McDOUGAL GETS USAC MIDGET DRIVE WITH DALBY FOR FLORIDA

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Speedway, Indiana (January 27, 2021)………Jason McDougal has been named the driver of the Robert Dalby Motorsports No. 4 when the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets begin their 2021 season with Winter Dirt Games XII at Ocala, Florida’s Bubba Raceway Park on Feb. 5-6.

McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) is a two-time winner with the series in 2019 at Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway and Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway and, as recently as last year, he divided his time between competing in USAC National Midget competition and serving as the crew chief for Kevin Thomas Jr. on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car trail.

Dalby (Anaheim, Calif.) made 18 starts himself as a driver with the series in 2020 and is the 2019 USAC Western States Midget champion but will now be in the role of team owner and crew chief for McDougal at Ocala.

It’s a unique opportunity and dynamic for both McDougal and Dalby, two young guns who share a common thread as being involved on both ends of the driver/crew chief relationship in the sport, turning the wrenches for another driver and also competing behind the wheel themselves very recently.

“I think it’s going to work out pretty well,” McDougal anticipates.  “We’ve seen it from both aspects on both sides of the wall.  I’ve never really been around him that much, but we hung out for a little bit last night and got to know each a little more, and I think we have a pretty good chemistry so far.  I think it’ll be a pretty easy weekend.  We’re going to go out and have some fun, do some racing and be good.”

Dalby sees it similarly from his vantage point behind the pit wall and plans on also having McDougal behind the wheel of his No. 4 when the series travels to Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway for two nights of the T-Town Midget Showdown on April 9-10.

“It’s super exciting,” Dalby exclaimed.  “He’s a hell of a racecar driver and smart behind the wheel.  He knows what’s right and wrong and he knows it from both sides.  From what I’ve seen so far, he’s calm as am I down to the core.  It’s easy to work with somebody that, when things go wrong, they can work through it and try to make it better.  He’s a calm, chill guy and really good behind the wheel of a racecar.”

A recent California transplant who now makes his home in central Indiana, Dalby also revealed that he plans take a step back from the driving side and embrace the role of crew chief and team owner in 2021.  He estimated he will drive his own car in around 10 USAC events this year, at some of his favorite venues, among them are Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway and California’s Merced Speedway.

However, Dalby revealed his long-term plan coming to fruition after turning the wrenches for driver Cannon McIntosh during last December’s open midget event at North Carolina’s Millbridge Speedway, saying “It’s what I want to do right now.”

“It takes 100 percent to work on them and it takes 100 percent to drive them,” Dalby explained.  “It was only me, so it was hard to do.  So, I kind of stepped back and thought about it, and asked myself, ‘Do I enjoy driving them more or do I enjoy working on them more?’  I really enjoy it from the team owner aspect, working in the shop, working with sponsors and that kind of stuff, rather than trying to drive them and work on them at the same time.”

Dalby will field a car at every USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget event in 2021, although it will present a change of pace with Dalby not on the driver’s seat and starting off with McDougal in the first four events of the season.

“We’re going to work with Jason down in Florida and see how that goes, then go from there to Port City and down the road,” Dalby said.  “Whichever races I don’t really have a driver for, if I don’t end up finding a driver, I’ll run it myself.  If I can get the right driver in the car, then I’ll end up just working on it and crew chiefing it.”

McDougal and Dalby will get their USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season underway in the series openers on Feb. 5-6 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla.  A dedicated practice night will precede the festivities on Feb. 4.