OCALA, Fla. — Over the winter, Zach Daum concluded that he didn’t want to be just a “midget guy” his whole life.
Yes, he’s still committed to chasing the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series championship aboard the No. 7u Trifecta Motorsports entry and he will compete on the USAC national midget tour with Ramco Speed Group, as announced on Tuesday.
However, the four-time national midget champion also intends to sprinkle a few non-winged sprint car races into his schedule.
That venture started on Feb. 9 at the Winter Dirt Games at Florida’s Ocala Speedway, the season opener for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car Championship.
“I bought an engine over the winter that allows me to come and do this a little bit more,” Daum said. “Midgets are cool and all, but sprint cars pay better.”
One added factor to the equation is that Daum no longer owns a midget.
In 2023, he took on the Xtreme Outlaw tour in his self-owned No. 5d Daum Motorsports midget, which was a relatively short-lived run. Daum switched over to campaign Steve Carbone’s No. 7u in early June after the seat was vacated by Kyle Jones.
Since he’ll be driving for Trifecta and RAMCO this year, rather than spearheading his own operation, the 32-year-old has considerably more free time on his hands.
“It’s good because both of those midgets I don’t have to take care of. All I’ve gotta do is make it to the race track every night, so that allows me to go do some more of this stuff,” Daum said, motioning to the red-and-white No. 5d sprint car parked in front of him.
At that moment in time, ahead of the first Winter Dirt Games feature, the most recent USAC-sanctioned sprint car race Daum competed at was on July 8, 2023, at Macon (Ill.) Speedway.
He had only 11 national USAC non-wing sprint car starts to his credit.
“I probably should’ve picked something that wasn’t a USAC show to come to,” Daum said, cracking a smile. “Sometimes you just gotta throw yourself to the wolves and kind of see how it goes.”
Unfortunately, Daum’s best result during the Winter Dirt Games was a 20th-place finish on opening night, which left him contemplating how long it would take to get back in the groove.
“They just drive so much different than a midget. I think the rear tire’s your biggest difference. It absorbs so much more than a midget,” Daum explained. “You can drive the car so much harder and get it more sideways. It’s just kind of getting my balls, my brain and my right foot all on the same page.”
He improved his record slightly at Volusia Speedway Park the next week, finishing 17th on USAC’s final night at the half-mile.
When looking around to evaluate the competition — which includes a handful of midget regulars, such as Logan Seavey and Justin Grant — Daum couldn’t help but wish he was back in the realm of his comfort zone.
“If this was a midget race, I wouldn’t have an issue and I would take on any of these guys. But here in a sprint car, I just wanna run respectable all week,” Daum said.
His non-winged sprint car experience during Florida Speedweeks came to an abrupt ending on Feb. 15 during a heat race on USAC’s first night back at Ocala Speedway.
Daum caught the right rear of Mitchel Moles heading into turn four and flipped violently over the guardrail before coming to a stop next to the grandstands. The No. 5d also caught fire during the wreck.
He walked away, but understandably, the incident ended his week.
Moving forward, Daum still plans to dabble in sprint car racing when his schedule allows.