Coming off the conclusion of the biggest purse paying event in the history of the ULTIMATE Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series Memorial Day weekend at the Daugherty Speedway, the series was set to make its return to the ¼ mile facility at the Jackson County Fairgrounds aka the Brownstown Speedway for race two on the 2018 calendar. We we’re all sad in the industry to hear of the passing of the gentleman Johnny Wheeler aka The Wheelman on Tuesday. It hit the area and series mostly because Wheeler was one of the original competitors of the series of the past. To pay respects to the racing legend, the decision was made by series directors Dj Irvine and Matt Hicks to make the event 31 laps for $3000 to win.

For many fans in attendance they witnessed an awesome show with a driver that cut his teeth to have the career he’s captured in motorsports on the national dirt racing level, return home to capture the victory and get a nice tune up before the 24th Annual Dirt Late Model DREAM this coming week at Eldora Speedway. That young man was #71 Hudson O'Neal Racing “The New Deal” from Martinsville, Indiana.

With the entire Midwest united states and more plagued by soggy and wet conditions, with even mother nature’s aftermath in notice at the track, the show was successfully completed on a beautiful Saturday evening with temperatures in the mid 80’s. Hudson O’Neal would get the night into motion setting fast time during VP Race Fuels QUICKTIME Group Qualifying just only six hundredths off the track record putting a time of 12.785 seconds from Flight #1. The #12 of Lawrenceburg, Indiana’s Jason Jameson was the fastest car in Flight #2 with a 12.802 second lap. The heat races ironically would be taken by the same two competitors of O’Neal and Jameson securing their spots on the front row for the 31 lap $3000 to win Johnny Wheeler Tribute Race.

The race for the most part was total domination by the young man O’Neal who knows Brownstown Speedway like the best of them that are veterans to the track, Jameson tried to make a charge to get to O’Neal in the late rally but would come up short. The race would be halted by only one yellow flag period in the race after the #H9 of Karlie Holt spun between turns three and four also causing the #75 Shane Piatt to get on the binders to avoid missing him. Before the caution on lap 9 the opening laps saw fierce competition with two and three wide racing several rows deep in the field as the sun set in the “Hoosier State” sky at the west end of the speedway overlooking turns three and four.

Other great competition in the event was between #1g Devin Gilpin, #7r Kent Robinson and at times #32 Chad Stapleton aka Total Chaos which battled hard the race even with ill handling conditions with a damaged torn off spoiler. In the end no one could catch the #71 Club 29 Race Cars chassis with Clements Racing Engine under the power-plant to return to where the “phenom” got his career started following the shoes of his Father Don O’Neal to win the Johnny Wheeler Tribute Race at Brownstown as the crowd gave him a roaring crescendo exiting the car as O’Neal acknowledged the packed house at victory lane. For O’Neal it also got his first super late model win of the 2018 season so far in competition and he continued the winning legacy from Father O’Neal winning under the ULTIMATE Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series banner as well. Plus, O’Neal makes the 2nd different winner on the series in 2018.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – Johnny Wheeler #31 Tribute Race from Brownstown, IN Speedway (pending tire sample results meeting benchmark)

1st #71 Hudson O’Neal, 2nd #12 Jason Jameson, 3rd #1G Devin Gilpin, 4th #7R Kent Robinson, 5th #32 Chad Stapleton, 6th #24 Jared Bailey, 7th #14 Steve Godsey, 8th #1CJ Cody Mahoney, 9th #17M Alan Magner, 10th #22 Austin Burns, 11th #80 Matt Bex, 12th #77 Adam Bowman, 13th #H9 Karlie Holt, 14th #75 Shane Piatt, 15th #17 Lee Williams

The NEXT stop on the 2018 ULTIMATE Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series will be on Saturday June 16th, Father’s Day weekend at the immaculate ½ mile clay gem – Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, Virginia for the 41st Annual USA 100 presented by WhosYourDriver.org. The event will present a $20,000 to win formatted show with all the sanctioning bodies together, ULTIMATE Southeast, ULTIMATE Mid-Ohio Valley, ULTTIMATE Northeast and the ULTIMATE Battle of the Bluegrass spotlighted for a phenomenal dirt racing spectacle. Also, the FASTRAK Racing Series powered by Chevrolet Performance, for the Southeast and Mid-Ohio Valley tours will race for $3000 to win (paid session) before the 15th Annual “Super Bowl of PRO Late Model Racing” – FASTRAK World Championships in September 14th-15th in the “Commonwealth State”. All details on this event coming fast at www.fastrakracing.com, www.ultimatesupers.com and www.vamotorspeedway.com.

For more information on the ULTIMATE Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series visit www.ultimatesupers.com/BOBHome.html. For social media content, the ULTIMATE Battle of the Bluegrass is also on Twitter at @UBoBluegrass and on Facebook at ULTIMATE Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series.

The ULTIMATE Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series would like to recognize their series partners for the 2018 season which include: American Racer, Hoosier Race Tires, VP Race Fuels, VP Racing Lubricants, Arizona Sport Shirts, DirtonDirt.com, RockAuto.com, Simpson, and Thomas Clarke Performance Web Design.