Issue Solved!!
In mIRC Connect Options, I unchecked "Check Connection Time Out". mIRC no longer usurps DALnet's server ping.
Debug output on DALnet is now:
<- PING :choopa.nj.us.dal.net
-> choopa.nj.us.dal.net PONG :choopa.nj.us.dal.net
Thanks for your help!
Thomas
