Dirt
After the unveiling of his
innovative new Top Sportsman
car at PRI, Don O’Neal’s season
isn’t going as planned
By Allyson Johnson
L
ongtime sportsman racer and U.S.
Army veteran Don O’Neal has experi-
enced his fair share of ups and downs
over the last year or so. He earned
his first-ever NHRA national event win in Top
Sportsman at the 2018 Four-Wide Nationals in
Charlotte, then closed out the year by unveiling
a completely new car and combination at the
PRI Show in Indianapolis in December. Racing
has admittedly been at the back of O’Neal’s mind
recently, though, as his wife, Diane, has been
fighting a cancer battle.
O’Neal, always a bright, motivational personal-
ity, recently sat down with D rag I llustrateD to
share the story behind his trying experiences on
track and away from the track.
Don, you unveiled your new NGK/NTK Top
Sportsman Camaro at PRI this past December.
How long were you working on this ahead of
the unveiling?
This was really the result of almost a year in
the making. We wanted to take a modern-day
car and put an LS engine in it and go drag racing.
We wanted something to appeal to the younger
generation, and that’s what led to my 2015 NGK/
NTK Chevrolet Camaro Top Sportsman car, pow-
ered by a Magnuson-supercharged Chevrolet
427ci LS engine.
What was it like switching to this new car
from your Monte Carlo?
After driving my Monte Carlo for three years
and now jumping into a Jerry Haas Pro Stock
Camaro, it’s like going from a Toyota Corolla to
driving a Lexus. It really is something new for me,
and it’s exciting. I’m looking forward to getting
back to the racetrack and being competitive. We
have something that by the end of the year should
be really making some waves.
Top Sportsman isn’t an easy class to compete
in. Most of the racers are very passionate, have
put in a heavy investment, and they’re just good.
The talent pool is wide, so we want to really have
a consistent performance. We were consistent in
2017 and 2018, and now in 2019 we just decided
to reinvent the wheel (laughs).
Not only has your season on the racetrack
not started off as planned, but you’ve been bat-
tling some personal issues as well. What’s going
on with your wife, Diane?
In November (2018) we found out that my
wife, Diane, had melanoma. We knew that she’d
need to have surgery, and we put that off until
after PRI. After the surgery, we really thought
everything was fine and we went into the new
year recovering from the surgery. Then we found
out that she still had some cancer cells in the
area and they needed to do another surgery.
After the second surgery in February we found
out that the cancer has spread to her lymph
nodes. This really upset the apple cart for us.
We battle on a daily basis because my wife has
Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and has had it for more
than 20 years, and the cancer really intensified
everything. The cancer actually was caused by
an MS drug that she was previously on, so she
hasn’t been able to take those drugs to help her
MS since November.
We’re trying a few new things right now; im-
munotherapy and some new medication. We’re
really optimistic that this will help. Unfortu-
nately, she’ll never be in re-
mission, but we hope that
she can still live a hopefully
long and happy life.
Anyone that knows
you knows that your
wife is your biggest fan.
How has this impacted
your racing?
Obviously, health trumps
racing. I’m not going rac-
ing without her. My career
has really taken leaps and
bounds over the last five
years and it’s because of
Diane’s strength and abil-
ity to dive in and be a part
of everything. The only time
I have ever wrecked was the
one time she wasn’t at the
track with me, so I don’t go
to the track without her.
I am very grateful to have
the sponsors I have. When
I told them what was going
on (with Diane’s health), I
was worried about them
leaving me because I’d have
to miss races. But they were
all over-the-moon support-
ive. We’re trying to do the
best we can to support them,
even when we aren’t at the
racetrack. And our racing
family has been extremely
supportive and loving dur-
ing this, even crating a
hashtag you may see a lot
of on your Facebook feed:
#doitfordi.
I talked with you last
year at the U.S. Nation-
als and asked if you ever
thought NHRA would
bring Top Sportsman to
the event, and you told me
you didn’t see it happening.
But recently, NHRA has announced that they
will be bringing the class to the event this year.
Boy, did I get that wrong! Last year we talked
about the fact that I didn’t foresee Top Sports-
man or Top Dragster at “the Big Go” because of
the landscape of the property and the number
of cars they already have in the program. And
here I am… I got that wrong.
This won’t be your first U.S. Nationals event
as a driver, right?
Correct. I was fortunate enough to race in Su-
per Comp in 2010 at the U.S. Nationals and made
it to the finals, where I got beat by Troy Coughlin
Jr. for his first Indy win. I was so upset, but even
just being in the finals at Indy… I mean, it’s Indy!
That’s all you really need to say.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
30 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
DI DI DI
Issue 146
Fighting the Good Fight