Gordy Gundaker shared that he did not agree with the World of Outlaws Late Models disqualifying Trey Mills after he wrecked during Southern Iowa Speedway.
On lap 14 of the 35-lap feature, Mills flipped over on the backstretch in front of the race leaders. In fact, race leader Dustin Sorensen locked up his brakes and spun into the wall to avoid Mills’ car that had come to a stop on its lid in the middle of the race track.
As for what happened, Mills explained to DIRTVision ahead of racing action at Shelby County Speedway on Saturday night, “I had experienced a wreck like that before, but definitely not going that fast. Overall, it was just not a good night for us. I qualified bad and then I screwed up in the heat race. Just put us behind the 8-ball in the feature. And then, you know, we just had bad luck in the feature.”
“Had that right front go down in turn 3 and it just shot straight toward the fence,” he explained. “And from there I was just holding on. Hit the wall pretty good and then it ended up tipping over.”
“Safety equipment did its job and I was all good. It sucks, but it’s part of it. Can’t really worry about. I mean, obviously, stuff like that’s going to happen. But you know whenever you climb into that car there’s obviously a chance that something like that can happen, but you got all the safety equipment on. So going out there last night I wasn’t even thinking about the wreck on Wednesday night. I was just going out there and giving it 110% every time I go on the track, which is what I try to do every race.”
Trey Mills isn’t letting Wednesday night’s wild ride slow him down.
After a strong bounce-back last night, he’s putting the Wednesday wreck behind him and heading into Shelby County Speedway ready to give it everything he’s got. pic.twitter.com/9B2LM8Murl
— DIRTVision (@dirtvision) August 29, 2026
Following the wreck, Mills was disqualified. The Series initially explained why in a comment on Facebook, “A crew member on the No. 14 team entered the racetrack following the incident, which violates Series rules and resulted in the disqualification.”
A World of Outlaws Late Model Series official confirmed to StockCarReport.com that a crew member entering the racetrack was the reason why Mills was disqualified. As for what the disqualification entails, the official shared, “Everything is the same as it would be if he finished last naturally.” In this case, last was 23rd in the running order. That means he still received $1,000 in start money and 104 championship points.
Gundaker shared his thoughts on the disqualification during the most recent episode of DIRTVision’s Pit Bull, “I didn’t agree with the DQ, to be completely honest, but that being said I also wasn’t standing there so I don’t know who it was and who came on the track. But we never even saw a tow truck for five minutes. So Trey’s not getting out from underneath that car by it being flipped over with now tow truck there. Obviously, ends up crawling out on his own.”
“It’s hard in that stuff,” he continued. “I think it has to be discretionary to a point. I was at Maquoketa when Terbo and Nick are upside down. And there’s like 40 of us standing on the edge of the race track wanting to go on the track. And we didn’t. But we also understood that everyone was okay in that moment.”
“We didn’t get a good replay of what Trey’s flip was like, but clearly it was a big hit and I’m never going to fault a parent for running on a race track and being worried about their kid,” he concluded.
While Gundaker disagreed with the DQ, he did not disagree with the rule being in place. He explained, “I’m not saying that the rule shouldn’t be in place. I think the rule is 100% right. Because if it was a free-for-all for people to run onto the race track we would have a disaster. But I think in an instance like that we also need to use a little common sense. That, hey, if it’s his dad coming out there. Like look, that’s your son and I can understand that. Now, if we got five crew members on the race track trying to figure out how to we need to fix this thing, I think that’s a DQ all day.”
“It’s hard because if you’re not there in-person to understand the moment and what’s going on, the rule kinda sways back forth,” he added.
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