By Storms Reback

Hudson O’Neal and Devin Moran are a lot alike.

Both are Late Model drivers -- Hudson races in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Devin in the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series. Both are from the Midwest -- Hudson is from Martinsville, Indiana, Devin from Dresden, Ohio. Both are enjoying spectacular rookie seasons this year. And both are the sons of racing legends.

Hudson’s father, Don, has won 41 Lucas Oil events in his career, including The Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, in 2011 and the Lucas Oil National Championship in 2014. Devin’s father Donnie is best known for winning The Dream at Eldora in 1996, the Eldora Million in 2001, and the World 100 four times.

With that sort of pedigree, Hudson and Devin were immersed in the Late Model dirt scene at a young age.

“I’ve been going to races ever since I can remember,” said Hudson during a recent phone conversation. “That’s what I did every weekend. My father wanted me to go everywhere with him. I was always right there by his side.”

Believe it or not, Devin’s exposure to racing was even more immersive. Homeschooled until the seventh grade, he estimated that, as a child, he spent 90 percent of his time at the racetrack. 

“Pretty much my whole life was consumed of going to the races with my dad,” he said over the phone while he and Donnie were driving to Kansas City for a race at Lakeside Speedway.

Donnie knew that his son was born to race when Devin was just 2 years old. 

“We were down in Mississippi racing and the water truck and road grader were out on the track,” he said. “He was sitting there watching them, and he wouldn’t leave the bleachers. He threw a temper tantrum. I was like, ‘If he’s sitting there watching the road grader and water truck go around the racetrack and don’t want to leave, this kid is going to race.’”

Some fathers who have enjoyed successful careers have been known to push their sons into the same field, hoping they’ll replicate their accomplishments. Don O’Neal and Donnie Moran aren’t those kinds of dads.

Devin played football during his first two years of high school but debated quitting the sport his junior year to focus on racing. His dad’s advice? 

“He told me to go ahead and play because if I didn’t I might regret it,” Devin said.

Don O’Neal was equally open-minded when it was time for his son to decide to get into racing or not. 

“[My dad] gave me a choice,” Hudson said. “He never questioned if I wanted to do it or if I didn’t want to do it.” 

Hudson laughed as if his decision was never in doubt: “Ever since I can remember, it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do.”

How Hudson and Devin Got to Late Model Racing

Hudson O’Neal’s first race car was an asphalt truck. 

“It was exciting,” he said, “but I just did it because it was fun and it was what my dad did.”

His attitude abruptly changed three years ago when, as a 14-year-old, he started racing Crate Late Models. 

“I realized that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, that this is what I wanted to make a living at,” he said.

The first year he raced Crate Late Models, it was for his dad’s team, and Don was quick to dole out advice. 

“If we’re going to do this,” he told Hudson, “this is what you need to do: You have to work at it, and you have to put a lot of time into it.”

One of the great benefits to having a famous race car-driving father is that you get to meet a lot of people in the business and form relationships with them. In 2016, Hudson met Todd Burns, the owner of SSI Motorsports, and the two soon formed a partnership. 

“He took me under his wing,” Hudson said, “and I’ve been driving for him ever since.”

With the backing of SSI Motorsports, Hudson has been able to compete in the Lucas Oil full-time this year, which means that he and his father are often racing against each other. It’s easy to see how this arrangement could create some tension, but Hudson only sees its benefits.

“My team and his team do a lot together,” he said. “It’s a very healthy relationship. They help us out a lot. As far as me and him go, we talk just about every time we come in to work. I’m always asking him how I can get better, and he’s done nothing but give me good advice.”

Hudson went on to describe what it was like to actually race against his father. 

“It doesn’t change my mindset,” he said, “but you kinda have that quick flash, like, 'Wow.' Never would I have thought I’d be racing beside my dad, and if I did, never at this level.”

Devin Moran has a similar story. He raced Quarter Midgets at Columbus Speedway for four years starting when he was 7. Once he outgrew them, he started bugging his dad to let him race Late Models on dirt. In 2009, when Devin was 14, Donnie finally relented.

Devin started off racing for his grandfather Ronnie Moran, a longtime car owner who also owned the Muskingum County Speedway in Dresden before selling it to Donnie. In Devin’s first two years of racing, he only ran about 15 races total, but that number jumped to more than 50 a year once he started driving for his dad in 2012.

The following year, Donnie retired from racing and started devoting all his attention to his son’s career. 

“Physically, I could still do it, but I couldn’t do it like I could in 2001 when I won the Million," Donnie said. "And I knew I wanted to be a car owner and have him drive for me, so either I had to quit or he had to go find himself a ride. I concentrated everything I had -- cars, motors, the shop, everything -- on him.”

Devin said, “He’s been truck driving, crew chiefing, chewing me out, doing anything he’s got to do to keep me up front."

With Donnie’s help, Devin won 18 races in 2014. 

“That showed how much he taught me and helped me that year,” Devin said.

When asked how he helps his son, Donnie pointed to the mental aspect of the sport. 

“My motto always was, ‘Just ride the wave,’” he said. “When it’s up, don’t get too high, and when it’s down, don’t get too low because it will change pretty quick.”

Donnie has also cautioned his son about being too friendly with opposing drivers, which he believes is a result of technology’s influence on today’s culture. 

“In my day, without cell phones, either you saw them at the racetrack or you read about them in the paper,” he said. “Now they text and Snapchat, and it seems like everybody’s friends. I told him, ‘You can still be friends, but if you want to win—I mean, don’t do ‘em dirty—but sometimes you’ve got to take advantage of ‘em. That’s just part of racing: how bad you want it.’”

In 2015, Devin and Donnie debated whether they should start doing the Outlaws full-time but decided they couldn’t swing it financially. That changed when Tye Twarog Racing came onboard this year.

“I’m so grateful for having Tye,” Devin said. “Him and dad have been an awesome pairing. Tye is the reason we decided to run Outlaws.”

Finally Beating the Old Man

Following in your famous father’s footsteps is hard, but competing against him on race day is infinitely more difficult—especially when your father is still at the top of his game. Last year, Hudson O’Neal sent ripples of shock through the Lucas Oil community when he put up the second-fastest time in qualifying for the World 100. But his moment in the sun was quickly eclipsed: His dad recorded the fastest time that day.

As a rookie in Lucas Oil this year, 16-year-old Hudson began the season consistently finishing in the top 20; by May, he was often finishing in the top 10; and lately he’s enjoyed a number of top-five finishes. He also sits in ninth place on the championship points list. Pretty impressive for a rookie, but, as you might have guessed, his dad has ran slightly better and is currently fifth in the standings.

“We’ve had a couple run-ins where I beat him, but it isn’t very often," Hudson said. "It’s an accomplishment anytime you can outrun him. When I do, it usually turns around quick and he outruns me the next couple weeks.”

Whenever they go head-to-head, they pull no punches. Hudson even pulled a slide job on his dad during a heat race at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, this summer.

“We started first and second,” he said. “I think he led eight laps of it, and I slid him coming to the white flag. That was the best moment I have of us racing together. As little as it was, it’s something I’ll never forget.” 

How did his dad respond? “He came out laughing and said it was fun,” Hudson said. “But he said he was mad, too. Getting passed on the last lap stings no matter who passed you. But he said he’d rather let me pass him than anybody.”

Despite Hudson’s increasing success when competing against his old man, he remains firmly ensconced in his dad’s shadow. His nickname, which Hudson credits Lucas Oil announcer James Essex for devising, is “The New Deal,” a riff on Don’s famous moniker “The Real Deal.”

Devin knows what it feels like to be given a nickname that reminds him of his father’s success: To needle Devin and commemorate his son’s habit of finishing second to him on the racetrack, Donnie started calling him “Deuce.”

When their race careers overlapped from 2009 to 2013, neither enjoyed finishing behind the other. 

“We were definitely competitive towards each other,” Devin said. “Trust me, I heard it when he beat me.”

Donnie could only recall a single moment when he gave less than an all-out effort against his son. 

“When Devin was a senior in high school, he broke his hand on my mother- and father-in-law’s farm, and he was trying to race with one hand,” Donnie recalled. “We were in a heat race, and we were coming down the front straightaway, and it got away from him, so I backed off to let him get straightened out. I told him afterward, ‘You ought to be glad your old man was following you because if it had been somebody else, we would have had two junked race cars.’”

More often, their relationship on the track veered in the opposite direction.

Devin told a story that showed just how competitive he and his dad could be. 

“My fifth race ever, we were at the [Muskingum] County Speedway, and I was leading the race until the white flag," Devin said. "When we got to the last lap, he went in low and slid up high. I followed him, and I shouldn’t have. When I did that, dad got underneath me. I led 23 and 3/4 laps but lost the race. Afterward, he was laughing and making fun of me. He said, ‘You’ve always got to be on your toes and looking ahead.’”

During the race that night, a spectator said to Donnie’s wife Brenda, “Donnie should let Devin win.”

“You don’t know my husband,” she responded. “He won’t even let him win at Candy Land.”

Donnie said, “I raced with [Devin] a lot at Muskingum, trying to show him the ins and outs. Since I was a pretty big-name driver, I figured if he could beat me he could beat anybody. That’s what I was trying to teach him.”

Devin’s inability to beat his father gnawed at him: “I was like, ‘I got to beat this old man.’ I was tired of him kicking my butt.”

It took Devin three years to do it. “

The first time I ever beat him was 2012 at the County Speedway,” Devin said. “It was a 35- or 45-lap race, and I passed dad and Eddie [Carrier, Jr.] and went on to win my career high. When I beat him, he was happy but not happy. He’s so competitive, just like me and the rest of my family. I don’t want to get beat, and neither does he.”

Devin did it again in 2013 at the Budweiser 50 at Muskingum County Speedway. Just as he was crossing the finish line, his dad flipped in turn No. 2. The elder Moran walked away unscathed, but the handwriting was on the wall: his son had passed him.

He retired later that year.

Rookie of the Year Races

Devin’s first season on the Outlaws has been a bit of a rollercoaster for the 23-year-old. Early on, he earned a pair of top five finishes as well as a victory at the Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, Ohio, but in the middle of the summer he suffered a stretch of bad luck.

“It was definitely a summer to forget,” he said. “It all started July 3. My grandma got admitted to the hospital for colon cancer that morning, and then that night, I was leading a feature at Muskingum and I felt like we were the car to beat, but halfway through the race I got a flat tire, and they couldn’t get a new one on because it was all blown up underneath. That’s kind of how the whole month of July went.”

Devin’s frustrations came to a head at Deer Creek Speedway on July 13, when he got into an altercation in the pit lane with Chris Madden. 

“I felt like we got cheated out of a really good run and I was frustrated,” Devin said. “Being a young guy and a rookie, I showed my emotions a little too much. But that’s in the past now.”

Devin’s inability to win a race inspired some of his friends to momentarily revive his old nickname. “Are we going to have to start calling you ‘Deuce’ again?” they said.

“Different things didn’t go our way,” Devin explained. “But that’s part of our sport. We had to suck it up and keep digging, and we found our groove at the end of August.”

Indeed, on August 17, Devin snapped out of his funk in a big way, winning the Fulton Bank 40 at the Georgetown Speedway in Georgetown, Delaware.

Devin’s late-season charge has all but locked up the Rookie of the Year award for him. Now he’s set his sights on clawing his way up the leaderboard. 

“I’m really hoping to get in the top three in points,” he said. “That would mean even more to me than being Rookie of the Year.”

Hudson O’Neal’s battle for the Lucas Oil Rookie of the Year award is much more exciting, as he and Gregg Satterlee have flip-flopped in the standings multiple times this season. 

“It’s been back and forth,” Hudson said. “I think we’ve had eight lead changes. It’s going to come down to the wire.”

When asked what it would feel like to win the award, he said, “It’d be a dream come true. There’s a lot of great people that have won it and gone on to do great things.”

By “great things,” Hudson was referring to, among other things, NASCAR. Like many young riders, he hopes to end up there one day, but at the same time he’s perfectly happy to be where he’s at now. 

“If I got an opportunity in the stock car world, great, I’d take it," he said. "But if I don’t, I’m gonna be perfectly fine racing here for the rest of my life. I just want to race. As long as I get to do that, I’ll be happy.”

It’s not lost on him that where he’s currently at is the same place his 53-year-old father has been for decades and that for him to embrace it is a way of honoring the man.

“I’m very fortunate to have the father I do,” Hudson said. “The only person I’ve ever wanted to be like was him.”