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The 2024 Roster: Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series set for second season

MILTON, Fla. — With the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series primed to kick off one of the richest seasons in the history of regional racing tours this weekend at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala., the series has inked 19 drivers to its loyalty program and has a handful of others toying with the notion of chasing the series’ $50,000-to-win season-long championship.

It’s a superb roster for a regional series, arguably one of the deepest ever, rivaling the days of the now-defunct Short Track Auto Racing Stars (STARS) and the early days of the Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series.

The Hunt the Front Series jumps into action March 15-16 with the Bama Bash, its first doubleheader weekend of the season, featuring a $5,000-to-win opener on Friday and a $15,000-to-win finale on Saturday.

A dandy crop of rookies, along with talented veterans, the tour’s inaugural champion, and perhaps a surprise or two, are prepping for the opener of HTF’s sophomore season, making the expected driver’s list quite eclectic. Here’s a look at who to expect heading into TST:

The Class of 2024

Stacy Boles | Clinton, Tenn.
A 54-year-old veteran coming off a limited schedule, Boles is an experienced traveler after spending several seasons following both the Schaeffer’s Spring and Summer Nationals. Boles has finishes ranging from third to 10th on the sister tours with a best of third with the 2016 Spring Nationals. He lists a pair $5,000-to-win victories at Wartburg (Tenn.) Speedway with the Tennessee Thunder DirtCar Series in 2005 and 2008 as career highlights.

Dalton Cook | Salem, Ala.
Five top-five finishes and 11 top-10s in Hunt the Front action last season helped the 31-year-old Cook to a fourth-place finish in HTF points. He recorded top-five finishes at Needmore Speedway; Cochran Motor Speedway; Senoia Raceway; Duck River Raceway Park; and Rome Speedway. He is coming off of a three-win season after entering 38 events in 2023. Cook has one race under his belt this year, registering a runner-up finish in the SAS feature at North Alabama on March 2.

Tanner English | Benton, Ky.
The 30-year-old son of 2020 National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame inductee Terry English has spent the last two seasons with the World of Outlaws, finishing ninth on the national circuit last season and runner-up during his rookie season. He is well-versed following both regional and national tours. He was the 2020 Lucas Oil Series rookie of the year; finished third in points while following the 2021 DIRTcar Summer Nationals; and he’s the 2018 MARS Series champion.

Carson Ferguson | Lincolnton N.C.
Ferguson is chasing his third career regional series championship. The 23-year-old cousin of Chris Ferguson, is a two-time Schaeffer’s Spring Nationals champ. He picked up a career-high $23,000 payday with the Hunt the Front Series last season at Swainsboro Raceway, one his five Super Late Model victories in 2023. He entered five HTF events last season, winning two and garnering four top-five finishes. By season’s end, Ferguson had reached victory lane with three regional series.

Clay Harris | Jupiter, Fla.
Making seven Hunt the Front starts in 2023, Harris, who turns 23 on March 25, is relatively new to Super Late Model racing. He’s entering his eighth year behind the wheel of a Late Model and has 28 career victories across several divisions. Harris’s most lucrative victory was a $10,000 triumph in the Larry Duty Memorial, an unsanctioned Limited Late Model special at Putnam County Speedway in Satsuma, Fla. in 2022. Harris impressed during Speedweeks, logging two top fives with the Lucas Oil Series including a runner-up finish at Ocala Speedway.

Josh Henry | Newport, Tenn.
Henry, 33, is the reigning Valvoline Iron-Man South Series champion. After wrapping up the Iron-Man title, his late season travels took him to sanctioned events with the Carolina Clash Series, the Ultimate Heart of America Series, a Hunt the Front doubleheader and the XR Workin’ Man Series. He picked up his first career Super Late Model triumph on Sept. 15 at Mountain View Raceway, a $5,000 XR Workin’ Man Series win.

Jackson Hise | Ocala, Fla.
A 16-year-old Super Late Model rookie, Hise has decided to move up from the Crate Late Model ranks in 2024 and toss his hat in the ring as a challenger on the Hunt the Front Series. Hise entered a pair of HTF events last season, but failed to transfer into the feature event. He also jumped feet first into World of Outlaws competition this season during Georgia-Florida Speedweeks, but again experienced the growing pains that most young drivers do and failed to advance into a feature.

Trent Ivey | Union, S.C.
Ivey is riding the momentum of his richest career victory, a $20,000 Southern All Stars win in the Ginger Owens Memorial March Madness on March 3 at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C. The son of legendary South Carolina driver Petey Ivey, the 29-year-old stretched his streak of at least one win in each of the last five seasons since his first full season racing Super Late Models in 2019 to six seasons following his Cherokee win.

Joseph Joiner | Milton, Fla.
Heading into 2024 following a productive ’23 campaign — 11 victories across four divisions, including five Super Late Model wins and two Crate Late Model wins — Joiner returns to his family-backed tour after falling only 10 points shy of the championship last season. He had one HTF win and eight top-five finishes in the first year. His richest victory last season was a $10,000 payday in Southern All Stars action at his home track, Southern Raceway in Milton.

Cla Knight | North Augusta, S.C.
Knight, 28, is the 2021 Ultimate Southeast Super Late Model champion. He also has Crate Late Model titles with the Fastrak organization. In 2016 he won Fastrak’s Southeast points championship and Mid-Ohio Valley points championship, while also winning Fastrak’s East Coast Rumble. Knight’s 2023 season produced a pair of runner-up finishes and seven top-10 finishes in just 23 starts.

Trey Mills | St. Augustine, Fla.
The reigning series rookie of the year, the 15-year-old Mills is back to make a run at the series championship. Mills finished fifth in points last season with one win and four top-fives. He opened eyes in 2023 when he stunned fellow series competitors by winning a $5,000-to-win main event at Mississippi’s Whynot Motorsports Park just six weeks after his 15th birthday. He’s still the youngest winner in the series’ brief history.

Zack Mitchell | Enoree, S.C.
Mitchell, 28, has five regional championships under his belt. A four-time Ultimate Southeast champion, his 16 Ultimate Series wins rank him second on the all-time list. The 2017 Carolina Clash champion, Mitchell has 13 career Clash wins. He entered eight Hunt the Front events last season, starting seven features and recording four finishes of fourth or better, including back-to-back runner-up performances in tour stops at East Alabama Motor Speedway Senoia Raceway.

Caden Mullinax | Birmingham, Ala.
While moving from Crate Late Models to the Super Late Model division in 2023, Mullinax made his first-ever attempt to follow a regional tour, finishing fourth in points with the 11-race Schaeffer’s Spring National series. His best effort with the North Carolina-based series was a fifth-place run on May 28 at Duck River Raceway Park in Wheel, Tenn.

Josh Putnam | Florence, Ala.
The tour’s inaugural champion returns for a run at a repeat. Putnam, 35, topped Joseph Joiner by just 10 points to win last year’s title. He’s back to defend the championship and will attempt to do so in his self-owned Rocket with help from Horne Auto Salvage. Putnam, who finished fourth in the Southern All Stars stop at his home track, North Alabama Speedway, on March 2, grabbed one HTH victory last season. That was among his eight top-five finishes and 15 top-10s in 19 starts.

Sam Seawright | Rainsville, Ala.
The 20-year-old Seawright is coming off a season that produced four victories and 16 top-five finishes, including a $10,000 Valvoline Iron-Man South triumph at Talladega. He entered 10 Hunt the Front events in 2023, eventually finishing 12th in points with one top-five finish and four top-10s. He’s already off to a good start this season with a victory in Duck River Raceway Park’s Winterfest and a fifth-place finish in TST’s annual Ice Bowl.

Bo Slay | Milton, Fla.
Slay heads into his second full season following the Hunt the Front Series. He finished sixth during the tour’s inaugural season, cracking the top 10 three times in 18 events. He recorded a best finish of seventh place on three occasions: Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss.; Cochran (Ga.) Speedway and Needmore Speedway in Norman Park, Ga.

Jeff Smith | Dallas, N.C.
One of the most prolific regional racers on the tour, the 58-year-old Smith has spent much of the last two decades competing with the Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series and the Ultimate Southeast Series. The 1994 Xtreme DirtCar Series Rookie of the Year has victories on both the Lucas Oil Series (’07) and the World of Outlaws (’09). He enters 2024 following a one-win, nine top-five season last year.

Cameron Weaver | Crossville, Tenn.
Landing a ride with Laurel, Miss.-based Henderson Motorsports, the 25-year-old son of three-time Southern All Stars champion Randy Weaver and a standout in the Crate Late Model ranks with 24 career wins, is embarking on his most challenging endeavor yet. A year ago Weaver notched one victory in 10 starts while registering three top-five finishes. He does have a career-high $10,040 triumph in the J.T. Kerr Memorial for Crate Late Models at 411 Motor Speedway in 2021.

Ashton Winger | Hampton, Ga.
Despite his age — he’s just 24 — Winger is one of the most experienced and accomplished drivers on the series this season. A former WoO rookie of the year (2020), Winger had a banner year last season, winning the DIRTcar Summer Nationals championship while earning 16 total wins with six different touring series. He started 10 Hunt the Front features, winning three while nabbing five top-five finishes.

A few more possibilities...

Scott Bloomquist | Mooresburg, Tenn.
The four-time World 100 winner and eight-time Dream winner is scheduled to enter Hunt the Front’s season-opener. Whether or not the 2002 National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame inductee plans to follow the second-year series remains to be seen. If he did, he would be chasing his 14th career touring championship and first since winning his third Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series crown in 2016.

Wil Herrington | Hawkensville, Ga.
After finishing third in Hunt the Front points last season, a switch to the ASD Motorsports team full-time for 2024 has Herrington still narrowing his season-long plans. He’s already entered eight events with a pair of top-five finishes at Screven to show for it. In four races at TST last season, Herrington finished 16th, 11th, third and 11th.

Spencer Hughes | Meridian, Miss.
After a couple of seasons on the road with the Lucas Oil Series, Hughes has now joined Alabama-based JCM Motorsports. Through 13 races this year, Hughes has a Southern All Stars victory at North Alabama Speedway and a pair of top-five results. Solid results at Talladega could point Hughes toward a Hunt the Front title chase.

Brandon Overton | Evans, Ga.
The Georgia superstar has already indicated that he won’t be following the Lucas Oil Series full-time as he did a year ago. He’s yet to acknowledge exactly what he will do. Following the Hunt the Front Series could be the perfect fit for Overton’s outlaw schedule. What he’s done thus far in 2024 is start nine features with a $12,000 Southern All Stars win at Screven and four finishes of fourth or better.

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