Terry Easum couldn’t have imagined a better start to his first full season on the American Sprint Car Series National Tour.
After missing out on the top 10 in the season opener at Super Bee Speedway by one spot, Easum made the one-hour drive from his Broken Arrow, OK home to Red Dirt Raceway and ended the night standing atop the podium, collecting his first Series victory.
Just two races into the season and 12 races into his National Tour career, Easum looked to be a favorite for the Rookie of the Year Award and a possible championship contender.
Then things started to go sideways.
As if taking on a national Sprint Car tour for the first time wasn’t hard enough, Easum has been battling mechanical gremlins for months. Fuel delivery issues have significantly reduced the horsepower output of his engines, resulting in a trying summer stretch.
Three weeks after the Red Dirt win, the third race of the year at Rush County Speedway kicked off a trend of 12-straight finishes outside the top 10, causing the No. 88 team to fall from third in the Series standings after Red Dirt to the back of the top 10.
“We’ve got to get our engines figured out on the fuel,” Easum said. “We got it figured out one night and then we missed it again the next night. So, I don’t know what’s going on there. We’ve been on the phone with the motor builder trying to figure that out. We’ll get it back. We know we can do it; we’ve just got to get everything right.”
With Easum visiting many tracks on the circuit for the first time in 2024, some growing pains were to be expected. Case in point: the recent Montana stretch at Big Sky Speedway and Electric City Speedway that took him to two new facilities more than 1,200 miles from home.
“You’ve just got to watch the racetrack,” Easum said regarding the process of racing in a new region for the first time. “It’s a learning curve for us, for sure. We’ve never been to any of this stuff up here in this part of the country. The dirt’s a lot different, the air’s a lot different, how you fuel the motors and all that. It’s a big learning curve, but you’ve just got to learn and we’ll be better next time we come back.”
However, the tracks with the most unknowns have been the places Easum has begun to turn the corner in performance. He won his Heat Race on Saturday at Big Sky, qualifying for his third Dash appearance of the year, but ultimately faded to 13th in the Feature. Seven days later, he won another Heat Race at Electric City, drew the pole position for the Dash, and held onto seventh in the main event for his best finish since that magical night at Red Dirt.
“It was a pretty fun place,” Easum said when describing his debut at the Great Falls facility. “Real racey, they did a great job on the track for sure.”
If the new tracks, distance from home and altitude weren’t enough, a lack of crew help provided just one more obstacle for Easum to overcome in achieving those strong showings in Big Sky country.
“It’s definitely different,” Easum said. “We’ve been trying to set up to do this, so it ain’t been too bad. We’ve got everything we need to do it, just not an extra crew guy on this trip. So, it’s just been me and Kacee [Frazier]. It’s been a lot of work. We’ve been learning, having fun, and we’ll get better.”
With Montana in the history books, Easum will return to familiar territory beginning at Clay County Fair Speedway, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, and Arrowhead Speedway on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13-14. He will be making his second National Tour start at both tracks following finishes of 16th at Clay County in 2022 and 15th at Arrowhead three months ago.
Easum’s goal for the next three nights is simple – continue the upward trajectory he has been on recently and rediscover the speed he displayed to open the season.
“We definitely need to get in the top 10 more,” Easum said. “We need to be in the top 10 most nights really, to be satisfied. I know we’re capable of doing it, we just need to be able to do it and put a good night together.”
Easum will resume his rookie season on the National Tour on Tuesday, Sep. 10 with the Battle of the Blue Ribbon at Clay County Fair Speedway. Tickets are available online here, while those unable to make it to the track can catch all the action live on DIRTVision.
