s resume doesn’t include any major event wins beyond regional specials. His richest Late Model victory is a $10,555 triumph in the MARS-sanctioned Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, in 2015.

That’s a stat Unzicker would like to change. He feels he would’ve already done so if not for his focus being split between his racing and running the family business RJR Trucking.

“In the transportation business, my phone never shuts off. I’ve always got trucks on the road,” said Unzicker, who grew up performing tasks such as washing trucks and maintaining the facilities before starting driving trucks himself at 18 and eventually taking on a leadership role in the company. “It takes a lot of time and effort to run a business. I’m fortunate to have it and to be able to get out of work when I can to do the racing that I do. But we have over 50 employees who depend on us, whose families depend on us to keep the business running so they can make a living. I can’t leave in a way that takes away from that.

“I’m not trying to make excuses, but I know I could’ve won more races and more championships if I put racing first. But I know that racing isn’t going to be there down the road for me and my family. I’ve always known I needed my business to be there for me and I made decisions based on that. I would love to have more on my resume and get in the Hall of Fame some day, but it takes time and sacrifice that sometimes just isn’t the right move for me and my wife (Michelle) and my son (7-year-old Brody).

“I have tons of confidence in myself and my team and my car and my ability to drive. Should I have more wins in my career and won more national championships and won a Summer Nationals championship? Hell yeah I should have. And I think I could have. But I’ve always put my work and my business first. I chose not to put racing first and that makes it harder.”

Unzicker’s resume may not include a major event win, but he’s certainly come close. His notable near-misses include a runner-up finish in the $30,000-to-win Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury in 2017 and a heartbreaker in last season’s $30,000-to-win Gateway Dirt Nationals at The Dome, where he took the lead late in the race only to catch a rut and end up upside-down.

“We finished second at Prairie Dirt Classic a few years back to Brandon Sheppard. That was one of those races that I think we could’ve won that just didn’t work out for us,” Unzicker said. “Then at the Dome last year, I feel like we would’ve won that if not for a mishap with nine to go that put us on our lid. We’ve had some good runs and close calls in big races, but every racer has those should’ve, would’ve, could’ve’s in their career. I feel like we’ve had a lot of them in big races.

“We’ve won some $10,000-to-win races along the way, but I feel like we should have 20 of those $10,000 wins. I fee like we should have bigger wins than $10,000, but I don’t. It’s just the way the cards fall. We’ve been close a lot of times, just not had a few things go our way at the right time.”

Unzicker will have his chance to both add a bigger win to his resume and avoid a winless season this weekend. While he knows his odds of winning are probably best in Friday’s visit to Peoria — the weekend opener isn’t expected to draw as tough of a field as Saturday’s $15,000-to-win event at Fairbury or Sunday’s $10,000 race at La Salle — he’s particularly looking forward to Saturday’s FALS Frenzy.

It may not be a national touring series event or a crown jewel like Fairbury’s Prairie Dirt Classic, but it’s expected to draw one of the state’s toughest fields of the seasons, and it would be a career-high payday if he were to win it. With that in mind, Unzicker is particularly excited for that event.

“Fairbury’s my home track. I’ve always ran good there and had a lot of success there,” said Unzicker, who has finished sixth or better in six of his seven races at Fairbury this season. “To win there this weekend would be a big win for me. It’d be my biggest win in a Late Model. But if you put $15,000 on the table, to be able to win that event, you’re going to have beat some really good cars. That’s the one I want to win most, and I think we’ve got a good chance, but it’ll be tough.

“I’m really pretty pumped about all three of these races and trying to get my first Late Model win of the year at three tracks right in my backyard. All three tracks are pretty good for me, and the hot rod’s been running really good. We’ve had a couple parts failures that’s taken us out of some races, but we’ve been right there really close in a lot of races. We’ve been top-fiving everybody to death, just searching for a big win in the Late Model. I think we’re close.”