Terry Phillips on the winning lane Thursday night at Humboldt Speedway. (USMTS photo)
HUMBOLDT, Kan. – Despite a storied career that has lasted longer than most of his rivals are alive, to say Thursday was monumental on many levels for Terry Phillips would be a monumental understatement.
Against a gnashing pack of 62 formidable challengers, the second-generation racer from Springfield, Missouri, stood alone at the top after dominating opening night at RacinDirt USMTS King of America XII presented by Shock Hitch.
In his more than 40 starts here at Humboldt Speedway, this was his third feature win and second in a King of America prelim game.
The $12,000 Main Event, taking place on Saturday, remains the only crown jewel event missing from the Hall of Famers’ trophy case.
The 56-year-old veteran was the winner of the Sybesma Graphics Pole Award and capitalized on that advantage in a wire-to-wire win in Thursday night’s 35-round round at The Hummer. He led every round to bag $3,000 and his 39th career USMTS triumph.
Phillips’ first 38 were behind the wheel of a GRT, but this was his first for his new body shop, Bloodline Race Cars.
“Man, it was a lot of hard work. I’ve got Cole here, my captain, who’s helping build these cars with us here tonight, my daughter, Tommy Boy, my new crew chief here,” Phillips said. “I’m a little emotional tonight because I retired from Late Model Racing today. Sold out. So now it’s all about the Modifieds. Maybe we’ll be hard on them or something.
“I’m a bit of a perfectionist, but in the end I think it pays off – that’s what my dad (Hall-of-Famer Larry Phillips) taught me, so it’s just a great night to feel so good and pretty cheers on them… He made me weld frames together in high school so it started a long time ago. I’m proud of the Bloodline crew tonight and there’s more to come.”
However, the race was anything but a breakaway. As is usual with a 29-starter USMTS Main Event on a tight quarter-mile bullring, lapped traffic midway through the feature kept the rest of the top five in sight of the leader.
The two constants have been four-time USMTS National Champion Jason Hughes—the most successful rider at Humboldt with 13 career wins, including King of America V in 2015—and Dan Ebert, who is slowly but surely accumulating wins and experience in the USMTS campaign.
Help came for Phillips when a caution mid-race gave him clear vision and allowed him to jump ahead of his pursuers. It also brought Ryan Gustin into play as The Reaper patiently sought a way around side-by-side second- and third-place finishers Hughes and Ebert, but nothing stood in the way of Phillips as he pedaled into an emotional and more historic race victory on Thursday evening.
“Gustin, he can drive anything with four wheels, whether it’s a go-kart or a drag car. Absolute respect for him,” added Phillips. “I knew Jason was there because he hit me on the bumper every time I restarted.”
“I was just kind of pushing him,” Hughes said, laughing. “I didn’t know when he was going to start and I wasn’t going to be left there. I knew he would try to cheat us with it.”
Hughes came from sixth on the grid for second while Gustin slipped past Ebert late to take third on the podium.
The end:
Terry Phillips, Jason Hughes, Ryan Gustin, Dan Ebert, Darron Fuqua, Tyler Wolff, Jake O’Neil, Zack VanderBeek, Tanner Mullens, Johnny Scott, Rodney Sanders, Alex Williamson, Will Krup, Tyler Davis, Brandon Givens, Tom Berry Jr ., Jared Russell, Dereck Ramirez, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Austin Siebert, Dylan Thornton, Tanner Williamson, Kyle Brown, Jacob Bleess, Jeremy Nelson, Austin Bonner, Jim Chisholm, Ryan Gierke, Jake Timm.
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