WHEATLAND, MO. (Dec. 18, 2023) – Making Ryan Middaugh’s championship in Lucas Oil Speedway’s USRA Modified division even more remarkable was how the Fulton driver overcame adversity just before the season opener.
Returning from what already was a bad mid-March night of racing at Tulsa Speedway, Middaugh and his team were about an hour from home when a huge wind gust sent their truck and trailer off Highway 54 going through the Lake of the Ozarks area.
“I was driving and just held the steering wheel straight and got everything stopped and shut down,” Middaugh recalled. “We jumped a pretty sizable ditch and took some air time.”
Middaugh and five others riding escaped injury. The trailer did not. It was totaled and the race car, already with damage after an 11th-place feature finish, and everything inside the trailer was beat up.
“It was a mess getting everything out of our trailer onto the side of the road,” Middaugh said. “My buddy brought down a flat-bed and we got the car out of the trailer and other stuff loaded.”
By the afternoon, the car and equipment had been hauled back to the shop in Fulton. Somehow, Middaugh had things ready to go in just seven days and made the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series opener at Lucas Oil Speedway and posted a second-place feature finish.
“Somehow we rebounded and our on-track results never wavered,” Middaugh said recently, reflecting on the bounce back.
With five feature wins and 14 top-five five finishes, he won his first Lucas Oil Speedway track championship by 193 points over runner-up Jason Pursley. Overall, he won 18 features in 2024 and added a fourth championship at his hometown Callaway Raceway.
He also wound up third in USRA Modified national points.
“Good people,” Middaugh said of the key to the season – and the rally from the highway accident. “Without other people helping out it never would have happened.”
Middaugh gave shout-outs to Jordan Martin, his cousin and a B-Mod racer, along with former B-Mod competitor Jason Watson for loaning his trailers to get him through a one-month period before he located a trailer. Just before his April 22 victory at Wheatland, he made a trip to West Virginia for a replacement truck.
Points racing can be a thankless grind. Missing just one week or having a DNF can be devastating. Middaugh declared prior to the season that he was going to chase goals of winning the championships and followed through at both Wheatland and Fulton.
“Between those two tracks we ran about 40 races. It was a pretty grueling schedule just to do that,” he said. “Friday and Saturday, April through end of August or so … there’s a lot of hot days through the summer where you want to do other things. It takes its toll. I have a two-year-old at home and want to spend time with her.
“But when you have the results like we had, it definitely makes it worth it,” he added, noting that he and the team enjoyed feature wins on the nights they happen. “But the next day rolls around and there’s always a next race.”
Middaugh, 31, has his MB Customs car on the market and is shopping for a new ride for 2024. He said the title-winning car is still in good shape, “but I’m trying to rotate my stock a little bit. Every three or four years, I try to get a new car. Everything changes so much, so fast, I feel that’s what it takes to keep up with these guys.”
The 2024 season likely will see Middaugh running a similar schedule, with the new Heartland Modified Tour another intriguing option. The HMT has been added to the May 11th program at Lucas Oil Speedway, paying $2,000 to win.
“I’m not gonna commit to doing anything (points-wise), but the hope is to run as good as we did this year,” Middaugh said.
Season pass renewals, gift cards available: Lucas Oil Speedway recently unveiled its tentative 2024 schedule with Open Test & Tune set to kick things off on March 30. The speedway has gift cards available for purchase as a Christmas-gift option and also has season pass renewals for the 2024 season available at a discount through the end of the year.
Season passes for the 2024 season are available now at a $50 discount for renewals from 2023. Contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
Season Pass Renewals before Dec. 29th, 2023:
Adults (Age 16-61) $700 (dirt-track only)
Seniors (Age 62 and up) $600 (dirt-track only)
Season Passes beginning Jan. 15th, 2024:
Adults (Age 16-61) $750 (dirt-track only)
Senior (Age 62 and up) $650 (dirt track only)
Each season pass holder is entitled to one reserved stadium-style seat, complete with high backs and armrests located in the top six rows of the main grandstand of the dirt track.
Meanwhile, Lucas Oil Speedway gift cards are available in any dollar amount. Gift cards can be used in all departments including in the ticket office, pit office, camp shack, concessions, gift shop, suites and the Diamond Bar.
Lorton added that the gift shop is remaining open year-round, during week-day business hours, for those interested in stopping by the track and shopping for items.
For ticket information about any future event at Lucas Oil Speedway contact admissions director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
CONTACT:
Danny Lorton
Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager
Office: (417) 282-5984