PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Port Royal Speedway promoter Steve O’Neal took in his track’s largest-ever Late Model event Friday and Saturday from high above inside one of the many suite boxes at the half-mile, one of the better bird’s-eye views the track has to offer.

As fans steadily filled out the frontstretch grandstand and grassy infield seating area to attend the $50,000-to-win Rumble by the River finale put on by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, O’Neal smiled at what had been created.

“I’m proud of the fact that when we took over here 12 years ago all we heard was it’s all about (sprint cars). Well, I tell you what, I hope that’s gone away because it’s not all about (sprint cars) around here,” O’Neal said. “We built this Late Model deal up through the years to be one of the best deals in the country. I hope they soon realize it’s not all about (sprint cars) around here.

“I feel pretty proud of the fact that we pay $50,000-to-win races for sprint cars, modifieds and Late Models. That’s a heckuva an accomplishment for a little racetrack in the middle of the nowhere.”

Port Royal’s third straight Lucas Oil Series summer event had indeed panned out to be the largest — in purse, attendance and car count — since O’Neal rolled the dice on adding yet another big undertaking to his track’s busy schedule in 2020.

O’Neal intends to add onto the event next year, as the series announced Saturday night it will return Aug. 25-26 for the fourth year of the Rumble by the River in 2023.

But O’Neal, who almost always mixes it up with the crowd, couldn’t fully experience his track’s largest Late Model event in history to date over the weekend. O’Neal tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, so that meant unusual cautionary measures to quarantine in one of those suite boxes high above the frontstretch.

“Yup, I sat up there all by myself both nights,” said O’Neal, who’s symptoms are nothing more than a light cough and some fatigue.

These next two weeks are among the busiest of the year for O’Neal and his Port Royal team as they prepare for next Saturday’s 168th Juniata County Fair Opener and one of sprint car racing’s crown jewels Sept. 8-10 in the Tuscarora 50.

That's the main reason the third installment of the Rumble by the River reduced from a three-day program to two days this year.

“The only bad part for us … well, not bad part. What makes it very difficult is we come right off this and into our fair week,” O’Neal said. “So, we have five races coming up in eight days, starting next weekend. (Head of track prep) Steve Stimely, all of our guys, to spend so many hours here, none of us are getting any younger. At least we took one day off of here for that. It’s just so much work. Most of us are volunteer help.”

With the downsize, O’Neal was able to pump more money into the finale and put on an event that, car-countwise, stacks up to the sport’s premier events.

The Rumble by the River became the ninth $50,000-to-win or more event that drew 50 or more cars this Dirt Late Model season, after the Show-Me 100 (54 cars), Firecracker 100 (54), North-South 100 (54), Silver Dollar Nationals (63), Prairie Dirt Classic (81), Dirt Late Model Dream (114) and Eldora Million (124). The return of the Colossal 100 in May at The Dirt Track at Charlotte also drew 51 cars.

“I’d have to say, for the first time doing this (in this format with $50,000-to-win), it was a very successful weekend,” O’Neal said. “Fifty-one cars, I don’t think you can ask for much more of that for the first time doing it. I thought the crowd turned out pretty nice tonight. Of course, as always, we had a lot of competition around us here.”

When O’Neal says competition, he speaks of area high school football teams that kicked off their seasons over the weekend, as well as the All Star Circuit of Champions touring sprint car series an hour down the road at Williams Grove and Lincoln Speedways in Central Pennsylvania.

Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway, only a half-hour from Port Royal, also hosted a sprint car program Saturday night. Taking the area’s busy nature into account, O’Neal says “I think we all should be happy with how things were.”

O’Neal could go a few directions with the fledgling event and its straightforward format, but one of those moves doesn’t seem to include a finale more than 50 laps. Lucas Oil Series director Rick Schwallie, O’Neal said, is open to making the Rumble by the River main event 100 laps — or a number in between 50 to 100 laps — but Schwallie left that judgement call for O’Neal to make.

“One thing is, like me — and not just me but some of the other guys here — those long-distance races aren’t really my cup of tea,” O’Neal said. “I don’t like to see tire races. I don’t like to see fuel races. When we decided to do this, the first thing I said to Rick was, let’s make them race. It’s let’s get them going and let them race. I guess that’s a little bit of the sprint car guy coming out of me.

“Fifty laps just makes for better racing, especially on a big track.”

O’Neal added that “we have a few things to discuss” for 2023 in terms of format, which featured split-field preliminary features that went 25 laps for $5,000-to-win on Friday. The finishes of those semifeatures set heat lineups for Saturday, bypassing the need for Saturday time trials.

While the event was confirmed for next year, O’Neal’s unsure of two-day format specifics beyond the fact he expects the event to again award a $50,000 winner’s share.

O’Neal’s right blend of ingenuity and adamancy has helped pave the way to he and his track’s success to this point. For the longest time, O’Neal averaged 100 races attended a year beyond his commitments as promoter of Port Royal.

He doesn’t get around as much as he used to, but he still traverses to the sport’s biggest events, such as the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., Florida-Georgia Speedweeks, among other events he can immerse himself that could help expand his wealth of promotership knowledge.

“That’s how you learn. I go to as many different tracks as I can, O’Neal said. “No. 1, I’m a fan. I love the sport. But again, as I tell everybody, I don’t care what race I go to, you usually could always learn something. A lot of it is you learn things you never want to do. You pick up on as much of the negative as you do the positive. You always learn something.”