Florence Speedway
Owens takes crack at regaining Florence magic
By Bryan Ault
Special to DirtonDirt
Jimmy Owens (20) finished sixth in a Thursday semifeature. (heathlawsonphotos.com)
UNION, Ky. (Aug. 7) — Jimmy Owens knows his days on a national tour are likely behind him as he enters the twilight stages of his racing career. The long nights, hot summer days and grueling grind of racing against the best competition in the country, week in and week out, have been replaced with an emphasis on regional racing in the Southeast, notably with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series. | RaceWire
But the 53-year-old Koehler Motorsports driver returns to the national spotlight in this weekend’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Sunoco North-South 100 at Florence Speedway, feeling optimistic about his chances against a stout field. Although the four-time Lucas Oil Series champion is enjoying success on the regional level, the Newport, Tenn., racer misses competition on the national tour, which.
“It's kind of exciting,” said Owens, who last captured the Lucas Oil Series championship in 2020, in the pit area on Thursday afternoon ahead of the North-South 100 preliminary event. “You know, we've been running pretty good in the regional stuff, so we're kind of excited about jumping in here and seeing what we can get with these guys. I miss racing with these guys every week. We've been away from them for a while, and it's kind of like being back with the family."
Lucas Oil Series race director Rick Schwallie has fond memories of Owens racing weekly with the tour, and said he misses seeing the Volunteer State wheelman on the road, too.
“I know Jimmy maybe a little bit more than just a racer, so Jimmy's always has been a very down-to-earth, simple guy that you could just laugh and cut up with him and just have a good time or a good, serious conversation with him too, and it's productive,” Schwallie said. “His family's been out on road raced with us. I’ve seen his kids grow up over the years, so it was always a pleasure every time we ever had Jimmy race with us.”
Owens is back at a track that has been friendly to him in the past: along with four victories at the Ralph Latham Memorial, he took home the checkered flag at the North-South 100 three times with his first victory coming in 2007 when the event remained unsanctioned. His back-to-back North-South victories in 2010-2011 made him the first back-to-back winner before defending race champion Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill.
“It was pretty, pretty awesome,” Owens said of winning the crown jewel event twice in a row. “You know, every time you win against this bunch, it's pretty crazy. It's been some exciting races and some pretty dominant races, but it's just been a fun racetrack that I’ve enjoyed coming to a lot when you look back through the years. Hopefully, we can keep going.
“I mean, it's just a racy little joint, you know what I mean? You can run top, bottom or wherever, beat down the cushion, you know, whatever it takes to get it done. If you've got a good-running car, you can usually win here.”
After a bit of a slow start in 2025, his efforts at the regional level have been successful. Owens leads the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series point standings and finished third on the Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals tour (while briefly parking his Koehler Motorsports car for the Big Frog Motorsports ride). Along with a Schaeffer's Spring Nationals victory at Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, Ky. on May 10, Owens has three victories on the HTF tour in 2025: Sugar Creek Raceway in Blue Ridge, Ga., on May 16, Senoia (Ga.) Raceway on July 5, and Aug. 1 at Duck River Raceway Park in Wheel, Tenn.
At the same time, Owens, so accustomed to racing up front, seven times has failed to make starting lineups on the Lucas Oil and World of Outlaws tours this season.
“It's been up and down, I guess,” Owens said. “I mean, it's had good moments and bad moments, not been up to par for what we want. But, all in all, it's been an all right season. We've got (room to improve) here and there, but, you know, best we can do.”
He started the North-South 100 weekend with a sixth-place finish in a Thursday semifeature and is hopeful for a solid performance in Saturday’s $75,000-to-win finale. Owens recorded a top-five finish at the crown jewel every year from 2017-2021, but has struggled to be a factor over the past three seasons, failing to finish better than last year’s 14th-place run.
“Just made bad decisions (on setups). I mean, we've been made a whole lot of good decisions, and, you know, every once in a while it just don't fall the way you want it to,” Owens said of his Florence struggles. “We’ve done everything I know to do. (Car owner) Bobby (Koehler) hooked us up with good equipment once again. And it's just all in my hands right now. So, it's up to me to get it done because I got the stuff to get done.”
Nobody, including Schwallie, doubts his craftiness at a place like Florence.
“You just know when Jimmy Owens is at Florence that he could potentially win, so he does have a good track record here,” Schwallie said. “Obviously, the pit area is littered with talent. It doesn’t matter to us who wins them, but Jimmy should be one of the contenders, no doubt.”
