By Richie Murray
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (October 11, 2024)………”It’s not really the way we want to do it, but we’ll take them any way we can get them.”
On a smattering of occasions throughout the 2024 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season, Briggs Danner wound up in the unenvious position of having the proverbial rug pulled out from underneath him while leading late in a race.
One of those particular instances came during July’s USAC Indiana Sprint Week round at Lawrenceburg Speedway where he was leading the field in the latter stages of the race before an engine issue forced him to the sidelines.
Upon his return to the 3/8-mile dirt oval during Friday night’s inaugural Greg Staab Memorial, Danner just so happened to be on the opposite side of a similar ordeal. On the final lap, racelong leader Mitchel Moles’ bid for victory was snuffed just one turn away from the finish line when a caution was displayed for an incident in turn one involving Kyle Shipley and Kale Drake.
Under the yellow, Moles’ car developed an unusual and unexpected malady. With his engine’s RPMs suddenly rising, Moles wore out his brakes just trying to keep his car whoa’d down under the yellow flag periodi. When Moles pulled off the racing surface, Danner took over control of the race, then fended off Robert Ballou for the final two circuits to gather a look-what-I-found victory in his Hogue Racing Enterprises/E. Schneider & Sons – Boulevard Truck Repair/DRC/Rider Chevy.
Even with the lap 30 yellow flag, Danner (Allentown, Pa.) felt he still had a chance to make a run at Moles. As it turned out, good fortune for himself and devastating heartbreak for Moles was negated that scenario before it could even be put to the test.
“I feel really bad for Mitchel,” Danner admitted. “I knew he had something going on. I think his throttle was sticking. I don’t really want to win a race in that manner, but I still think we had a shot with two laps to go there. He was running through the bottom of one and two and I felt really good up top. I think we could’ve pushed the issue.”
Despite gaining all three of his career USAC National Sprint Car feature wins in 2024 at Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway as well as Indiana’s Bloomington and Lawrenceburg Speedways, Danner has also quite often been on the other side of the equation more times than he’d prefer with a boatload of near misses.
At Williams Grove, Danner ran out of fuel while leading coming off the final turn on the last lap. At Port Royal, he smacked the wall and subsequently dropped out while leading with eight laps to go. At Action Track USA, he came up on the short end of a photo finish, losing out to Logan Seavey by .043 second. And of course, there was the aforementioned Lawrenceburg race in midsummer, but this time around, Danner was determined not to let another one slip away.
While Danner slotted into third for the start of the 73rd USAC national event of the year during the 73rd ever visit by the USAC National Sprint Cars at Lawrenceburg, Moles was lined up directly in front of him on the pole position. Moles levied no mercy on the 24-car field as he rushed out to a near two second lead and stayed put throughout much of the first half of the race.
On lap 13, however, Moles nearly met catastrophe as he and Todd Hobson collided off the exit of turn two as Moles was attempting to put Hobson a lap down. Wheels touched as a result, sending Hobson airborne while Moles’ momentum briefly got stifled. Nonetheless, both continued onward seemingly void of any lasting effects for the moment.
The torrid pace went caution free for the initial 26 laps until 11th running Kale Drake initiated the first yellow flag after performing a 360-degree spin in turn four, thus erasing Moles’ 1.6 second advantage. While Moles’ interval had been slashed, on the same token, it did clear a path for him to race his way to the finish line for the final four laps without the hindrance of traffic.
For the third-running Danner, it was “good riddance” to traffic, and thus, made it one less task to take away from his ultimate focus of getting to the front. With that said, time was running short.
“It was getting tough because I was pushing it really hard,” Danner explained. “We got in traffic and I knew we’d be slowing down a little bit. Guys like Brady (Bacon) would be able to keep up. He was showing his nose, but I wasn’t going to let it faze me. I just tried not to look at him and kept pushing. I was able to get by Robert (Ballou) there, and luckily, that was a big move to be able to win this.”
While many eyes were affixed to Moles leading the pathway, the intriguing battle for the second position proved to be critical. Danner chased Ballou, then successfully slid underneath him in turn three to grab the second position at a crucial juncture with just three laps to go.
Although Danner managed to close to within three to four car lengths of Moles as the front two swept through turns three and four for the final time, it seemed as if the sand in the hourglass had run out. But, just in the nick of time for Danner’s sake, Shipley bounced through turn one and nearly toppled over before coming to a halt. Drake, like Shipley, also running just beyond mid-pack at the moment, was unable to avoid Shipley and slid sideways, nerf bar first, into Shipley’s ride. Both drivers were okay, but unable to restart.
In a shocking development, under the yellow flag, Moles stopped at the edge of the infield, then was pushed to the pits with a possible stuck throttle. That made Danner the leader of the pack for the race that was extended to 31 laps due to the “overtime” period.
Although Ballou took run after run to slide up in front, Danner never flinched and never wavered as he crossed the stripe 0.593 seconds ahead of the field. Ballou came home a close second while Bacon collected third, Daison Pursley fourth and Kevin Thomas Jr. fifth.
Danner’s victory allowed him to become the first native Pennsylvanian to win three or more USAC National Sprint Car feature events in a season since National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Mitch Smith do so in 1971.
Robert Ballou (Rocklin, Calif.) came narrowly close to scoring his first USAC victory at Lawrenceburg since 2011. In the end, he finished with his second top-two series result in his past three starts aboard his Ballou Motorsports/Suburban Subaru – Mountain Mechanical Contractors/DRC/Ott Chevy.
Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) kept the train-a-rollin’ as he finished third to grab his 19th consecutive top-10 finish of the USAC National Sprint Car season in his Dynamics, Inc./Tom Hoffman Construction – Spankins Motorsports/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
Mired back in the 16th starting spot, Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) went to work and raced his way up to a ninth place result in the feature. That earned him the evening’s hard charger honors.
Kayla Roell (Dillsboro, Ind.) furiously fought her way into the main event. Starting sixth in the semi-feature, she moved her way up to the fourth and final transfer spot to put herself in the big show. For that, she’s the honoree of Inferno Armor USA’s Fire Move of the Night
In Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying, Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) captured his sixth career USAC National Sprint Car quick time, which tied him for 80th on all-time list with Mike Bliss, Daron Clayton, Derek Davidson, Eric Gordon, Richard Griffin, Jac Haudenschild, Tray House, James McElreath and Ken Schrader.
Meanwhile, Danner’s third career USAC National Sprint Car victory placed him 118th on the all-time series feature winners list alongside Chuck Amati, Sonny Ates, Joe Barzda, Jeff Bloom, Mark Cassella, Jerry “Scratch” Daniels, Bob East, Bob Frey, Dickie Gaines, Wayne Hammond, Tray House, Kenny Jacobs, Tony Jones, Kyle Larson, Andy Linden, Charlie Masters, Mike Mosley, Larry Rice, Ron Shuman, Mitch Smith and Doug Wolfgang.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 11, 2024 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Greg Staab Memorial
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.049; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.076; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.085; 4. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.169; 5. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-14.256; 6. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-14.266; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.369; 8. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.387; 9. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.441; 10. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.537; 11. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-14.552; 12. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.618; 13. Kyle Shipley, 4u, AJR-14.700; 14. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.709; 15. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-14.724; 16. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-14.730; 17. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-14.786; 18. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-14.862; 19. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.951; 20. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-14.953; 21. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-14.971; 22. Shawn Westerfeld, 44J, Fischesser/Owen-15.010; 23. Todd Hobson, 44, Soudrette-15.106; 24. Kayla Roell, 5K, KO-15.304; 25. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-15.355; 26. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-15.633; 27. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-15.736; 28. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-15.948; 29. Brian Heitkamp, 22, Heitkamp-16.394; 30. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Nick Bilbee, 2. Kyle Shipley, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Ryan Barr, 7. Brian Heitkamp, 8. Kale Drake. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Shawn Westerfeld, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Joey Amantea, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Carson Garrett, 7. Hunter Maddox. 1:57.869
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Todd Hobson, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Dakota Earls. 1:59.526
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. J.J. Hughes, 5. Briggs Danner, 6. Braxton Cummings, 7. Kayla Roell. 1:59.479
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Carson Garrett, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Kayla Roell, 5. Braxton Cummings, 6. Hunter Maddox, 7. Dakota Earls, 8. Brian Heitkamp, 9. Ryan Barr. NT
FEATURE: (31 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (3), 2. Robert Ballou (2), 3. Brady Bacon (4), 4. Daison Pursley (6), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 6. Chase Stockon (8), 7. C.J. Leary (10), 8. Justin Grant (13), 9. Kyle Cummins (16), 10. Logan Seavey (5), 11. Nick Bilbee (9), 12. Carson Garrett (12), 13. Joey Amantea (19), 14. J.J. Hughes (18), 15. Brandon Mattox (20), 16. Todd Hobson (23), 17. Kayla Roell (24), 18. Hayden Reinbold (21), 19. Mitchel Moles (1), 20. Kale Drake (11), 21. Kyle Shipley (17), 22. Shawn Westerfeld (22), 23. Jadon Rogers (15), 24. Matt Westfall (14). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-29 Mitchel Moles, Laps 30-31 Briggs Danner.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-2762, 2-Brady Bacon-2697, 3-Daison Pursley-2510, 4-C.J. Leary-2472, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2468, 6-Mitchel Moles-2383, 7-Robert Ballou-2374, 8-Kyle Cummins-2275, 9-Justin Grant-2266, 10-Carson Garrett-1711.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-196, 2-Logan Seavey-188, 3-Robert Ballou-145, 4-Justin Grant-138, 5-C.J. Leary-128, 6-Chase Stockon-126, 7-Kyle Cummins-124, 8-Brady Bacon-112, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-105, 10-Matt Westfall-104.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 12, 2024 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Fall Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Daison Pursley (14.246)
Honest Abe Roofing/Greg Staab Memorial Fast Qualifier: Daison Pursley (14.049)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Nick Bilbee
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
T.J. Forged Third Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Car IQ Fourth Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Kale Drake
Greg Staab Memorial First Non-Transfer: Braxton Cummings
Greg Staab Memorial Hard Charger: Kyle Cummins (16th to 9th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Kayla Roell
Greg Staab Memorial Best Lawrenceburg Regular: Nick Bilbee (11th)
Greg Staab Memorial Not in Show Bonus: Ryan Barr