After the Checkers
Breakdown, analysis as Owens wins at Volunteer
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Promoter Vic Hill and winner Jimmy Owens. (joshjamesartwork.com)
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (Oct. 22) — Takeaways and analysis from Thursday’s FloRacing Night in America event at Volunteer Speedway, a 50-lap, $20,000-to-win feature captured by Jimmy Owens (RaceWire):
SENTIMENTAL VICTORY: Vintage Jimmy Owens. That’s what the Dirt Late Model world saw in all its glory. I’ve always considered Owens one of the best at balancing patient finesse and up-on-the-wheel intensity. Some are too tentative, others too bullish or simply one-dimensional. Owens has never been that. And Thursday reminded us that equilibrium and competitive fire very much remains in him. The heat race is the defining and race-winning move of the night for me, when he stuck the bottom in turns one and two on the fourth lap to draw alongside Devin Moran, then completed the pass with a hard-nosed but clean slider across Moran’s nose at the other end. In the feature, he used virtually all of the racetrack and was pretty much mistake-free, minus a few bobbles when he got tight on the cushion down the stretch. Well-timed cautions certainly came to his aid on laps six, 15, 22, 34 and 45, keeping him from getting deep into lapped traffic. But perhaps that’s how it was meant to play out, especially considering the peculiar circumstances surrounding his 0.002-second victory over Jonathan Davenport on the 51st lap (see below). If this is indeed the final race at The Gap — a mere half-hour from Owens’s native Newport and the last track standing he can still call home — you couldn’t have asked for a better ending or a more fitting winner.
AN EXTRA LAP: Indeed, Thursday’s 50-lap feature ended up being 51 laps because of what officials termed a scoring malfunction. Where exactly the malfunction occurred — whether a lap was scored twice, there was a miscommunication about how many laps remained on a restart, or something else — I don’t know. But that’s how the error was explained to me. So why weren’t the results finalized after the 50th lap? Rule 7.2.F.iii in the series rulebook states: “If, for any reason, the race is run one (1) lap short or long, the race is officially over when the checkered flag has been displayed.” The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series follows this procedure, too. Thankfully, the extra lap left the winner and most of the finishing order unchanged, though Hudson O’Neal nipped Chris Madden for third and Garrett Smith passed Kaede Loudy for 13th. I couldn’t imagine the nightmare scenario should Owens not have won.
THE LAST DANCE?: The thought that we may have witnessed the final race at Bulls Gap is crazy. I don’t know if I’m in denial about that possibility or have reasonable grounds for hope, but I just can’t see this being the end. The track remains well supported and adored by drivers, fans and backers alike. Promoter Vic Hill has poured his heart and soul into the storied facility owned by the Loven family, doing everything in his power to preserve it as a racetrack and keep it from becoming another piece of land lost to development. Keep the faith and stay tuned.
PRESENCE MATTERS: That said, support your local track however you can afford to. Thursday’s race wasn’t on my coverage radar until rumors of an impending sale surfaced, and I’m glad I ended up going. Nights like that remind you that what you contribute to the sport — and experience in return — is worth it. It’s nice to sit at home and watch a race via streaming subscription. It’s easy for wannabe creators to build their brands on AI-generated Facebook content and cover the sport from afar. It’s tempting, I’m sure, for teams and backers to scale back and hold onto their money for the next race, whenever that is. Even across sports media in all sports, fewer resources are being devoted to showing up and telling stories firsthand. I’m grateful Flo continues to invest in sending us on the road to do that work. Nothing beats being at the track and you can’t put a price tag on presence. Your investment might be just what a track needs, and the experience might be just what you need, too.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I sensed Thursday’s race was wide open. Red-hot Ricky Thornton Jr. wasn’t present, instead racing a sprint car — and winning his fifth race in a row! — at Central Arizona Raceway. Once-red-hot Bobby Pierce has cooled, his father admitting to me prerace that they’re “just OK” right now. Other frontrunners, like Brandon Sheppard and Nick Hoffman, aren’t at their strongest at Bulls Gap. Eventual Davenport hasn’t won since Aug. 29. Outside of RTJ, nobody has a stronghold on Dirt Late Model competition right now, which helped set the stage for Thursday’s result and moments like Benji Hicks running second from laps 19-34. Owens earned this one, and his victory added to the refreshing storylines that have emerged frequently this year through the sport’s ebbs and flows.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Ninety-three. That’s how many national touring events Jimmy Owens entered without a victory — across the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, World of Outlaws Late Model Series and FloRacing Night in America — before Thursday’s breakthrough. His previous victory came in February 2024 at now-defunct East Bay Raceway Park. Since he became national-touring regular in 2007, it was easily his longest national touring drought. The East Bay victory ended a 56-event skid. Before that, his longest was 55, stretching from April 2015 at Macon Speedway through his dramatic Show-Me 100 victory in May 2016.
