Daison Pursley, 2024 USAC ProSource Passing Master champion. (Josh James Artwork Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (December 5, 2024)………For the second consecutive season, no driver passed more cars throughout the USAC national season than Daison Pursley en route to the 2024 USAC ProSource Passing Master title.
Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) advanced a total of 209 positions in 72 feature starts across USAC’s Silver Crown, AMSOIL National Sprint Car and NOS Energy Drink National Midget divisions throughout the 2024 campaign, which earned him a $2,500 reward. He will be honored during the Friday night, December 13, 2024, USAC Night of Champions at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis.
He becomes the second back-to-back winner of the season-long Passing Master award which rewards the USAC nationally licensed driver who advanced the most positions during feature events throughout the entirety of USAC’s 2024 national season between Silver Crown, Sprint Cars and Midgets. Justin Grant also won the award consecutively in 2021 and 2022.
Early on in the season, both of Pursley’s USAC car owners, Chad Boat (Midget) and Michael Burkhart (Sprint & Silver Crown), made a prediction that Pursley wouldn’t repeat the award in 2024. Not because they doubted him, but because Pursley was expected to be a front runner in qualifying, which would set him up with a quality starting spot come feature time. Instead, Pursley was able to accomplish both.
“At the beginning of the year, both Chad and Michael told me, ‘you aren’t going to win passing master this year.’” Pursley recalled. “We want to qualify well and start up front, but I was like, ‘if I qualify that good, I’d still start in the third row and would still have a chance at passing a lot of cars.’”
That he did, passing 10 more cars than he did a year ago during his first passing master crown in addition to capturing the 2024 USAC National Midget driving championship.
“Usually, if you win passing master, it means you started pretty far back, which also means you didn’t qualify well,” Pursley explained. “But I thought I did a good job this year at upping my qualifying game. I felt that had been one of my weakest points. There’s times we started 15th or 18th or 20th on back, but we were still able to finish inside the top-three. That allowed us to have a big jump in the passing master points, and that’s what helps make those championship runs when you can start that far back and still get a good result.”
Unquestionably, Pursley’s standout passing performance of the 2024 USAC season came during May’s Larry Rice Classic for sprint cars at Indiana’s Bloomington Speedway where he started 23rd on the grid before passing 21 cars, cutting right through the middle of the 1/4-mile of red clay to finish second. The performance set an all-time USAC National Sprint Car record for the biggest advancement by a driver from start to finish in the series’ 68-year history.
“Bloomington’s small and sprint cars are tight at that place to begin with,” Pursley noted. “There were a couple of people who made jokes to me, like ‘how do you go from 23rd to 2nd and not win the race if the car was that good?’ That’s exactly how I felt too. Everything went perfect, but when we got to second, it was like, ‘what the heck? Why can’t I get to the lead?’ Nonetheless, it was a special night. It felt like they were sitting still and my car was just hitting on all cylinders.”
Pursley was one of three drivers to win in all three of USAC’s national divisions in 2024, racking up a total of 10 wins across the board in Midgets (7), Sprints (2) and Silver Crown (1). Furthermore, he routinely made up ground by advancing forward from his original starting spot in 42 of the 72 features he started during the year.
“I find a lot of enjoyment in passing cars and creating different lines and developing stuff,” Pursley explained. “It’s something I felt like I’ve worked on a lot in my career, maneuvering past cars whether that’s in lapped traffic or whether I have to start in the back on a restart or anything like that. I felt like I’ve done a pretty dang good job and studied to get better in some areas. It’s something I enjoy, and I can make up a lot of time on restarts and by passing those cars in the slowest parts of the racetrack, and that’s what I was able to accomplish this year.”
Since 2020, longtime USAC supporter Buck Rice has offered the ProSource Passing Master reward with past winners including Chris Windom (2020), Justin Grant (2021 & 2022) and now Pursley (2023 & 2024). Pursley is deeply proud to wear that badge of honor once again and is grateful for the man who posts the reward year after year.
“Buck spends his hard earned money for us to do what we do,” Pursley praised. “Buck likes a lot of passing just as we do and it’s super special for him to allow us to chase our dreams and give us a little extra money to get up and down the road. If it wasn’t for people like him, drivers wouldn’t be able to do what we do. I’m forever thankful for people like Buck, and hopefully, I can continue to pass a lot of cars and maybe get some more of his money down the road.”
USAC PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER CHAMPIONS:
2020: Chris Windom, Canton, Illinois
2021: Justin Grant, Ione, California
2022: Justin Grant, Ione, California
2023: Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, Oklahoma
2024: Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, Oklahoma
2024 USAC PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER STANDINGS:
209-Daison Pursley
204-Logan Seavey
164-Justin Grant
149-Robert Ballou
134-C.J. Leary
131-Kyle Cummins
126-Chase Stockon
121-Matt Westfall
120-Brady Bacon
107-Kevin Thomas Jr.
101-Jadon Rogers
98-Joey Amantea
97-Mitchel Moles
87-Ryan Timms
85-Carson Garrett
83-Zach Daum
82-Briggs Danner
75-Shane Cottle & Cannon McIntosh
73-Jake Swanson
68-Kale Drake
65-Ricky Lewis
64-Chance Crum
61-Gavin Miller
57-Jacob Denney
48-Jerry Coons Jr. & Zach Wigal
44-Kyle Jones
42-Alex Bright & Gregg Cory
41-Trey Osborne
38-Tye Mihocko
37-Hayden Reinbold
35-Jade Avedisian
28-Tom Harris
26-Hunter Maddox & Curtis Spicer
23-Carmen Perigo
22-Matt Goodnight, Danny Jennings & Brandon Mattox
21-Kaylee Bryson & Kyle Steffens
20-Max Adams & Nathan Moore
19-Kayla Roell
17-Chris Fetter & Russ Gamester
16-Todd Hobson & Bobby Santos
14-Nathan Byrd
13-Dave Berkheimer & Kendall Ruble
12-Mario Clouser & Ethan Mitchell
11-Jake Andreotti, Aric Gentry, Broedy Graham, Rylan Gray, Kip Hughes & Mark Smith
10-Jackson Macenko, Kody Swanson & Joe Trenca
9-Mark Bitner, Trey Burke, Taylor Ferns & Wesley Smith
8-Don Droud Jr., Kyle Robbins & Korey Weyant
7-Davey Hamilton Jr.
6-Dakoda Armstrong, Gunnar Setser & Chris Urish
5-Xavier Doney & Adam Taylor
4-Danny Long
3-Brent Beauchamp, Saban Bibent, Blake Brannon, Shane Cockrum, Chase Dietz & Mike Haggenbottom
2-Bryan Gossel, Thomas Meseraull & Brian Ruhlman
1-Tanner Berryhill, Chase Howard, Kenney Johnson, Jimmy Light, Kevin Newton, Travis Welpott & Daniel Whitley
