After the Checkers
Instant reaction, analysis of Ebert's Topless victory
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Runner-up Dale McDowell (left) congratulates Dan Ebert. (heathlawsonphotos.com)
LOCUST GROVE, Ark. (Aug. 15) — Instant reaction and analysis from Saturday’s 34th annual Ace Doran Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway, a $50,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event captured by Dan Ebert of Lake Shore, Minn. (RaceWire):
WHAT A BREAKTHROUGH: Sometimes it’s downright amazing how quickly a racer’s fortunes can change. Consider Dan Ebert. One week ago he found himself standing on Florence Speedway’s frontstretch alongside his broken car, watching in agonizing fashion as safety crews cleaned up the massive wreck that his mechanical malfunction had spawned early in the Sunoco North-South 100. Saturday he stood in a very different place: the winner’s stage at Batesville, celebrating not only his first-ever crown jewel triumph but his first win in a Super Late Model period. The 38-year-old sophomore Lucas Oil regular earned his milestone checkered flag, pressing on after last week’s misery and a lap-34 flat tire in the Topless 100 to methodically work his way forward. He pulled off some slick-but-daring moves on a track that developed a wide lane of rubber to assume command on lap 89 as leader Josh Rice slowed with a blown right-rear tire and controlled the remaining distance. It was a well-deserved victory for Ebert, who has absorbed plenty of hard knocks on the road over the past two seasons but learned from them all while maintaining a positive attitude. He told me after the race that winning makes him “officially” a Late Model driver. The Topless 100 was, indeed, the first night of the rest of Ebert’s career.
UGLY RACE: The rash of flat tires during Friday’s twin 25-lap semifeature — largely thought to be triggered by rocks on, or in, the track surface — sent everyone into the Topless 100 fearing more of the same. Unfortunately, tire problems were prevalent in a long-distance affair that lasted a long 82 minutes as cars slowing with flats caused 15 of 17 caution flags. Runner-up Dale McDowell and fourth-place Clay Stuckey were the only drivers in the 24-car field who ran the entire century grind without making a pit stop, either to change a flat tire or take on fresh rubber. Pit crews certainly got major workouts on the steamy evening; 12 drivers pitted multiple times, topped by Charlie Cole’s seven visits to the hot pit and four by Brandon Overton and Ethan Dotson. Flats doomed the race’s two leaders before Ebert with Ricky Thornton Jr. succumbing on lap 74 (while second) and Josh Rice going down on lap 89 (as Ebert overtook him for the lead). If the never-ending procession of cars coming in for service didn’t mar the race enough, the surface took rubber not far into the 100’s second half, prompting Lucas Oil Series officials to make the final five restarts (starting on lap 69) single-file. It was no crown jewel classic.
PATIENT VETERANS: Dale McDowell, a two-time Topless 100 winner, had to restart at the rear of the field after a lap-15 scrape left the rear end of his car on the inside wall in turn four. Another two-time winner, Jonathan Davenport, went to the back on lap 34 with a flat tire. But there they were after the race, flanking Ebert on the podium with McDowell finishing second and Davenport third. They’re both just so crafty and savvy; they calmly climbed forward to end up in contention. McDowell proved his knack for smooth-driving by going the distance on one set of tires, though a deflating right-front tire likely cost him second to Ebert on a lap-89 restart. Davenport, meanwhile, might have cooled his jets a little too much late in the race in an effort to conserve his tires that he discovered afterward were in much better shape than he thought.
WONDERFUL RUN: If Ebert didn’t steal the spotlight, Clay Stuckey would have been the unexpected star of the Topless 100. Making his first start in the event’s finale, the 22-year-old son of longtime Louisiana crew chief and chassis builder Ronnie Stuckey put in a sublime effort to register a Lucas Oil Series career-best finish of fourth. His unchanged right-rear tire was essentially bald in the closing laps, but he made it to the checkered flag for a result that had him beaming. Stuckey is a developing driver who’s been flashing promise on bigger stages. He gained a giant dose of confidence by tallying a top-five in a race that he’s been attending throughout his life and his father has won multiple times as both a crew chief and chassis builder.
HEARTBREAK: How unthinkable would it have been if Josh Rice backed up his spectacular home-track victory in last week’s Sunoco North-South 100 with a second straight crown jewel triumph at Batesville? The 28-year-old Kentuckian admitted he would have been as flabbergasted as everyone else after he came extremely close to pulling off the feat. Rice appeared very much on his way to an incredible August double-dip after wrestling control of the lead from Thornton on lap 60, effortlessly building an edge of over a straightaway on his closest pursuer on five straight restarts. But on lap 89 the completely worn-out right-rear tire on his JRR Motorsports car finally popped, forcing him to the pit area for the first time in the race. Did Rice run too hard once in the lead? Rocket Chassis co-owner Mark Richards tried signaling Rice to slow down when he held a huge advantage, but the Lucas Oil rookie said he was already running half-throttle and feared if he let off more he’d hurt his rhythm through the corners. The tire just gave out, dealing him one of the toughest losses of his burgeoning career. As Rice noted, he came oh-so-close to winning the Topless 100 in his first-ever visit to Batesville — and it would have been the first time he’s won a race “in the rubber,” ie., a truly locked-down track surface.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Ebert’s first career Lucas Oil Series victory came in his 82nd career feature start on the national tour. His two top-five finishes in full-field events have both come at Batesville (he was fourth in last year’s Topless 100), but he does own two more top-fives in split-field semifeatures (fourth last year at Batesville, second on June 26 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.).
