Donald McIntosh
Donald McIntosh came into the 2014 season expecting to drive for his family owned team in their first full season as a travelling Dirt Late Model effort. However, he ultimately ended the year as the interim driver for one of the most established regional dirt racing operations in the country.
Now the Dawsonville, Georgia wheelman can drop the interim title as Blount Motorsports owner Larry Garner named the 21-year-old as his permanent full-time pilot earlier this month. The team will make their first start of what looks to be a busy 2015 campaign on New Year’s Day in ‘The Hangover’ at 411 Motor Speedway.
“I’m very excited,” McIntosh said in a recent telephone interview. “It’s a huge opportunity for me and I’m very blessed to be able to do it.”
The story of how McIntosh landed the ride with the Maryville based operation is a somewhat strange one. His family owned team had gone to the Eldora Speedway in Ohio to compete in the prestigious World 100. After an accident in the Friday night preliminaries, they went to get their car out of the hauler the next morning to begin repairs for Saturday’s action. However, the lift gate failed to operate and after extensive efforts to get the trailer opened, they opted to simply watch the racing that night.
Meanwhile, the BMS team and driver Billy Ogle, Jr. had parted ways in the middle of the night. It was at that time when McIntosh found himself fielding an offer from that organization’s crew chief.
“David Bryant came over and told me that Billy had left,” McIntosh explained. “He then asked me if I wanted to drive their car and I told him I’d love to. We ended up finishing 5th in the last chance race. Then they asked me if I’d like to come back and run the upcoming race at Smoky Mountain.”
The team spent some time testing to get the car set up more to their new driver’s liking. Later in the fall, McIntosh felt as if the team showed progress in a pair of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events in his home state, but mechanical issues derailed their efforts in those races.
Donald McIntosh began driving for BMS in September.
“We’ve had some bad luck, but I’ve learned a lot,” McIntosh declared. “David is extremely smart and he’s been doing it forever. He’s taught me a lot as a driver, things I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own.
“I’ve learned you’ve got to push the car to the edge, and maybe even just passed that edge,” he went on. “Starting in the first few rows makes a huge difference in whether you’re going to win that night regardless of how good your car is.”
It was in the final weekend of the 2014 season that their efforts finally came together.
After wall contact in qualifying for ‘The Gobbler’ at the Cleveland Speedway sidelined BMS on Friday night, the team moved to Boyd’s Speedway on Saturday for their final start of the year.
“I was able to qualify good at Boyd’s and we were able to get the win,” the driver who only began racing on dirt in 2011 pointed out. “That was really awesome. We really came together in the last few months as far as making changes to the cars. Racing is more of a team sport than anybody could know. There’s no more me than it is everybody on the team. It all goes together. The fact that we’ve been able to jell has been really awesome for me.”
That Boyd’s victory gave everyone at BMS a new feeling of confidence heading into 2015.
“It was a big boost,” the driver who used to race against NASCAR star Chase Elliott in Legends cars at Atlanta said. “Those last few races, even if the overall outcome wasn’t stellar, were gratifying for us because we felt like we were competitive and had the car to win some of those races, but things just didn’t go our way. Being able to get that win at Boyd’s was huge.”
The driver who began racing at age 5 in quarter midgets says his team plans to primarily run a regional schedule similar to what BMS has followed in the past with drivers Ogle and Tommy Kerr.
“We’re going to run Ray Cook’s races,” he said. “I’m going to do my best every race and I’m going to try to win every race. Obviously that’s not realistic, but we’re going to try our best to win Ray’s Spring Nationals and Summer Nationals. Those are some goals. We’re also going to run the local Lucas Oil and World of Outlaws shows.
“I’ve got a good enough team behind me that, if things go our way, we could win any race we enter.”
Blount Motorsports will continue using Rocket Chassis and Vic Hill Race Engines in the upcoming season.
Please consider reading “Billy Ogle, Jr. to drive Mark Leach’s Late Model in ‘The Hangover'”
