Michael House Overcoming Super Late Model Learning Curve

During a season that has presented numerous variables, Michael House is driving his Super Late Model to his most familiar constant in Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for the North South Super Late Model Challenge 100 on Saturday afternoon.

The two-time Pro Late Model champion at the Fairgrounds is all-in on his Super Late Model program this season and that’s come with growing pains. The No. 1 Hamke has shown great speed at times, including a pole in January for Speedfest at Watermelon Capital Speedway but without the results to show for it.

The 35-year-old has sporadically dabbled in Super Late racing over the years, but this is the most committed he has been to a program in running consistently with the Southern Super Series during the spring.

"I feel like the race pace is a little different in a Super than a Pro because that's all I've known," House told Racing America on Thursday. "But some bad luck, misfortune, I haven't been able to put a full race together. I need to run more, get more experience in a Super Late Model and that's what I'm trying to do."

So, it’s not nothing that the Murfreesboro native returns home to Nashville on Saturday for a track he’s turned more laps at than any other.

"I know what I want the car to feel like," House said. "At Nashville, I know what the set-up needs to give me -- getting the car free to make speed but not too free for a long run. At Cordele, I need to run 10-20 extra laps to get that feel."

That immediate feel hasn't come to him yet in two starts at Cordele, which is disappointing to House because he enjoys bullring racing as a racer that came up turning laps at Highland Rim Speedway in nearby Millersville.

So, he’s looking forward to the Georgia Summer Nationals in August to turn a first and second place start into a finish in his third start of the season in South Georgia. But more than anything, he wants to get his half-mile track program to where it needs to be with an eye to making his first Snowball Derby in his fourth attempt.

"Missing the Derby again and then turning around and winning the pole at Cordele stung," House said. "We have the speed. Jeremy (Pate) is helping us now and he's got so much experience there and that's going to pay off. I'm excited for this weekend because I think we can learn a lot of things to get us ready for December."

The other variable his Hamke after years of driving a FURY Pro Late.

"The set-up is another learning curve," House said.

But in racing with the Southern Super Series and targeting the marquee races in the Southeast this season, House is racing against the best every time out and that's the point -- iron sharpens iron as it were.

So, while House wants to show out at his home track, he says he doesn't feel any extra pressure because it's another race.

"Every race this year has had really strong entry lists," House said. "These are the best teams with the best cars and best equipment, but we have that too, and there's no reason we can't run well with them on Saturday."