5/14/2025
Five Flags Speedway
Tri-Track Cruise Quest Series Makes Stop at 5 Flags on Friday, Offers Sportsmen Big Incentives
By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter
Jonathan Langham is like most drivers who battle in a local division at Five Flags Speedway.
The Irvington, Ala., native has always had a strong desire to compete at short tracks outside of Five Flags and Mobile International Speedway. But loading up his Sportsmen car and traveling every week seemed daunting and taxing to the wallet.
Enter the Tri-Track Cruise Quest. The inaugural series is a three-race competition between Five Flags, MIS and Montgomery Motor Speedway. The series champion along with one driver that competes in each feature will both win four-day cruises for two people.
Track promoters are hoping this incentive will increase the Sportsmen car counts.
“Everyone can see the Sportsmen class has dipped a little bit,” Langham admitted. “I’ve been pushing tracks to do something like this, so we can go up to Montgomery and those drivers can come down to the coast and race with us.”
The Tri-Track Cruise Quest makes its second stop Friday at Pensacola’s high banks. Sportsmen will race 40 laps—15 more than their traditional feature at Five Flags and just 10 less than the Sportsmen Snowball Derby—and be joined by the Faith Chapel Outlaws (35 laps), Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks (25) and Story and Bleich Roofing Crown Stocks (25).
Friday also marks the track’s annual Meet the Drivers Night. Admission is just $5 for fans of all ages, but still free for children ages 5-and-under. Gates open at 5 p.m. Friday with racing slated for 8.
Montgomery hosted the first Tri-Track Cruise Quest race last month and MIS will close the series with its 40-lap feature June 21.
“It definitely helps being spaced out,” Langham said. “A lot of drivers are like me and are only two- or three-man teams. This gives us a couple of weeks to regroup, put money aside and be well prepared for the next race.”
Langham finished second on April 26 to Will Smith, a Montgomery-area driver who is expected to be in Pensacola on Friday.
“It was eventful,” Langham recalled. “I wasn’t able to ride and save. But we came home in one piece and got a good podium finish.
“We’ve got ‘Big Mo’ on our side. I’m looking forward to this Friday. Hopefully, we can carry that momentum in. I think we have a good shot at it.”
Langham has been a perennial contender since coming onto the scene two decades ago. He is celebrating his 20th year of short-track racing, and Langham is grateful to have experienced more ups than downs in that timeframe.
He owns five total championships among three tracks—MIS, Montgomery and Sunny South Raceway—and finally captured the Sportsmen Derby in 2002.
“The 2022 and 2023 seasons were very good to me,” Langham said. “I was able to win the last four races between three tracks, cap it off with a Snowball Derby title and then follow it up with a championship (in Montgomery) the next year.”
The title in Montgomery was highlighted by a victory in a 70-lap feature race, demonstrating that Langham knows a thing or two about dialing in his car for long runs.
Whether it’s a 25-, 40-, 50- or 70-lapper, his gameplan rarely changes.
“I always like to try and put myself in a good situation where I don’t have to force the issue early on,” Langham said. “Hopefully, we have something late in the tank to rely on and be able to make a move.”
From talking with fellow drivers in Montgomery, he anticipates close to 90 percent of the field and 20 to 25 cars to be at the famed half-mile asphalt oval Friday.
Langham has big aspirations for the Tri-Track Cruise Quest Series as the years pass.
“Hopefully,” he began, “if these three races go well and everybody thinks it’s a good hit, next year we can run two races at Montgomery, two races at Mobile, one at Pensacola and then crown the series champion at the Snowball Derby.
“That might be wishful thinking, but we’re hoping this keeps getting bigger and bigger and the car counts climb.”
Submitted By: Dave Pavlock
