Wheatland, Missouri (February 25th, 2022) – The 2022 Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie class continues to strengthen as the Midwest Late Model Racing Association (MLRA) quickly closes in on the start of the upcoming season. Steve Stultz is the newest driver to add his name to the list, joining already committed drivers Trevor Gundaker, Daniel Hilsabeck, and Dylan Hoover.
Stultz will become the latest in a string of talented western state drivers who have followed the Lucas Oil MLRA series over the past few seasons. A group that has included the likes of 2021 series regulars Garrett Alberson, Jason Papich, and Tony Toste along with former series winners R.C. Whitwell and Jeremy Payne.
The 56 year old Stultz, an avid motocross racer into his early 40’s, decided to make the transition from two wheels to four a number of years back. Starting out in the modified ranks, he made his most recent move into super late models just over seven years ago and will look to compete in his first full touring series with the MLRA in 2022.
Taking full advantage of near year round racing in the Arizona desert, the Peoria, Arizona driver has already logged ten starts in 2022, including 3 top five finishes and a pair of back-to-back runner-ups at Cocopah Speedway. The driver of the 78s made a pair of MLRA starts one year ago at the Salina Highbanks Speedway in Pryor Creek, Oklahoma bringing home finishes of 10th and 6th respectively.
After spending a large part of the past couple of summer racing seasons competing at tracks primarily in the southern Missouri area, he says he is looking forward to trying something new in 2022. “I’m originally from Waterloo, Iowa so we wanted to get back to that area and do some racing for a change. The MLRA series is a great fit and opportunity for us to be able to do that with the way their schedule lays out.”
The owner operator of Dirt Pro Inc., a dirt excavating and hauling business, Stultz is still finalizing plans for a Midwestern home base for his upcoming campaign with the MLRA. Initial plans will find him flying between his Arizona home and Midwestern events this season with hopes of securing shop space in a pair of locations between the Kansas City and Waterloo areas to service his racing operation. “We are fully committed to running this deal (MLRA), but we’re still trying to get a shop and our crew lined up,” noted Stultz.
Stultz will be making his first career starts at the majority of the tracks on the MLRA schedule and says that he expects the experiences and competition to be much different than what he encounters at his local tracks, the likes of Canyon Speedway Park and Arizona Speedway.
“The racing in this area is a lot different than in the Midwest. The tracks out here are almost always dry slick and a little grainy. We have a number of drivers out here that are very competitive and can win a race on a given night, and I would say at most of our shows we can see up to 25 cars that potentially could show up for an event. In the Midwest that number seems to be more like 60 or more at the bigger shows, and with that there are typically 20 to 30 of them that can win.”
Stultz will begin the season with a new XR-1 Rocket along with a Black Diamond chassis at his disposal. The Lucas Oil MLRA is just over a month away from their opening weekend, when teams will converge on the 81 Speedway in Park City, KS April 8th & 9th. The following weekend will find action moving to the ¼ mile Davenport Speedway on Thursday night April 14th, before wrapping the trifecta weekend up with two big nights at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA which will include the 14th Annual Slocum 50.
“We want to do well in the rookie battle for sure, but for us we really just want to be competitive with the MLRA. It’s a tough group of drivers that follow the series and it will be a challenge racing at all of the new tracks. We are excited for it and looking forward to getting the season started,” he concluded.