JASON FEGER

By Ashley Zimmerman

WHILE JASON FEGER has been visiting victory lane against the best the World of Outlaws and Lucas Oil series have to offer since the turn of the century, the Illinois native more commonly known as the Highside Hustler leapt to the forefront of dirt late model racing during the 2022 season battling with Ryan Unzicker for the MARS championship and nail-biting finishes against Bobby Pierce that will most certainly be a staple in the highlight reel come season end. While the start of the season may have had its struggles, by mid-summer Feger became a strong contender wherever he entered, keeping not just fans on their toes but drivers as well.

After narrowingly edging out Bobby Pierce by just half a car length on night one of the Davenport 150 with the World of Outlaws, Feger became the talk of fans and headlines. With a career as detailed and exciting as Feger’s sparking conversation, a plethora of #DEAsks submissions was specifically fitted just for the Highside Hustler. With a few moments free as the MARS series and racing around the Midwest beginning to wind down, Dirt Empire sat down to ask the most sought-after fan-submitted questions with Jason Feger.

Dirt Empire: Have you ever raced anything other than a late model? Is there anything else you’d like to race or try your hand at?

Jason Feger: I started in a sportsman car. I ran that for four years, and then all I’ve ever driven after that is a late model. I would love to drive a Formula 1 car or a winged sprint car”

DE: What’s your favorite snack to have on the road?

JF: Beef jerky.

DE: Rumor has it that Paducah International Speedway is your go-to track in Kentucky. What makes this racetrack so appealing to you?

JF: Well, we won a lot of races there, I just feel like it’s just a good size and shape. It’s not too big, but it’s still big and fast, and it’s really high banked.

DE: What is the best advice you’ve been given when it comes to racing, but more importantly, what’s the worst advice? How did you come to find out it was bad advice?

JF: Oh boy [he laughs] the best advice I’ve been given would probably be that you kind of have to mind your own business on the racetrack, race your lines, race your car, do what you can do, and don’t worry about other people. That’s probably the best advice I’ve ever been given. The worst advice, well I don’t know, I guess I’ve never thought about that. Maybe the worst advice that I got was back when I didn’t know if I should quit my job to go racing or not, they told me, do you know how you can tell if you can race for a living? Well, you just go racing, and when you run out of money you gotta go back to work. [laughs] Luckily, while it wasn’t the best advice, I haven’t had to go back to work either!

DE: What is advice you would give when it comes to racing?

JF: I would say definitely don’t worry about getting caught up in the drama and what other people are doing. Work hard and control what you can control, there are so many variables in racing that you can’t control, you just have to be prepared to control what you can control and worry about yourself.

DE: You’ve obviously had quite a lengthy career, is there anywhere you haven’t raced that you’d like to race at?

JF: I’ve never been to Lernerville or Port Royal and I’d love to get to either one of those tracks.

DE: Is there a person you’ve looked up to throughout the duration of your career in the racing world?

JF: I guess there’s been a bunch of them honestly. I love just the history of our sport. Recently, Tim McCreadie has been a big help the last few years, but I’ve worked with Billy Moyer over the past, I’ve always kind of really looked up to him, and even Scott Bloomquist as well.

DE: In August, you were able to capitalize on a flat tire running down Devin Moran and win over Bobby Pierce by just half a car at Davenport. What did it mean to you to get not only an exciting win but a win against two drivers who are dominant when they visit Davenport?

JF: It felt really good. Devin was able to pass me in lap traffic before he had the flat tire when we got back by him. We were really fast, obviously, Bobby [Pierce] is always really good there, he’s one of the best in the country. I’ve never won at Davenport before on the small track. I won on the big track, so it felt really good to get a win on the little track. It’s kind of been an Achilles heel of mine, and I feel like we’ve been getting better and better there. It definitely felt good and it’d been a long time since we had won an Outlaw show. It’s always kind of good if you go win one of the national series or tour races, it’s definitely a little bit of a bigger chip off your shoulder.

DE: All season long you’ve been battling pretty hard back and forth with Ryan Unzicker on the MARS Racing Series points and you’re very close to each other right now, there’s really not much of a gap. Has that added a bit of pressure to your year in trying to make sure you’re consistent to be able to stay that close?

JF: Well, actually that’s kind of why we’re second because we haven’t been very consistent. I think maybe he’s won one race, and we’ve won like five or six of them. But he’s been right there with the seconds and thirds and we’ve had a drive shaft failure one night and then we’ve had some other back luck. We’ve had a couple of not very good finishes, which just got us behind. We’re actually going into the last week and I think we’ve got two races this weekend, and we’re probably going to need a little bit of luck to pass him [Unzicker.] He and I are buddies, but we both want to beat each other at the same time. We definitely feel like we’ve been pushing each other harder and harder to make each other better. [Eds. Note: Unzicker edged Feger by 37 points for the title.]

DE: A place that you’ve had quite a bit of success at that is no longer operating is Belle Clair Speedway. For those who never got to experience a track like that, what was the racing like?

JF: Well, it was really small, and obviously I’m pretty good on bull rings; I love tracks like Macon, and Highland, and I used to go to Shepp’s Speedway, too, but they are all really small. Then Belle Claire was right in that category. I feel like I’m a pretty patient person, and I think sometimes on those little tracks, you just have to know when to be in the right spot, be patient and let stuff come to you. It was a fun little place though, it was very unique, with bleachers on both sides, a wooden wall on the corners, and it had an infield wall with people pretty much just standing right on that wall. It was pretty crazy.

DE: What would you say are some of your best career moments being a race car driver?

JF: Well obviously we’ve won the Hell

Tour once, and we won the UMP National Points tour once, those were both big ones. Any of the Lucas Oil wins were really big, the first one we won I think was at Paducah. But to think we’ve won three Lucas Oil races, and we’ve won a couple of Outlaw shows. I think my first Outlaw show was pretty awesome. That was at Beaver Dam in Wisconsin, I don’t quite remember the year, I think that was maybe 2009. We were still pretty young and relatively new and a really low-budget team, so to be able to beat the big guys back then that was a great feeling.

DE: When you look back across your career, what is the win that immediately sticks out to you?

JF: The one that pops out would probably be Kentucky Lake, I forget what it was called, maybe Commonwealth or something. But we won a $7,500-to-win race there and it was the first big win that we had. I had to pass Moyer to win the race and that just definitely was the moment where we were like holy cow we can actually do this. That would’ve been in 2009.

DE: You’ve begun utilizing YouTube as another avenue for fans to get to know your team and see more behind the scenes. What benefits have you found from utilizing another platform? Do you think it’s a missed opportunity for drivers to reach their fans and engage with them?

JF: I feel like the racing fans are some of the most loyal and it’s just really cool for them to get to see some of the behind- the-scenes. I have a buddy that loves doing that stuff, so we’re kind of just getting started on it. But we love being able to show them more in-depth what it takes to do what we do and what all goes into it. The fans are really eating it up and it’s awesome. Obviously, you know the benefits are a lot more exposure for your sponsors, product sponsors especially love it, and it also translates over into merchandise sales as well.

DE: Do you have any pre-race superstitions or race-day traditions?

JF: No traditions but definitely superstitions. I hate if I see a black cat cross the road on race day before heading to the track. I will turn and go the other way. I had a crew guy that lived in a trailer court and I had to go pick him up, and I swear every Friday this cat would cross in front of us in that trailer court, and I kept having bad luck so I started going the other direction. No peanuts or nuts of any kind at the race track, I actually got that one from Bob Pierce when I drove his car. He had some bad luck and said get the peanuts out of the hauler. We threw the peanuts away and I think he won the next night, so it’s just kind of stuck. I wish I could get rid of it, but it’s just stuck with us.

DE: With a schedule full of travel and time on the road, do you feel your crew becomes family?

JF: Definitely like family and brothers I would say. Pretty much all of my crew, well most of my guys that have helped me have been my buddies first. I’ve known them through different parts of my life or whatever and then they’ve come to help when they could. It’s good in one way and it’s bad in another way. But it’s really hard to be gone on the road as much as we are and live in a 24-foot box and not bond.

DE: With continued rising costs of just about everything, is there anything you’ve had to scale back on or become more particular about choosing to do or use?

JF: The tire shortage has definitely made things tough. We have to be more resourceful and just try to plan ahead of time. We keep our eyes open and buy tires from other race teams that are selling out or something like that. That’s made things difficult. I’ve been pretty lucky with sponsors so the fuel prices haven’t really gotten us too bad yet. Otherwise, I would definitely be watching where I’m going. We obviously try to maximize everything we can, so get as much as we can out of stuff since the prices are way up right now.

DE: What would you say you are looking forward to the most this offseason?

JF: Well, we switched over to Longhorn Chassis this year and we didn’t get them until May, so we were definitely behind the eight ball with them. I’m looking forward to just being able to go through the cars really well and get our spare parts up to where they need to be. Get the trailer organized and everything 100% switched over, we’ve just been kind of winging it a lot this summer for some of that stuff. It will be nice to be prepared and hopefully less work we have to do during the summer and season.

DE: If there was anything that you could go back and change this season, what would it be?

JF: Not getting the chassis until May definitely got us in a bind, but I mean that was circumstances out of our control. This sport is definitely a lot easier when you’re prepared 100% with your spare parts and can get some laps in. But not having these cars and not being able to test all year. We’ve just been racing so much that we haven’t been able to go test and try different things. I feel like we’ve been really competitive, so you’re scared to try stuff when you know you have a good car. I’m looking forward to getting to go test and be more prepared.

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