BROWNSTOWN, Ind. — Tim McCreadie had never laid eyes on Brownstown Speedway until about 2 p.m. last Friday. Some 32 hours later, just after the checkered flag waved on the 29th running of the Jackson 100, McCreadie was doing a burnout to celebrate a hard-fought $20,000 Lucas Oil Late Model Series victory.
In an extremely competitive race reminiscent of Brownstown’s glory years, McCreadie pulled away from a three-way scrap for the lead with less than 10 laps to go and beat Jimmy Owens by a few car lengths.
Earl Pearson, Jr., Darrell Lanigan and Steve Francis rounded out the top five.
McCreadie first took the lead on lap 69, but still had to survive several challenges from Owens and Pearson, who had both led earlier.
At times the lead drivers, using a variety of racing grooves, were slicing through lapped traffic racing three-wide for the top spot. Racing through the rest of the field was just as fierce.
After McCreadie, 34, finished his turn-four burnout, he roared into victory lane, exited the car and beat his fist on its top in jubilation.
“Hats off to the track crew,” McCreadie said. “It was probably as good of a race as you could get.”
Owens had led almost 50 laps in the middle stages after surviving an intense early-race battle with Pearson and Francis. Owens’s downfall was moving out of the high groove after being challenged late on the low side.
McCreadie saw a door opening and knocked it down, blasting by on the high side.
“We were good, but Jimmy (Owens) was so fast,” McCreadie said. “I was fortunate to start sixth and be able to maneuver a lot. I just think once Jimmy saw me, he figured it was probably a little bit better (in the middle). Any driver would’ve done the same thing. I would’ve done it. When he moved to the middle, it gave me a deeper run into the corner (on top).
“He’s a professional. He probably could’ve ran me off the track. That’s why he’s as good as he is, because he races like a professional.”
The finish:
Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Owens, Earl Pearson, Jr., Darrell Lanigan, Steve Francis, Jeep VanWormer, Don O’Neal, Rick Eckert, Scott Bloomquist, Darren Miller, Dennis Erb, Matt Miller, Michael England, Steve Casebolt, Josh McGuire, John Mason, Cody Mahoney, Greg Johnson, Bart Hartman, Dan Schlieper, Brian Birkhofer, Donnie Moran, Steve Barnett, Randy Korte, Shannon Babb.