CONCORD, N.C. — World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car championships require commitment. There are no shortcuts. No easy paths. Before 2024, only 10 drivers through 46 seasons of racing could call themselves a champion. But this year, one team’s dedication led to number 11.
David Gravel and the Big Game Motorsports crew pieced together a year to remember. Expectations were high, and they lived up to the hype.
Gravel drove the Tod Quiring-owned No. 2 to 15 victories, more than 300 feature laps led, 33 podiums, 60 top 10s, and a 4.88 average finish with The Greatest Show on Dirt. Numbers that led them him to being crowned champions – a first for every member of the team.
It was a process that didn’t happen overnight.
Tod Quiring (Team Owner)
Big Game Motorsports begins with a man from Minnesota – Tod Quiring. His love for the sport started during childhood when he frequently visited Jackson Motorplex with his family.
Later in life, that childhood passion evolved into opportunities to be a part of the sport via sponsorship on a localized level. That eventually grew into a national partnership with Terry McCarl before taking ownership of T-Mac’s team in 2008. That led to Quiring’s first World of Outlaws win as an owner on Sept. 24, 2008 at Middletown, N.Y.’s Orange County Fair Speedway.
Big Game Motorsports expanded to a two-car team for 2010 with Sammy Swindell and Craig Dollansky behind the wheel, and the two went on to gather a Series-high 22 victories in 2012 for Quiring. Danny Lasoski and Kerry Madsen joined forces with Big Game for a stint before Gravel linked with the team for the 2021 season.
The pairing came home runner-up in the standings for three straight seasons before a championship arrived in 2024.
“It was a great accomplishment for our team,” Quiring said. “I feel like our team this year really meshed and gelled. I mean, they have the last few years, but they took it to another level this year with David and Cody working very closely together. Cody is really good with shock programs. Then, we had Stephen and Zach providing a great deal of support up and down the road. I think everyone got along well all year. It’s a long season. I’ve got to give the credit to the guys. Those guys working together. Obviously, we give them the stuff to do it, but they really worked well together.”
David Gravel (Driver)
The path to a championship was a long road for David Gravel.
The Watertown, Conn. native made his presence felt when he picked up his first career World of Outlaws victory in 2011 at Talladega Short Track aboard the DDR Motorsports No. 89G, ending a five-race win streak by then reigning champion, Jason Meyers.
His early demonstration of talent helped him land valuable opportunities with Roth Motorsports and Destiny Motorsports. He found some success during this stretch, topping four World of Outlaws race in the Roth No. 83.
Then, his career took off when he joined forces with CJB Motorsports in 2016. Gravel collected 32 checkered flags in a three-year span aboard the No. 5 and finished third in points each year. Gravel began to form a relationship with Quiring at the time as he was a primary sponsor for the team. After his tenure with CJB, Gravel moved to Jason Johnson Racing for a pair of seasons – a partnership that yielded 19 victories in two years, including a Knoxville Nationals title.
In 2021, Gravel got the opportunity to join Quiring’s Big Game Motorsports and the pairing clicked right away. They scored 11 World of Outlaws victories and finished runner-up in points in their first season.
They added 18 more triumphs in 2022 and 2023 with two more second-place points finishes.
That path helped lead him to this season. Gravel finally summited the mountaintop with his unforgettable 2024 that included a Kings Royal crown, more than $1 million in earnings and a World of Outlaws championship.
“I raced quarter midgets since I was six years old and raced pavement most of my life until I turned into a teenager and got a taste of dirt racing for the first time,” Gravel reflected. “I saw my first 410 race at Lincoln Speedway, and ever since I saw a 410 Sprint Car, I was like, ‘Man, those look like a lot of fun.’
“Ray Cappella with JRC Transportation made the 89G happen. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have been able to run the All-Star tour back in the day and to put ourselves on that platform and perform pretty well and win a couple of Outlaws shows. Then, it catapulted from there and Dennis Roth giving me an opportunity and really putting me on the national scene and winning races with him. From there, CJB Motorsports and Jason Johnson Racing and now Big Game Motorsports. It’s been a fun ride.”
Cody Jacobs (Crew Chief)
Ohio is known for its deeply rooted Sprint Car history, and Cody Jacobs grew up in a family that’s greatly contributed to that history.
He’s the son of “Buckeye State” legend Dean Jacobs and spent his childhood flagging races from the grandstand. After spending a little time racing Sprint Cars, his primary focus shifted to working on them.
Jacobs worked his way up the ranks and earned his first World of Outlaws win as a crew chief in 2012 with Paul McMahan driving the Buch Motorsports No. 13. The mid-2010s saw him form a fruitful partnership with Tim Shaffer that resulted in several trips to Victory Lane.
He united with Big Game to turn the wrenches on the No. 2 in 2020. Gravel joined a year later, and the magical run that led to a title began.
“It’s a lot of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication,” Jacobs said. “I worked on these things for a long time for not a lot of money. You could probably say I did it nearly for free for a long time before I got linked up with Tod. That really tells me I love what I’m doing, so anytime you’re passionate about what you’re doing, you’re going to put 110-percent effort in.
“A lot of great people throughout the years have helped me get to where I’m at. I worked for a guy named Keith Berner. He taught me a lot about attention to detail and just perfecting the basics. He’s been a huge mentor in my life.
And then everybody that’s helped me on the team. Trey Bowman was with me for a while. Scott Vogelsong. And then obviously Stephen and Zach. It takes a group of good guys to be successful. Not one man or one driver can do it on his own. Just really thankful to have good guys around me to get to where I’m at.”
Stephen Hamm-Reilly (Car Chief)
Stephen Hamm-Reilly’s earliest years didn’t involve growing up in a racing family. A native of New York, he didn’t begin to learn about Sprint Cars until moving to the hotbed of Pennsylvania.
Once in PA Posse land, it didn’t take long for Hamm-Reilly to cultivate an interest in the sport. He began getting involved in small ways before his first opportunity to work on a traveling team arrived in 2015 when CJB Motorsports hired him.
Since then, he’s had stints with powerhouses such as Rudeen Racing, Roth Motorsports, and Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing before becoming the Big Game car chief for 2024. It’s a decision he wasn’t sure he wanted to make after already spending years on the road, but a decision he’ll never regret as he’s now a World of Outlaws champion.
“It’s pretty gratifying. It was definitely a long road to get to that point,” Hamm-Reilly said. “It feels pretty good to be able to accomplish the things we accomplished with Cody and Zach and David. It’s something I won’t ever forget.”
Zach Patterson (Tire Specialist)
Zach Patterson’s path to a championship began in a small Texas town going to Modified races at Abilene Speedway.
Later on, he moved with his family to Oklahoma as they helped operate multiple tracks in the “Sooner State.” Soon after, Patterson got the urge to jump behind the wheel of a race car.
He found his way to Sprint Cars in 2020, and then a pivotal opportunity to hit the road with TwoC Racing and Wayne Johnson on the World of Outlaws tour arose in 2021. He wouldn’t be in the seat in this new role, but he’d be a part of The Greatest Show on Dirt and gaining valuable experience working on Sprint Cars. It was a chance he couldn’t let pass, so he accepted.
One year later, a void needed filled at Big Game and Patterson got the job. Fast forward three seasons, and he can now call himself a World of Outlaws champion.
“It’s been a long road, that’s for sure,” Patterson said. “Starting off with Wayne, I felt what it’s like to not win those races, trying to shoot for top 10s and top fives and really being happy with that. And then to come here and win races and have a shot at a title and be so close for the last few years and feel like it’s right there within the grasp and not end up getting it, finishing second the past couple years, it feels good to finally do it.”