“That would have been Daison‘s first win and he was heartbroken,” he says, “and it nearly cost me a divorce. No one knew but me what I had done and I was in the doghouse. It was a bad deal.”
Bad deal or not, Klint had the information he needed. He knew now that his son had the ability to succeed, so it was time to regroup and consider the next steps. First, an equipment upgrade was in order. The second step was far more unusual. Pursley was in the construction business and using equipment at his disposal, he built a carbon copy of his son‘s home track on family property.
He used cones to help Daison understand the nuances of racing on the cushion or on the bottom. After he watched his son voluntarily turn lap after lap, he knew this was no passing fad. Regardless of how this translated into results what impressed his father most was his son‘s overall attitude.
“He is so dedicated,” Klint said. “He has the want to. It isn‘t just racing. He would excel at anything he wanted to do.”
When Daison moved to 600cc micros, he flourished. In 2016 and ‘17, he was the NOW600 restrictor champion and in 2018 he topped the standings in the Winged A class.
“We traveled quite a bit,” he said. “It was just me, my mom and my dad. I think around my fourth year in the micro we probably hit 50 races. We ran up and down the road and raced two or three times a week. It was almost a full-time deal, but we were having fun doing it. My dad worked on the car and we learned a lot. My mom could do quite a few things, too.”
With success came big racing dreams. He had gone to the Chili Bowl and had marveled at the impressive lineup of Keith Kunz Motorsports midgets. Like other young hopefuls before him he longed to take his place in that lineup. Then at the USAC Night of Champions banquet in 2017, he approached Kunz again and asked to have a photo taken together. It was innocent and bold at the same time.
When the time was right, Pursley reached out to Kunz and was surprised when the owner remembered him. A deal was secured and Pursley spent the lion‘s share of the 2019 season racing with POWRi. He finished fourth in the standings. He was fortunate to have Kunz serve as a crew chief during his first year in midgets and he benefitted from the wise counsel of veteran drivers.
“My first year Logan Seavey was open to any question, but the guy who has helped me the whole time is Jay Drake,” Pursley said. “He is absolutely incredible; in fact, people call him my mentor. Jay is someone who can tell you how it is and tell you how it is truthfully. He can get your expectations high, but he can also humble you. Then when Tanner Thorson came back after his injury, he was also a really big help to me.”
The following season, Pursley began running with the USAC national midget series.
“The USAC stuff is just top of the line hard,” he said. “It‘s just incredible. You have to be on the edge every time you get on the track. Transitioning from a micro to a midget there are a couple of things to learn like the horsepower torque ratio and all of that, but the biggest thing is just how you sit in the race car. In a micro your legs are out in front of you, and you are more relaxed.
“Then when you get into a midget it is like you are in an office chair at your desk. You just have to get comfortable with that, the width of the car and the speed. Once you get that down and get out there and have fun it is just a race car again.”
When Pursley signed on with KKM, it was in the midst of a youth movement. Pursley raced as teammates with Buddy Kofoid and Cannon McIntosh, and the young men learned to lean on each other. Kofoid had more varied experience among the trio and in 2020 he found victory lane three times and earned rookie-of-the-year honors. Pursley finished sixth in the standings. However, he put an exclamation mark on the season by winning a POWRi feature at Oklahoma City‘s I-44 Riverside Speedway.
There was plenty of excitement heading into the 2021 campaign. Kunz had always felt it took a least three years in his program before consistent results followed. As the year was ending, Pursley had won twice and notched 14 top-five runs. Then came Arizona Speedway.
Like many racers who have suffered a serious injury Pursley remembers the day, but not the accident. His father was less fortunate. He was stationed in the fourth turn saw things unfold.