Jimmy Owens
The first half of the 2023 Dirt Late Model season did not go the way four-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion Jimmy Owens an his supporters would have liked. A long winless streak and more subpar finishes than fans of the Newport, Tennessee driver have grown accustomed to left many followers of the sport scratching their heads. However, things appear to be turning around after the July 4th weekend.
Owens scored a $10,000 win on Saturday night in a Hunt the Front Series feature at Georgia’s Senoia Raceway which was then followed up by a strong second-place effort on Monday evening at Tazewell (TN) Speedway.
This season started off on a bit of an awkward note as the deal for Owens to drive a Koehler Motorsports Longhorn Chassis by Wells came together just before the start of the campaign putting the No. 20 team in a bit of scramble mode as they headed south for Georgia-Florida SpeedWeeks.
But in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com, Owens explained that he is feeling much more optimistic.
“I feel like momentum is swinging our way,” Owens declared. “We’re just having to step back and take a deep breath and line things up. We just needed to get our ducks in a row a little bit better. We feel like since the start of the season we’ve been really, really in a hurry. Hopefully we’ll be able to slow down a little and get some better finishes under our belt.”
Owens drove for Ramirez Motorsports up through the 2022 season but that team’s future became uncertain when owner Leon Ramirez passed away leaving the 50-year-old driver searching for a ride. However, a deal with Bobby and Jessica Koehler was ultimately announced just after the New Year only a very few weeks before the start of the season.
The ‘Newport Nightmare’ team had to go into hurry-up mode at that point to get themselves ready for the string of races they were about to enter. To further complicate matters, the team opted to change from Longhorn to Rocket Chassis after their early results were not what had been hoped for or expected.
“It put a rush on everything, and then we switched car brands from Longhorn back to Rocket, which is where I prefer to be,” Owens explained. “Bobby and that bunch did their best to give me everything I needed, but still, you’ve got your stuff together. It’s like we started out in a hurry then we changed over in a hurry, and finally, things are starting to slow down a little bit so we can get a grasp on what’s going on.”
To help slow things down, the highly successful touring series racer decided to step away from that sort of schedule in favor of weighing each racing weekend to consider what might be best for his operation.
“I enjoy following the tours and all that stuff, and we fully intended on doing that this year, especially with Lucas,” Owens pointed out. “Lucas and the World of Outlaws, they all do a great job. Everybody does a great job but it’s just not panning out for us right now to do that so we’ll just keep picking and choosing where we need to be.”
Jimmy Owens in the Koehler Motorsports Rocket Chassis
Owens finished second behind Dale McDowell in the Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals/Valvoline Iron-Man Series co-sanctioned Lil Bill Corum Memorial on Monday night at Tazewell Speedway proving that he can still get the job done on a lightning fast track.
“You’ve got to be elbows up here. That helps and it makes you feel good about it to outrun them young guys.”
As far as the remainder of the 2023 season goes, Owens is taking it one race at a time.
“We’re just picking and choosing,” he said. “My crew’s on me, my souvenir guy, everybody’s on me every day wanting to know where we’re going to go. I realize everybody has got to make plans but I really just don’t know where we’re going to go. I just watch the weather and pick and choose from there.”
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