By BILL FOLEY
Matt Stangle doesn’t need to come to Volusia Speedway Park to compete in the DIRTcar Nationals, but he does.
Stangle is basically in someone else’s playground when he shows up for a Super DIRTcar Series race, but that doesn’t seem to phase him.
He’s a regular runner on American Racer tires and a supporter of the Short Track Super Series. When he comes to Volusia he has his work cut out for him.
Tires are an issue and he said, “Tires are really hard and when the track has a grip I’m okay, but when it gets slippery I struggle. I run Hoosiers only three times a year here and at the SDS shows at Bridgeport and Big Diamond.”
However, he seems to have overcome those concerns explaining, “I feel we’ve been good here at the start of the night, but the changes we make aren’t working for the features. We are qualifying decent, but the feature has been a different story.”
Continuing, he explained, “I’ve been tight on entry and just not comfortable. The car is tight.”
The ‘22 Bicknell powered by a Leahy motor is a solid ride.
An interesting note, the Leahy shop is near the Canadian-USA border, nearly seven hours from his own home. He discovered him and had a big-block built and they are currently constructing a spec motor for the STSS efforts.
He looks forward to the trip south in February, saying, “It’s a vacation. We raced All-Tech last week, have four or five day vacation so we can spend it on the beach and then come here. Hey, it’s nice weather.”
This season is underway and for Stangle he certainly will be hitting the SDS shows at Big Diamond and Bridgeport, but he will run much more.
Looking ahead, he said, “Grosso has taken over New Egypt, raised the purse and redoing it so we will run there. We will run some specials at Bridgeport and the Deyo South and Elite shows.”
