How Jay Mounce, Gavin Stout Grew National Midget Racing Team - Speedway Digest

What began as a simple exchange over social media between Jay Mounce and Gavin Stout has grown into a strong partnership and presence in the world of Midget racing.

Since the inaugural season for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota in 2022, Mounce/Stout Motorsports has sprouted into one of national Midget racing’s fastest-growing teams. Starting with a single-car stable in the late 2010s, the Tulsa, OK-based operation is now a multi-car team with three full-time racers and a rental program.

But this was not the original vision for Oklahoma-native Mounce, who raced Midgets on his own in the 1990s through the early 2010s. In 2017, a few years after hanging up his helmet, he met Gavin Stout – a former Sprint Car racer from Wichita, KS – who was brand-new to Midgets and looking for some help with the car he just purchased.

“That’s basically how we met – [Gavin] just messaged me on Facebook and he brought his stuff over, and I just went through it at the shop for him,” Mounce said. “The rest is history, really.”

Stout had recently graduated from college and taken a job building power lines across the country but still wanted to be involved in Midget racing.

“I ended up buying a Midget because they were becoming popular around Oklahoma, and I was like ‘Hell, I want to try a Midget,’” Stout said. “Within like three races, the motor broke, so I just kinda parked it and left it in the garage, forgot about it and went back to work.”

Later that year, Mounce answered Stout’s Facebook message and the two paired for the 2018 Chili Bowl Nationals. Inside the hallowed walls of the SageNet Center, their first idea of partnership was born.

“We kinda had a conversation after Chili Bowl and Jay was like, ‘Well, what do you want to do with this stuff?’ and I was like, ‘Man, I would like to kinda develop kids; give kids the opportunity that I never had,’” Stout said. “I personally can’t race all the time. I would love to do it, but I just can’t. I’m trying to build a career, trying to build a life, trying to make money for my future and stuff. I can’t race and work.

“He was like, ‘I get it.’ He was able to race more, and he was like, ‘Well, what if I just took care of it all and you just paid for it?’ I was like, ‘That’ll work.’”

Having several years of experience behind the wheel in his own equipment, Mounce shared Stout’s vision for the team and its purpose.

“I was that kid that thought I was better than the equipment I was in,” Mounce said. “I didn’t have a whole lot of money to build my own stuff; I was only as good as my equipment was. That’s kinda where my career started and ended.”

Fast forward to 2024, and the principle of opportunity is still what defines their operation as they’ve begun taking on new racers this season.

“There’s so much talent out there that nobody gets to see or hear about because it costs so much money to get into Midget racing,” Mounce said. “We give guys an opportunity to go and experience what it feels like and to grow themselves as a racecar driver at a professional level without having to spend that kind of money.”

While Stout is not as commonly seen around the track due to his work schedule, he still takes charge of the finances and provides stability in the shop.

“We’ve got a couple of kids that we get during the year that we hire that help us, but when it comes to building the cars, me and Jay build the cars,” Stout said. “Me and Jay do this stuff. At the end of the day, we understand what our guys are wanting.”

Mounce/Stout spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons primarily working with Illinois racer Chase McDermand and following the Xtreme Outlaw Series schedule. Together, they went to Victory Lane six times with the Series last year – most of any driver – and finished fifth in the championship standings.

But for 2024, Mounce/Stout took a leap forward and brought on multiple new drivers and crew members as they expanded their full-time team past a single car for the first time.

“From the start of the year until now, we’ve brought new guys in as far as guys helping with cars, wrenching on cars, racecar drivers,” Mounce said. “Jayden (Clay) basically being new to Midgets in general and him being a rookie, and Teddy (Tyler Edwards) not having a whole lot of seat time other than maybe the Chili Bowl in a Midget.”

Edwards has been the standout newcomer so far this season, posting a best finish of fourth at Atomic Speedway in May. Clay, who graduated from Micro Sprints in 2023, is still traveling the learning curve in his rookie Midget season.

While the team has not found Victory Lane yet this year, they are making progress. Mounce said the struggles they’ve endured trying to win races in 2024 is all part of the process of team development.

“I feel like we’ve got a way to go yet,” Mounce said. “We knew that this year, there were going to be some growing pains. Some of it was on the side of us fielding more cars than we normally had, and some of it on the side of bringing new guys in that really haven’t raced a whole lot and getting them acclimated to the Midget scene.”

While the summer break in the Xtreme Outlaw Series schedule continues – picking back up July 19-20 at Spoon River Speedway in Lewistown, IL – the team is preparing each day for their breakout moment – the moment their hard work pays off and a new star is born at Mounce/Stout Motorsports.

“For us, it’s just about helping these kids make a name for themselves,” Stout said. “They’re there, it’s just crossing that bridge.”

For the full 2024 Xtreme Outlaw Midget schedule and tickets to events, click here.

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every race for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota live on DIRTVision.

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