DirtonDirt.com Dispatches

Dispatches: Chad Simpson claims MLRA title

October 11, 2024, 2:20 pm

From series staff, team, track and contributor reports

Chad Simpson savors his fifth MLRA title. (Mike Ruefer)

Among the latest notes and quotes from around Dirt Late Model racing on the second weekend in October including Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association action and the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series-sanctioned Cotton Pickin’ weekend at Magnolia Motor Speedway (most coverage of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series’s Jackson 100 appears elsewhere). Also find a listing of live-streaming video from specials around the country:

Another title

Few drivers are more adept at winning regional Dirt Late Model touring series championships than Chad Simpson of Mount Vernon, Iowa. He entered the the 2024 season having captured a regional crown a remarkable 13 times over the previous 17 years.

Yet after clinching his 13th career title — this one with the Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Association — on Friday night at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill., the 45-year-old didn’t sound like claiming championships is old hat to him. He was absolutely, positively relieved to have completed his latest march to a points crown.

“It took a lot of pressure off,” Simpson said when asked how he felt after a third-place run in MLRA’s season-ending 30-lap feature brought him across the finish line. “This last month, it’s definitely been the most pressure on me in my entire racing career.”

Simpson didn’t enjoy the most prolific season on the MLRA trail. He tallied just one victory (Sept. 1 at Missouri’s Moberly Motorsports Park) among 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 19 events, and he found himself clinging to a modest lead in the standings — 95 points over Tony Jackson Jr. of Lebanon, Mo., and 100 points over his younger brother Chris Simpson of Oxford, Iowa — entering Tri-City’s finale.

And with the third-starting Simpson taking the green flag right behind Jackson and Chris Simpson, he knew the win his two rivals most needed to steal the title was very possible. He couldn’t afford any mistakes or misfortune, lest he fall short of the 16th-place finish he’d require to claim the title if Jackson would finish first.

Facing a 3/8-mile track that had plenty of character, Simpson made sure he didn’t force the issue. His primary goal was to keep his two rivals in sight.

“We fired off there pretty tough and got into third right away,” Simpson said. “I just knew that something stupid would happen or break (if he risked running the treacherous top lane), so I just kind of put myself in a conservative mode. I didn’t want to give up that third spot.

“Obviously them guys right there in front of me, they were the ones that were on my heals all year long with this championship. They have good race cars and they had to do everything they could do. I mean, they had to try to win the race and hope I dropped out of the race, so I just put myself in a position that I could still run strong and kind of stay with them, or stay to where I could at least see them but not do anything stupid.”

Simpson breathed a sigh of relief when he took the checkered flag in third place. His brother earned the $7,000 victory and Jackson finished a close second, leaving Chad’s final championship margin at 70 points over his brother and 85 points over Jackson.

“I just gotta thank everybody that helps me out, everybody that puts us here every week and allows us to do this,” said Simpson, who will receive $20,000 for the title. “It’s a lot of work, it costs a lot of money, and I’m just fortunate to be here.”

Simpson earned his third consecutive and fifth overall MLRA championship (he also took the title in 2014 and ’18), becoming just the second driver to win three straight MLRA crowns alongside Alan Vaughn of Belton, Mo. (2002-04). His impressive list of regional championships also includes six with the Cornbelt Clash (consecutively from 2010-15), two with the World Dirt Racing League (2008-09) and one with the USRA Late Model Series (2007).

The Hawkeye State veteran doesn’t take his long-running regional success for granted.

“We switched to this Longhorn car and that really helped these last two years for sure,” Simpson said of his self-owned team. “But they’re definitely getting harder and harder to get every year. They’re tough, and the competition’s just that much tougher. Qualifying tonight, we’re all within a tenth or a half of a tenth … just great race cars and great drivers, and everybody’s just right there on top of it.” — Series and staff reports

Showing out in Missouri

The Show-Me State is treating Ryan Gustin very well this month.

A soon-to-be 34-year-old standout from Marshalltown, Iowa, Gustin has made himself at home in Missouri over the past two weeks while racing with the Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Association. He won two of three events during the Oct 3-5 Fall Nationals at Wheatland’s Lucas Oil Speedway and added another victory Thursday night in the 30-lap K.C. Cup at Odessa’s I-70 Speedway.

The month-long break in the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series schedule has given Gustin a chance to run his Todd Cooney-fielded equipment in regional action closer to home and he’s clearly taking full advantage. Even unfamiliar tracks aren’t an obstacle as he proved at I-70 with a dominant flag-to-flag march to a $7,000 midweek triumph.

“This place is fun,” Gustin said of the 3/8-mile oval. “I’ve never been here before. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it widened out there toward the end of that race, and I felt like after the race there, I peeled to the bottom (to test the inside lane) and it had traction down there too.”

Piloting his Infinity by Wells Motorsports Chassis that he called “awesome,” Gustin largely stayed glued to the top side of the track on his way to victory. He just had to keep hitting his marks and master four restarts to beat Chad Simpson of Mount Vernon, Iowa, by 2.777 seconds.

“The biggest thing is just not getting over that ledge and letting them get under you and get a run,” Gustin said. “You’re definitely on the edge of your seat anytime you see a yellow flag — you know you gotta nail your restart not to get slid, especially when the top’s that wide getting in like that.”

Gustin victory continued his best season ever in the Dirt Late Model division, pushing his overall 2024 win total to 14. Eight of his triumphs have come since the beginning of August and he’s positioned for a fourth-place finish in the WoO points heading to Nov. 6-9’s season-ending World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C.

Simpson, meanwhile, moved closer to clinching his third straight and fifth career MLRA championship. His runner-up finish sends him into Friday’s season finale at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill., with a 95-point edge over Thursday’s third-place finisher Tony Jackson Jr. of Lebanon, Mo., who won MLRA titles in 2013 and ’21, and a 100-point gap over his younger brother Chris Simpson of Oxford, Iowa, who finished fifth at I-70.

If none of the top three drivers in the MLRA standings earn 10 bonus points for a group fast time at Tri-City, Chad Simpson can assure himself of the series crown by finishing at least 16th. — Series and staff reports