LUCAMA, NC :: It’s been a long time since veteran racer Mike Darne stood in victory lane. The last time he scored a win was on August 11, 2012. That two year winless streak came to an end on Saturday night when Darne swept twin races at Southern National Motorsports Park.
Darne qualified on the pole but he had his work cut out for him after a late race competition caution. That caution put Myatt Snider alongside him. The two raced side-by-side for several laps before Darne was able to get by and clear Snider to score the victory – his first since 2012 at the now-defunct Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia.
“It’s been too long and that’s what made it special winning up there because that’s been the track I’ve struggled at the most,” Darne said. “We’ve had close runs but never been a factor in winning races. A couple weeks ago, we led a bunch of laps and the competition caution came out and Tommy Lemons, Jr. was better than us. It was definitely a special win for us on Saturday. We’ve worked really hard this year. My guys deserved it as much as I did. They worked their tails off trying to get that win. We finally got it Saturday night.”
Darne had to start in the ninth position in the second race after an invert. Darne didn’t feel like he could win that race but he was able to. He picked the field one at a time and then made the move for the win on Ryan Wilson after a competition caution put him within striking distance.
“We didn’t expect to get two wins,” Darne stated. “It’s tough to come back and win the second race when you get inverted back to ninth but the car was as good the second race as the first race so getting the special win was pretty special too.”
Making the night even more special for Darne was Andrew Grady’s sweep in the Limited Late Model division on the same night at the same track.
“We maintain Andrew Grady’s cars, my cars and Johnathan Findley’s car. “Andrew picking up two wins was awesome with us winning but even Johnathan had a good night, led a bunch of laps in the second race and picked up a top five. All in all, it was a good night for the team. It’s special to watch those young guys win races like that.”
Darne’s victory was his first at Southern National and his first since the closure of Old Dominion Speedway back in 2012. Darne was dominant over the years at Old Dominion, winning the track championship in 2002 and piling up countless victories over the years. Darne was a two-time winner of the Youth for Tomorrow 150 and a former winner of what was the historic track’s biggest race of the season, “ODS The Big One”.
In 2012, Darne qualified on the in the third position at Martinsville Speedway, won the pole in the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National and was in contention for the win in that race prior to running out of fuel in a wacky race. He thought that 2013 would be a strong season but his race team struggled. Now, he says, it’s back on track.
“You saw us win a bunch of races at Mansassas but ever since we ventured away from Manassas, it’s been tough. After the Thanksgiving Classic and Martinsville a couple years ago, we thought we’d be better last year but it was one thing after another, bad luck and this year started that way. I can’t complain. It wasn’t all bad luck last year; we just didn’t run well last year. We put a lot of effort in to this year. We built a different car. We started running really well at Caraway, was in the top three twice out there and had mechanical failures and I thought’s that’s how the year would go again but we got better every week. Jim Dean came in the picture and has helped a lot. He’s been around this a long time and worked with the best and done a great job helping us with setups on the car. I don’t want to give all the credit to just one guy though. All of us have worked well together. We’ve been really competitive the last 10 races. We’ve been a top five car; we just couldn’t seem to put a win together.”
Darne felt like the win was coming. Over the past few races, he’d been getting more competitive. He went from clicking off top-10 finishes to clicking off top-five finishes, then podium finishes, then runner-up finishes. It was only a matter of time. And, entering Saturday night’s race, Darne felt his time had come.
“I felt confident coming in to this week,” he remarked. “I was hoping Lee Pulliam would be at Southern National because, if you get a win and beat him, it makes it even more special but he went to South Boston and I understand. We had a really good car Saturday and I would’ve liked to see if I had something for him.”
Darne, who now resides in Mooresville, North Carolina, says he will finish out the regular season at Southern National Motorsports Park and then attempt to run in the Mid-Atlantic Championship at Caraway Speedway, a track he’s had success at before, the MDCU 300 at Martinsville Speedway, the Myrtle Beach 400 and the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic at Southern National.
As of now, Darne doesn’t know what his plans for next season are. Having moved away from Northern Virginia, he says he would only run a limited schedule, if that, at Dominion Raceway, assuming the track does open next April on schedule.
“We’ll probably stay more local. We won’t go up there and run for the championship. I don’t know what our plans are for next year. We’ve got to see what schedules come out. We talk about a lot of different things. We always run well at Caraway. We might venture out and run Hickory as well. We need to see what works for our guys to see what we’re doing.”
With two wins on the season, Mike Darne hopes he can keep the momentum going and that the Mike Darne of old, the one who was absolutely dominant any time he raced over the years at Old Dominion Speedway, is back.
Race Results
Race 1: Mike Darne, Myatt Snider, Ryan WIlson, Michael Fose, Tommy Lemons Jr, Ricky Jones III, Johnathan Findley, Craig Stallard, Melvin Langley, Tommy Lemons Sr, Andrew Grady, Ronald Renfrow
Race 2: Mike Darne, Ryan Wilson, Tommy Lemons Jr, Myatt Snider, Johnathan FIndley, Ricky Jones III, Michael Fose, Craig Stallard, Melvin Langley, Ronald Renfrow
