Florence Speedway
Notes: King ups ante for 40th North-South 100
Florence Speedway promoter Josh King. (Heath Lawson)
Josh King has his finger on the pulse of Dirt Late Model racing enough to recognize when the sport’s economy begins to shift. And 2022 marks one such season with the division’s national tours, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series, paying bigger purses than ever along with upstart circuits spurred by live streaming, the XR Super Series and Castrol FloRacing Night in America.
So last fall, as series and tracks began sorting out 2022 schedules, the promoter of Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., didn’t want his 40th annual Sunoco North-South 100 to get left behind. After 19 seasons of scheduling the northern Kentucky oval’s biggest event as a $50,000-to-win special, King upped the ante to $75,000-to-win for this year’s Lucas Oil Series event.
The upgrade makes Saturday’s three-day event, which also dumped its preliminary program and double-heat format for four split-field $5,000-to-win features on Thursday and Friday, the fourth richest Dirt Late Model main event of '22 on an ever-burgeoning calendar.
“We’ve been 50 (thousand to win) for a long time. And I’m old enough in the sport to remember when $50,000-to-win was a big deal,” King told DirtonDirt.com’s Derek Kessinger in a Monday interview. “It’s kind of got to the point where it’s like, every other week, it’s like, ‘Oh, another 50-grand.’ That’s kind of why we jumped this year. Just seeing the writing on the wall with everything going on in the sport, it’s kind of, as a bigger show, you’ve kind of got to hold your spot in the pecking order. And it was kind of jump this year or fall into the pack. So we sat down over the winter and did the math and said, ‘Well, it’s only another 60-grand, let's go ahead and do it.’ ”
The event that started with a modest $4,000-to-win payday when Pat Patrick of Sayler Park, Ohio, captured the inaugural race in 1983 is now a juggernaut with a three-day purse totaling more than $300,000, making it the richest event in the half-mile oval’s history.
The purse boost for the North-South 100 is just part of the sport’s virtual economy of scale that’s “changed our entire business philosophy,” said King. Instead of running a weekly Late Model division for $2,000-to-win that doesn’t move the needle — or draw many cars — King expanded his special event schedule, but even bigger money is no guarantee of a packed grandstand or full pit area.
“Even a $5,000-to-win, you’re not getting a whole lot more than your regular guys you would have got back in the day for $2,000-to-win,” King said. “And then when you have $10,000-to-win, not much different. We’ve changed our philosophy, and we’ve hit on some things on our business model that has worked really well.”
Creative promotions have helped him draw more spectators for some non-Late Model events than some of the track’s traditional Late Model specials, including the Spring 50 and Lucas Oil-sanctioned Ralph Latham Memorial. Picking your spots with a Late Model event is critical when “you can’t pay the purses you’d have to pay (to) support these cars even more than once or twice a year.”
King added that “it’s definitely a transition period in our sport. And it’s scary. From a guy that’s been here forever, I mean, I remember the first time (his late father Jerry King) said we should pay $50,000-to-win back in at the end of 2002, going into ’03, It’s like, ‘Whoa, can can we even do this?’ We’re still nervous about it. I mean, it was probably 15 years before we ever got comfortable to the point where, ‘Yeah, we’ve got this, this isn’t a big deal anymore.’
“Well, now ... across the sport, a $50,000-to-win race isn’t that big of a deal anymore. So moving forward, I don’t know where it’s gonna go. But you’re right, the $10,000s, $5,000s, all those — even $15,000s and stuff — it’s not that big of a deal any more. It’s a scary spot to be in when you have so much invested in a racetrack that depends on big crowds, (and) in our case, Late Models to it. It’s a nerve-racking situation, I’ll tell you that.”
Florence feats
Retired Hall of Famer Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind. — who on Saturday will be inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame — enjoyed a banner season at Florence Speedway in 2012 with an unprecedented sweep of the track’s long-running major events: the Spring 50, Ralph Latham Memorial and Sunoco North-South 100.
Josh Rice of Verona, Ky., has an opportunity to duplicate that feat. Rice, who has three victories in four Florence appearances this season — including the $10,000-to-win Spring 50 and $15,000-to-win Latham Memorial on the Lucas Oil circuit — will on Saturday try to add his name to the North-South 100 winner’s list for the first time.
O’Neal's 2012 performances saw him lead 36 of 50 laps in the Spring 50, all 50 circuits of the Latham Memorial and the final 16 laps of the North-South after he darted under Jimmy Owens heading into turn three to take command.
Rice is the first driver to have a chance at the Florence trifecta since 1993 and fourth overall. Before O’Neal, the two earlier opportunities were by the late Jack Boggs of Grayson, Ky., who scored Spring 50-Latham Memorial sweeps in 1990 and 1993. But Boggs fell shy both times, finishing eighth in 1990’s North-South 100 won by Mike Head of Ellenwood, Ga., and finishing 17th in 1993’s 100-lapper won by John Gill of Mitchell, Ind.
Boggs, of course, was a three-time North-South 100 winner (1986, ’92, and ’94) to join O’Neal among drivers who have hit Florence’s career trifecta in the three events. Three other drivers that have hit Florence’s career hat trick: Gill, Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn. and Bob Pierce of Oakwood, Ill. (whose son Bobby has won the Spring 50 and the North-South 100, but not the Latham Memorial).
Three other likely weekend entrants can complete the Florence trifecta with a victory in the North-South 100: Steve Casebolt of Richmond, Ind.; Scott James of Bright, Ind., and hometown driver Darrell Lanigan.
Hall of Fame connections
The National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame will induct five drivers on Saturday afternoon, four with major victories at Florence.
Don O’Neal’s Florence pedigree rivals most any drivers with a pair of North-South 100 victories (2012-13) and three Ralph Latham Memorial victories (2005, ’11-12). Bart Hartman of Zanesville, Ohio, was 2005’s North-South 100 winner and Mike Jewell of Scottsburg, Ind., outran 51 entrants in 2004’s Latham Memorial. Brian Birkhofer’s high point at Florence came with a $30,000 victory in 2002’s Dirt Late Model Championship, which drew 69 cars for a late October event. Fifth inductee Steve Boley of West Liberty, Iowa, made just three appearances at Florence.
This year’s inductees add to the impressive success of the 131 drivers inducted into the Hall of Fame. Racing historian Bob Markos has compiled an array of driver data for the honored racers:
• Hall of Fame drivers represent 24 states and the Canadian province of Ontario with Iowa leading the way with 18 members.
• Hall of Fame inductees account for more than 46,000 feature race victories at tracks in 42 states, five Canadian provinces, Australia and South Africa.
• There are more than 1,090 season and track championships among inductees.
• Winners of 37 of the 51 World 100s are in the Hall of Fame along with victors of 28 of 41 Dirt Track World Championships; 18 of 26 Dreams; 33 Hillbilly 100s; 25 North-South 100s; and 18 Show-Me 100s.
• Of the drivers inducted into the Hall of Fame, 12 are active or semi-active, 77 are retired and 42 are deceased.
Odds and ends
Florence’s preliminary nights carry bonuses for fast qualifiers. On Thursday, the quickest overall in Allstar Performance time trials will receive a $2,034 bonus in memory of Doug Lee. ... On Friday, the C.J. Rayburn Fast Time award will pay $501 apiece to the fastest qualifier in each qualifying group. ... While Mike Marlar has been on a summer hot streak of top-five finishes until his last three starts, the Winfield, Tenn., driver’s last five North-South 100 starts aren’t particularly noteworthy: 23rd, 22nd, 23rd, 14th and 22nd. His best North-South finish came in 2012 when he finished third. ... Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., has the longest current streak of consecutive North-South 100 starts at 18 (Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., has the next longest streak at 17). ... Hometown driver Darrell Lanigan, whose expected North-South 100 appearance will mark his first competition since mid-June, leads all drivers with 24 North-South 100 starts (he’s never won). ... The best average finish among drivers with at least five North-South 100 starts is 2002 winner Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. (an average finish of 4.2 among five starts).
Editor's note: Additional information provided by Florence Speedway scorer Ron Jerger; updates with Boley's Florence record.
