Tucson Speedway Thunder Truck driver Zane McKissick made his Super Late Model debut with ‘Stormin’ Ron Norman’s Vision West Motorsports on July 27. The 2021 Tucson Truck Champion is the first driver to join Norman’s newly established driver development program.

Norman is a nine-time NASCAR Regional champ and has won six Super Late Model titles at Tucson Speedway. After a few years of full-time racing in the ARCA Menard’s Series West, formerly K&N, Norman moved into a crew chief role and now brings that experience back to Tucson Speedway. The team is slated to run the remainder of the season as well as the full 2025 schedule as they develop their mentor-protégé program.

“Tucson’s just a smart place to do it,” said Norman. “ It’s a good racing track. [I’ve] done well at Tucson, I’ve been all over the country, and it’s the best track in the country. They treat you right, the pits are right, the racing is 3-4 wide, it’s good and the cars will come.”

Norman raced at Tucson for the first time in over two years in April. He put a car together on three days’ notice and he noted he did so on little sleep. He earned a runner-up finish in his first feature back. He was passed after a late restart on the final lap by points leader Cassidy Hinds. The gap at the finish line was just one-thousandth of a second after he had led a majority of the race. 

Vision West announced its plans with Norman ahead of the next Super Late Model event. in June. Norman followed up his return with two 5th-place finishes. 

It was around this time conversations started between McKissick and Vision West. And shortly after McKissick became the first driver to work with the development team. 

“Ron’s a great teacher,” McKissick said. “Even in the shop, going over maintenance on the car, setups, gears, if I have a question on why we are doing something he is more than happy to tell me why. They know what they are doing and they give me some pointers and know what I need to do and when I need to do it.”

VWM is owned by Jim and Bill Rayburn allows Norman to operate the team as his own. And when faced with the decision on who he wanted to drive the development car, McKissick was an easy choice.

“I built [Zane’s] first truck and they took care of it and did great for five years and won a lot of races,” Norman said. “I’ve watched him and I have seen his demeanor and his attitude and I’ve thought, ‘Man, I really like this kid.’ I like working with kids who want to be receptive, polite and kind.”

McKissick has been racing in Tucson’s truck division since 2018. He has finished runner-up in each of the last two seasons after his 2021 title. He’s only running part-time this year in the trucks, but he got his first win of the season in his last appearance on June 29th. 

In his first Super Late Model experience at the Roasted Rattler, McKissick qualified near the rear of the field with a 16.083-second lap. Starting near the rear in the first main, he took his time to follow the pack in front of him to learn more about his car and how it handles around the field. His patience paid off over the 40-lap race as he finished 4th after finding some momentum using the bottom lane. All three drivers that finished in front of McKissick are former Super Late Model track champions.

“I liked the fact that he backed down and learned what was happening around him, and then he went for it,” Norman said. “He didn’t charge out there to figure it out, he took a conservative approach to it.”

That level of maturity to go out and not wreck a car trying to figure out is part of what makes McKissick a good fit for Vision West.

Norman finished the first event in 2nd place behind Dylan Jones who swept both main events. Norman got another podium finish in the 2nd main, placing 3rd. McKissick finished 5th in the Main 2, capping his strong debut with two top 5 runs. 

“It was a lot of fun,” McKissick said. “Definitely a lot more exhausting than the truck, I don’t know if it’s because we run two mains or what, but it’s a lot of fatigue. You put a lot into the wheel so it’s on the edge all the time.”

While the arrangement with Vision West is on a race-to-race basis, McKissick said he plans to run some more truck races this season. And I would not write him out of some potential future Super Late Models starts. 

As for the team, they plan on providing full effort in 2025 toward Norman’s pursuit of his 10th track championship. And Vision West Motorsports hopes to compete at some bigger Super Late Model events across the West Coast in the future. 

The Vision West team and Ron Norman will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 14 for the next Tucson Speedway SLM event. It will also be the season NASCAR points finale. Though Tucson races into October for track championships.

Image: Vision West Motorsports