The Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series invaded the state of Florida for the first time in 2022 with a Monday night, January 31 appearance at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala and it turned out to be a spectacular start for the Late Models in their Florida Speed Weeks series as Tim McCreadie would edge out Devin Moran in a last lap thrill that saw the two drivers make hard contact as they raced to the finish line on the uniquely shaped three corner track that is Bubba Raceway Park.
The Lucas Oil Series would be presenting a one division, stand alone event for the Late Models here on Monday night with a return appearance on Tuesday before they move on to All Tech Speedway farther North for the rest of the week.
A stellar field of forty six drivers was on hand for the race Monday but the absent also of such drivers as Kyle Strickler, Jonathan Davenport and Chris Madden along with Scott Bloomquist and others would ensure that this is going to be a racing season where drivers hunt and choose what and when they will be racing as the established series and individual specials all try and attract the "name" drivers to their events. There were also lots on people on the grounds looking to see Kyle Larson but his first responsibility lies with NASCAR and his sponsors and activities surrounding the upcoming Daytona 500 will likely occupy most of his pre 500 time.
Bubba Raceway Park is in a unique situation as this track is no longer used on a regular basis anymore and is leased only by Lucas Oil and USAC for special February events for Late Models, Midgets and wingless Sprints and I'm told, the rest of the year the track just sits vacant.
On this night it would provide excellent racing and even though it was overwatered, it finally started to widen out and allow more side by side racing. The track was nice and smooth but in it's overwatered state, we had to sit through quite an ordeal of almost endless hot lap sessions until it was good enough to be deemed worthy of qualifying on. Brandon Sheppard and McCreadie would be the two fastest in their respective groups.
I was a bit surprised that they scheduled six heat races as this saw them bring just seven and eight cars to a heat but they qualified three out of each heat, ran two B Features that moved up two and then came to obligatory provisionals and emergency provisionals to set the twenty six car field.
By feature time the track was still blinding fast and still a bit narrow as the outside groove had yet to be explored much. The official statistics will show that McCreadie led all forty laps but that would be slightly misleading. It is true that for the greater part of the race, he and Moran would run first and second and would not be really challenged as most of the racing was going on behind them.
Brandon Sheppard had moved into second early but he made a bad choice on an early restart and got shuffled back several positions and spent the better part of the race trying to undo his early mistake. However, that made for some interesting racing as he, Mark Whitener, Shane Clanton, Ricky Thornton Jr and Kyle Bronson had a spirited battle for position.
It was a bit frustrating though as three consecutive times, just when the leaders caught the back of the pack and things would have gotten even more intense, the yellow flag waved and McCreadie and Moran had an open track. Lapped traffic on this rather narrow and odd shaped track usually separates the men from the boys, especially so on a night like this when the groove was so fast and narrow, and we missed seeing that tonight.
The last yellow, when Daulton Wilson stalled, set up a ten lap finish and soon it was quickly apparent that the track was changing. Sheppard continued to hammer the cushion but now he was making progress and Moran went to the top side and he was closing on McCreadie.
The last couple of laps got wild as Moran caught McCreadie and I'm guessing, Tim got the signal to move up the track as he did so in turn one and blocked Moran. However, as they took the white flag, Moran threw a wicked slider at Tim in turn one and squeezed by for the lead. He seemed to have a comfortable edge racing into the tricky and tight turn three but he got too hight, slid up into the mud that had been plaguing drivers all night and lost much time.
McCreadie remained on the bottom and came off the corner low. Moran tried to come down across the track and block Tim and they made hard contact, wheel from Moran into the right door of McCreadie. Both cars got sideways but McCreadie had the edge and crossed the line by a car length while Moran crossed the line sideways and slid into the infield.
After the race, I thought it odd that McCreadie was apologizing of sorts while Moran talked like the aggreged victim as I didn't see it that way at all. It looked more to me like Moran had the race in the bag until he screwed up on the last corner, tried to mitigate his error but McCreadie beat him to his spot and earned the win. Particularly so when the slider that Moran threw on the white flag lap in turn one was not a clean one at all and if McCreadie hadn't lifted, he could have easily sent Mr. Moran right into the Armco barrier. But what do I know!
In any event, it sent the fans to the exits talking and with a reason to return for Tuesday night's show. The crowd would be described as average on this Monday night. With the delayed start due to track conditions, it was nearly 8 pm before the first race took to the track but as Lucas generally does with their Florida events particularly when there are no support classes to gum things up, they then ran off a blinding fast program that was done well before 10 pm.
Before the racing began, we in the grandstands also got a special treat and perhaps one that will leave a lasting memory long after the battle for the lead on this night is forgotten.
At 6:11 pm, Space X conducted a launch from Cape Canaveral, which I was totally unaware was going to happen, and we could clearly see the whole thing from the grandstand as hot laps droned on. When I saw the object flying up into the sky and the tell tail trail of smoke and vapor, I thought it must be some kind of launch and some more knowledgeable people than me, close by, confirmed it was Elon Musk at it again.
As far away as the Cape is, it was crystal clear and we could see the rocket launch into the sky just as sunset was taking place, could clearly see the separation of the rocket and booster, and then see the booster engines fire as it settled back down toward earth where it would eventually land back at the Cape. Because of an effect called the "jellyfish effect", which is caused by the sun angle, temperature and moisture in the air, crystal particles form and allow the sighting to be clearer much farther away and I have to admit it was one of the more spectacular sightings I have ever had. It makes now want to attend a launch close up and personal where I never had much desire to do so before.
Back to the racing, despite the blinding fast conditions and the tight racing, there was little in the way of damaged race cars on Monday and except for a lot of mud to be scrapped and washed, the preparations for the Tuesday night show should be fairly routine so pretty much the same field of cars would be expected to return.
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