JAY, Okla. — Phillip McGilton has never been the kind of racer who spends much time crunching numbers away from the race track.
But his recent streak of top-five finishes in the Ultra4 USA series has had him writing results on paper so he can see where he stacks up in the national 4400 Unlimited championship.
Lucky for McGilton, co-driver Amanda Ross has a doctorate in economics, so he’s able to leave the math to her while he focuses on pushing the pedal from the driver’s seat.
“She’s very good with strategizing and evaluating the risk and whether or not it’s worth the reward. We’ve been really trying to take that tactic,” McGilton said. “Everything you do, you have to think how it will affect you in the long run. Is it worth it, or is it not?”
On the last lap of the Visions Off-Road finale on Friday afternoon, Ross was adamant that the team should take a risk. Despite blowing the front ring and pinion on their No. 47 entry and being forced to run in two-wheel drive, Ross’ only advice from the passenger seat was “go.”
“We knew something was hurt, but I kept telling him ‘Go, go, go. It’s a double points race, just keep moving.’ We did and it actually paid off in the end,” Ross said.
When they concluded their eighth circuit around the 8.5-mile track, the No. 47 was unofficially scored fifth, giving them their third consecutive top-five finish. It was only two months ago, at the Rush Anniversary Bash in Kentucky, that the pair logged their first top-five finish of the Ultra4 USA season and the first in their one-year history of driving together.
“We unloaded at Rush and we were just fast. It surprised us,” McGilton admitted.
After finishing 38th at the season-opening King of the Hammers, their only hope for Kentucky was to log a top 10. But right off the bat, the duo qualified second and kept up pace with eventual race winner Paul Wolff throughout the two-hour sprint. McGilton placed fifth.
“Unfortunately, I ran out of talent and clipped a tree, which bumped us back to fifth, but we really showed that we were strong. So, it was kind of like our expectations used to be here and now we’ve been stepping up all season long,” McGilton said.
Ross remembers the race a little differently.
“We were running second at one point, but then he stopped listening to me and stopped for gas when he shouldn’t have. I’m the numbers person, he should trust my numbers,” she said with a laugh.
The No. 47 finished on the podium at the Big Sky 200 in Broadview, Mont., earning third-place on adjusted time. It was McGilton’s first podium. From that moment forward, McGilton and Ross have crunched numbers, kept their heads down and continued to shoot their shot at the championship.
“From my perspective, especially after Hammers, just getting through all of these races together and outperforming what a lot of people and what we expected going in has been a lot of fun,” Ross said. “We’ll just keep building for the rest of the season.”