Bridgeport Motorsports Park
USAC sprint star shines in full-fendered debut
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
USAC open-wheel standout Briggs Danner. (Jason Walls/wrtspeedwerx.com)
BRIDGEPORT, N.J. (June 15) — Dirt Late Model racing observers haven’t had a reason to follow Briggs Danner, much less have a reason to know the name of the Allentown, Pa., driver regarded as one of the finest young drivers in the open-wheel ranks. | RaceWire
After Sunday’s Selinsgrove Ford Appalachian Mountain Speedweek event at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, the fendered world might want to start paying attention to the 23-year-old, especially if he decides to race Late Models more often.
In his Dirt Late Model debut driving the Denny Superko-owned No. 31 Lazer Chassis regularly driven by miniseries organizer Jim Bernheisel, the young Danner came a few lengths from landing on the podium alongside Gregg Satterlee and Bryan Bernheisel.
Still, capping his night as a fourth-place finisher in a modest yet veteran-filled field is gratifying for the USAC National Sprint Car campaigner who used his ample experience at the high-speed 3/8-mile oval to his advantage.
“It’s one of those things, once you’re sitting fifth, you’re satisfied with it. Then you’re wanting more. I really wanted a podium. I think we had the car to do it,” said Danner, a former winner at Bridgeport in a northeast-style modified, winged sprint car and non-winged sprint car. “We caught a couple breaks with one or two guys pulling off. But I kept getting stuck on the bottom on the restarts every time, and that was killing me.
“I definitely learned a lot as far as where I’m at on the racetrack and how to race them, dirty air and that kind of stuff. I hope to go out and do it again. I think we can do a little better. But I’m happy with how we ended up. Happy for the guys. Happy it’s in one piece.”
There were definitely a few instances Danner thought he wouldn’t bring it home in one piece. On lap 24, he nearly spun rounding the frontstretch as he exchanged sliders with Donald Lingo Jr. and Jakob Piper. Danner got so sideways “I saw the field behind me.”
“I don’t know how I saved that one,” said Danner as he left a mighty impression on the elder Bernheisel who watched the young driver closely throughout the 40-lap feature.
“One time, he got real loose, saved it, four cars got past him, then the next corner, he passed three of them back,” Bernheisel said. “I’m like, are you kidding me? That was impressive.”
Three laps later, once he regained his bearings, Danner charged right up to the fourth-running Lingo, whose wake and dirty air shot the Late Model first-timer up the banking. Danner, who got a little too close through turn two, had to regather himself.
“It just went straight,” Danner said of the dirty air that Late Model drivers call an aero push. “I know you can’t do that, but it’s easier said than done.”
All Danner heard about from his Northeast modified friend, Max McLaughlin, was how much dirty air came into Dirt Late Model racing. Of all the multidivision racers who have moonlighted in Late Models over the years — Tyler Courtney, McLaughlin, Kyle Larson and Logan Seavey are some to name — Danner knows McLaughlin best.
“I figured he’d be the best to reach out to,” Danner said. “He kinda just left me hanging though. He said, ‘You’re going to have to figure it out.’ I remember talking to him, he was the one who originally told me dirty air is huge in these things.”
But with each misstep, Danner thought he corrected himself without losing confidence or second-guessing himself throughout the feature. For the most part, it felt natural.
“I really did. I felt pretty good,” Danner said. “I felt every time I made a mistake and then got clean air, I could reel them back in. It was just a matter of being able to do anything with it.”
Danner, who’s proven his versatility in just about everything he’s driven, cut his teeth racing modifieds in his family-owned car at Bridgeport. He’s amazed at how technologically advanced Late Model racing is compared to anything else he’s been around.
“The modified stuff is kind of this direction, but it’s crazy, everything that goes on with these cars,” Danner said. “I feel like they’re so far ahead of everybody else in racing really. Just progression of technology and keeping up to date with all the shock stuff, everything has evolved.
“Everything I feel like is over-engineered on these things compared to anything else. No, they are neat. You have to drive them really hard.”
A good comparison for Danner, when drawing parallels to drivers in the Late Model world, would be 20-year-old Drake Troutman.
Both come from some kind of modified background. Both are from Pennsylvania. Both are still trying to harness their throttle-mashing raw talent. And both have relatively large followings for their young ages.
While Danner has great success in his formative years — collecting three national quarter-midget titles and the 2021 Action Track USA SpeedSTR title — he gained notoriety when he won 14 of 60 features across northeast modified and sprint car competition.
In 2022, he signed on with Heffner Racing Enterprises, the sprint car teamed owned by Central Pennsylvania’s Mike Heffner, who fielded 410 entries for National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver Greg Hodnett until his fatal accident in September 2018.
Danner went on to capture two straight USAC East Coast sprint car titles in 2022-23 where he set the record for most feature wins (29) in series history. Last year, he not only broke through to win his first USAC National Sprint Car feature, but he was one of five drivers to win at least three series features.
His first came last June at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa., over four-time USAC champ Brady Bacon. Then he beat current Kubota High Limit Racing regular Daison Pursley at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway during Indiana Sprint Week and former USAC champ Robert Ballou at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway in October.
Danner’s fast-rising success inspired his car owners, brothers Tim and Fran Hogue, to put the burgeoning star on the road. So far, he’s seventh in USAC points. Danner is also contesting all seven USAC Silver Crown races on dirt this year. Last year, he finished on the podium at Eldora Speedway’s 4-Crown Nationals at the wheel of a Silver Crown car in Rossburg, Ohio.
“I really like the non-winged stuff,” said Danner, who wants to keep progressing through the open-wheel ranks. "We kinda jumped into the USAC national tour just because we felt like everyone was able to do it this year. It’s a do-it-while-we-can kind of thing. I’d like to run the winged car more, and we’re in the right area to do it. But it’s tough going back and forth with the same team.”
The Hogue brothers of Westampton, N.J., are friends of Bernheisel’s, which is how Danner ended up in the No. 31 Lazer machine. Bernheisel said he “wanted to do something to build up some excitement for the track,” so putting Danner, a former modified standout at the oval, in his car was a no-brainer.
“He’s incredibly talented. We came down to test with him here a few weeks ago to get him some laps. And I knew he was talented, too,” Bernheisel said. “Got to know him a little bit over the last year or so.
“So, you expect it to go good, but I know how hard this is. And we came here to test, and I was uber impressed. He obviously showed he could do it. Tonight, he goes out, and he’s fast time for a while. And ends up fifth overall.
“That dash we ran there? That’s the first laps he’s made with other cars. Then he runs solid top-five in the feature, could’ve easily been on the podium. To say that was uber impressive is an understatement.”
Danner attributes much of the eye-opening, smooth night to his home track advantage at Bridgeport. He’s also always been better on higher-banked racetracks.
“I’m just comfortable with the shape of the track, knowing where you’re at the track on the track, knowing how confident you can be driving the car,” Danner said. “If I was to go somewhere narrow or flatter, I wouldn’t have been as comfortable. But that’s part of it, part of anything. I felt like was the best way to get confidence built up and get experience in a new car, is go to a place I know.”
Now what’s next for Danner? He’s right back at Bridgeport on Wednesday as part of Eastern Storm, USAC National Sprint Car’s version of Pennsylvania Speedweek with six straight nights of action June 17-22 at Grandview, Bridgeport, Big Diamond Speedway in Pottsville, Pa., Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa., Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway and Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa.
But surely, Sunday can't be Danner’s one and only race in a Late Model, can it?
“As of right now, it is. We’ll see what happens,” Danner said. “It’s a lot of work that goes into it. Maybe having a good run will help future endeavors. But we’ll see.”
Danner did say he’d go home and look through schedules around the Northeast to see if any other Late Model events intrigue him. He did circle one on his calendar: Sept. 7’s Fall Clash event at the quarter-mile Action Track USA.
“Nobody knows what that’s going to be like as far as racing. But we’ll see. We’ll see what comes up and what doesn’t come up,” Danner said. “Hopefully we’ll get to do it again.”
The 67-year-old Bernheisel who’s slowly winding down his racing career to grow more involved as a promoter emphasized that “I’d love to find more opportunities to get him in the Late Model.”
Bernheisel sees great potential in Danner wherever he devotes his racing talents. And with Bernheisel, Late Models have a place for his rising star to shine.
“He definitely has a following. We’d love to keep him going,” Bernheisel said. “We’re going to look at opportunities. My wheels are already turning, especially when you consider I’m at the end of my career, my age, my plan. We’ll see where it goes from here.”
Billy Pauch Jr., the son of legendary Billy Pauch and an accomplished northeast modified racer himself, is slated to race the Superko-owned No. 31 at Sept. 6’s Fall Clash event at Bridgeport. But perhaps a third Lazer Chassis and/or Bernheisel-fielded entry will be brought out that night.
Another option would be that Superko, with the blessing of Bernheisel as he soaks in his 50th year of racing aboard his throwback wrap commemorating his 1987 season, wants to entice Danner to race his Late Model more often.
“We’ll see what he wants to do,” Bernheisel said of his car owner. “I’m sure he’s feeling more comfortable about it after tonight.”
