Brownstown Speedway
All's great in life, racing for brand-new dad Moran
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt.com staff reporter
Moran kisses his newborn daughter Poppy Jane. (Kyle McFadden)
BROWNSTOWN, Ind. (March 28) — When Devin Moran and his wife Lakia were asked if they could have their picture taken in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory lane Saturday at Brownstown Speedway with 14-day-old daughter Poppy Jane, they didn’t hesitate.
But the 31-year-old, newly minted father had one request: “Can I kiss her head while you take the photo?” | RaceWire
That simple gesture encapsulated a special night where Moran, his family and the Roger Sellers-owned Double Down Motorsports team created a memory that won’t soon fade.
Exactly two weeks removed from becoming a father, the star driver from Dresden, Ohio, returned to action for the first time since the birth of his daughter and delivered perhaps the sweetest victory of his career in the 29th annual Indiana Icebreaker — his third straight triumph in the event and one worth $25,000.
Only five months removed from securing his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship — fittingly in his home state at Eldora Speedway last October — Moran now finds himself in a stretch where every part of his life converges with overwhelming gratitude.
“Oh, yeah, like I said, on the front straightaway, glory to God,” Moran said. “It’s a dream right now. Everything’s going perfect. The championship last year, just having our baby and winning the first race with her. So just an amazing feeling and life is awesome right now.”
Although Moran looked like a driver on a mission Saturday night, outdueling early leader Brandon Sheppard by peppering the five-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion with a series of sliders between laps 13-15, the reigning series champ said that attack mode is how he’s learned to operate every night.
“Yeah, I mean, honestly, I feel like we have that mentality every night,” Moran said. “We go to the track expecting and wanting to win, and the guys just did a great job and provided me a really, really good race car. So just kind of made the right moves and it worked out.”
Still, the days leading into Saturday were anything but routine. The reality of fatherhood has consumed Moran — the responsibility, the schedule adjustment and, most noticeably, the lack of sleep — as he continues to settle into his newest role.
“Yeah, I mean, really, I don’t even feel like I’m a father yet,” he said. “It’s just crazy to think about. I have such a responsibility now, but it’s an amazing feeling. It’s just awesome. Like I was telling someone earlier, we’ve had like no sleep lately.”
But if Saturday was any indication, Poppy Jane might already be settling into racing life just fine.
“But Poppy must have known it was a race night or something because last night was the best she slept,” Moran said. “She only woke up twice during the night, so she must have sensed that we had something important going on today. She was awesome today and she was in the merch trailer all day hanging out with Lakia and my mom.”
Thankfully for Moran, the March-April stretch on the Lucas Oil Series allows him plenty of room on the schedule to adjust. He hasn’t had to race since winning March 7’s Georgia-Florida Speedweeks finale at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Ga. He’ll take next Easter weekend off as well before a ramped up slate of events beginning with April 10-11’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series-sanctioned Illini 100 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway.
“We pretty much took the whole week off last week to enjoy her, and Lakia’s family was down and hanging out with them,” added Moran, whose father-in-law is western Pennsylvania Dirt Late Model veteran Bump Hedman. “Then slowly got back in the rhythm at the start of the week and started going back in all day Tuesday, Wednesday. So it’s a process trying to get it all figured out and be a good dad and be a good husband and figure it all out.
“And I’m sure I’ll have my ups and downs with it, but we’re working on it,” he added.
If there’s any place that eases that transition, it’s Brownstown, the quarter-mile that’s become one of Moran’s most reliable stops on the circuit.
Outside of an engine failure before the green flag in Sept. 22, 2022’s held-over daytime program ahead of that night’s Jackson 100 — resulting in a 25th-place finish — Moran hasn’t placed worse than 10th at the quarter-mile oval since his first start there in March 2014.
“I’ve always enjoyed racing at this place. I’ve always just had a knack for it,” Moran said. “I think some of it is it doesn’t have an outside wall. It’s like Muskingum (County Speedway that his father Donnie owns and brother Tristin promotes in Zanesville, Ohio) and it’s something I’m used to, and it’s just smaller. It’s a smaller, less dusty Muskingum, I feel like. There’s just a lot of similarities and characteristics, and it just fits my wheelhouse. So luckily enough, we have a good car right now and we can capitalize on it."
Crew chief Chuck Kimball offered a far simpler breakdown.
“He’s just … good here,” Kimball said. “It’s like how J.D. — (Jonathan Davenport) is just good at Eldora. … We unload here the same time, every time we come. It makes it easy.”
Saturday’s feature, however, required more than their trusty baseline package. The early going tested Moran, especially the cautions on laps 7, 8, 9 and 12, with every restart forcing him to make a decision. For Moran, those decisions came down to lane choice.
“I felt I didn’t know where to pick,” Moran said. “I picked the top the first time (on lap seven) and Ricky got a really good run and I was like, ‘Man, I think that bottom was better.’ ”
Moran committed to the bottom groove on the lap-eight and -nine restarts, a move that set his race-winning sequence in motion.
“I picked the bottom and got a good start, but it wasn’t good enough,” Moran said. “And then the next one after that, I was like, ‘Alright, well, I’ll just slide them here.’ ”
What followed was an action-filled three laps: Moran slid early leader Brandon Sheppard entering turn one on lap 13 until Sheppard answered with a slider of his own in turn three. Moran crossed him over down the frontstretch for another slider into turn one on lap 14, when Sheppard attempted another slider himself turn three, but couldn’t clear him.
The duel allowed Ricky Thornton Jr. to briefly make it three-wide for the lead off turn two on lap 15, but Moran’s momentum — and his knack for staying committed to the right groove at the right time around Brownstown — proved decisive.
“I feel like I could clear him and then we went back and forth with sliders,” Moran said. “(Sheppard) tried kind of shortcutting the corner, and it really allowed me to be able to get up in front of him and get a run. It was awesome. Brownstown is always an amazing racetrack. I love racing here. It’s always good.”
Although a minor detail 13 races into the 60-race season, Moran jumped Hudson O’Neal for the Lucas Oil points lead after Saturday, now leading by 30 markers entering Sunday’s program at Atomic Speedway outside Chillicothe, Ohio. The chase toward another series title is on.
“So just, it’s cool that we can do what we’re doing,” Moran said. “It’s cool that we can do it as a family now.”
