By Doc Lehman

This weekend Donnie Moran, one of the greatest dirt Late Model racers the sport has known, will put yet another feather in his cap when he is inducted into the second class of the NATIONAL DIRT LATE MODEL HALL OF FAME.

“I think it’s pretty neat and hopefully the tradition will keep going on down the road,” stated Moran. “In time I’ll quit racing and stuff and people will say, ‘Hey, there’s the guy who won the Million Dollar race’ and stuff and won this or won that. So, it’s pretty cool. It means something.”

“I’d like to see them put Don Gross in. He had STARS going for years and he has done as much if not more than other people.”

As with other top pros, Moran is well aware that the WORLD 100 is almost upon him and he isn’t letting it sneak up on him.

“We’re doing a little bit to prepare for the WORLD 100,” revealed Moran. “We’re building a new CJ Rayburn car. Charlie (Fisher) is working on a new engine. I’ve got three guys working for me, Tim Marshall, Chris Cannon and Joe Matthew and we’re going in full force. I’ve had (sister & brother-in-law) Rhonda and David down here helping me for a few days getting this car put together.”

“I guess we’re on ‘kill-mode’ right now (laughs)! I’m not sure if Rhonda and David will be with me at the WORLD 100 or not but whenever I’m in a bind or need help they are always there for me. If I get in a pinch they’ll come down and bust their butt for me.”

When Moran mentioned being in “kill mode” the first thing I thought of was, this guy seems hungry for another WORLD 100 win. Maybe extra hungry.

“Well, you never know,” offered Moran with a slight chuckle. “After the poor showing at THE DREAM this year (laughs), we had some problems with our engine and I’ve been on Charlie pretty hard and I’ve had him with me the last three weekends I’ve raced. So I’m getting him pretty well fired up.”

Last weekend Moran stayed close to home, running in a special event at his father’s race track, Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, OH. That night, which was a special evening due to the fact that the Moran’s were celebrating their wedding anniversary, became extra special and not just because Donnie Moran took another win.

There were two winners with the name Moran last weekend.

“It made it pretty good to win because it was my wife’s and my 11^th anniversary last Saturday, so that made it pretty good,” said Moran. “And Dad runs those Mini-Wedges over there, those little go karts and (Moran’s son) Devin won his class! That was the first time he ever won. So we were all pumped up.”

“We qualified and after we qualified they called for the Mini Wedges so Devin went out and raced and he won. Then he comes back in and says, ‘Dad, I did it, now you’re going to have to do it and we can have a double deal’. So after I won we were in victory lane and he came up to me and gave me a high five and said, ‘Hey, Dad, we did it! A double deal!’ (laughs)!”

DONNIE MORAN talks shop with Barry Wright

“Even after the race when I took a victory lap in the car, which I wasn’t planning to do or anything, I just pulled up there and stopped and Devin got on the car and my other boy, Tristin got on the car and Rhonda and David’s little boy, Grant, got on the car.”

“So we all rode around the track one time and Tristin and Grant were on the deck and Devin was in the passenger window and boy, you should have seen them all wave when we went by the grandstands before we went into the pits. They were all waving like crazy (laughs)! There were three hams riding on my car in the picture when I took my victory lap.”

“It’s still a pretty good family deal.”

It was clearly obvious speaking with Moran that his son’s feature win meant much, much more to him than his own win that night.

“Yeah, I didn’t even care if I raced that night (laughs)!” said Moran. “Cause he has been trying so hard to win over there. So we finally got his go kart to handle a little better and when he started he got the lead but he drove extremely well. He might not have had to pass a car but he drove the Mini Wedge extremely well and he beat them by about ten car lengths. He was pretty happy. We were all pretty happy.”

As for the rest of the season, besides the WORLD 100, Moran will be busy preparing and competing in a wide slate of the fall ending big money specials.

“We look forward to all the big fall races,” explained Moran. “This weekend we’ll go to Florence for their three races and next weekend I’m planning on going to I-79 and try and get the new car done so I can take it to Eldora the following week.”

“We’ll head to Tyler on Monday, Labor Day then head to Eldora the following weekend. And then after Eldora we’re planning on going to Kentucky Lake because it’s a TV race and QPI Tools is a sponsor. So that’s where we’re going.”

“The week after that we’re going to Pittsburgh to QPI’s home track, which is where they are from, so it’ll be a pretty good weekend., We’re looking forward to going to Pittsburgh for two or three days with QPI Tools at Pittsburgh.”

As for the third week of October, Moran has made a commitment as to where he will run, either at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, WV, or Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, KY.

“Rick Gross has called me and asked me about coming down to Mineral Wells,” revealed Moran. “I really haven’t made up my mind yet but right now I’m kind of leaning towards Mineral Wells. I know the STARS has been the DTWC but Rick and Don have put a lot of effort into keeping STARS, which is now Renegade, going. And I look for them to be around for a long time. They love racing and they help racing a lot. They do a lot for racing.”

“I’d like to see them pay $50,000 like the other place but it’s like they do this every year and they’ve had their ups and downs so I think you need to support people. But it’s hard to say. And I know it was Carl Short who started the first big race so you have to give him a lot of credit. I’m not taking anything away from anybody.”

“I’m not 100% sure yet, but that’s (WVMS) is probably where we’ll go.”

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