Danny Summerhill anchors career of chaos at American Criterium Cup

Danny Summerhill (REIGN Storm Racing) has had an erratic career of racing success and personal challenges - sometimes turbulent, sometimes mercurial, always entertaining. In 2023, he had what he called a “fairy-tale season” and won the men’s individual and sprint titles at the American Criterium Cup, a series of 10 one-day races across the US. 

His success last year also helped his American Cycling Group squad win the best overall team classification in the ACC. Pro cyclist turned film maker, Angus Morton, joined the team on five race weekends to capture the ethos of a group of riders experiencing the US criterium life and, as it turned out a metamorphosis of Summerhill, in ‘Crit Dreams’. 

This year, the team races under the REIGN Storm Racing brand, still led by chief sports director and former pro Thomas Craven, whom Summerhill calls “the glue.” REIGN Storm has already swept team prizes at two spring series—the six-race USA Crits and eight-race USA Speed Week. The team had seven podiums during USA Crits, with Summerhill finishing third overall behind overall winner and teammate Alfredo Rodriguez.

“I say it does not actually matter who wins for us. The much larger objective is that we win. This year, I don't care. In other years, I would absolutely have a different answer for you. I have a focus on just being part of the best team and showing that we are the best,” Summerhill told Cyclingnews during the team’s stop at the Athens Twilight Criterium, part of USA Crits and USA Speed Week, where he finished second. 

Having turned 35 in February, Summerhill showed no signs of slowing down, using his legs in a sprint or with his vocal cords in a conversation about sprinting. His cycling career goes back to 2004 when he raced multiple disciplines, including US cyclocross titles as a junior and U23 athlete, plus a silver medal as a junior at the 2007 Cyclocross World Championships. It wasn’t until Craven signed the Coloradoan to the Best Buddies Team in 2021 that Summerhill refocused on criterium racing and considered himself no longer a ‘bridesmaid’.

“I have a lot of excitement for the ACC, obviously. It has a special place in my heart, just due to the people that I met through the organization who give their blood, sweat and tears for that event. And not that USA Crits does not do the same, but I just have a special vested interest in the ACC due to the fact that I won both competitions last year. And of course, like anyone would want to win it again,” Summerhill told Cyclingnews.

“I would love to win it [American Criterium Cup] again, of course, or it be won by someone on REIGN Storm - me or Alfredo [Rodriguez] or [Bryan] Gomez. Whether it ends up being my objective to win ACC again, or that of the team’s, as long as I am helping contribute in either of those two, it’s the same.”

The 2024 ACC began June 7 at Tulsa Tough, REIGN Storm taking the lead in the team rankings with Bryan Gomez and Alfredo Rodriguez finishing in the top five and Summerhill setting the mark as the sprint leader. 

The second stop of the series will take place this Saturday at Tour of America’s Dairyland at the Downer’s Classic. And it was at ToAD last year that the ‘Crit Dreams’ story took shape.

“I’ve always been a bridesmaid. I’m happy with that, [but 2023] moved me away from being a lead-out rider, and I’ve been happy I’ve been able to have this success…a fairy-tale season,” Summerhill said in the film.

The unexplainable fairy tale

Morton’s film, with support from BMC, follows the second half of the 2023 ACC, which included racing near Milwaukee, Wisconsin for ToAD. Craven said back in his day of US racing this was the “holy grail’ of criterium racing and defined a way of life. 

Using behind-the-scenes footage, personal interviews and race highlights, ‘Crit Dreams’ tells the story of the quest for this holy grail, which Craven said was “for the crowd. You want to do crazy things to put on a show”.

From various suburban host houses with large plates of pasta on riders’ laps to team meetings using a computer to translate audio to Spanish for several riders, the American Cycling Group squad worked to win the team and individual titles last summer in what they called "David versus Goliath" as a small team against the teams with big budgets.

Summerhill recounted his major career setbacks along the way, admitting “the world thought I was a ‘Loony Toon’” after he was let go in 2017 by the highly successful UnitedHealthcare road team. He resigned after charges of 'disorderly conduct, discharging a weapon in a public place and reckless endangerment' related to firing a gun into a hillside while on a training ride in a rural area outside Denver. It turned out to be a snowball effect of career starts and stops.

“He gives a shit,” was how Craven summed up his team leader. “He cares about the race. He cares about people. He’s super compassionate, smart. He could probably make more money with a bigger team, doing other types of races, but he’s content with the team setup, a very cohesive setup.”

Before riding for Craven, Summerhill was invited by USA Cycling to take part on the men’s Team Pursuit squad in 2019, which he called ‘a gift’ and made an attempt to earn a spot at the Tokyo Olympic Games. While he helped the squad win several lead-up races, the US did not qualify enough spots for team event and he said he got burned out from the track experience. He started taking anti-depressants, which led to a one-year suspension for failing to obtain the proper Therapeutic Use Exemption for Adderall, a medication used to treat ADD. 

That was also about the time Summerhill’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and he became the main caregiver for the family. 

“I’m nervous for the day that he forgets my name,” Summerhill managed to say as he got choked up talking about his father, Ed, in the film. His father succumbed to the disease this spring, and the film pays tribute to Ed Summerhill in the credits.

“I’m chaotic enough, and with ADD, there’s no way that I’d be able to keep cycling. I know everything happens for a reason, and it’s difficult understanding what those reasons are sometimes. I’m happy for all the instances in my life that have brought me here,” he would summarise at the end.