The Left Turn
By: Ron Burt
The 41st Tulsa Shootout started the new year of racing nationally and featured top drivers across the U. S. and other countries racing Micro non-winged and winged cars. Six different classes of cars compete. The goal is to win and take home one of the coveted Golden Driller Trophies and the first place money. The week-long event takes place at the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma with drivers of all ages. It’s a warm-up for many drivers who stay in Tulsa and compete in the Chili Bowl Nationals this week for the Midgets.
Daison Pursley has accomplished a lot in his career. He’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Champion, 4-Crown Nationals Champion, and a winner in High Limit Series, the one trophy that has eluded him is the Golden Driller, but that changed last Saturday night with a win in the Outlaw A-Feature at the 41st annual Tulsa Shootout. Pursley was able to lead all 30 laps, it wasn’t easy and he had a big challenge. The 2024 Outlaw winner, Kyle Larson clawed his way into contention from the sixth starting spot. Getting the run on Pursley on Lap 26, the pair made slight contact battling through the third and fourth turns Recovering and giving chase, the next set of turns saw Larson shoot sideways and save it, but not before dropping to fourth. Allowing Jeffrey Newell and Steven Snyder Jr. to run past, the pair were in a dogfight with Snyder slipping by on Lap 28. Having moved up from 12th, time was running out on Pursley and his slim lead. At the checkered flag he only had a 0.755-second lead. Over the week of elimination races 292 drivers.
A few other tidbits from the shootout. A bit of drama took place. After the finish of A-Class feature event, Frank Flud was declared the winner after post-race tech revealed the engine and parts in the transmission to be illegal in the No. 4 driven by Jett Yantis. Issues discovered in post-race tech included: Illegal head work, with bowl porting over a quarter inch past the valve seats. Epoxy on cylinder head imperfections inside the intake port. Ceramic bearings in the transmission. This was the second time in event history that a Golden Driller trophy has been stripped from the on-track winner due to a rule’s infraction, the win is Flud’s first in A-Class and puts his Golden Driller count to six in Tulsa Shootout competition. California’s Braxon Vasconcellos came away with his first career Golden Driller in Restricted competition. The same race NASCAR current Champion, Kyle Larson, watched his son Owen place 4th. Jonathan Beason from nearby Broken Arrow Oklahoma won his 3rd Golden Driller in the non-wing class. He controlled all 55 laps of his feature.
USAC announced Kody Swanson won’t compete in the USAC Silver Crown Series this summer. Kody tops the all-time win list and has been hired by USAC to serve in a new role as USAC Silver Crown series director during the 2026 season. He will race this summer just not in the Silver Crown Series.
Locally Attica Raceway Park will open their 2026 season Friday, March 16th with a full show featuring Winged 410 Sprints, 305 Winged Sprints and the UMP Dirt Late Models. Friday, May 1st, the World of Outlaws make their first appearance of 2026 at Attica and they return Tuesday July 14th, competing for $20,000.00 to win the Brad Doty Classic and a tune-up before the Kings Royal at Eldora. Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron Out!
