*Turn 2 Blog is a regular feature on InsideDirtRacing.com. Here, site operators Michael Moats and Richard Allen take turns offering their thoughts on the dirt racing topics of the day from east Tennessee and beyond.
*For this week’s Turn 2 Blog we are pleased to be joined by Kris Krug. His experience at covering dirt racing is prolific, having served as a track announcer in our area at the Smoky Mountain Speedway. But more recently, Kris has handled the microphone duties at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway, site of the Knoxville Nationals event sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
Richard: Hard to believe but it’s already time to get back into the Dirt Late Model season full bore as the two national tours are in the process of making their way to Georgia and Florida for their season opening events.
With their season starting first at Golden Isles Speedway just outside of Brunswick, GA, this particular blog will focus entirely on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series with a second blog on the World of Outlaws Late Models coming next week. And one thing is for certain, there is no shortage of storylines going into 2016 with this series. Rules changes, driver changes, chassis changes and several venue changes will give this well established tour somewhat of a makeover going into the new campaign.
Let’s start by talking about rule changes. I’m far from being a technical guru so I want to focus on the impact the new mandates regarding suspensions will have on competition. The K&L Rumley team of driver Jonathan Davenport feels as if these changes were made as a direct result of the unbelievable season they turned in last year on their way to a series title, over 20 feature wins and multiple crown jewel triumphs.
So, the simple question is this: Can Jonathan Davenport come anywhere close to duplicating what he did in 2015 or will the new rules and an off-season in the garage allow the competition to catch up?
Michael: Any time you have a driver do what Davenport did last year, it’s hard to think of him being able to match it, let alone surpass it. But anything can happen in this sport. The bad thing is if Davenport has a good season, it may seem like a disappointment to some because they are comparing it to 2015. I would have said that rule changes or not.
From everything I have read, it seems as if Kevin Rumley will be out to prove that last year was no fluke and any rules changes will not hamper their efforts this season. Davenport got off to a good start at Tuscon in the Wild West Shootout, but they didn’t implement any of the new Lucas rules for those races.
Kris: That will without a doubt be the biggest question of the 2016 season. I remember watching Lucas races last year and seeing Davenport’s left front glued to the ground. He definitely had the shocks figured out last season. Although the rules package is different at the Wild West Shootout, Davenport has to feel good about heading into Speedweeks after great performance in Arizona.
I don’t know that Davenport can duplicate his success from last year, though I still see him as the favorite to win the points heading into the season. I think he can win a few majors again, but I think winning nine in a row was a once in a lifetime accomplishment.
Richard: Not only did the success of Davenport and Rumley bring about changes within the series during the off-season, but the LOLMDS will also see several changes in driver, team and chassis alignments. Most notably, the two-car team owned by NASCAR star Clint Bowyer parted ways with veteran racer Steve Francis at the end of 2015 to make room for three-time WoO Late Models champion Darrell Lanigan. At the same time, the Bowyer operation will exchange the Barry Wright Race Cars they used to win a series championship in 2014 for Club 29 machines.
And more, three-time Lucas Oil champ and Newport resident Jimmy Owens has made just the opposite change. He, along with new team owners R&W Motorsports, have added Barry Wright Race Cars to that stable after employing the Club 29 chassis last year.
The Bowyer team saw immediate results in Arizona this winter as both Lanigan and Don O’Neal scored wins in the desert. Owens ran the BWRC in a couple of races at the end of 2015 under the banner of his previous team owner, Rowland Racing.
Are these just knee-jerk reactions to Davenport’s success or will these and others gain ground?
Michael: I’m not sure these changes can be called knee-jerk reactions. But it’s part of the monkey-see-monkey-do aspect of racing. And in the cases of drivers going in a completely different direction, it’s part chassis manufacturers pitching a great deal to get other drivers in their cars and some drivers that don’t like to follow the crowd. Some feel as if they’re running something different than most others and have success, they’ll be the trailblazers and not the followers.
I’m not sure what Bowyer’s team would have done had they not landed Lanigan. I guess we’ll never know, but is something to think about on these cold winter days.
Kris: I was really surprised to see Owens leave Rowland Racing after only one year. When he joined them heading into the 2015 season I thought it was going to be a long term deal. As for Lanigan, I’m still having a hard time getting used to seeing him in the 15 and not his long time 29. During the Wild West Shootout, I kept forgetting Francis was no longer in that car. It will certainly take some getting used to.
I think this may be a knee-jerk reaction to not only Davenports success from last year but also the success Bloomquist had in 2014 and Owens’ own success when he won three straight titles. While O’Neal won the points championship in 2014, Bloomquist had an outstanding year winning plenty of majors including the World 100 for the fourth time. I think things will go smooth for both teams though. If I had to pick one to have doubts about, it would be Owens. When your on top for so long and then all of the sudden you’re not, teams in sports can start to scramble and do anything to try and find a way back on top without understanding that your going to have a down year or two from time to time. Hopefully Owens can settle in with R&W Motorsports and his new BWRC over the next few years instead of continuing to scramble to find answers. I think both teams will be excellent in 2016 though.
Richard: On a positive note, LOLMDS announced during the off-season that their Saturday feature races will pay $12,000-to-win instead of the former $10,000. This is refreshing to see after so many years of Dirt Late Model racing offering the same purse payouts for a decade or more.
And more, the schedule for the series has undergone some changes as well. It was disappointing to see the series traditional stop in late August at the Volunteer Speedway taken away but the circumstances of the football game being played at Bristol Motor Speedway precipitated a change on the NASCAR schedule which reverberated down to the race in Bulls Gap.
However, our region added an event at Boyd’s Speedway in April and a trip to our north at Kentucky’s Ponderosa Speedway in August. These races, along with tour stops at Smoky Mountain Speedway and Tazewell Speedway, will assure fans in our region of several chances to see some of the sport’s biggest stars in action.
And as always, Lucas will sanction some of dirt racing’s biggest events, including the Knoxville Nationals up in Kris’s neck of the woods.
Michael: Increasing the purses for Saturday races is a long-needed move. If Dirt Late Model racing is to grow, purses have to come up while keeping costs somewhat under control.
One thing I am thankful for is the Lucas race at Tazewell and the Lucas race at Smoky Mountain being spread out a little more. I know the schedule won’t allow it, but I’d like to see a Lucas race in this area in September to spread things out even more.
Kris: I love the fact that Lucas has decided to up the Saturday night winner payout to $12,000. I’m sure this is something the drivers have felt is a little overdue.
As you mentioned, it is a shame the Volunteer Speedway had to drop the series for that August date. It kind of made the Bristol night race a week long event and gave the NASCAR boys a chance to come over and watch some dirt track racing. It goes without saying that it was a really special event for the fans as well.
As for the rest of the schedule, it will be an exciting one for sure. I was happy to see that Joe Kosiski was able to get two Lucas dates this year at I-80 Speedway up here in Nebraska. The Silver Dollar Nationals has become a pretty big event in dirt track racing in such a short period of time. Now, with two dates on the schedule, drivers will have a chance to play around with a setup during the May date before heading back up here in here in July for the $40,000-to-win Silver Dollar Nationals.
As always, one of the tracks I’m looking forward to watching the most is Macon(Illinois). I don’t know that you could find a smaller track in the world to put late models on and actually have a great race.
This should be another stellar year for the Lucas Oil Series.
Richard: Another attractive thing about the Lucas Oil Series is the amount of star power. Jonathan Davenport, Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Darrell Lanigan, Don O’Neal, Earl Pearson, Jr. and Steve Francis will be among those expected to run the full schedule with this tour. And amazingly, that is just a list of the drivers who have won titles on a national touring series. That’s not to mention Tim McCreadie who is rumored to be moving from WoO to LOLMDS.
It used to be that whenever a fan wanted to see that many stars on the same track at the same time, they had to go to a crown jewel event. Now, they can be seen together on a weekly basis.
This series has reached the point that its organizers no doubt had hoped would be the case when it was originally laid out.
Michael: The addition of Lanigan and possibly McCreadie will give a boost to the series. There were some other drivers looking to run Lucas this year, but it is looking like they will not follow it this year. You never know, a driver or two may end up following it that hadn’t planned on it and there may be a surprise driver decide not to follow it. We will have to wait and see how things play out when the end of February rolls around.
Kris: The list of drivers that the Lucas Series has pulled in for this season is outstanding. The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars only has about 10 drivers running all 90+ races in a season and the late models only have around 11. To see the Lucas Oil series looks to have up to 15 if T-Mac makes the jump would be incredible. Just by the list of drivers you listed, Rich, it’s easy to see why late model fans consider the Lucas Oil series to be the top series. If T-Mac does make the jump from the Outlaws this year, he will sure have his work cut out for him but should do pretty well. He usually runs well at the tracks that Lucas runs, including Knoxville in September.
Richard: And finally, it’s time to make our predictions about how things will go this year on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
I know the easy thing to do would be to pick Jonathan Davenport to repeat as the champion, but I am going to go in a different direction. Perhaps I’m doing it for no other reason than to be different, but I just believe it would be difficult to follow up on such an amazing effort. Whether it be the rule changes, gains by the other teams, or simply bad luck, it seems like it’s asking too much for a second ‘season for the ages’.
So here are my choices:
LOLMDS champion- Don O’Neal
Most series wins- Scott Bloomquist
Michael: I’m not 100% convinced Davenport will run the whole Lucas tour. Even if he does, I’m also going with O’Neal to win the championship and to win the most series races.
Kris: It’s so hard to pick a champion with a field like this. Francis is with a new team, Lanigan made the jump to the Lucas series this year with a different team and new shock rules could slow down the reigning champ, Davenport. All that being said, I like how Superman ran in the Wild West Shootout, though the rule package was different than what he will have to deal with under Lucas. I think Davenport is still the one to beat this season and get take home the points tile for the second consecutive season.
Richard: One thing for sure is that it will be fun to watch.
