OBERLIN, Kan. — Twenty years after winning dirt track racing’s ultimate championship, David Murray Jr. returns to the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s in pursuit of new glory in a new division.
The 2004 Modified champion and an 11-time qualifier for Saturday night’s Big Dance, Murray will be back at Boone Speedway for the first time in a dozen years.
The event will be broadcast live on SPEED SPORT.tv affilate IMCA.tv.
And this time, it’ll be in a Stock Car, a 2016 B & B ride he describes as “a pretty good car” that has taken him to victory lane twice in just four starts so far this season.
“I’ve never driven a Stock Car there and I’ve been racing one a little bit again this year,” said Murray, 56 years old and from Oberlin, Kan. “Every time Super Nationals rolled around in September, we either raced it or watched it from some place and I’ve always felt disappointed when I wasn’t there.”
“There are a lot of good people at Super Nationals, friends from years ago, and it will be good to see them again.”
Murray also stamped the 2003 Race of Champions victory and three Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational on his Super Nationals resume, becoming the first driver to complete that trifecta.
“The Super Nationals championship was the best win for me but there were none of them that came easy,” he said. “You appreciate every win at Boone that you can get.”
After collecting four national and nine regional championships, 25 track titles and a division record 557 feature wins, Murray eased out of the Modified and into the Stock Car.
He had 10 wins coming into 2024, getting wins back-to-back at Salina Speedway and Concordia Raceway and earning B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility with the second of those checkers.
“The suspension and the way you drive the cars are different. Probably at heart I’m still a Modified guy but I enjoy driving a Stock Car. I like the side-by-side racing, the close racing, and that you can still build your own motors,” Murray said. “It kind of goes back to when I was first racing, when they were called street stocks, but they’re pretty close to what the Stock Cars are now. It made me think it would be fun to race one of them again and I’ve been having a blast.”
He enjoys staying caught up with fellow veterans at the track and sharing stories of his early career with younger drivers, even those who remind him all that happened before they were born.
Murray hopes that he’ll have more Super Nationals stories of success to share this September.
“I’d really like to make the B & B Invitational and the feature. If I could make either one of the two I’d be happy but we’re going to have fun either way,” he promised. “We’re going to give it our best shot and we’re going to see people we haven’t seen in years, so it’s going to be win-win.”