POLSON — Landon Huffman climbed from his race car, telltale scars of a 200-lap Montana slugfest visible on the Racing Dynamiks-prepared machine. He shared a fist bump with RD owner Travis Sharpe between draws from a water bottle, his breathing slightly labored from a torturous last 30 minutes. Contact with Washington’s Danica Dart disabled power-steering for the East Coast racer, rendering the final 50-plus circuits on the high-banked 3/8th-mile Mission Valley Super Oval all but impossible.
A mile-high challenge for the Claremont, North Carolina, native and 2022 Hickory Motor Speedway Late Model track champion in his first trip to the Treasure State. “Can’t say I’ve ever done that before,” Huffman said with a grin. Huffman started ninth, raced as high as second, and finished eighth one lap down, largely surviving destruction in the 33rd annual Montana 200 that saw 18 cars fail to finish.
“I’m impressed as I can be,” Sharpe, a Virginia native turned Montana racer, said. “I don’t know 10 people on Earth that could’ve driven 58 laps without power-steering in one of those things.” Landon Huffman, a CARS Tour Late Model Stock regular, stands in front of his Racing Dynamiks-prepared No.
75 Chevy ahead of the 33rd annual Montana 200 on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at the Mission Valley Super Oval in Polson. Huffman’s journey West began nearly a year ago. Third-generation Polson racer Blaise Burland, who also made his first Montana 200 start Saturday, mentione.
