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The Jim Sumner Dash For Cash is the emotional highlight of the Dairyland Classic.
100% of all donations to the Jim Dash go directly to the racers! Jim Sumner was a competitor on the AMA Grand National circuit from 1988 until his untimely death in a racing accident in 2002 at just 32 years of age. But Jim was more than just a local racer - he was also our family's youngest member. Jim won several AMA Grand National semi qualifiers, and earned his way into 10 AMA Grand National finals in his career. Donate to the Jim Sumner Memorial Dash today!  Send Bert an email.
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Donors to the 2025 Jim Sumner Memorial Dash For Cash:
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Past Winners of the Jim Sumner Memorial Dash For Cash:
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Jim's Story
The Jim Sumner Memorial Dash For Cash is our effort to showcase one aspect of professional motorcycle racing that our late brother, Jim, truly loved – the inverted, staggered start.
Back in the 1970s & 1980s, AMA Pro Racing short track heat races (for the combined Junior/Expert division) were lined up in reverse order, with the fastest qualifier at the rear, and slowest at the front, to make the races more exciting. They certainly were, as the fastest qualifiers only had 4-6 laps to charge through the field in the hopes of securing a transfer spot into the semi qualifiers. The inverted, staggered start was retired after the 1986 season, so Jim was never able to participate in one at his beloved Santa Fe Speedway near Chicago, where he had watched some of the greats of the era – Terry Poovey, Randy Goss, Steve Elo, Garth Brow, Scott Pearson – hold class every Wednesday night during the 1970s.
Jim was critically injured in a racing crash on the Peoria TT in 1998, but devoted himself to a full year of physical therapy to regain the strength to race again. Jim died after crashing in practice for the Springfield Mile on May 26, 2002. God had allowed him to depart this earth doing what he loved doing the most, surrounded by his racing family. Two hundred and sixty-eight riders held National Numbers during the period from 1991 through 2002. Only nine riders earned a National Number every year over that span: Chris Carr (#1/#4/#20), Jay Springsteen (#9), Terry Poovey (#18), Will Davis (#21), Kevin Atherton (#23), Willie McCoy (#59), George Roeder II (#66), Rich King (#80/#100), and Jim Sumner (#45). |
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YZ450F
450 SX-F
CRF450R
XR750
RM-Z450
KX450F
Rotax
Jim passed away two weeks before the 2002 Dairyland Classic.
We presented the 2002 event, as scheduled, because we knew Jim would have wanted us to.
For 2003 we decided to honor Jim's memory by introducing the
Jim Sumner Memorial Dash For Cash that would utilize Jim's favorite inverted start from the Santa Fe days.
Jim Sumner was born on April 23, 1970, the youngest of four children born to a life-long AMA Pro Novice and a school teacher.
He began competing in amateur dirt track and ice racing in 1979, racing alongside his older brother and sister.
From 1979 through 1985, he raced in the amateur ranks, scoring countless wins and earning one District 16 amateur title.
In 1986, he obtained his professional racing license from the AMA and was assigned Pro-Am #84S.
He received notiety for scoring countless wins throughout the country on a 1971 BSA B50 (500cc single).
In May 1987, he advanced to the Junior division, sporting #84K. In 1988, he advanced to the Expert division.
In 1990, he earned his first National Championship points by finishing fifth on the mile oval at the DuQuoin, Illinois round of the AMA 600cc National Series.
He would finish the season ranked 27th in AMA 600cc National points.
For the 1991 season, he was awarded AMA National Number 45, a number he proudly wore for the rest of his life.
Jim made the main event in ten AMA Grand National Championship events and two AMA 600 National events in his career.
He was most competitive on the mile tracks, where he frequently won his semi at the Grand Nationals in Springfield or DuQuoin.
Jim's greatest professional win came at the AMA Regional event on the Springfield Mile on May 29, 1993, where he won the 600cc Expert division.