Dale McDowell’s No. 17m was dominant at Boyd’s on Friday night.
Sometimes when a driver dominates on a particular track, it will be said that he “owns” that place. Well, in the case of Dale McDowell on Friday night at the Boyd’s Speedway, he did dominate the Spring Nationals race and he does in fact own the place.
In his first race on the Ringgold, Georgia track since he and Chattanooga area businessman David Duplissey bought it last winter, McDowell set fast time in qualifying then went on to lead every lap of the $4,000-to-win feature event for the Ray Cook promoted series.
But every bit as much of the story as who won was the fact that a record number of cars for the Spring Nationals showed up to race. In all, 53 drivers and machines signed in for the Super Late Model division at the track that literally sits on the Tennessee-Georgia state line.
The top-4 drivers from each of two qualifying groups were locked into the feature via time-trials.
Stacy Boles posted the fastest time in Group 1 qualifying with a lap of 13.311 seconds around the third-mile clay oval. Also advancing to the feature out of this group were Jason Croft, Eric Jacobsen and Jason Welshan.
McDowell led the way in Group 2 qualifying and overall with a time of 13.071 seconds. Joining the ‘Mac Daddy’ with a direct pass to the feature from this group were Spring Nationals points leader Billy Ogle, Jr., Jordy Nipper and Donald McIntosh.
The four heat races used to set the remainder of the feature lineup were won by Skip Arp, Todd Morrow, Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. and Michael Chilton.
From the very outset of the 40-lap feature it was apparent that McDowell was the driver to beat. He immediately jumped out to a sizeable advantage while Boles, Croft and Ogle trailed. Soon, however, McDowell’s most serious threat would emerge from the pack in the person of Ogle. The No. 201 car moved around Croft for 3rd on lap 3 and then around Boles for the runner-up spot just one lap later.
But by the time Ogle got to 2nd, McDowell had checked out on the field. The leader had to maneuver his way through slower traffic after only a few green flag laps, but the veteran from Chickamauga, Georgia was able to do so while always managing to keep other cars between himself and Ogle.
The race’s first caution flag did not wave until lap 19. That set up the most interesting racing of the night. By that time, McIntosh had worked his way up to the 3rd spot which put him door to door with Ogle on the restart. With Ogle having chosen the inside line for the ‘Delaware Double-file’ restart, McIntosh outran him into the first turn from the outside. At the same time Jacobsen and Lloyd moved further up into the top-5 by passing Boles for 4th and 5th respectively.
Another caution on lap 21 set up a similar scenario. Again, McIntosh found himself on the outside of Ogle after having chosen to put himself there. On this restart, it was Ogle who would beat his rival into turn one to claim the spot.
And once again, a lap 24 caution created the same situation. On this restart, McIntosh won the race into turn one but Ogle fought back and muscled his way back under and around McIntosh in turn three.
While all of this was going on, McDowell was jumping out to comfortable leads on each restart. At the same time, Lloyd and frequent Boyd’s winner Jamie Perry were marching closer to the front. Lloyd would eventually catch Ogle and pressure him for the 2nd position, but ultimately, without success.
At the finish it was Dale McDowell, Billy Ogle, Jr., Ivedent Lloyd, Jr., Donald McIntosh, Jamis Perry, Michael Chilton, Tyler Millwood and Ronnie Johnson.
