Lucas Oil Speedway
Storybook first victory for Wheatland standout
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Dillon McCowan in victory lane. (heathlawsonphotos.com)
While Dillon McCowan of Urbana, Mo., still had his car parked in Lucas Oil Speedway’s tech building after winning Friday’s 40-lap Salute to Forrest Lucas feature, his father and team owner, Charlie, was already on the 3/8-mile track’s homestretch throwing himself fully into the unforgettable moment.
The elder McCowan looked up into the grandstand, then kneeled down and bent his torso towards the ground. He touched his lips to the straightaway clay, kissing the dirt like an Indianapolis 500 winner laying one on the famous yard of bricks.
As the crowd roared, Charlie McCowan stood up with his outstretched arms in the air in a sign of thankfulness. His 22-year-old son had become a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victor for the first time — achieving the feat on his home turf in Wheatland, Mo., in fact — and he was so out of breath and overcome with emotion that he could barely offer a full sentence of comment to FloRacing pit reporter Ben Shelton.
Dillon McCowan, though, was able to put the special occasion into words. Once he arrived in victory lane, climbed out of his machine and hugged his father and other supporters, he made clear the significance of a $15,000 triumph that was by far the biggest of his burgeoning career.
“It means I’ve tried my whole life to do this right here,” McCowan said. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted in my life, to be honest with you, is to win a Lucas Oil feature over here. I used to sit right up there in them stands and watch every feature every Saturday night. This is … this is unreal.”
McCowan understood what his father was feeling. He was experiencing much the same emotions, fighting back tears of joy even as he spoke.
“I joked with him that, you know, we may just retire if we ever win one of these things over here,” McCowan said. “But you know, I can’t even explain it. Me and him have worked so hard at it. Nobody sees the late nights in the shop.
“I mean, when we started this (Dirt Late Model) deal, we didn’t even know that you had to smash the bead lock with the wheel. We used to go out and roll right-rears off the car. So what we've overcome and done to get here, I just … I can’t thank everybody enough.”
A rookie on the Lucas Oil Series, McCowan is in just his fourth season competing regularly in the Dirt Late Model division. He excelled in the open-wheel modified ranks as a teenager with over 50 victories and track titles at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2021 and ’22 before dipping his toes into the full-fender realm during the second half of the ’22 season and then diving in head-first the following season.
McCowan made his first real noise in national circles during the 2023 Show-Me 100 weekend, finishing sixth in a preliminary feature and the long-distance finale despite having fewer than two dozen Dirt Late Model starts on his resume. The friendly, humble redhead went on to gain more recognition over the ensuing years with small steps of success. He won five times in ’23, including weekly events at I-55 Federated Raceway Park in Pevely, Mo., and Legit Speedway in West Plains, Mo., and a Comp Cams Super Dirt Series show at Super Bee Speedway in Chatham, La. He captured three races (two MLRA, one unsanctioned) and finished second in the DIRTcar Summer Nationals points standings in ’24. Last season he scored a $6,064 Comp Cams victory at Springfield (Mo.) Raceway.
After McCowan abandoned his attempt to chase last year’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series early in the campaign, he regrouped his family-owned team to take another national touring shot this season on the Lucas Oil Series. This time he’s continued to push through the trials and tribulations and, while ranked only 14th in the points standings, he’s shown glimpses of his potential.
A seventh-place finish in May 22’s rain-postponed Cowboy Classic during the Show-Me 100 weekend. A 10th-place run last month at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. A sixth-place finish, after contending for third, in a June 26 Firecracker 100 semifeature at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. An eighth in July 4’s Lucas Oil stop at Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio.
Was McCowan flirting with victory? Not at all. But he was noticeably improving, especially after debuting a new Longhorn Chassis at Lernerville. There was reason for him to feel good about his progression.
Perhaps McCowan’s history on the Lucas Oil Series — six full-field top-10 finishes this season entering Friday’s action and 11 top-10s overall in 49 career feature starts — didn’t indicate a victory was coming. His best finish prior to Friday was just sixth, in his two 2023 Show-Me 100 weekend runs and in a 2024 Knoxville Nationals preliminary. But racing on the familiar Wheatland oval certainly buoyed his confidence, and after winning a heat race Friday he advanced from the third starting spot in the feature to take the lead from fellow series rookie Josh Rice of Crittenden, Ky., on lap 29 and never looked back.
Nothing was going to stop McCowan once he was in front. He was too comfortable rounding the track, and too determined, to be defeated. He just purchased his No. 8m on the top of the corners after passing Rice and powered to victory.
“I could tell my right-rear (tire) was getting hot,” McCowan said. “I started feeling a heck of a vibration right there when I caught Josh and I took the lead. Then when I saw there was five to go, I was like, ‘Oh, hell with it. We’ll burn it down.’ ”
McCowan beat Rice, 27, to the finish line by 2.104 seconds. Two-time Show-Me 100 winner Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., who led the race’s first five laps, was slightly farther back in third. Both drivers hailed McCowan’s performance.
“I remember my first one,” said Rice, who recored his first-ever Lucas Oil Series triumph in 2021 at his home track of Florence Speedway in Union, Ky. “It was really cool to see him win that. … he did a heck of a job, man. He stayed right there the whole time and pressured me just enough where I got in the fence (causing right-rear spoiler damage).”
The 42-year-old Davenport offered his congratulations to McCowan, remarking that “it’s awesome, you know, he got his first win here. I think he’s from around this area so that makes it even more special for him I’m sure.”
Indeed, McCowan lives just 20 minutes from Wheatland, so the place is his second home. He grew up at the showplace track. There’s no speedway he knows better.
“I guess it's been like my rock,” McCowan said. “It’s been here for me every Saturday night. From the time I was like 15 years old, we’ve been over here and trying to win these feature races.
“It’s just a blessing to come over here and race at such a beautiful facility. And everything that the whole Lucas family has done for this place and, motorsports in general … my life, it’s been a giant part in it.”
McCowan’s postcard interview stretched on for several minutes. He couldn’t hold back as he recounted his journey and thanked all the people who have helped him, including his mother who “sacrificed just as much as anybody has for us to be out here on the road, my dad to be with me,” and his longtime engine builder, Scott Bailey, who was the first person to hug McCowan when he emerged from his car in victory lane.
The career-high $15,000 winner’s prize was basically immaterial to him.
“They could give me a handshake and I’d be just fine with it,” McCowan said. “I don’t even care about the money at this point. I just wanted to win one.”
McCowan got his coveted victory. Doing it where he spent so much of his youth and knows so many people was a cherry on top.
“Thank you to each and every one of you for coming out of here,” McCowan said, motioning toward the Lucas Oil Speedway crowd. “It means the world to me. You guys have cheered me on from the time I was a little kid. I just appreciate all of you.
“This is crazy. I can’t even put it into words,” he added. “I’m blessed. It’s all I can say.”
