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Jimmy
Owens gets showered in at Eldora Speedway Saturday after winnin
the annual
World 100. Owens pocketed 44,000 dollars for his efforts.
CNO Photo By Nancy Feldner.
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Owens wins the twin
globes of World 100
By George Starks
ROSSBURG– When Jimmy Owens took the lead of the 41st Annual World 100
on lap 12, it was his race to win. Owens was not going to be denied.
Darrell Lanigan, Don O’Neal and Eddie Carrier Jr. made life miserable
in the final 10 laps but the driver from Newport, Tenn., held them off
in the end to win his second career World 100 at Eldora Speedway
Saturday. Owens used every bit of his ability to remain in front during
a frenetic run to the finish that had the massive crowd standing and
screaming right to the very end, earning him $44,000.
“This is unbelievable,” said Owens. “If we never win another race the
rest of our lives, we are proud of where we are right now. To win (the
World 100) once was an achievement. To do it again is unbelievable.”
Owens appeared headed to a runaway victory after he advanced from the
fourth starting spot to pass pole sitter Chris Madden, for the lead on
lap 12.
“We were probably a little too aggressive at the start of the race,”
said Owens.
But something changed after the race’s seventh and final caution flag,
on lap 82 for a turn-four accident that took out Dale McDowell and
Josh, running third and fourth at the time. With the 10-to-go mark
approaching, Lanigan, who had passed McDowell for second on lap 76,
began edging noticeably closer to Owens’s Mike Reese-owned car.
“I guess when I jumped the cushion (in turn one) it knocked the bracing
loose from my (right-side) door and that really slowed us down quite a
bit,” said Owens, the current points leader of the Lucas Oil Late Model
Dirt Series. “When I would get within about six cars (lengths) of a
lapped car, I would start losing it. All the air getting under the car
(the door was bent) was just making the car skatey. We couldn’t stick
no more, where early in the race it didn’t faze us none.”
By lap 92, Lanigan was close enough to stick the nose of his car
underneath Owens.
The deciding moment came on lap 98 when Lanigan shot to the inside of
O’Neal through turns one and two and appeared to have plenty of
momentum built up to pass Owens. But Lanigan ran up on Owens in turn
two and had to hit the brakes a little, causing a scramble with O’Neal
that allowed Carrier to scoot into second on the inside and Owens to
open enough room to carry him to the finish line.
“I knew we were hurting and a sitting duck,” said Owens. “But we were
able to hold on and hold them off.”
Carrier made a last-ditch effort to steal the lead from Owens rounding
turns three and four on the final lap, but fell short in the end.
“Tonight was a whole lot more sentimental than the first (World 100
win),” said Owens. “The first time we won we were still more of a
Modified driver and when we won the Dream it just didn’t hit home to
what we had done.
“Now that we’ve been in Late Models for awhile and been competitive,
you realize the prestige of these races a whole lot more. This second
one is a whole lot better than the first one. When you see what it
means to all the other drivers and the fans, then you realize, ‘Hey,
this is a pretty big deal. It’s pretty cool.’”
A total of 112 cars were signed in for the event. Drivers represented
17 states, Canada and Australia.
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