Paragon Speedway
Hall of Famer relishes special O'Neal Memorial
By Bryan Ault
Special to DirtonDirt
Don O'Neal (joshjamesartwork.com)
PARAGON, Ind. (April 17) — Competing at a race not far from home, and one named after your father, is an experience to be relished, and that’s precisely what racing veteran and Hall of Fame driver Don O’Neal felt during Friday’s Marvin O’Neal Memorial won by Iowa visitor Ryan Gustin. | RaceWire
After winning the B-main to the cheers of the hometown crowd, the elder O’Neal was able to climb as high as sixth in the 50-lap feature while his superstar son, Hudson, was battling for a top-three finish at the 3/8-mile track located just 10 miles west of Martinsville. Laps 38 and 40 proved to be perilous for the O’Neals, as Hudson slid over the bank off turn two on Lap 38 and Don tagged the frontstretch wall on Lap 40. Hudson rallied for an eighth-place run while Don retired for a 16th-place finish, just one spot ahead of his starting position.
Despite the rough and tumble outing, turning laps in his yellow No. 71 in a race honoring late his father definitely brought back nostalgic feelings for Don.
“You know, it's pretty awesome,” said O’Neal, who made his first start in the MasterSbilt Chassis house car since an Oct. 4 appearance at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway. “It's like the first place I've made any laps in a race car and it’s bringing back a lot of memories and I got to race here with my dad back in the day. I have Hudson here tonight, too, and dad's memorial race. It's pretty awesome.”
O’Neal’s father, a Martinsville-area business owner, was heavily invested in Don’s racing career, sponsoring his first rides into the sport.
“I wouldn't have raced for many years as I did,” O’Neal said. “I mean, you know, he spent his retirement on me when I was younger and, you know, that's what it takes anymore. (Series owner) James Essex put this race together and the racetrack, I just can't thank him enough.”
The event was the second annual race held in honor of Marvin, and what was apparently just the sixth Super Late Model race in the track’s history. While Paragon and nearby Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway are more known for open-wheel racing, the paper clip-shaped track means much more to the O’Neals.
“It's got a lot of history here,” O’Neal said. “I mean, you know, I grew up in the grandstands when kids can’t get in the pits and was watching my dad every Saturday night. We made some laps here a couple of years ago, when I first started getting back here, it’s been two years ago. I've been around here in the last couple years and made a few laps.”
Hudson O’Neal’s career started in his teens, but his father was a relative late bloomer.
“I was old,” O’Neal said with a wry grin. “I thought I was (former motocross and supercross racer) Jeremy McGrath for a while. Yeah, I wasn't very good, I think I was like 25 when I started. It was a lot safer than a motorcycle, for sure. My brother (Marty O’Neal) raced, and of course, my dad still raced. It was just a family thing.”
Throughout his lengthy career, O’Neal excelled on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, capturing the series championship in 2014 and ranking fifth on the all-time series win list with 46 checkered flags. He also stands atop the Northern Allstars list with 28 victories. As a Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway Hall of Fame inductee, he is a two-time track champion and four-time winner of the southern Indiana track’s Jackson 100, second only to the late Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., who won six times.
O’Neal, who retired as a full-time driver in 2019 after driving for Clint Bowyer, readily admits the sport has changed since his prime. Technological advances have tightened the field and required drivers to be more aggressive.
Of course, his son, Hudson, has had a remarkable amount of success in a much shorter span of time. At 26 years old, the younger O’Neal won the Lucas Oil championship in 2023, has 34 full-field Lucas Oil victories (trailing his father by just 12), and is currently second in series points behind reigning champ Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio. The youngest O’Neal is off to his best career start with 11 victories in 2026.
“People don't realize it, but, I mean, he's 25 years old, but he's raced for 13 years, 12 years, 13 years,” O’Neal said. “He's got a lot of years of racing behind him. And now, you know, he's matured enough where he don't need my help. Like any father, you know, anytime their son’s successful, it’s something you're so proud of.”
The elder O’Neal certainly appreciates his son’s career, but what truly makes him happy is watching how well Hudson has grown as a person.
“You know, I might look more proud of him because he's a good kid and good with people, and fans and stuff,” O’Neal said. “And that's more important than winning races. I think from being around the sport his whole life, that, you know, he’s just always talked to people. And so it sort of like worked out for him.”
