Lucas Oil Speedway
Veteran plugs away at Lucas Oil Speedway
By Lyndal Scranton
Lucas Oil Speedway
The Larry Jones ride. (gsstanekracingphotography.smugmug.com)
Larry Jones is the first to admit it’s not been the kind of season he was looking for in the Late Model division at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.
“It’s been bad year,” Jones said matter-of-factly, who is ninth in points with only two top-10 finishes. “Everything we’ve done has gone backwards or we break something. But hey, that’s part of it.”
As he’s done for 41 years behind the wheel of a race car, Jones will show up again Saturday with a positive outlook in the Lucas Oil Cattle United Late Model Association division. The 59-year-old El Dorado Springs, Mo., driver looks for a turnaround on Public Safety Appreciation Night Presented by KOLR. All police, fire and rescue personnel will be admitted free with ID.
Late Models will chase a $1,000-to-win, 25-lap feature in the night’s main event with the track's regular divisions on the undercard.
Jones and his familiar No. 99 has been a fixture at Lucas Oil Speedway over the years, even going back to the old Wheatland Raceway days when the facility was a threadbare dirt track with simple wooden bleachers surrounded by bean fields.
“I raced there I think the first night they were open, probably back in the early 1990s,” Jones said of the old speedway. “I love that place. Of course, it’s even better now. Just a great place. I’ve been there a bunch of years, always in a Late Model. I appreciate that place.”
Jones began racing at Humboldt (Kan.) Speedway shortly after graduating from El Dorado Springs High School. While he’s mostly been in Late Models, he did drive a modified for Leon Stewart's Dirt Works team for a few years and estimates he won 20-30 features at Missouri tracks in Adrian and Nevada along with Pleasanton, Kan.
“That was car No. 21,” Jones said, noting that he switched to 99 as a tribute to Hank Allison, a veteran Ozarks-area racer from long ago who later was a crew chief for Larry Phillips.
Jones noted that he’s pretty much been a one-man band his entire career, working on the car himself — even during his peak racing years when he ran three or more nights a week.
“I build my own motors and do everything myself. It’s me, myself and I,” Jones said with a laugh. “That’s it. I’ve done that all my life. When I traveled running three nights a week, I’d run Friday at Bolivar, Saturday at Lebanon and Sunday at Monett. Sometimes I’d hit a Wednesday or Thursday somewhere else. I kept that up for quite a few years.”
But Lucas Oil Speedway remains his favorite track to ever race. Jones has only won a handful of features there, including one last fall that remains one of his favorite victory lane visits.
“Oh man, that was good,” Jones said. "I haven’t won many, maybe two or three features over there. I’ve had a lot of seconds. Man, it’s tough to win there.
“My stuff’s getting old,” Jones added. “I’m trying to buy a new car. It’s a 2020 and that’s gonna bring me up a long ways. I have a 2007 GRT and had it updated to a 2012. It just ain’t what you need. When the track is heavy, it’s perfect, but it’s not heavy all the time.”
Jones said finishing second these days would be like a win, considering Appleton City's Johnny Fennewald has won five features in a row.
“It’s hard to run with Johnny Fennewald," Jones said. "And he ain’t cheating. I know Johnny good and he’s as legal as he can get. He just has it working. He’s sharp and he’s got Tony Jackson Jr. helping him and those two guys together, they’re hard to out-run.”
Meanwhile Jones, whose nephew Chase Jones competes in the modified division, said he will keep plugging away and hope to finish the season on a positive note.
“Yep, we’ll be there Saturday,” Jones said. “We’ll do the best we can.”
