ENOCHVILLE, NC :: 17-year-old Joseph Mursuli is a rookie in the Super Late Model ranks but the Florida native is making gains and improving as a driver as the PASS South Super Late Model Series tour heads in to the heat of the summer. Mursuli is hoping to score his first top-10 of the season at South Boston Speedway on Saturday night and begin competing for wins later in the season.
“I’m satisfied with the progress I’m making,” Mursuli said when reflecting on the season to date. “My first race was my first race in a Super Late Model. After the second race, we made a lot of changes with the car. After the third race, we noticed a lot of progress. We’ve worked on the suspension and got the car going. Two races ago, we noticed we were starting to run on the same pace with everyone else. We would’ve had a good finish at Caraway and we got put up in the wall.”
Mursuli made his first career start at Dillon Speedway back in March. Before that, he raced in Late Model Trucks in the Florida United Pro-Truck Series. In that series, Mursuli raced at several tracks, including DeSoto Superspeedway, Citrus County Speedway, Auburndale Speedway, Orlando Speedworld and Charlotte County Motorsports Park among other tracks.
Mursuli just moved to North Carolina. He got in to racing at a young age, growing up near the Tampa Bay Area of Florida.
“Me and my dad used to watch NASCAR and stuff and it just drew me to racing and all that,” Mursuli stated. “I started racing Go-Karts when I was ten years old. From there, I moved up from Go-karts to Quarter Midgets up to trucks. I raced quarter midgets at a racing school in Tampa as well as in Concord, Georgia and Disney.”
Mursuli is hoping to start scoring better finishes as the PASS South tour heads in to the Summer stretch.
“My expectations for the rest of the season are to get top five finishes and hopefully win a couple of races and get a couple of poles and stay at the top,” Mursuli explained. “I like racing and I do want to move up the ranks. Hopefully, if we get a sponsor next year, we’ll run some PASS and some K&N.”
Mursuli will be in action in Saturday night’s South Boston 150 at South Boston Speedway. He is supported by Innovative Suspension, MontelloMarketing.com, Legacy Motors and Action Racing Collectibles.
