Federated Raceway at I-55
NDRL's tire ruling strips Owens of victory at I-55
Jimmy Owens
Citing use of an illegally-altered tire, the first-year National Dirt Racing League on Thursday stripped Jimmy Owens of his $20,000 Let’s Get Dirty 75 victory on April 13 at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo.
Officials with the John Kennedy-founded NDRL tour announced the Newport, Tenn., driver's disqualification Thursday evening, making the 41-year-old Owens the fourth high-profile racer to face penalties in a flurry of Dirt Late Model tire-cheating announcements over the last 30 days. | Owens appealing ruling
NDRL officials said the laboratory tested samples taken of the right-front, left-rear and right-rear tires of I-55’s apparent winning car. Test results for the LM-40 compound from one sample didn’t match the Hoosier Tire-provided benchmark, series officials said.
Along with forfeiting his $20,000 winner’s purse and series points, Owens faces a $1,500 fine and reimbursement of lab testing costs before being eligible to compete in a future NDRL-affiliated event, according to the series rulebook.
Reached by phone early Thursday evening, Owens said he didn’t want to comment on NDRL's ruling until Friday afternoon.
NDRL ran its inaugural weekend April 12-13 with a pair of 75-lappers at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway and I-55. Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., outran Owens for a $20,000 victory at Paducah while Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, originally the runner-up at I-55, inherits the $20,000 payday and winner’s points from the I-55 event. Each finisher will be moved up one position and receive additional purse money, the series said.
NDRL announced no other penalties for tire violations in the events co-sanctioned by UMP DIRTcar and using that organization’s three-compound tire rule.
By virtue of the points penalty for Owens, Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., takes the series points lead with 390 points to lead Billy Moyer (386) and Birkhofer (384).
Owens, a two-time World 100 winner and the top-ranked driver DirtonDirt.com’s Top 25 power rankings, is the second driver to lose an apparent $20,000 payday through disqualification this week. Three other Dirt Late Model organizations have penalized drivers over the last month for using illegally-altered tires, according to lab results.
Pending an appeal with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., on Monday was stripped of April 6’s $20,000 victory at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, among other penalties.
The Southern All Star Racing Series last week stripped Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., of his April 6 victory at Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway, costing him $5,000.
And Hall of Fame driver Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., was disqualified in late March from his fifth-place finish in a March 16 race on the Ray Cook-promoted Spring Nationals.
Correction: Clarifies sample from a single tire failed lab tests.
