Eldora Speedway
Notes: Hedgecock's Longhorn learning curve
By Kevin Kovac and Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt
Cory Hedgecock (Zach Yost photo)
ROSSBURG, Ohio (Sept. 5) — Cory Hedgecock still has plenty to figure out about his new Longhorn Chassis. There’s no doubt, though, that he’s on the right track with the fresh vehicle.
The 33-year-old driver from Loudon, Tenn., drove the machine forward from the seventh starting spot for a third-place finish in Friday night’s second 25-lap World 100 semifeature at Eldora Speedway, grabbing some attention amid the most prestigious Dirt Late Model weekend of the season. | Complete World 100 coverage
“It’s good. It’s just … different,” Hedgecock said of his Viper Motorsports-backed Longhorn that he debuted last Saturday at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. “There’s a learning curve and everything. It’s obviously a lot better in the mud, but we worked on it a little bit in the slick today. So, yeah, we got a good piece.”
Hedgecock’s latest visit to Eldora started quietly Thursday with a 12th-place finish in a semifeature, but he found more speed on Night 2. He was the fastest qualifier in the second group and just picked up strength as Friday’s second semifeature wore on, culminating when he overtook 2023 World 100 winner Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., for third coming to the white flag.
“We kind of just threw more at it, maybe was a little bit more aggressive on these things than we do on, like, my own car,” said Hedgecock, who developed BMF Race Cars. “My car just naturally is a tighter race car, so traditionally maybe we struggle a little bit earlier in my stuff and we’re better at the end, and this one, we’re better at the beginning and maybe struggling a little bit more at the end.
“We were good at the end tonight. We just kind of got rolling there and really I think probably just everybody was wheel-spinning a little more. We were choked down pretty good to where we were really good towards the end. Honestly, I think if we ran a hundred laps tonight, we had a top-five, top-seven car.”
Hedgecock finished a career-best sixth in last year’s World 100 — his second consecutive start in the finale after failing to qualify in his first four attempts — piloting his BMF car, a chassis he and his father build and sell at their shop. He’s been campaigning BMF cars exclusively since stepping out of a Black Diamond Chassis three-and-a-half years ago and has enjoyed plenty of success, but he decided alongside his dad to try a Longhorn and understands that observers will wonder why they’ve looked elsewhere.
“We didn’t necessarily have to make a change, but we wanted to see where we could go with it,” Hedgecock said. “It’s different, but, I mean, it's part of it. Like, as far as a personal level between me and my dad racing, it was, you know, in a sense, a better move. I mean, obviously we got a good (BMF) race car. But, you know, I’m sure (Longhorn) got a better one, obviously, and their information stream is just more than we have.
“It was dad’s choice too ultimately. We make a decision obviously together, but obviously we knew there’s gonna be repercussions of it from the business side of it. But again, it’s part of it, and I want to run good and I want to win races. Like I said, I can obviously do it in my cars, but Longhorn) got a good piece and we’re just trying to just better ourselves personally, and still maintain everything, still build race cars, still do the whole deal.
“Obviously, it’ll slow down. Rightfully so,” he added, acknowledging the perception when he, as effectively BMF’s house car driver, obtains a Longhorn. “But, you know, we’re here to do it all.”
Hedgecock finished fourth in the World 100 preliminary points, which was sort of a bittersweet accomplishment. He was one of the best performers but, with a six-car inversion, it means he’ll start sixth in Saturday’s fourth heat.
“I hate that we’re starting sixth. That’s just miserable,” Hedgecock said. “But hopefully if we don't end up making it in we’ll get a provisional from being high in points.” — Kevin Kovac
Last-minute change
Initially circling Jim Bernheisel’s newly assembled Fall Clash miniseries on his schedule this Saturday at Bridgeport (N.J.) Motorsports Park, Gregg Satterlee wasn’t intending on making the five-and-a-half hour drive to Eldora this week from his Indiana, Pa., home.
Then he saw the forecast surrounding the Garden State oval this weekend and decided at virtually the last minute to head westward for Rossburg, Ohio, and the World 100 rather than east.
“The initial plans were to do the Fall Clash races out east at Bridgeport tomorrow and Kutztown (Sunday at Pennsylvania’s fifth-mile Action Track USA), but the weather is not too favorable for the race tomorrow,” Satterlee said before his eighth-place finish in Friday’s second 25-lap semifeature. “So we decided to change up our plans, come here instead, which is nice. Never wanna miss the biggest race of the year for Late Models. Definitely happy and excited to get out here.”
Scheduled to start fourth in Saturday’s second 15-lap heat race following a pair of respectable top-10 prelim runs, Satterlee’s feeling optimistic about his chances at making his first World 100 finale since 2021.
The back-to-back Appalachian Mountain Speedweek champ has racked up a good sum of money racing around Pennsylvania in recent years as his 10 victories and AMS miniseries title winnings this season have made him nearly $60,000. He doesn’t travel like he once did when he toured on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2017 and ’18, but if there’s one event he doesn’t like missing, it’s the World 100.
Minus his 2016 no-show, Satterlee has entered the World 100 every year since ’09. In 14 prior trips he’s made Saturday’s finale seven times, finishing inside the top-10 three times along with his 2021 prelim victory.
He’s been in the mix to win, like when he finished second in 2017. And he’s been wayward at Eldora, like his current streak of failing to qualify for three straight World 100 main events. So the first order of business for Satterlee is cracking the top-three in his heat race — a 15-lap showdown that pits him against southeastern standouts Joseph Joiner (pole) and Zack Mitchell (third) and national tour drivers Ethan Dotson (second), Carson Ferguson (fifth) and Brandon Sheppard (sixth).
“Realistic goal would be make the show. Haven’t made this race in several years,” Satterlee said. “It’s tough. Things don’t go your way, some different struggles come up, either with the car, or I crashed myself in the B-main last year and I think I was easily gonna make it in. So self-inflicted stuff sometimes. Maybe sometimes we aren’t fast enough. Hopefully, you know, we’ll get another top-10 (Friday) and make the show tomorrow. We’ll keep our goals realistic.
“We gotta get in it first and then who knows. We have a good car, we’ve had a good car all year. I think if we get in the race, we have a chance to have a good, solid finish.” — Kyle McFadden
Feeling good
When rain starting falling out of nowhere right between Friday’s twin 25-lap semifeatures, Zack Mitchell of Enoree, S.C., found himself with an unexpected opportunity to perhaps make a timely alteration to his Coltman Farms Racing machine.
“We seen the first few drops and we looked at the radar and seen it was gonna rain for a minute, so we hurried up and we changed right-rear tires, put a little softer (3-compound) tire on,” said Mitchell, who had the third starting spot for the prelim after winning a 12-lap showdown qualifier. “A lot of people was already lined up going through tire tech and all but we weren’t yet, so we were one of the last ones to get to staging.”
Unfortunately for the 29-year-old taking his third shot at the World 100, the shower wasn’t hard enough, or last long enough, to make his softer rubber pay off.
“We needed a little bit more,” Mitchell said, noting that the moisture blew off faster than he would have liked.
But while Mitchell slipped to a fifth-place finish after running third for the first 18 laps, he was satisfied with his performance.
“We had a good car in the heat, had a pretty good car in the feature,” Mitchell said. “We just was a little on the tight side, and I think we was a little bit soft on tires. But I'll take it. Just to come up here and run top-five in a prelim with the history of this place and all, it means a lot.
“I don’t know if you ever get comfortable here to be honest. It’s just so on the edge. But I kind of found a little something that I like for when the racetrack gets like it was, and I can carry a lot of momentum with it.”
Mitchell is scheduled to start third in Saturday’s second 15-lap heat as he seeks his first career crown jewel feature start at Eldora. He’s hoping his Southeast racing pedigree helps him become the latest driver from his native region to enjoy success at the half-mile oval.
“Heck, all us (Southeast racers) grew up racing around Gaffney (South Carolina’s Cherokee Speedway), and every time you go test to get ready for Eldora, you go to Gaffney,” said Mitchell, who failed to qualify in his previous World 100 appearances in 2022 and ’24. “Actually, we went to Gaffney Monday with this car. It’s brand new (Longhorn). I think Gaffney helps a ton for places like this.” — Kevin Kovac
