Chad Stapleton of Edinburgh is the 2023 crate late model track champion at Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis.

Stapleton drives a car owned by Michael and Laura Bennett of Edinburgh.

Tory Collins of North Vernon was second in points, followed by Alan Magner of North Vernon, Nathan Spain of Brazil and Josh Cosby of Indianapolis.

Completing the top 10 in the crate late model points for last year were Landon Arcaro of Metamora, Steve Peeden of Paragon, Dustin Nobbe of Batesville, Tyler Neal of Paragon and Caleb Schryer of North Vernon.

Dylan Woodling of Warsaw captured the open wheel modified championship by 34 points over Will Bennett of West Lafayette. Jack Dossey of Indianapolis was third in points, followed by Jeff Deckard of Bloomington and Jerry Bland Jr. of Anderson.

Completing the top 10 were Joe Woodward of Connersville, Dere Losh of Rensselaer, Brent Lee of Crothersville, Jake Leitzman of Paragon and Blake Davis of Bedford.

Sheldon Oberle of Battleground won the pure stock division championship over Mickey Hines of Scipio, Ronnie Pardue of Flat Rock, Daniel Hupp of Scipio and Joel Andrews of Hamilton, Ohio.

2024 Circle City race schedule

April 6: Open practice for all divisions

April 12: Friday Night at the Dirt Track — Grub Getter and Points Night season opener — Circle City Raceway 410 Open Sprints, UMP Modifieds, UMP Pure Stocks and Super Stocks

May 3: Friday Night at the Dirt Track — UMP Hornets and Circle City Raceway Steel Block season opener — UMP Modifieds, UMP Hornets, USSA Kenyon Midget Series, Super Stocks and Circle City Raceway Steel Block Sprints

May 17: C.J. Rayburn Tribute — Super Late Model $10K-to-win Northern All-Stars Late Model Dirt Series, Northern All-Stars Super Late Models, 600cc Outlaw Non-Wing Micros and UMP Pure Stocks

May 22: USAC Sprints and Crate Late Models

May 23: USAC Sprints and USAC Midwest Thunder Speed2 Midgets

May 31: Midwest Thunder 410 Non-Wing Sprints, Midwest Mini Sprint Association, 600cc Outlaw Non-Wing Micros and UMP Pure Stocks

June 4: Indiana Midget Week — USAC Midgets and Circle City Raceway 410 Open Sprints

June 14: Friday Night at the Dirt Track — UMP Modifieds, All Star Circuit of Champions TQ Midgets, Crown Vic, UMP Pure Stocks and Circle City Raceway Steel Block Sprints

June 21: BOSS 410 Non-Wing Sprints, UMP Modifieds, All Star Circuit of Champions TQ Midgets and 600cc Outlaw Non-Wing Micros

June 28: HART Micro Week and Indiana RaceSaver Classic — Circle City Raceway 410 Open Sprints, UMP Modifieds, HART 600cc Outlaw Non-Wing Micros and Indiana RaceSaver IMCA 305 Sprint Cars

July 12: FAST On Dirt 410 Wing Sprints, UMP Modifieds, 600cc Outlaw Non-Wing Micros and UMP Pure Stocks

July 19: Indiana Late Model Series, 600cc Outlaw Non-Wing Micros, Super Stocks and Circle City Raceway Steel Block Sprints

July 31: USAC Indiana Sprint Week — USAC National Sprint Cars

Aug. 9: Midwest Thunder 410 Non-Wing Sprints, Midwest Mini Sprint Association and USSA Kenyon Midget Series

Aug. 16: Friday Night at the Dirt Track — All Star Circuit of Champions TQ Midgets, UMP Hornets, UMP Pure Stocks, Super Stocks and Circle City Raceway Steel Block Sprints

Aug. 23: Crate Late Models, UMP Modifieds, All Star Circuit of Champions TQ Midgets, Super Stocks and Circle City Raceway Steel Block Sprints

Sept. 13: USAC Sprints — Circle City Raceway 410 Open Sprints and Super Stocks

Sept. 20: Midwest Thunder 410 Non-Wing Sprints, UMP Modifieds, Crown Vic and Midwest Mini Sprint Association

Sept. 28: Ashlea Albertson Memorial — All Star Circuit of Champions TQ Midgets, Crown Vic, UMP Hornets and Midwest Mini Sprint Association

Oct. 4: BOSS 410 Non-Wing Sprints vs. Midwest Thunder 410 Non-Wing Sprints, Crate Late Models, UMP Hornets, UMP Pure Stocks and Super Stocks

Oct. 5: Figure 8 Madness on the Dirt — Crown Vic, UMP Hornets, Figure 8 – RWD-Open and Figure 8 – FWD-Open

Oct. 19: Spooky 200 — UMP Modifieds, All Star Circuit of Champions TQ Midgets, Crown Vic, UMP Hornets, UMP Pure Stocks, Super Stocks, Circle City Raceway Steel Block Sprints and Indiana RaceSaver IMCA 305 Sprint Cars

O’Neal takes Lucas Oil opener

Defending Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series national champion Hudson O’Neal of Hope started his title defense by winning the series’ opening race as he led all but one lap in taking the General Tire Super Bowl of Racing on Jan. 25 at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Georgia.

O’Neal yielded the lead for one lap to Jonathan Davenport on Lap 22 but fought back to regain the point, going on to win the 40-lap race by 0.633 seconds. Davenport held on for second over Brandon Overton, who had previously won four of the previous six Super Bowl races at Golden Isles.

Overton came home in third, followed by Ricky Thornton Jr. and Brandon Sheppard.

O’Neal started on the Victory Fuel Pole and grabbed the lead at the start of the race. Jimmy Owens, looking for his 81st career win with the series, ran in second for the first six laps until yielding the spot to Davenport.

The race was a hotly contested battle for most of the 40 laps as several drivers were in contention to pick up the opening-night win. O’Neal stumbled slightly in Turn 2, opening the door for Davenport to take the lead on Lap 22, but O’Neal came right back to regain the point from the three-time series champion.

With cautions on laps 27 and 30, the field stayed bunch up behind O’Neal for the restarts, but every time, O’Neal stayed up on the high side as he held off Davenport and Overton as the final 10 laps went caution-free.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 25th time in his career, O’Neal has his sights set on a second consecutive LOLMDS championship after scoring his first win at Golden Isles.

O’Neal was asked about the lap that nearly led to his downfall.

“The top was just blowing a lot of crumbs across it. If you didn’t get set enough, you would lose the front end halfway through the corner,” he said. “Jonathan got back by me and did the exact same thing and let me get back by him. Things just worked out in our favor, and I thought that one mistake I made, it was going to be it, but fortunately, he made a little bobble over there in two and got us back in it.

“The restarts actually calmed me down a little bit,” said O’Neal, who earned an industry-record $200,000 from the more than $1 million point fund the series offered in 2023.

“I was nervous whenever we got to lapped traffic because I didn’t know where to go,” he said. “Whenever the cautions would come out, it actually gave me a little bit of a clean racetrack again for a few laps. My race car was awesome all night long.”