The New Deal Strikes A Big Deal; Hudson O’Neal To Double Down Motorsports For ’21
Story By: RYAN DELPH / HUDSON O’NEAL RACING – MARYVILLE, TN – As the 2020 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season comes to a close this upcoming weekend (October 16-17) in the $100,000 to win Dirt Track World Championship at Portsmouth Raceway Park, Double Down Motorsports owner Roger Sellers and driver Hudson O’Neal are both excited to announce a partnership that will take them back out on the road with the premier national touring series in 2021.
Tennessee-based Double Down Motorsports followed the entire Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series campaign back in 2019 with driver Shanon Buckingham and most notably picked up a $12,000 triumph at Tazewell Speedway in Tazewell, Tennessee on the way to finishing tenth in the final series point standings.
The DDM team was also a fixture on the LOLMDS tour through much of 2020 until pulling the plug in late August when Buckingham’s work commitments – in part – forced him off the series schedule.
Hudson, who was the 2017 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year, has been a stalwart on the tour since his rookie campaign and has finished as high as seventh in the final point standings in 2019. The twenty-year-old rising star from Martinsville, Indiana has seven career LOLMDS victories including wins in the 2019 ‘Jackson 100’ at Brownstown (IN) Speedway worth $15,000, the 2019 ‘Mountain Moonshine Classic’ at Roger Sellers’ own Smoky Mountain (TN) Speedway worth $15,000, and the 2018 ‘Clash at the Mag’ at Magnolia (MS) Motor Speedway worth $20,000. Much like Double Down Motorsports, Hudson started out the 2020 season with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series driving the MasterSbilt House Car, but pulled off the tour in mid-July.
“I can’t express just how excited I am to have Hudson (O’Neal) on board and driving our equipment in 2021 and beyond,” exclaimed team owner Roger Sellers recently. “Hudson is an exceptional talent behind the wheel, but is also a very polite and well-spoken young man that will be very marketable to our current group of partners, as well as potential sponsors in the future. We have a lot of details to still figure out heading into 2021, but I think the pieces will all come together to have a terrific season, as we vie for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Championship!”
One detail that has already been decided is that the driver known as “The New Deal” will wheel a XR1 Rocket Chassis
throughout the 2021 season – adorned by his familiar #71. Roger and Double Down Motorsports would like to thank Longhorn Chassis for their tremendous products and great customer service over the past several years. With Hudson accustomed to and finding the XR1 Rocket Chassis to his liking, the team will go in that direction for cars in 2021.
“First off, I have to thank Craig Sims and Shannon Sims and the entire Sims family for stepping up and fielding a car for the past couple of months,” commented Hudson Oneal earlier today via telephone. “I am very excited about this new deal and it will be an honor to represent Double Down Motorsports in first class fashion both on and off the racetrack in 2021. I can’t thank Roger (Sellers) and everyone associated with Double Down Motorsports enough for believing in me and providing me with such an awesome opportunity. Roger pours his heart and soul into that race program and has such great equipment – it is going to be an incredible year I believe!”
The new-look Double Down Motorsports team, who will still field a second car in regional events with Sellers’ son-in-law Robby Moses, will kick off their 2021 campaign on January 22-23 with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in the annual running of the ‘Super Bowl of Racing’ at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Georgia. From there, the #71 team will compete in “Speedweeks” events with the series at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Florida, Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida, and All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Florida from January 25-February 6.
