By John Rittenoure (Maxx Ramsey photo) - LONGDALE, Okla. (July 19, 2025) - The past year has been tough for Jon Herring, Jr. In April 2024 he lost his mother, then in December his dad, Jon Herring, Sr. suddenly passed away. The losses took their toll and Herring has been coping.
Saturday Herring climbed back behind the wheel of his late model for only the third time since last season and started a new chapter in his life winning the Hayden Ross Motorsports Foundation Sooner Late Model Series feature at Longdale Speedway.
“I wish he was here,” said Herring speaking of his dad. The two usually raced together in team cars.
“It has been a rough year. I lost my mom, then I lost my race car and lost my dad. It has been one thing after another. We just took a step back and tried to rebuild everything. My wife and sister helped me a lot.”
Herring had a lot to deal with and really missed racing when the 2025 season began.
“I missed it a lot.” said Herring. “It sucks when you are sitting at the house doing stuff and you want to go racing and you can’t because you have other stuff you have to do.”
But now Herring is back and ready to win some races. After running second in the second heat to Delbert Smith, Herring made some chassis adjustments and the result was a start-to-finish win. Herring went the distance over Smith for his third career Sooner Series victory.
“We made a lot of changes after the heat race,” Herring said. “Delbert (Smith) is really smooth and we thought it (the track) would go dry. I thought we needed to try and swing for the fence a little bit since we drew number one, and it worked. The car has been tight lately and we found a way to fix it.”
Herring still has his dads car in the shop and race ready. But is not sure if he will ever drive it.
“Dads car is still race ready, but we have not chose to race it,” he said. “We don’t know if something happened to it if we would ever get it back. But I hate looking at it in the shop because I know he would want me to race it. He always made me race it before, but it is the only thing I have left.”
Herring and Smith were chased to the finish by Christopher Wilhite, Jr. who ran a strong third, Damian Patocka and Nate Jantz rounded out the top five.
Sooner Late Model Series
Longdale Speedway, Longdale, Oklahoma
July 19, 2025
Hayden Ross Motorsports Foundation A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 96-Jon Herring Jr[1]; 2. 92-Delbert Smith[2]; 3. 21-Christopher Wilhite JR[5]; 4. 122-Damian Patocka[7]; 5. 99-Nate Jantz[4]; 6. 65-Eric Brill[9]; 7. H1-Steve Hewitt Sr[10]; 8. 92S-Dan Smith[3]; 9. 27D-Jared Dunkin[8]; 10. 31-Gary Lowe[6]; 11. (DNS) 2-Adam Pearson
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 92S-Dan Smith[2]; 2. 99-Nate Jantz[1]; 3. 21-Christopher Wilhite JR[3]; 4. 122-Damian Patocka[5]; 5. 65-Eric Brill[4]; 6. 2-Adam Pearson[6]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 92-Delbert Smith[2]; 2. 96-Jon Herring Jr[5]; 3. 31-Gary Lowe[3]; 4. 27D-Jared Dunkin[1]; 5. H1-Steve Hewitt Sr[4]
Lap Leaders: Jon Herring, Jr. 1-20.
Margin of victory: 3.796.
2025 Winners: 3/28 - Eli Ross, Enid Speedway; 4/11 - Eli Ross, Thunderbird Speedway; 4/12 - Bryan Glaze, Crawford County Speedway; 5/30 - Brandon Conkwright, Humboldt Speedway; 5/31 - Kyle Berck, 81 Speedway; 6/20 - Christopher Wilhite, Enid Speedway; 6/28 - Eli Ross, Thunderbird Speedway; 7/5 - Terry Phillips, Enid Speedway; 7/19 - Jon Herring, Jr., Longdale Speedway.
2025 Top 10: 1. Delbert Smith 4305; 2. Dan Smith 4132; 3. Steve Hewitt, Sr. 2935; 4. Eric Brill 2555; 5. Christopher Wilhite, Jr. 2275; 6. Damian Patocka 2245; 7. Dax Harless 1950; 8. Gary Lowe 1885; 9. Jon Herring, Jr. 1855; 10. Dalon Helm 1840.
Hayden Ross Motorsports Foundation
Hayden Ross Motorsports Foundation goal is to help grow both high school, trade school and college programs to start and or develop a motorsports program, club, or organizations at their school as well as individual motorsports programs. HRMF will provide financial grants, equipment, expertise, scholarships, and educational opportunities for these organizations and individuals. This program will allow students to overcome the hurdle of entering motorsports due to the high costs and specialized experience needed to get started. This program will allow these students the opportunity to be part of a team with one overall goal of success on the track, including budgeting, marketing, mechanical skills, logistics, and team building efforts. All while honoring the life lost to early of Hayden Diesel Ross, #forever66.
Sooner Late Model Series
The Sooner Late Model Series was formed in 2016 by Enid Speedway co-promoter Mark Brill. Brill felt there was not many opportunities for late model competitors to race in Oklahoma and the Sooner Late Model Series was formed. Now the series has grown beyond the borders of Oklahoma with events held in the neighboring states of Kansas, Texas and Arkansas.