Paducah International Raceway
Notes: O'Neal's mistake ruins chance at Paducah
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Don O'Neal (1) works under Scott Bloomquist (0) at Paducah. (stlracingphotos.com)
PADUCAH, Ky. (April 12) — Two drivers who can handle rugged dirt track conditions as well as any were up front early in Friday’s Let’s Get Dirty 75 at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway, the inaugural event on the National Dirt Racing League.
Ruts, ripples and holes on surface soaked by a couple of inches of rain just 24 hours earlier forced leader Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., and second-running Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., to pick their spots carefully on the 3/8-mile oval, and one particular hole caught O’Neal’s eye. | Richards win at Paducah
“I’d seen Josh hit it a time or two there in front of me, and I thought, ‘Well, I better stay away from that thing.’ Then about three laps later I drove in there and hit it the same way,” O’Neal said with a disappointing shake of the head.
That doomed the fifth-starting O’Neal, who flattened a tire amid an array of other damage. O’Neal dropped to the infield hot pit to get a new tire — but only so he could go ahead and pull off the track, his race over.
“I really thought we had a good shot at it. I just went in there and hit that hole wrong and just bent everything in the back end. It bent a J-bar, pinion mount — I don’t know, they’re working on it now. I don’t know what it all tore up, but it tore up some stuff back there,” O’Neal said. “We were missing the holes and driving around the holes, whatever you want to say ... and I felt like, well, we’ve really got a shot here. I just drove in there and it was all my own fault. I just hit that big hole the wrong way.”
Streak over, but redeemed
Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., entered Paducah’s NDRL action on a personal four-race win streak in Super Late Model action. While the streak came to a halt against one of the top fields of Late Model drivers that will assemble this season — 55 entries from 19 states and seven World 100 winners — Davenport never got a chance in the main event after problems in time trials and then his heat race.
“We were the fastest car in hot laps, and we came out here and went to qualify and broke a J-bar, and that broke a birdcage, three shocks, driveshaft ... the crew worked real hard to get back out there,” Davenport said, reeling off a laundry list of the damage. “I was surprised we actually got back out there.”
Indeed Davenport tagged a heat race, starting 10th and quickly coming alive in his AES Racing Barry Wright Race Car, running as high as third and in solid contention to transfer to the 75-lap feature.
“We got it back and everything was right, and I was driving to the front there, and I think we was a little better than (second-running Shane) Clanton once we got into third,” he said. “I felt the right-rear star going down, but I was trying to limp around there long enough to make it, but it finally just come apart and blowed out. We broke another birdcage and pulled the brakeline off the caliper and everything.”
It was disappointing for Davenport, who has hit the ground running with the Steve Cooke-backed AES team after he struggled in 2012 with Clint Bowyer Racing.
“At least we know we can run with these guys again. That’s what makes us all feel good,” said Davenport, who later decided to skip Saturday’s NDRL event at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 because of his misfortune. “We’ve about run out of parts. We’ve borrowed everything that Barry’s got down there, and I’m out here trying to bum some more. So we’ll see if we get to go tomorrow.”
Devin Moran’s wild ride
Making his debut at Paducah, 18-year-old Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, got a view of turn one he’d rather not have seen — upside down in his race car while his car rolled during a Friday heat race before eventually landing on its wheels.
Moran, running in the same heat race as his Hall of Fame father Donnie, wasn’t injured, but the MasterSbilt Race Car was heavily banged up in the pits as crew members scurried around it later Friday evening.
“I set (the car) to go underneath of (Tim) Fuller getting into (turn) one, and then I hooked that rut with my right rear and just took off,” the younger Moran said. “I hit, and it just felt like it took forever, took forever — then hit and just went and went and went.
“I’m fine. I can’t think MasterSbilt enough because I mean, it didn’t even budge the frame. They do an awesome job with that, so I can’t thank those guys enough.”
While a red flag appeared, Donnie Moran rolled to a spot near his son’s battered car in turns one and two to check on the youngster, who didn’t even appear to be shaken up by the wild ride.
“It didn’t do anything to me,” Devin Moran said. “I seen Dad down there, so when I hopped out, I was like, ‘Aw Dad, I’m fine, just go out there and win for me or whatever, I guess.’ But he ended up blowing a motor tonight, too, so it guess when it rains it pours.”
Hauling two cars in a single transporter, the team hopes to continue the NDRL weekend in Pevely, Mo., by replacing a powerplant in Donnie Moran’s machine, but Devin will be a spectator.
A welcome addition
Amid an array of Dirt Late Model tours and series, the John Kennedy-founded NDRL made its splash with lucrative one-day shows paying $20,000-to-win and $1,500-to-start as the car owner of Shane Clanton and Tim Fuller of Kennedy Motorsports moved into the promotions game this season.
Drivers took notice early this season with compliments about Kennedy’s efforts, and they backed that up in droves at Paducah with an impressive field of drivers who regularly complete with the World of Outlaws, Lucas Oil Series, Southern All Stars, UMP DIRTcar Summernationals and more supporting the event.
“I’m happier than heck that John’s putting this deal on, and you know, putting himself out on a limb I think a little bit,” said Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., who finished third in the opener that featured a lightly-attended postrace concert by Cody McCarver. “But at the same time, you can see the amount of quality cars that are here trying to support it, and a lot of good fans supporting it, and I can hear the band rumbling a little bit.”
Kennedy made the rounds in the pits to talk to each driver, most of who continued praising his efforts to create another avenue for race teams to do their thing.
“Twenty-thousand, a one-day show, like I told somebody here earlier, one of the magazine guys, it’s five races this year, I expect next year it’ll be 10 to 15. I think it’s going to keep growing,” said fourth-place finisher Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., who plans on competing in all five NDRL events. “I think as a racer, owner, driver, whatever everybody in (the pits) is going to support the guy to appreciate what he’s trying to do. It’s like lining up at the World 100 every night, of course, but we just have to sharpen our pencil and go at it.”
Credit for the track crew
Many tracks might have thrown in the towel after the long, cool and wet early spring — along with another blast of heavy rains Thursday — left the grounds wet at Paducah. But after the initially scheduled opening weekend for NDRL was spoiled by wet weather two weeks earlier, track and series crews forged ahead to whip the track surface into shape, along with a muddy pit area and even the infield, which was groomed enough to stage time-trialing cars.
Certainly the surface still provided a challenge for drivers, and in the 75-lapper at Paducah — the longest scheduled at Paducah since a 80-lap race in 1997 that was shortened 13 laps by rain — there was plenty of attrition and flat tires, with just 10 of 24 starters running at the finish.
“I believe I’ll be pretty sore in the morning. I can feel it a little bit tonight,” said runner-up Jimmy Owens. “They did a great job considering the rain and stuff they got, keeping the track prepared. You can only do so much with what you’ve got. My hat’s off to everybody that ran this show ... it was a great deal. Everybody worked their tail off the best they could.”
Don O’Neal, who dropped out on lap 31 after his car suffered damage, could look on the bright side after battling even worse conditions the previous weekend in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas. “It still wasn’t as bad as Texas last weekend,” he said.
Even winner Josh Richards, who successfully maneuvered through the track’s tricky spots, was never assured something might go wrong.
“I was nervous. Everybody was getting flat tires,” he said. “I don’t know if it was rocks in the track or what the deal was, so I just tried to hold on there. I figured with one (lap) to go something would happen. But it was an awesome run for sure.”
