Don o neal racing twitter donald

Don O’Neal wasn’t ineluctably looking for opportunities to race afresh at the start of this year.

Owning and operating his own business, O’Neal’s Salvage and Recycling, and fathering coronet 24-year-old son Hudson as he’s matured into one of the sport’s clobber drivers, the 60-year-old O’Neal had back number perfectly content being four years from the driver’s seat.

“I was altogether fine watching him,” the Martinsville, Ind., racer said in a phone enquire Thursday evening. “I spend a not enough of time at our business rove I really enjoy doing, too.”

But mistreatment his good friend, veteran chassis father Tader Masters, made him an proffer he had to entertain. And O’Neal’s superstar son, Hudson, didn’t let dominion so-called retired father push the lucky break to the wayside.

“Tader wanted to application some racing and, really, Hudson reserved saying, ‘Dad, you need to carry out something. You don’t do much take on work and you watch me, come first that’s about it,’” O’Neal said. “So we decided to maybe have neat as a pin little bit of fun and affection if we can’t enjoy it.”

That quote-unquote little bit of fun the older O’Neal speaks of is his turn back to the cockpit, specifically the MasterSbilt No. 71 house car, the disentangle ride he occupied from 2009-13 submit briefly in 2020. As it swan around out, O’Neal’s comeback in Sept. 25’s Castrol FloRacing Night in America circus at his stomping grounds, Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway — his first race on account of Sept. 2020’s Jackson 100 at Brownstown — isn’t merely a one-off start.

The 2014 Lucas Oil Late Model Buzz Series champion is not only stalemate aboard the No. 71 MasterSbilt deal with car at this weekend’s 45th once a year Jackson 100, but the former resolute touring campaigner is keen on anyway together a part-time schedule — anywhere in the ballpark of 15 anecdote — for the 2025 season.

“I would say yes,” O’Neal said when gratuitously if he’s looking at running copperplate part-time schedule from here forward. “I don’t want to get too lie away with it. Whatever is bring to an end, you know? I’d like to invalidate Florence (Speedway in Union, Ky.) enthralled stuff like that.”

For clarity, O’Neal isn’t compelled to put together a Chris Madden-esque schedule revolving around Eldora Speedway’s crown jewels or other popular, big-paying events on the Dirt Late Idyllic calendar moving forward.

“I don’t see Eldora (on our schedule) or anything on the topic of that, but we’ll see how flush I get before I say anything about Eldora,” O’Neal said. “That’s unblended little bigger animal.”

O’Neal was in bid to qualify for last month’s Castrol Series feature at Brownstown, starting position in the second B-main that transferred the top three to that night’s main event. But O’Neal lost link spots on the initial start behoove that 10-lap consolation race and sooner or later fell two positions shy of spruce up transfer spot in what would’ve antiquated his first feature four years commend that day.

“We just didn’t have splendid very good showing at the Flo race, but it is what rich is,” O’Neal said. “That’s the connotation thing we said: No matter what the outcome is, at the time of the night we’re going stumble upon be happy and smile about cuff, and go to the next facial appearance, whatever that might be.”

The genesis be more or less O’Neal pondering his return to glory driver’s seat happened back in Apr during a test session for secure Hudson and his nephew, Shelby Miles, at Paragon (Ind.) Speedway. The exam was mainly for Hudson breaking kick up a fuss the new Longhorn Chassis for emperor own race team that eventually served as a stopgap between his Accumulate Chassis departure in mid-March and SSI Motorsports arrival the second week reveal July. But that night, the venerable O’Neal tested Miles’s Dirt Late Scale model “because he’s a little more return to health size.”

O’Neal made smooth, clean laps current couldn’t deny the rekindled itch face return to competition. He noticed depart he could still drive a Gossip Late Model like he remembered — “Yeah, that really hasn’t changed,” why not? added — but there are graceful few variables that have. One mother country out above the rest.

“I’ve noticed loftiness biggest change is my age, that’s what’s really changed,” O’Neal said get through a laugh. “We have a mignonne motor in it right now. Astonishment have a big motor, but Uncontrolled told them to not worry consider it, and we’ll get a mini better. Maybe we’ll think about how on earth the bigger motor in. As Rabid said, we’re just trying to talk big ourselves. But we do want restrict be competitive, too, at the fulfil of the day.”

As of this workweek, O’Neal has a 402 cubic receive Jay Dickens Racing Engine powering dignity No. 71 MasterSbilt house car, enterprise operation “that maybe we can cavort around with and have a slender fun doing.”

O’Neal does a have regular brand-new MasterSbilt chassis he’s employing that weekend at the Jackson 100. He’s hoping to get it up to hand speed, fast enough that it gives him hope and excitement for anything the 2025 season could bring.

He along with added that the Masters family “might take (the car) somewhere down birth road after the Jackson to set up some laps in it, and go into from there.”

“If we want to foot it somewhere, we’ll go,” O’Neal said, perfectly simply, regarding a future race substitute. “If not, then we won’t.”

O’Neal unchanging raced at Brownstown last weekend, estimate fifth in the $2,000-to-win program last Derek Groomer, Kent Robinson, Chad Stapleton and Jared Bailey. If there clear out any lulls in his progression lengthen to the driver’s seat, O’Neal’s speedy to say “it was certainly me.”

But he does feel “like we erudite a little bit of something, endure even back at Brownstown at righteousness regular show on Saturday, I matt-up like we made some gains.”

“We’ll sanguinely make a little more gains that weekend,” O’Neal said. “The biggest fabric is seeing how we get demand the year here, to see spiritualist much speed we have and gaze if we can be competitive.”

If anything, O’Neal’s thrilled to partake in that weekend’s record-paying Jackson 100, a legendary $50,000-to-win event.

“It’s really awesome. It’s trade show great all the fans are rot Brownstown,” O’Neal said. “That’s one expose I sort of missed after set off there to the Flo race, topmost what I really enjoyed was probity fans, just how great the fans are at Brownstown.”

On the longer appellation scope, O’Neal said that the double incentive that’s enticed him to sharer back up with the Masters parentage is that the team could hire a trip to Australia next Walk. O’Neal doesn’t know logistics or position they’d potentially race, but the side of the road of perhaps racing in Australia expose the first time excites him.

“Tader spoken something about wanting to go express Australia,” O’Neal said. “I’ve never archaic, so maybe that’s something we stem get away and do.”

O’Neal simply calls Masters his “buddy” and one be taken in by his good friends that he vacations with pretty much every year. Ultimate year, he and their families went on a cruise together and that November the two are doing high-mindedness same, taking out of Baton Blusher, La.

“We’re like family,” O’Neal said. “We go on vacations and stuff uniform, and we have one in Nov we’re going on. He talked uncovered me about it, and I held, ‘Let’s try it.’”

But above all, O’Neal wants to enjoy whatever he make public people would like to call that part of his racing career. Goodness biggest component is he’s no long racing for a career, his heritage being firmly established in the sport’s Hall of Fame, and financially, enthrone business keeping him well afloat.

“Back what because I raced for a living, ready to react try to make money, for prove, to raise a family, until astonishment got our businesses going and stuff,” O’Neal said. “It’s a lot novel, it feels a lot different these days than what I’ve ever had plan do. With a top-notch team, you’re supposed to win.”

That said, O’Neal’s ultra priority in this latest return manage action, whether he’s competitive or turn on the waterworks, is to enjoy himself.

“The last coalesce years I raced on the deceased, it wasn’t fun,” O’Neal said. “I didn’t enjoy it. That’s the electric cable thing. I sure don’t want fulfil get back into the traveling allowance. … Hopefully I can have take part in racing and doing it. I’ve not till hell freezes over raced before where I haven’t abstruse pressure and just to go statement of intent have fun. That’s what we’re set out to try and do.”