By: Cody Sealey
Help Wanted at Dominion Raceway: must be a great multi-tasker.
There are jobs on race day outside of holding a steering wheel; someone has to hold a
microphone.
When Dominion Raceway’s usual track announcer, Brandon Fuller, took a rare opportunity to
promote the 8-Cylinder Any Car division by strapping in himself, it was next man up in the
broadcast booth.
The naturally charismatic Miles Murray was the obvious choice to pull off this unorthodox
double-duty, as the teenager from Fairfax, Virginia kicked off the night as the temporary voice of Dominion before hopping into his own legends car and earning his first win on the DR oval.
After giving the microphone back to Fuller, Murray started second alongside Kevin Nowak, but
Daniel Silvestri shot out to the lead from fourth. On lap 18 of 25, Murray was able to get the run on Silvestri and passed for the lead, and he would not look back in the caution-free race. For the first time Murray would see the checkered flag wave from P1.
“I’m just super happy I got to do this tonight,” said Murray. “I saw everyone was squirrely.
Everyone was loose, but I had a tight race car. I was the polar opposite of everyone else.”
Murray, who got his start by racing go-karts, last won at Dominion in his legends car when he
took home a trophy during Fall Fury on the DR Road Course last Fall. It’s been a learning
process for him when it comes to left-turns only, but now that he is racing as a Tyler Hughes
Motorsports development driver, he is getting more repetitions battling at the front. It was only a matter of time for him, and he is confident there is more to come.
“I’ve been working real hard on the oval for the past two years now. It’s pretty special to get this; it’s not the last one though,” said Murray.
Even though he entered the night winless, he sat atop the INEX Legends track championship
standings due to his overall consistency. He leads 2022 Legends Champion, Alek Andrecs, who
had some hard luck early. With last year’s champion, Conner Weddell, mostly focusing on his
VA Racer and veteran David Polenz out of commission after wrecking in early August, the way is paved for Murray, who is peaking at the right time.
“You just gotta stay alive,” said Murray. “Our second race out there [this season] we got the tow
knocked out by a mile, but instead of pulling it in, we thought about points and made up about 6
cars in the standings. It helps in the long run by racing for points.”
While only one announcer on the night got to park it in Bugsy Auto Repair Victory Lane, it was a fun-filled debut all the way to the last corner for Fuller in the Any Cars. While Pete Sullivan and Richard Storm competed for the win up front, Fuller kept the car off the wall and avoided trouble at the rear of the field.
Sullivan’s Dodge Charger was able to dethrone Storm’s Trans-Am: the first competitor to do so
all season. While the two leaders were on the cool down lap, the racing action still went on
behind them. Brian Maxey, nursing two flat tires, had to limp to the finish. Fuller got to him in
turn 3 and then stayed in the gas on the outside through turn 4 before the drag race to the line..
It was a triumphant pass for the 30-year old announcer who after a lifetime as a race fan, got to
encounter his first time behind the wheel.
“I saw an opportunity to build some confidence and pass a car on the last lap,” said Fuller. “I
didn’t lift until the checkered flag. I saw an opportunity and seized it.”
The pits were packed with over 38 legends cars splitting the field and racing action into Young Lions/Semi Pros and Pro/Masters. With Miles Murray taking the Masters/Pro Race #1, The Young Lions/Semi Pros put on a show with 860 Motorsports teammates #43 Layton Harrison and #95 London Mckenzie splitting wins after some battling back and forth. Both drivers would recall moving each other respectfully in their Victory Lane speeches.
In Race #2 Masters/Pro for the Carlisle III Home inspection INEX Legends #10 Alex McCollum would take the checkered flag after his first ever visit to Dominion Raceway with the #9 of Chris Fahed having a strong run and finish in P2 as he and #14z Alex Martinez would drag race off 4 for the checkered flag. This coming after Miles Murray and Daniel Silvestri make contact jockeying for the lead in turns 3 and 4 causing a caution with the #7 of Silvestri resting in the outside wall.
#88 Mike Lowe would grab his 3 checkered flag of the season after #69 Tommy Smith started on the pole and lost his brakes soon into the race where he would hold on for 4th behind Richard Powers and Todd Ruggles.
Mini Stocks had a show of their own as #22 Ryan Pritt would lap the field in his "Brian Maxey Built" hot rod. He would dedicate the win to his late father of whom he lost back in November.
The headliner of the night was twin 50-lap late model races. Points leader Landon Pembelton
won his fifth in a row after again sweeping the night.
“Ever since we got this thing balanced out, it has been good to us.” said Pembelton. “We had a
rocket ship.”
All results are unofficial until Tuesday*
Dominion Raceway will take a pause in the action over Labor Day weekend and resume with The BIG ONE presented by W.G. Speeks on September 14th featuring 150 Laps of LMSC 150 Laps of VA Racer Late models (race number 2 in the VA Racer Commonwealth Challenge 4 race series between DR and Langley Speedway) UCARs and Virginia Vintage Racers. https://drevents.ticketstobuy.com/event/215
