Hudson O’Neal celebrating at East Bay(Photo: @Rocket_Chassis)
One of the biggest driver and team moves in Dirt Late Model racing this past off-season was that of 20-year-old Hudson O’Neal going to the Double Down Motorsports organization. After parting ways with SSI Motorsports at the end of the 2019 campaign, the second generation driver struggled during the first part of 2020 after moving into the seat of the MasterSbilt Race Cars house car ride once occupied by his father.
Ultimately, the pairing with MasterSbilt dissolved and the Martinsville, IN native briefly found himself without a ride for the second time in only a few short months. However, he eventually landed with Craig Sims and PCC Motorsports to finish out the season in a Rocket Chassis car for that operation. Their efforts resulted in a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory at Portsmouth Raceway Park in September. But after the season came to a close, O’Neal opted to drive for the Morristown, TN-based team owned by Roger Sellers.
O’Neal’s new team switched to Rocket Chassis prior to the start of the 2021 campaign.
The move to Double Down was not the only big event for O’Neal during the off-season. A surgery to repair an issue with his leg also took place during the time he wasn’t racing which resulted in recovery time for rehabilitation.
But on Monday night in the Wrisco Winter Nationals for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park, the off-season changes paid off. O’Neal took the win in a wild feature race that ultimately paid $5,000 to the victor. It proved to be a dramatic recovery for the team that only managed a 19th place finish in the series opener on Saturday at All-Tech Raceway in Lake City, FL.
After winning his heat race leading up to Monday’s feature at East Bay, O’Neal talked about his hopes regarding the move to Double Down.
“It’s always nice to get ahead like this in the heat races and set yourself up starting good,” O’Neal told MavTV Plus reporter Dave Argabright. “It gives you more time to watch the race track. But this 71 has been pretty awesome so far. We didn’t have much to show for it last Saturday at All-Tech but I think we’ve got a hot rod tonight. It’s awesome to be back on top here and running good and hopefully we can carry some speed over for the next couple of days and the rest of the year.”
Double Down has competed on the LOLMDS since 2019 with driver Shanon Buckingham in the seat for the past two seasons. They won a series feature together that same year at Tazewell Speedway. At the end of last season, the team had to find a new driver after Buckingham announced his intentions to seek a new business opportunity.
Monday was the organization’s first win with O’Neal as its pilot. For the young driver, Monday’s success was more than just another feature win.
“I’m just happy to redeem myself after All-Tech,” the winner declared in his post-race interview. “It’s unbelievable. It’s a new team, new crew, new everything. It’s awesome to come out here and have this early success. It’s a boost for not only me but for the crew too, and the car owner, and everybody involved. It’s a whole team effort and I couldn’t do it without each and every one of them. It’s unbelievable to get a win on the first night at East Bay.”
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