CONCORD, NC (April 19, 2024) – First wins are memorable. Especially when they make a statement like the one Ashton Torgerson’s did.
In only his ninth career start, the 17-year-old from Glendale, AZ, scored his first career Feature win with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota last Saturday at Farmer City Raceway. A performance that displayed the progress he’s made only one month into his rookie season on the national Midget scene, Torgerson led all but one lap and held off Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammates Cannon McIntosh and Ryan Timms to capture the checkered flag.
But that win did much more than just add another trophy to his collection – it established him as a serious contender in the national Midget ranks, and more prominently, took a big step in changing the way he’s viewed in the motorsports world.
In January 2023, Torgerson was competing in his first Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, OK. A 16-year-old newcomer to Midget racing at the time, he was involved in a rollover incident that ejected him from his car during a race event which sent him to the hospital to be treated for injuries. While he made a full recovery in the following weeks, the incident became increasingly more attached to his name over the next several months.
“It’s an incident that I don’t think anyone wants to ever witness and something I don’t want to go through again,” Torgerson said. “Everyone thinks they know what happened and everything, but I’ve just gotta keep my head [on straight], keep moving forward. That’s in the past.
“Racing is just racing for me, so I’m just going to keep chasing those wins and see what I can do.”
Now, he’s a two-time national Midget Feature winner. Less than 10 starts into his new partnership with KKM – the defending Xtreme Outlaw Series championship team from Columbus, IN – Torgerson has the win with Xtreme and one with the POWRi National Midget League, taking the checkers during the tour’s season-opening weekend in March.
All of this he’s done while the negative comments and speculation about the cause of his accident continue to fly around the internet. But Torgerson knows – the more times he goes to Victory Lane, the quieter those voices get.
“It really doesn’t bother me with the hate or the vulgar comments,” he said. “If it makes them feel good to talk about a 17-year-old – if that’s what they want to do, they can do it. It’s not gonna bother be or stop me from racing or anything. It just adds fuel to the fire.”
Standing behind him are some of the best mechanical talents on one of the most decorated teams in open-wheel dirt track racing history. KKM has built a modern-day dynasty of winning national Midget championships, taking some of the country’s most undiscovered racing talents and giving them a platform to develop and showcase their skills.
Torgerson is one of the next up-and-comers in the open-wheel world. He garnered the biggest win of his career in December at the Tulsa Shootout, winning the ‘A’ Class division Feature as part of the famed Micro Sprint event, and proved he was ready to jump up the ladder into Midgets where he now receives coaching from the best KKM has to offer.
“KKM, Keith and Beau [Binder, crew chief] – they’re just such a great team to work with and I’m beyond glad I’m with them,” Torgerson said. “The experience that I’m getting with them helps me out so much.”
With multiple Micro Sprint championships to his name but less than 15 Midget races in his career, Torgerson has leaned on his leaders for ways to improve and adapted quickly to his new motorsports discipline.
“Working with Beau, I’m able to learn how much more I can drive the car or where to set the car at,” Torgerson said. “I’ll say it’s different from a Micro, so the feeling of the car is kind of what I’ve been learning the most.”
Despite his rapid success, Torgerson’s road hasn’t been easy. He missed the first Feature of the season in March, falling short of a transfer spot in a Last Chance Showdown event. But in the five races since then, he’s ascended all the way from 29th in the points standings up to fourth, where he now sits 133 points behind the leader.
“I look back at that quite a bit and realized that if I could have done better that race, it could be different for the points standings,” Torgerson said. “Each time I get on the track, I learn more and more. After driving the first time, I knew I definitely had to step-up my game.”
The season is still early, but Torgerson is ready to step-up his game more than ever in pursuit of his first national Midget series championship.
His season continues with the next Xtreme Outlaw Series events – Friday, May 10 at Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, KS, and Saturday, May 11 at 81 Speedway in Wichita, KS.
Tickets for both events will be on sale at the track on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team head into Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway with confidence in their superspeedway program and encouraged by a strong mid-race surge at Texas last Sunday.
Ross Chastain No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Apr. 24, 2022
Chase Elliott No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Oct. 2, 2022
Kyle Busch No. 8 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletApr. 23, 2023
AJ AllmendingerNo. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Oct. 1, 2022
Jeb BurtonNo. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing ChevroletApr. 22, 2023
Manufacturer Points Standings
Manufacturer Points Standings
Manufacturer Points Standings


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During downtime on the drag strip, fans enjoyed photo opportunities with the World’s Largest BIGFOOT Monster Truck, which also cruised the Top of the Rock and joined in on the BMX Freestyle Stunt Show action, where riders did tricks out of the bed and off the tires of the towering Ford pickup. While the excitement atop The Rock kept fans engaged and entertained throughout the day, the heads-up, index, and street-car racing classes on the drag strip are the foundation of NMRA’s program. From storied categories like VP Racing Lubricants Renegade to the fresh Whatever It Takes Transmission Parts Street Bandit 10.10, there were plenty of fast Fords on the property vying for victory and coveted trips to the NMRA Winner’s Circle. “This was our biggest Rockingham event to date, and it even exceeded the levels that we attained during the All-Star Nationals longstanding run at the now-closed Atlanta Dragway,” Rollie Miller, NMCA General Manager and National Event Director, added. “Our racers put on a great show this weekend, and the momentum of both series is strong headed into our Race for the Rings event in St. Louis.”
It is Josh Hutnick riding that wave into the next event, having qualified in the second slot in the combined NMRA VP Racing Lubricants Renegade/NMCA Edelbrock Xtreme Street class with a 4.55 at 162 mph. After qualifying, Hutnick powered through eliminations and was set to square off with number-three qualifier Joel Greathouse. Unfortunately for the defending champ, Greathouse, experienced breakage in the semifinals and handed the easy win to Hutnick in the finals. In the high-flying Vengeance Clutch Coyote Stock category, Shane Stymiest posted a 9.64 at 137 rip to take the pole in qualifying over the 13 other competitors in the class. Stymiest had a strong run until he clashed with eventual runner-up Chad Stephens. In the final, Stephens and his Dirty Bird faced Charlie Booze Jr. Stephens left first but Booze drove around him for the win with a 9.68 to Stephens’s 9.78. Class regulars Mike Bowen and Damien Stephens squared off in the Richmond Gear Factory Stock competition at The Rock. Bowen took the top qualified spot with a 10.20 at 119.40 pass. Bowen carried that advantage through to eliminations, where he got the jump at the light and powered to a win with a 10.02 at 131.85 blast over Stephens’ 10.41 at 128.83 mph hit. 

It was Mark Schiffner who powered to the first qualified position in CJ Pony Parts Ford Muscle on the merit of a 10.26 pass on a 10.25 index. However, as the field narrowed in eliminations, two familiar faces persevered as David Mormann clicked off a 10.745-second run on a 10.75 dial-in to best Cindee Hall’s off-pace 13.58-second pass on a 12.75 dial-in. In the combined NMRA/NMCA Circle D Specialties True Street, several Fords triumphed to uphold NMRA’s honor. Shelly Schwemly earned runner-up honors thanks to a 9.789 average of three back-to-back runs. All the cars in the True Street class first completed a 30-mile cruise before those runs, and other Ford winners included Tyler Thornburg (10-second), John Harrell Jr. (11-second), Jerry Jones (12-second), Daniel Huth (13-second), and Mike Baker (15-second). It was a display of pure pony power, as NMRA celebrated the Ford Mustang’s 60th birthday with a special Mustang Day Circle D Specialties True Street class. A busy Willie Lujan piloted his 1990 Mustang LX to the overall win with an 8.825 average, besting runner-up Willy Blanco’s 2016 Mustang, which clocked a 10.02 average. Other winners included Ray Roman (10-second), Kevin McCotter (11-second), Ray Williams Sr. (12-second), Rodney Ward (13-second), Elaine Moistner (14-second), and Ken Mason (15-second).
In Innovation Performance Technologies Jr. Street, which lets teens from 13 through 16 years old graduate from Jr. Dragsters into full-size race vehicles, Hunter Marshall topped Justin Jones to earn a trip to the Winner’s Circle. It was a busy weekend for Rodney Ward as he not only took the crown in HP Tuners Super Stang, but he survived five rounds of Fastest Street Car Bracket Open competition to race Dell Britt in the finals. There, Ward won the battle at the tree and the war at the stripe with an 8.08 on and 8.04 dial-in to take home another win. Holley NMRA Ford Nationals racers once again join forces with their friends at the Red Line Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals series for the 19th Annual NMRA/NMCA Race for the Rings & Thrill Festival on May 3-5 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, outside St. Louis.
Cadillac swept the podium in 2022 on Long Beach circuit.