Hudson O’Neal
The 25-lap Group A preliminary feature on Friday night at the Florence Speedway came down to 21-year-old Hudson O’Neal versus 50-year-old Earl Pearson Jr. for the win. The two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series stars were not only racing for the $5,000 first prize but also for good starting positions in the heat races that will lead into Saturday’s North-South 100 at the Union, Kentucky track.
O’Neal took the lead of the first feature on Friday night right away as the third-starting Pearson dropped back to fourth initially. As O’Neal continued to show the way, Pearson was able to get by both Mike Marlar and Bobby Pierce on the fourth lap then set off after the leader.
Zack Dohm got around Pearson to take second later but a lap 19 caution brought a final restart that would set the stage for the O’Neal-Pearson battle at the end of the feature. Pearson took second when the green flag waved then drew right up to O’Neal’s rear spoiler. Moving to the high side of the track, Pearson made a final push on the last lap then dove to the inside after O’Neal moved up. Ultimately, O’Neal finished just ahead of Pearson as the two cars sailed under the checkered flag.
“I knew he was there,” O’Neal said of Pearson in victory lane following the race. “I saw his nose a couple of times through the center. There with about three or four laps before that last caution came out I just kept getting tighter and tighter. I figured my tire fall off would make me a little better on the right front, but actually, it made me worse. I just couldn’t steer around that bottom there at the end. We’ll have to work on that a little bit but we had a great race car up to that point. I just tried to use up the whole race track, I knew he was getting a run on me through the center while I was having to slow down on the bottom.”
Every driver has a lot to race for in the crown jewel main event as the purse for the 39th North-South 100 was raised from its tradition $50,000-to-win to an even more lucrative $75,000-to-win. But both O’Neal and Pearson have even more to race for in the marquee event.
Earl Pearson Jr.
Pearson explained in his post-race interview with FloRacing.com that he has a little extra incentive to do well on Saturday night.
“He needed to make a mistake but he didn’t,” Pearson said. “The fans just seen one hell of a show right there for 25 laps, I can only imagine what will happen in 100 laps. Hud did a good job there, he stayed on the bottom in my line. On that restart, I went up top there and I gave it all she had. I’ve got a granddaughter due any time here so I was going to try to win that for her but maybe tomorrow night we can get that done.”
O’Neal too has a little extra something to race for this weekend. His father, Don O’Neal, will be inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame prior to the start of Saturday’s racing action.
Along with all of that, this is a race the young driver wants very much to win. Podium finishes in 2018 and 2019 have left him wanting more. Don O’Neal is a two-time winner of the North-South 100 so a win by Hudson would make them the second father-son combination to achieve that feat behind Bob and Bobby Pierce.
The younger O’Neal has won the Ralph Latham Memorial, Florence Speedway’s spring Lucas Oil race, but this is the one he covets.
“This is the one I want. I’ve been so close here a couple of times. We’ll make some adjustments to get just a little bit better. It’s going to take a lot for us to be good at the end of 100 laps. We’ll see if we can’t make the right ones and hopefully we’ll stand here again tomorrow.”
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