Hudson O’Neal and Rocket1 Racing Claim Coveted World 100 Title
Action Continues this Week at Fairbury and Knoxville

SHINNSTON, W.Va. (09/11/23) – After 50 years of being painfully close to claiming their first World 100 triumph, Rocket1 Racing finally won the coveted event on Saturday night with Indiana racer, Hudson O’Neal.

O’Neal surged to the lead in the closing circuits of the 100-lap affair and went on to win the $56,000 top prize along with the much sought after globe trophy with his Rocket1 Racing / Valvoline / Seubert Calf Ranches No. 1 Ace Metal Works / XR1 Rocket Chassis / Durham Racing Engine Super Late Model.

O’Neal paced several laps during the races’ early stages before Jonathan Davenport took control of the lead on lap 52. However, Hudson persevered to get back to the top spot and the win.

"I didn't really get discouraged, but I knew it's gonna be hard to get back by him," O'Neal said. "I just gave it everything I had. I drove my heart out.”

"Mark (Richards), Rocket Chassis, they've worked so hard to try and win this race and they won the (Eldora) Dream and he just told me 50 years, 50 years (since coming to Eldora) it took him to win this race," O'Neal continued in Victory Lane. "Today this isn't for me, this is for Mark. I'm the fortunate one here, but I owe all the thanks to Mark. He's given me such a great race car to come out here all three days and just be consistently fast and put me in a position to win that race.

“The Rocket1 team has fought from behind for the last couple of years and they just keep clawing and clawing and clawing. And we've had such a great race car all year long. And I just said, it felt like we haven't taken advantage of the speed, but this weekend we were able to. I'm just happy that I'm able to be standing up here man. I don't have the words."

Rocket1 Racing and Hudson O’Neal rolled into Eldora Speedway (Rossburg, Ohio) on Thursday night as the 53rd annual World 100 weekend kicked off with a pair of preliminary features.

With the 102-car field divided into two groups, O’Neal raced into his prelim with a runner-up showing in his 10-lap heat race. Rolling off third, Hudson powered underneath fellow front-row starter Jason Jameson following a lap-three restart and paced the remaining 23 circuits to claim his 13th win of the season and a $12,000 prize. He finished 2.561 seconds ahead of Jameson with Ricky Thornton Jr. rounding out the podium.

On Friday, Hudson claimed the fast-time honors overall with a blistering 15.300-second lap before going fourth-to-first in his heat. Rallying from the tail after a flat right-rear tire dropped him into the infield hot pit on lap 13 while leading, O’Neal improved seven positions in the remaining 12 circuits to finish 13th.

Lined up sixth in his heat race on Saturday based on Eldora's Every Lap Matters format, O'Neal took command of the lead on the fourth lap and went onto pick up the 20-lap victory.

Starting the 53rd annual World 100 in the second position, Hudson led laps 15-51 but was overtaken by five-time event winner Jonathan Davenport on lap 52. He regained the lead 40 circuits later and held off Davenport after a lap-98 restart to capture Rocket1 Racing's first World 100 and the $56,000 top prize.

O'Neal notched his 14th overall win of the 2023 season ahead of Davenport, Dale McDowell, Brian Shirley, and Tanner English.

Full results from the crown jewel weekend are available at www.EldoraSpeedway.com .

The team now carries their momentum into another busy week of racing with big prizes and prestige on the line. Action opens on Tuesday at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway with the fourth annual One For the Road presented by I-Beam Sliding Doors. The Castrol FloRacing Night in America event posts a $23,023 top prize, and Hudson leads the miniseries back to action as the point leader.

After an off-day on Wednesday the team rolls into the legendary Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway on Thursday – Saturday for the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series mega event features $7,000-to-win programs on Thursday and Friday followed by a $50,000-to-win finale. Hudson is second in the latest LOLMDS points.

Event details can be found at www.FloSeries.com and www.LucasDirt.com .

Rocket1 Racing would like to thank all of their marketing partners, which include Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Rocket Chassis, Ace Metal Works, Durham Racing Engines, Five Star RaceCar Bodies, Gunter’s Honey, Performance Grading, Hoosier Racing Tire, Integra Racing Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, Petroff Towing, Slavic Custom Racing Shirts & Decals, WR1 Sim Chassis, O’Neal’s Salvage & Recycling, Sweet Manufacturing, Sunoco Race Fuels, Accu-Force Shock Service, ATL Fuel Cells, Aurora Rod Ends, Barnes Dry Sump Oil Systems, Bazell Race Fuels, Beyea Custom Headers, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Brinn Transmissions, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, CP Carrillo, Dohm Cycles, Edelbrock, Fibreworks Composites, Hardrock Powder Coating, Howe Racing Enterprises, Jones Racing Products, Kenny’s Components, Maxima Racing Oils, MSD, E3 Spark Plugs, Tel Tac, Performance Bodies, Peterson Fluid Systems, Powers Performance, Performance Rod & Custom, Quarter Master, QuickCar Racing Products, Rocket Pre-Owned Motors, Safecraft, Show Trucks Unlimited, Simpson, Stealth Carburetors, Strange Oval, Suave Talk, Total Power Valvoline Pro-V Racing, Walker Performance Filtration, Weld Racing, Wiles Driveshafts, Wilwood Brakes, Winters Performance Products, Wrisco Aluminum, Xceldyne Valvetrain, and MyRacePass Marketing Services.

For the latest information on Rocket1Racing please visit the team website at www.Rocket1Racing.com as well as their social media channels at www.facebook.com/Rocket1Racing, www.twitter.com/Rocket1_Racing, and www.instagram.com/rocket1racing .

PR Contact:
Ben Shelton (ben.shelton@myracepass.com)

Cade Dillard Wires 51st ann. CCSDS Louisiana Dirt Track Championship Field
Magnolia Motor Speedway’s Cotton Pickin’ 100 Weekend Next

ROBELINE, La. (09/11/23) – Cade Dillard wired Saturday night’s 51st annual Louisiana Dirt Track Championship aboard his S&S Fishing & Rental Inc. / Johnsville Company No. 97 Joel’s Auto Sales / Krohn Farms / Longhorn Race Car / Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model.

Claiming his second COMP Cams Super Dirt Series (CCSDS) Super Late Model win of the year and the fifth of his career, Dillard hit the ground running at his home state oval and never looked back en route to his fourth overall win of the year.

Dillard took advantage of the second-starting position to lead all 40 laps of the finale.

“I was afraid (the track surface) was going to (take) rubber,” Dillard said. “So, I tried to get a few lapped cars in between me and I might’ve ran it a little too hard there for a little bit, but once I seen that I wasn’t really making up any ground on the lappers, I moved down and found the rubber there and at that point, I just needed to not mess up. Man, it’s awesome, I came to this track when I was two weeks old, first race track I’ve ever been to. They’ve done a lot with this place and it makes it fun to race.

“Our Longhorn Chassis with Bilstein Shock Absorbers was dialed in! Special thanks to all the people who came by to see us and all who purchased shirts over the weekend. To my crew and long list of supporters, thank you! I couldn’t be more blessed to sit behind the wheel of this ride each week.”

With 32 CCSDS entries in attendance, Dillard qualified fastest in his group to earn the second-starting spot for the 51st annual Louisiana Dirt Track Championship at Boothill Speedway (Greenwood, La.) on Saturday evening.

As the green flag flew he outgunned fellow front-row starter Mason Oberkramer to grab a lead he would never relinquish. Dillard paced all 40 circuits en route to the $5,000 triumph, which came over B.J. Robinson, Mason Oberkramer, Tyler Stevens, and Hunter Rasdon.

Full results are available at www.COMPdirt.com .

Cade Dillard Racing will be idle this weekend before returning to action with the 2023 edition of the Whelen Engineering Cotton Pickin’ 100 on Sept. 22-23. The COMP Cams Super Dirt Series weekend includes a $4,000-to-win program on Friday evening before seeing a $12,000-to-win finale on Saturday night.

Full event details are available at www.MagnoliaDirt.com .   

Cade Dillard Racing would like to thank their marketing partners, which include S&S Fishing & Rental, Krohn Farms, Joel’s Auto Sales, Strength Roofing & Siding, Johnsville Company Inc., Jody’s Oilfield Service, Bryan Cook Trucks, Hoosier Racing Tire, Lonestar Equipment & Repair, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Longhorn Race Cars, Nichols Stores, Production Jars, Supreme Vinyl Works, Wehrs Machine & Racing Production, Fast Shafts, Champion Brand Hi-Tech Lubricants, Schoenfeld Headers, Vahlco Wheels, Day Motorsports, Hyperco, Clements Racing Engines, VP Racing Fuel, MyRacePass Marketing Services.

For the latest information on Cade Dillard, please visit www.CadeDillard.com

PR Contact:
Ben Shelton (ben.shelton@myracepass.com)

Brian Shirley Races to $12,000 World 100 Prelim Feature Win
Castrol FloRacing Night in America at Fairbury Up Next

CHILTON, Wis. (09/11/23) – Brian Shirley scored an emotional $12,000 victory on Friday night at Eldora Speedway during preliminary action for the 53rd annual World 100.

The Illinois racer topped Ricky Thornton Jr. in a near photo finish to snare his seventh win of the year. The triumph came aboard the Bob Cullen Racing / Thomason Express No. 3s J&J Ventures & Gaming/ Hoker Trucking / Team Zero Race Car / Durham Racing Engine Super Late Model.

“I tell you, I've been dreaming about (winning) coming here for a long time, a long time,” said Shirley, his voice crackling with emotion in Victory Lane. “And that one definitely means a lot. It's, you know, chasing these guys. You know, you're chasing (Ricky) Thornton and Bobby (Pierce) all year. And we just keep coming and coming. And then you got guys like (car owners) Bob and Lisa Cullen that just give you everything they can, every opportunity. Then you get a great guy like Brian Conard that just believed in me enough to help me and look, here we are in Victory Lane.”

Shirley led laps 2 -18 in the feature before Thornton Jr. slipped past. He took advantage of lapped traffic on the final lap to get to the lead and the win.

“The problem is I just I felt like when (Thornton) surprised me, I should have been driving harder,” said Shirley. “I got out there and I started to momentum a little bit and then I'm shutting down too much where I needed this momentum and then we started running back to them. Then we did get the lapped traffic and I was like, ‘Holy cow!’ I knew how good we were on the bottom. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get him because I was really, really coming into that guy that was coming off of (turn) four there. But all in all, it was just it was our night.”

By all accounts, Brian Shirley's weekend at the 53rd annual World 100 was a resounding success, as the driver of the Bob Cullen Racing No. 8 captured his first career World 100 prelim victory at the famed Eldora Speedway in dramatic style, then rounded out the weekend with a fourth-place finish in the championship event.

With 102 entries in the pit area, Shirley opened his crown jewel weekend on Thursday with a seventh-place finish in his preliminary feature.

Twin 25-lap features took center stage once again on Friday, and Brian earned the third-starting spot for his respective preliminary event via his qualifying and heat race performance.

Wrestling the lead away from Ricky Thornton, Jr. on the second revolution would not be the end of the battle as the No. 20RT slid his way back to the point on Lap 19. Traffic looming in the closing laps would end up coming into play as the pair raced to the white flag. In a drag race down the back straightaway, the pair were even into the third turn. Still, wheel-to-wheel to the front stretch, the finish came down to inches with Shirley nipping Ricky by 0.057-seconds for his seventh triumph of the year.

With a sixth-to-second performance Saturday in his heat race, Shirley earned the ninth-starting spot for the 100-lap crown jewel finale. Rolling in and out of the top-ten during the first half of the feature event, Brian turned it up in the final 50 rotations. Moving up to third on Lap 75, Dale McDowell would ultimately deny him a podium finish by 0.036-seconds as Shirley crossed the finish line in fourth behind Hudson O’Neal, Jonathan Davenport, and McDowell.

“I caught the concrete in turn three early in the feature, and it caused me to slip back, but I was able to get rolling late and we finished fourth. Overall, it was a great weekend for this Bob Cullen Racing team,” Shirley concluded.

Full results from the weekend are available at www.EldoraSpeedway.com .

Shirley now turns his attention to four nights of racing in five days this week. He’ll be back in his familiar No. 3s on Tuesday night at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway for the fourth annual One For the Road, which posts a $23,023-to-win finale in the Castrol FloRacing Night in America event.

On Thursday – Saturday the team rolls into Iowa for the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) sanctioned event features $7,000-to-win programs the first two nights followed by a $50,000-to-win finale on Saturday night.

Weekend details can be found at www.FloSeries.com and www.LucasDirt.com .

Brian Shirley and Bob Cullen Racing would like to thank all of their marketing partners which include: Hoker Trucking, Thomason Express, J&J Ventures Gaming, KBC Graphix, Bass Livestock Nutrition, Allgaier Motorsports, Integra Shocks, East Central Coin, Cheers, Cen-Pe-Co Racing Oil, Durham Racing Engines, VP Racing Fuels, Rocket Chassis, Jayco Construction, Larry’s Budweiser, Distributing, Hope For A Cure, Midwest Sheet Metal, Ted Brown’s Quality Paint & Body Shop, Peterson Fluid Systems, Hooker Harness, Willy’s Carburetor, Fast Shafts, Keyser Manufacturing, Dyers Top Rods, Wehrs Machine, Sweet Manufacturing, Swift Springs, Allstar Performance, The Joie of Seating, Simpson, Hoosier Racing Tire, Quarter Master, Wilwood Disc Brakes, KKM, Speedwerx, Daugherty Motorsports, Multi Fire, Strange Oval, Earnhardt Technologies Group, FK Rod Ends, and MyRacePass.com Marketing Services.

For the latest team news and updates on Bob Cullen Racing, please visit www.BobCullenRacing.com .