Jonathan Davenport
The 2015 season is one that should not soon be forgotten by any fan or follower of Dirt Late Model racing as Jonathan Davenport went on a tear that that would see him score a total of 22 feature wins including some of the sport’s biggest events. By the end of the year, the K & L Rumley Racing team had acquired trophies from crown jewel events such as the Dirt Late Model Dream, the Show-me 100, the USA Nationals, the North-South 100 and the World 100. Ultimately, the driver known as ‘Superman’ earned the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship and piled up winnings greater than any ever accumulated up to that time.
It would seem pretty unlikely, especially with the competition level being what it is, that a repeat of such a performance could ever happen again. However, a look at the statistics compiled so far in 2018 indicates that the possibility at least exists for Davenport to go on a similar run.
This weekend the LOLMDS heads into what will be its biggest weekend to date with the Show-me 100 scheduled for Saturday evening at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri with Davenport holding a sizable lead in the series standings over former champions Josh Richards and Earl Pearson, Jr.(who are tied for second), Scott Bloomquist and Bobby Pierce. This race is considered by many to be the first crown jewel of the season with a payout of $30,000 to the eventual victor.
As amazing as the final result of the 2015 season was for Davenport, nothing leading up to the late May weekend originally slated for the Show-me 100 that year had given any indication of what was about to happen. But it was from the Memorial Day weekend that the legendary season in the making began to take shape.
Davenport has been much more impressive in his Lance Landers-owned Longhorn Chassis to this point in 2018 than he was at this same time in 2015. Then, Davenport picked up only his third win of the year in a $5,045-to-win MLRA-sanctioned race that was meant to serve as a lead-in for the Show-me 100(the main event was ultimately rained out and run in July). Coming into the weekend, the No. 6 driver and team sat fourth in the Lucas Oil standings, 125 points behind leader Earl Pearson, Jr.
Jonathan Davenport has already scored nine wins in his Lance Landers-owned Longhorn
That MLRA triumph set Davenport on a streak of nine consecutive feature checkered flags, that would include the lucrative Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway.
Coming into the same weekend in 2018, the-34-year-old driver has already scored nine feature wins, six of which have been sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. One of those other wins was a $20,000 triumph in an Ultimate Super Late Model Dirt Series race held at Virginia Motor Speedway. And more, Davenport comes to Wheatland having just won two of the last three Lucas Oil events, including a win in the most recent race at Minnesota’s Deer Creek Speedway.
While it serves as no guarantee of future victories, it is noteworthy that Davenport and his crew have already experienced more success to this point than was experienced back in 2015. The reunification of ‘The Fast 49’ with engineer Kevin Rumley has brought about the results many expected when the formation of this team was announced last fall.
Jonathan Davenport and crew in victory lane at Deer Creek Speedway
Obviously, none of us can see into the future. And to suggest that Davenport or any other driver could match the success of 2015 when having to face the likes of the aforementioned Richards, Pearson, Bloomquist, Pierce, Jimmy Owens, Tim McCreadie, Don O’Neal, Darrell Lanigan and Dennis Erb, Jr. on a weekly basis would be a risky proposition. However, Davenport and Rumley have done it in the past so there is at least the possibility of them achieving results equivalent to or exceeding what they did in 2015.
I am not predicting such a season but it is interesting that Davenport is better at this point in the season this year than he was at this same time three years ago.
