DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.

Show-Me 100's three years apart... Hudson O'Neal from the bottom to the top | Daily 5-23-2023

From out of a ride after the Show-Me 100 three years ago to the top of the late model world, we'll talk about Hudson O'Neal's rise today. Plus what to watch tonight, and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, May 23rd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

You may or may not realize this, but we are well into year four of me doing these daily shows talking about dirt racing. Today is actually the 826th episode. The beauty of having done so many over a decent span of time is the chance to see things play out. And a guy I've talked about plenty over the last several years is Hudson O'Neal. To see where he was in 2020, to where he is now has been quite the rise. At the moment, he tops Dirt on Dirt's Top 25 list, is second in Lucas points, leads the Flo Series, and you could make a very strong argument for him being the top guy right now in all of dirt late model racing. The season started very slow in this transition to being the guy in the Rocket house car, but part way through Speedweeks this team caught fire and they've been very good since. Just to give you idea of how far he's come, O'Neal started the 2020 year in the MastersBilt house car. But after 26 Lucas appearances that resulted in just five top tens, the two sides parted ways following a B-Main exit at the Show-Me 100 in July. O'Neal was back out with Lucas a month later in the startup PCC car and was immediately better. He picked up a top five right out of the gate at Florence, and later won at Portsmouth. In 40 Lucas races that season, he had just 11 top tens though and an average feature finish of 13.5. For 2021 he moved over to Double Down Motorsports and was a contender right out of the gate winning the second night out at East Bay, and going on to five more wins including several crown jewels, an average finish of 8.3, and a second place finish in the standings behind Tim McCreadie. I did shows on O'Neal's rise twice that year, one in May and another in October. In just a few months really, he'd gone from searching for a ride to being a serious challenger on a national tour. But what he's done so far in 2023 is on another level. Jumping into the hot seat at Rocket after the departure of Brandon Sheppard was not going to be a walk in the park, and I think this could have very easily gone sideways. That Valvoline one has been so good for so long, and the pressure to perform under the eye of Mark Richards and Steve Baker has to be significant. And I think after the slow start they got off to between Volusia and Golden Isles in January, there were definitely question marks about whether or not O'Neal could handle this situation. But it's clear now that he's doing better than that. He's thriving in this big time ride. He won on February 9th at East Bay, and that kicked off a stretch of 22 races where he won seven times, has an average finish of 3.86, and his only finishes outside the top ten were a 12th at Eldora in Flo series action, and a 16th at Fairbury. The Eldora race he cut that tire, and Fairbury was where he tangled with Dennis Erb Jr. Both of those could have easily been top five finishes or better. Headed to the Show-Me 100 this week he trails Ricky Thornton Jr. by 40 points in the standings, and these two look like they could continue throwing haymakers at each other all summer. Three years ago at this exact event O'Neal left looking for a ride and wondering about his future. Things have sure changed since then. We'll talk more Show-Me 100 later this week.

If you missed it last week, DIRTRACKR decals are back in stock. That includes the sprint car, late model, and logo versions. They are $5 with free shipping. I've also marked down all shirts to $15, and that includes shipping in the US as well. I am thinking about a new run of shirts, with some new logo ideas. Let me know if you'd be down for one, or what other types of merch we could check out. I could do some other hats, or koozies, or hoodies, let me know your thoughts. You can check out the DIRTRACKR swag shop at shop.dirtrackr.com.

If you want some racing today, don't worry, things are busy even though it's a Tuesday. There is actually great racing all week long. The World of Outlaws Late Models are headed for Stateline Speedway in New York where they haven't been since 2021. Local favorite Dave Hess won there last time out, leading all 40 laps from the pole, and Max Blair won at Stateline in 2019. We still have just seven official races complete, and are still waiting for things to really shake out in this championship. Seven guys are currently within 58 points of the lead back to Bobby Pierce, and I think this thing is wide open. Chris Madden leads, Ryan Gustin is coming off a win at Marion Center, Kyle Bronson has been super consistent, Brandon Sheppard is going in the right direction with the Longhorn, Nick Hoffman won $10,000 Saturday, Brian Shirley is looking to bounceback after a 19th last time out, and Bobby Pierce already has five victories in 2023. After tonight, the Outlaws head to Sharon Speedway for three nights leading into a $25,000 to win race on Saturday night. If you aren't able to make it to Stateline tonight, you can watch live on DIRTVision.

As for the open wheel fans, we've got USAC sprint cars at Terre Haute for the Tony Hulman Classic, and the Xtreme Midgets begin two nights at Millbridge here in North Carolina. Through six points paying races so far in 2023, CJ Leary and Justin Grant are tied atop the sprint car standings headed into tonight, but only 67 points separate the top eight back to Chase Stockon. Including the two non-points races at Volusia, we've had six different winners in eight features, with Grant, Leary, Jake Swanson, Daison Pursley, Brady Bacon, and Kyle Cummins all scoring victories. A year ago at this track, Robert Ballou and Leary were winners, and Ballou could use a good finish tonight. He hasn't been a factor since the opening night of DIRTcar Nationals. This one will be live on FloRacing if you aren't nearby.

At Millbridge, Cannon McIntosh leads the series into the tight confines as the series points leader on the strength of two wins and four top fives in five races. He's been lights out in a micro at Millbridge this season, and we'll see if he can keep that up with the midget. Jade Avedisian is second with a win and four top tens, and Chase McDermand has already won twice as well. Gavan Boschele was a winner at this event a year ago, and Taylor Reimer won the second night, although she didn't know it until much later, as Cannon McIntosh was eventually DQ'd from his win for doctored tires. A bunch of these teams are coming back from the midwest where they just raced with USAC at Belleville and Sweet Springs. Joining the midgets the next two nights are non-wing 600 micros. This one is live on DIRTVision.

There was some racing last night, with the XR Workin' Man Series at Legit Speedway Park in Missouri. Tyler Erb led all 50 laps from the pole to score $10,000, topping Billy Moyer Jr. and Ricky Weiss. The race was a bit of a mess, taking nearly an hour to complete, and there were only something like 10 cars still running at the finish of the original 26 car starting field. This series is right back to racing on Thursday at Cherokee Speedway for another $10,000 to win show.

That's it for the show today. Thanks for tuning in, make sure to check out today's streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com.

Hope you guys have a good Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.