Hudson O’Neal hoping to build on last season’s success

There are Dirt Late Model drivers twice his age who would love to be able to claim the success already achieved by 21-year-old Hudson O’Neal. The son of soon-to-be National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member Don O’Neal scored some impressive feature victories as well as a runner-up finish in last year’s final Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series standings. And going into this 2022 campaign, the Martinsville, Indiana native hopes to add even more accomplishments to his ever expanding resumé.

Most who follow Dirt Late Model racing closely at all knew a few years ago that O’Neal had plenty of talent and were simply waiting for that skill level to meet up with the right opportunity and the necessary experience to bring it to the surface. Prior to the start of the 2021 season, all of those factors came together when the young driver paired up with car owner Roger Sellers and his Double Down Motorsports team. That match proved to be the catalyst for a thrilling breakout season.

After only having won one race that paid $20,000 before 2021(that being the 2018 ‘Clash at the Mag’ at Mississippi’s Magnolia Motor Speedway), the driver of the No. 71 Rocket Chassis stormed to wins in three of the sport’s biggest events. All totaled, O’Neal score eleven feature wins and would stand on 21 podiums by the end of last season on his way to that second-place finish in the Lucas Oil standings.

Perhaps the highlight of the 2021 season came when O’Neal gave an emotional post-race interview after joining his dad in becoming the only father-son duo to win the $30,000 Show-me 100 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri. That major triumph was followed up by taking the checkered flag in the prestigious Topless 100 at the Batesville(AR) Motor Speedway then Pittsburgher 100 at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.

So what will it take to achieve the same level of success if not more in the upcoming season against the tough competition faced each week on the Lucas Oil tour?

“It’s definitely going to be hard,” O’Neal admitted in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “We have a good program underneath us, we have good cars. We’ve got everything going for us so hopefully we can start off the year right down here(Georgia-Florida SpeedWeeks) and come out of here with a good spot in the points then go back up north and try to do what we did last year, pick a couple off and try to be as consistent as possible.”

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is allowing those drivers with perfect attendance in its 14 SpeedWeeks races to count only their five best finishes. One race, Friday night’s event at Florida’s All-Tech Raceway was lost to rain, but there have been seven completed events so far with a full week at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa looming before this national tour concludes its portion of the early season in the southeastern corner of the country.

So far, O’Neal has had some struggles. A third-place effort at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Georgia has been the high water mark so far(he was fifth in a World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series race at Volusia Speedway Park). The No. 71 also has two other top-10 results along with two heat race victories. However, there have also been four finishes outside the top-10 to date.

Previously, the series allowed fewer drops which sometimes put those who hoped to contend for the series title but had suffered misfortune in a deep hole coming out of Florida. O’Neal believes his team will be in good shape when all is said and done in the Sunshine State.

“The way Lucas Oil has set the points system up down here, they’re only taking a certain number of races,” he explained. “It definitely makes it better because how we used to, we used to come out of here and sometimes you’d be two or three hundred points buried. It’s hard to overcome that on guys like (three-time champion)Jonathan Davenport or (defending champion)Tim McCreadie or somebody like that.”

O’Neal points to last year’s SpeedWeeks effort by his team to show that they can rebound.

“The way they’ve got it now where they only take a certain number of races definitely allows you, if you don’t have the best of SpeedWeeks, to come out a lot closer in points and make it up,” he added. “We’ll do the best we can. We had a good showing down here last year and came out of here, I think, second or third in points. If we can do that again, I think we’ll be okay. We had a couple of good test sessions the last couple of weeks so hopefully we can capitalize.”

Can this be another season in which O’Neal will contend for a title?

“I think it most definitely can,” he replied. “The year we had last season, we were very pleased with it, so if we could just replicate another year like we had last year we would be tickled to death. We just want to be consistent and win races. If it happens it happens and we’ll just keep working at it.”

One race that has eluded him after several close calls has been the North-South 100 at Florence(KY) Speedway. This year, that race has upped its purse from the usual $50,000 to $75,000 making it even more of an enticement. O’Neal has that August event circled on his calendar.

“I definitely want a North-South win,” he declared. “That one, I’ve been so close. I’ve had a third, a second, and just been really consistent there little bit by little bit. I’ve had that on my mind the last few years so hopefully this year is the year.”

Joining O’Neal on the road will be crew members Trevor Crittenden and Eric Webber. After a full season of working together, the driver believes they have formed a winning combination.

“We just have a great group of guys around us. Everybody works really well together. Roger Sellers, it’s a testament to him, he’s put together a great team. It’s worked out really well and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

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