Florence Speedway
Surviving spin, O'Neal repeats at North-South
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Don O'Neal takes the checkers. (thesportswire.net)
UNION, Ky. (Aug. 10) — When Don O’Neal reached victory lane Saturday at Florence Speedway’s 31st annual Sunoco North-South 100, the 49-year-old driver from Martinsville, Ind., was glad to find everything just as he left it. The Sunoco Race Fuels checkered flag, the oversized bottle of champagne and, of course, the whopping $50,000 winner’s check. | Complete North-South coverage
“It’s just as good the second time as it was the first time,” said a smiling O’Neal, who led every lap for his second straight victory in one of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series crown jewel events.
And another thing was just like last year for O'Neal — race-spicing controversy in turns three and four at the undersized half-mile oval in northern Kentucky.
Last year’s victory came after late-race contact when O’Neal overtook Jimmy Owens, and this year’s win came despite O’Neal’s near-disastrous tangle with Earl Pearson Jr.’s slower car in turn three that sent the leader’s car spinning into turn four.
O’Neal, who spun and backed into the infield berm rolling backward, then regained forward progress by mashing the gas throughout the lap-56 incident, sweated a few anxious moments before officials restored him to the top spot after consulting the video replay, ruling his No. 71 never came to a stop.
“I didn’t stop,” the outside front-row starter declared in a postrace interview.” I just got in there too hard and Earl was going in there and going in there a little bit and trying to cut low.
“I just got into there too hard and spun us both out. I’m just blessed that he stopped, and I hate it for him that he stopped, and I just spun it around — and almost killed it — and kept it rolling. I’m sure when it took so long and (officials) weren’t saying nothing on the Raceceiver, 'Well, they’re looking at the replay,' and that’s what they done.”
Avoiding a trip to the tail of the field, O’Neal lost a full straightaway lead in the incident, but he fought off restart challenges from seventh-starting Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., and polesitter John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va., the rest of the way to erase his six-month losing streak on a series.
McCreadie twice swapped the second spot with Blankenship on late restarts in finishing second, while Blankenship’s car slowed at the flagstand with a broken rear end with four laps remaining, collecting a hard-charging Greg Johnson who lost a sixth-place run to draw one of two red flags in the final 11 laps.
Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., rallied from his 16th starting spot to finish third while hometown driver Darrell Lanigan, who also caught a piece of Blankenship’s car in the lap-96 incident, was fourth. Series points leader Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., took a provisional starting spot and came from 23rd to fifth.
Besides Blankenship’s demise, there was a 20-minute red flag on lap 89 when a spectator near the top of the frontstretch grandstands was apparently struck by flying debris. Emergency responders put a neck brace on a man and he was removed on a stretcher. There was no immediate word of his condition.
A late-starting night featuring high-speed track conditions and a lengthy 100-lapper that started after midnight and ended just before 2 a.m. had the drivers on the podium thanking fans for their patience in sticking around.
“What a North-South ... It’s been an eventful night for sure,” said O’Neal, whose softer tire choice forced him to stick with the tricky high groove throughout the race.
The return to victory lane was a revival for O’Neal, who hadn’t won a race since February’s Florida Speedweeks at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa. While O'Neal racked up 11 series victories last season, Saturday’s win doubled his victory total to just two for the MasterSbilt house car team.
“What has it been, six months or something like that since I won a race? It’s been a long time,” O’Neal said. “To come here and lead all 100 laps and never see a car underneath of you or anything says a lot. We just kept digging and digging.
“We brung a race car back here that we’ve been struggling with. We were hoping we’d get a new car to come here, but it won’t be done until we go next week. ... I’m sort of speechless.”
Besides his collision with Pearson, O’Neal had a couple of close scrapes with the concrete wall, and he turned back McCreadie’s hardest charge of the race on the lap-56 restart. But O’Neal stayed in control and out of trouble during the stretch or red flags and restarts over the final dozen laps, which took more than a half-hour to run.
“As long as summer as it’s been, it seems like it’s been two years since I’ve won a race,” O’Neal said. “I know it’s six months, but to get it done for MasterSbilt and stuff, and (co-car owner) Tader (Masters), we’ve beat up and down this road, and beat our heads against the side of the trailer and everything else, don’t know what to do ... to win this thing, especially a big race like this, this close to home, it means the world.”
McCreadie, who had struggled at Florence in recent years and had never been better than eighth in Kentucky’s richest Dirt Late Model race, was pleased with a second-place run just a week after his own $50,000 victory at Cedar Lake Speedway’s USA Nationals, when he topped O’Neal in a World of Outlaws Late Model Series event in New Richmond, Wis.
“The track was definitely different than what I’ve seen. Hat’s off to Don. He followed me last week, I followed him this week. I think he made one mistake, and of course I wasn’t close enough to do anything about it,” McCreadie said. “To come home to second to a class act like those guys, we’ll take it.”
McDowell picked his way toward the front, using the low groove more than most competitors in improving 13 positions for his best-ever North-South 100 performance.
“After the inversion there in the heat race, I think the top six that got inverted, I think only three of us actually made (the feature lineup),” McDowell said. “We threw some things at the car and knew we were going to have to be maneuverable and try to run where they weren’t.
“(Crew members) Jesse (Kerns) and Shane (McDowell) and all the guys just kind of made some changes and I just went out there to drive it wherever they weren’t.”
Besides the O’Neal-Pearson tangle on lap 56, the only other multi-car incident was on lap 78 for a Johnson-Eddie Carrier Jr. tangle in turn four.
Several other cautions appeared for single-car incidents. Steve Casebolt shredded a right-rear tire to draw a lap-six caution. Brad Neat spun on the 11th lap in turn four. Dustin Linville slowed with a flat tire on lap 17. Overall fast qualifier R.J. Conley had a flat left-rear tire on lap 21. Steve Shaver slowed on lap 60 after dumping fluids on the surface and Jared Landers hit the turn-four wall on lap 87.
Notes: O’Neal’s MasterSbilt Race Car is powered by a Jay Dickens Racing Engine and sponsored by Optima Batteries, Superior Cleaning Services, Seubert Calf Ranches and O’Neal Mulch. ... O’Neal’s previous series victory came Feb. 15 at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla. ... O’Neal was among four previous winners starting the race. The others: Jimmy Owens, Steve Shaver and Scott Bloomquist. ... The race had six first-time starters: Duane Chamberlain, Billy Moyer Jr., Tim Prince, Walker Arthur, Gregg Satterlee and Dennis Erb Jr. ... Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., ran as high as second early in the race but settled for sixth. No Kentucky driver has won the event since the late Jack Boggs in 1994, but four Kentucky natives starting among the top six and failed to reach victory lane. ... Ten of 26 starters completed 100 laps. ... Thirteen drivers were running at the finish. ... Another rich event is up for Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series drivers next weekend with the $40,000-to-win Comp Cams Topless 100 at Batesville (Ark.) Motor Speedway on Aug. 15-17.
