O'Neal rolls to "Cowboy Classic" victory as Show-Me 100 weekend begins
Photo by GSS Media
WHEATLAND, Mo.—Hudson O'Neal's love for Lucas Oil Speedway this year continued on Thursday night as the 2021 Show-Me 100 winner fired the first winning shot of the weekend at the 33rd annual Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism.
O'Neal beat Devin Moran by 1.3 seconds to pick up the $10,000 prize in the Cowboy Classic, the first of two preliminary nights for the Show-Me 100.
O'Neal, who won both nights of the Late Model Spring Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway in early April, took the lead with 12 laps to go in the 45-lapper. The 24-year-old Martinsville, Ind., driver earned valuable points toward the starting grid for Saturday's $75,000-to-win, 100-lap feature with his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season.
Three of O'Neal's five feature wins in 2025 have come on the Lucas Oil Speedway dirt. After winning his heat race Thursday night, O'Neal noted that the set-up on the car is nearly identical to the Spring Nationals when he earned $27,000 over two nights.
"We've had speed for the last few months, every since we were able to hire Jason Durham," O'Neal said of his crew chief on the SSI Motorsports Longhorn chassis. Durham came aboard just before the Spring Nationals.
A total of 49 Late Models checked into the pits as the first crown-jewel race of the season began. Points accumulated on Night One on Thursday and Night Two on Friday, highlighted by the $10,000-to-win Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson, will lock in the top 18 starting positions for Saturday night's 100-lap finale worth a record $75,000 to the winner.
O'Neal was making good progress early, moving into second briefly before slipping back to fifth after a lap-eight restart as Garrett Alberson set a blistering pace as he led the first 32 laps. O'Neal slid too high in the cushion entering turn two.
"I got to second there right before (the lap-eight restart). The top was still pretty dominant, I thought 'Man, I need to get to the top down here in one and two' and I'll be danged if I didn't run right over the banking," O'Neal said. "I fell back to fifth or sixth and I don't know if I was gonna win it, but I was at least gonna run in the top three.
"I had to battle the whole race just to get back to the top three. The restarts fell our way and I got some good breaks through there and got to show how good our race car was down on the bottom."
Alberson started on the pole and quickly got out to a 2.5-second lead just three laps into the race. But that margin was wiped away with a caution when fourth-starting Brandon Overton rolled to a stop with mechanical issues.
As green-flag action resumed, Alberson again bolted to a 2.3-second margin in just two laps with O’Neal running second and Davenport third. Another yellow soon slowed the field after seventh-running Mike Marlar looped his car in turn two.
Alberson’s speed continued to shine as the race again went green, as he led Thornton by 2.6 seconds by lap 15 with Jonathan Davenport third. Just a couple of laps later, the leader entered lapped traffic and Ricky Thornton Jr. began to cut into what was once a 2.9-second lead.
The third caution flew on lap 19 as Tyler Bruening, running sixth, slowed in turn two. Caution No. 4 appeared five laps later when Tyler Stevens slowed as Alberson held a one-second lead over Thornton with O’Neal a close third.
O’Neal wrestled the second spot away from Thornton after the restart, cutting Alberson’s lead to under a second. That set up O'Neal for the winning pass and he quickly expanded his lead as the contenders weaved through lapped traffic.
Alberson drew within two car lengths with five to go, but O’Neal was up to the challenge and went on to prevail by 1.3 seconds over Moran, who passed Alberson for second with one to go.
"This place put on a heck of a show tonight. I think we raced all over it," O'Neal said.
Thornton, who ran second for a total of 18 laps, wound up fourth with 2024 Show-Me 100 champion Davenport fifth.
"It definitely wasn't as easy as it might have looked," said Moran, who started 12th. "We were horrible all night. Awful qualifying, just way off. These (crew) guys just worked their butts off. Everybody worked really hard and we had a lot better car in the feature.
"I was trying to make the top of three and four work a little more just to get that little bit of run to get underneath them," the Dresden, Ohio, driver said of his late-race strategy. "It didn't quite work out, but the car was really good and it kept getting better and better as the race went on."
Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M., had the fast qualifying lap with a time of 15.191 seconds in Group A. Alberson holds the Late Model track record at Lucas Oil Speedway (14.443) set one year ago on the second night of Show-Me 100 weekend.
The main event ran 45 laps as it paid tribute to the late Allen "Cowboy" Chancellor, a former racer and longtime owner of the Midwest Late Model Racing Association. Cowboy's car number was 45.
Garner runs away with Stock Cars makeup: Willam Garner of Lebanon sprinted to the lead at the start and never gave it up, dominating the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars makeup feature from an April 26th rainout.
Garner finished a half lap in front of runner-up James Ellis in a 20-lapper that ran caution-free. Mason Beck rallied into third with Blake Bolton coming from tailback to fourth. Christopher Sawyer was fifth.
“I just tried hitting my marks and running as hard as I could the whole time,” said Garner, who won for the first time this season by an 11-second margin. “The past three races I ran second and I told myself I wasn’t running second this race.”
Sheets rolls to USRA B-Mod win: Jon Sheets of Nevada took the lead early and went on to a comfortable victory in the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mod makeup feature.
Sheets took the lead from fellow front-row starter Ryan Gillmore on lap four. Following a lap-five caution, Sheets began to stretch his lead and was one-second clear of Gillmore by the midway point.
The gap kept growing over the second half of the race and Sheets drove away to a 1.8-second win. Gillmore was well clear of Robert White for second with David Dawson fourth and Thomas Casey fifth.
"Ryan got the jump and any time the 66 gets the lead on you, you know it's gonna be a long race," Sheets said after his second feature win at Lucas Oil Speedway in six days. "But we were able to rotate the bottom really good there. Man, we've really got a rocket ship right now."
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (May 22, 2025)
33rd annual Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
A Feature - 1. 71-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[12]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 6. 93-Carson Ferguson[9]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce[15]; 8. 1-Brandon Sheppard[10]; 9. 98-Justin Wells[16]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 11. 79-Donald McIntosh[22]; 12. 11-Gordy Gundaker[14]; 13. 18D-Daulton Wilson[23]; 14. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[20]; 15. 157-Mike Marlar[8]; 16. 60-Dan Ebert[24]; 17. 19M-Spencer Hughes[21]; 18. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[11]; 19. 8-Dillon McCowan[13]; 20. 15-Clay Stuckey[19]; 21. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[18]; 22. 2T-Tyler Stevens[17]; 23. 16-Tyler Bruening[6]; 24. 76-Brandon Overton[4]
Fast Shafts B Feature 1 - 1. 15-Clay Stuckey[1]; 2. 19M-Spencer Hughes[9]; 3. 7-Cole Wells[3]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[4]; 5. 50-Kayden Clatt[2]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson[7]; 7. 7J-Ryan Johnson[8]; 8. 93M-Mason Oberkramer[10]; 9. 99H-Dylan Hoover[5]; 10. 3W-Brennon Willard[13]; 11. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[12]; 12. 82-Jace Parmley[11]; 13. 26P-Glen Powell[15]; 14. (DNS) 96-Dalton Imhoff; 15. (DNS) 12-Scott Crigler; 16. (DNS) 1K-Richard Kimberling
UNOH B Feature 2 - 1. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[1]; 2. 79-Donald McIntosh[2]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 5. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[6]; 6. 31C-Cole Henson[7]; 7. 91-Chris Jones[12]; 8. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[9]; 9. 93L-Cory Lawler[11]; 10. 21-Chris Wilhite Jr[5]; 11. 1G-Bryan Glaze[8]; 12. S3-Joey Smith[10]; 13. 18P-Shannon Parker[13]; 14. (DNS) USA1-Chris Hawkins; 15. (DNS) 4X-Dalon Helm
Penske Shocks Heat 1 - 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard[2]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[3]; 4. 15-Clay Stuckey[5]; 5. 60-Dan Ebert[4]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 7. 93M-Mason Oberkramer[7]; 8. 3W-Brennon Willard[8]; 9. 1K-Richard Kimberling[9]
Summit Racing Heat 2 - 1. 71-Hudson O'Neal[1]; 2. 93-Carson Ferguson[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 4. 50-Kayden Clatt[6]; 5. 99H-Dylan Hoover[5]; 6. 7J-Ryan Johnson[4]; 7. 82-Jace Parmley[8]; 8. (DNS) 12-Scott Crigler
Cool It Thermo Tec Heat 3 - 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[2]; 3. 2T-Tyler Stevens[3]; 4. 7-Cole Wells[6]; 5. 96-Dalton Imhoff[5]; 6. 19M-Spencer Hughes[4]; 7. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[8]; 8. 26P-Glen Powell[7]
Simpson Race Products Heat 4 - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 3. 11-Gordy Gundaker[3]; 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[4]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 6. 31C-Cole Henson[6]; 7. S3-Joey Smith[7]; 8. 18P-Shannon Parker[8]
Lucas Oil Products Heat 5 - 1. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 3. 98-Justin Wells[3]; 4. 79-Donald McIntosh[5]; 5. 21-Chris Wilhite Jr[7]; 6. 1G-Bryan Glaze[6]; 7. 93L-Cory Lawler[4]; 8. USA1-Chris Hawkins[8]
Lucas Oil Products Heat 6 - 1. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[3]; 4. 6-Clay Harris[4]; 5. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[6]; 6. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[8]; 7. 91-Chris Jones[7]; 8. 4X-Dalon Helm[5]
Qualifying Group A - 1. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.191[21]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal, 00:15.293[24]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:15.434[4]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:15.481[15]; 5. 93-Carson Ferguson, 00:15.484[17]; 6. 1S-Jeremy Shaw, 00:15.488[13]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.737[14]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:15.782[7]; 9. 2T-Tyler Stevens, 00:15.794[8]; 10. 60-Dan Ebert, 00:15.863[18]; 11. 7J-Ryan Johnson, 00:15.866[19]; 12. 19M-Spencer Hughes, 00:15.911[2]; 13. 15-Clay Stuckey, 00:15.960[3]; 14. 99H-Dylan Hoover, 00:15.970[1]; 15. 96-Dalton Imhoff, 00:16.002[11]; 16. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:16.027[5]; 17. 50-Kayden Clatt, 00:16.028[22]; 18. 7-Cole Wells, 00:16.151[9]; 19. 93M-Mason Oberkramer, 00:16.212[23]; 20. 12-Scott Crigler, 00:16.292[20]; 21. 26P-Glen Powell, 00:16.414[6]; 22. 3W-Brennon Willard, 00:16.501[16]; 23. 82-Jace Parmley, 00:16.584[12]; 24. 67-Jimmy Vanzandt, 00:16.825[25]; 25. 1K-Richard Kimberling, 00:17.545[10]
Qualifying Group B - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:15.356[5]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 00:15.432[23]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:15.452[16]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:15.536[14]; 5. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:15.565[20]; 6. 99-Devin Moran, 00:15.619[7]; 7. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:15.733[24]; 8. 98-Justin Wells, 00:15.816[17]; 9. 1XM-Aaron Marrant, 00:15.875[4]; 10. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:15.948[10]; 11. 93L-Cory Lawler, 00:15.961[18]; 12. 6-Clay Harris, 00:15.976[13]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:16.023[21]; 14. 79-Donald McIntosh, 00:16.029[12]; 15. 4X-Dalon Helm, 00:16.078[6]; 16. 31C-Cole Henson, 00:16.146[15]; 17. 1G-Bryan Glaze, 00:16.188[9]; 18. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel, 00:16.405[19]; 19. S3-Joey Smith, 00:16.437[1]; 20. 21-Chris Wilhite Jr, 00:16.549[22]; 21. 91-Chris Jones, 00:16.551[3]; 22. 18P-Shannon Parker, 00:16.554[11]; 23. USA1-Chris Hawkins, 00:16.973[2]; 24. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall, 00:59.999[8]
O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars
Feature (makeup from April 26th) - 1. 7-William Garner[3]; 2. 83-James Ellis[1]; 3. 0F-Mason Beck[10]; 4. 34-Blake Bolton[15]; 5. 12-Christopher Sawyer[6]; 6. 74-Rodney Schweizer[14]; 7. 35Z-Zach Zeugin[11]; 8. L23-Allen Luttjohann[7]; 9. (DNF) 22-Dawson Fennewald[9]; 10. (DNF) 111-Butch Bailey[5]; 11. (DNS) 21J-Jacob Ellison; 12. (DNS) 24-Blayne McMillin; 13. (DNS) 8M-James McMillin; 14. (DNS) 39JR-Robert Southerland; 15. (DNS) 18-Kameron Stoddard
Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods
Feature - (makeup from April 26th) - 1. 8-Jon Sheets[1]; 2. 66-Ryan Gillmore[2]; 3. 5-Robert White[4]; 4. 20D-Dawson David[5]; 5. 44T-Casey Thomas[6]; 6. 37-Wesley Long[7]; 7. 7L-Trevor Drake[9]; 8. 15-Ryan Edde[18]; 9. 55-Colson Kirk[3]; 10. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[15]; 11. 94C-JT Carroll[10]; 12. 42J-Donnie Jackson[20]; 13. 83-Ryan Smythe[26]; 14. (DNF) 27L-Clifford Lean[28]; 15. (DNF) 18C-Carter Harrison[11]; 16. (DNS) 18-JC Morton; 17. (DNS) F1-Mitchell Franklin; 18. (DNS) 30-Rex Harris; 19. (DNS) 54-Tyler Kidwell; 20. (DNS) ZEE28-Randy Zimmerman; 21. (DNS) 32-Robbe Ewing; 22. (DNS) 19-Curt Drake; 23. (DNS) 80-TJ Yount; 24. (DNS) 15R-Oakley Ragland; 25. (DNS) 28-Wesley Briggs; 26. (DNS) 0K-Tracy Killian; 27. (DNS) 15S-Ryan Smith; 28. (DNS) 8S-Clayton Smith; 29. (DNS) 39-Trent Rodgers
Action resumes on Friday: Grandstands open at 4 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday. A driver autograph session will be held from 6:15-7 p.m. Saturday on the midway.
For information on tickets or camping for any Lucas Oil Speedway event in 2025, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or email her at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
Show-Me 100 admission:
Friday, May 23rd
General Admission Adults (13 and up) - $30
General Admission Seniors (62 and over)/Military with ID - $27
General Admission Youth (ages 6-12) - $10
General Admission Kids (5-and-under) - FREE
Pit Pass - $45
Pit Pass (5-and-under) - $10
Family pass - $90
2-day Pit Pass - $100
2-day Pit Pass (5-and-under) - $20
Saturday, May 24th
General Admission Adults (13 and up) - $40
General Admission Seniors (62 and over)/Military with ID - $37
General Admission Youth (ages 6-12) - $10
General Admission Kids (5-and-under) - FREE
Pit Pass - $55
Pit Pass (5-and-under) - $10
Family pass - $90
*Show-Me 100 3-day passes do not include pit passes. Those must be purchased separately if access to the pit area is desired.