Post by Dirt Master on Jun 8, 2007 11:24:26 GMT -5
Contact: DIRT MotorSportsT d/b/a World Racing Group
Kevin Kovac, World of Outlaws Late Model Series P.R. Director
704-254-7929 . kkovac@dirtmotorsports.com
World of Outlaws Late Model News & Notes: Delaware International Speedway & Hagerstown Speedway
CONCORD, NC - June 4, 2007 -
TRYING SOMETHING OLD: Shannon Babb hasn't been happy with his recent performance on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, so he pulled a race car out of mothballs in hopes of getting his groove back.
Babb entered Thursday night's 'First State 50' at Delaware International Speedway behind the wheel of the C.J. Rayburn-built machine that he drove in most of last year's UMP DIRTcar Racing Summernationals events. The car had sat idle since he steered it to victory in the 2006 Summernationals finale on July 15 at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio.
"I've been looking at the thing in the shop the last few weeks and thinking about running it," said Babb. "I thought running the old car might help us figure out what we might be doing wrong with the new ('07 style) car."
Babb dropped out midway through DIS's A-Main due to an engine meltdown that he said resulted from his continuing to race with an overheating condition, but the information he learned during the night was worthwhile. He broke out his new-style car on Saturday night at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and promptly piloted the Jay Dickens-powered No. 18 to victory in the 'Conococheague 50.'
"I got my mind right again," Babb said when asked about the benefits of using his old mount, which he will likely yield to a prospective buyer upon returning to his Illinois shop. "I'm back to thinking the right things."
POST-RACE VISIT: Chub Frank took an unusually long time to drive his car back to the pit area after being feted in Victory Lane for his triumph in the 'First State 50' at Delaware International.
The Bear Lake, Pa., driver spent nearly a half-hour parked on the homestretch talking to his aunt, a resident of nearby Dover, Del., who surprised Frank with her appearance at Thursday's race. She waved to him from the grandstand area during the post-race ceremonies, prompting Frank to call her down to the track for some pictures.
Frank's win, by the way, marked the first time he has captured back-to-back WoO LMS events in his career. He fell short, however, of becoming just the fourth driver since 2004 to win three straight WoO LMS A-Mains, finishing fourth on Saturday night at Hagerstown.
'Chubzilla' was happy with a top-five run at Hagerstown, but a bit perplexed about his car's performance.
"I've never been that loose here before," Frank said after Hagerstown's checkered flag. "We even actually tightened up more and still were loose.
"I don't know what it was, but (the surface) was just so slippery. Usually we run three-wheel brake here, and we were running four-wheel brake from like lap two."
STYLIN': Clint Smith debuted a new, snazzier graphics package on his GRT No. 44 at Delaware International. The 'wrap' that was put on his car featured splashes of blue.
Second in the point standings entering the doubleheader, Smith moved in front with a fifth-place finish at DIS and a third at Hagerstown. He now leads Babb by 12 points.
Smith, who had led the WoO LMS point standings just a single time during the three previous seasons, has either been tied or held sole possession of the lead after 11 of this season's 16 events.
BAD NEWS: After driving his Raye Vest-owned MasterSbilt to a second-place finish at Delaware International, Rick Eckert was hopeful that the WoO LMS doubleheader at two tracks close to his York, Pa., home would be good to him.
Unfortunately, Saturday night at Hagerstown was forgettable for the veteran racer. He relinquished a potential top-10 finish when a flat left-rear tire forced him to pit during a lap-23 caution period (he continued and finished 18th), and bad news he received following the A-Main led him to cut short his usual post-race visiting with family and friends at Hagerstown.
Eckert was informed that his 17-year-old nephew, Cody Darrah, had been injured in a hard 410 Sprint Car crash on Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa., and was being transported to a nearby hospital. Eckert left the track and later learned that Darrah had suffered a broken arm.
WHAT A RUN: The darling of Hagerstown's 'Conococheague 50' had to be Jason Covert, a 36-year-old good guy from York Haven, Pa., who has proven his skills in a dirt Late Model since joining Barry Klinedinst's team last year.
Driving an '02 Rocket car equipped with an SB-2 motor rebuilt during the off-season by Curt Hershey, the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Championship Series (MACS) champion ran toe-to-toe with the Outlaws and finished a sterling second. His $5,500 payday was the biggest single-race earnings of his career.
"It's intimidating (to race with the Outlaws), but I love it," said Covert, whose next WoO LMS start should be the Wed., June 20, event at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway. "These guys are the best, and they race hard and clean. You learn so much racing with them, because they race so hard every lap. I'm used to just local racing, short 25-lappers, and these guys make you realize there's no laps off.
"Even if you run 20th (in a WoO LMS A-Main), you learn so much. I've got a huge learning curve going right now racing with all these different series, but it makes you a better driver."
BABY O.K.: Gray Court, S.C.'s Chris Madden sent thanks out to all the members of the racing fraternity who provided thoughts and prayers over the past week to Chris and his wife Stephanie, who gave birth to the couple's third child, a boy named Avery, one month prematurely.
The early delivery created concern and cast doubt on Madden's participation in the WoO LMS doubleheader, but the baby weighed in at nearly seven pounds and doctors assured Madden early in the week that Avery would be healthy enough to go home within days.
Madden ran well in his first career appearance at both tracks, but there was no storybook victory to present his new son. He finished fourth at DIS and suffered his first DNF of the WoO LMS season at Hagerstown due to terminal engine trouble.
THE CHAMP RETURNS: Reigning WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie entered both events, hitting the dirt hot off a lengthy stock-car test session at Kentucky Speedway on Tuesday.
McCreadie, who is learning the NASCAR stock-car ropes this season as a Richard Childress Racing development driver, joined with NASCAR regular Scott Wimmer to test the new R07 Chevy Nextel Cup engine for RCR. McCreadie got plenty of seat time, turning nearly 400 miles in the car.
The Kentucky laps were all invaluable to McCreadie, who is preparing to make his first starts in ARCA and NASCAR Busch Series events in the near future.
A GOOD NIGHT: Teenage WoO LMS sensation Josh Richards was very satisfied with a fifth-place finish in Saturday night's 'Conococheague 50.'
"A top-five at Hagerstown is a big deal for me," said Richards, who enjoyed his best run ever at the half-mile oval. "I've always had a tough time trying to get used to this place, so it feels good that we went forward.
"I'm still trying to get better at any place where you have to use a lot of brake, and Hagerstown is one of those places. Once you get the braking down, you can get better here."
FUN IN THE SUN: A large contingent of WoO LMS teams took advantage of Friday's off-day between DIS and Hagerstown to enjoy some R&R in Ocean City, Md.
The teams that headed to the beach - Clint Smith, Steve Francis, Chub Frank, Rick Eckert (who owns a property in Ocean City), Shane Clanton, Darrell Lanigan, Eddie Carrier Jr., John Blankenship and Tim McCreadie - spent time playing beach volleyball, riding go-karts, strolling the boardwalk and visiting watering holes such as the famed 'Purple Moose.'
NOTABLE.
* Darrell Lanigan remained without a top-five finish in WoO LMS action this season after outings of sixth (DIS) and 10th (Hagerstown). He appeared primed for his first top-five at DIS, but Clint Smith snuck by him for fifth heading to the white flag.
* Steve Francis remained consistent with finishes of third (DIS) and seventh (Hagerstown), but he continues to be frustrated by his uncharacteristically long winless streak on the WoO LMS. His last victory came on May 5, 2006, at Brushcreek Motorsports Complex in Peebles, Ohio - a losing streak that now sits at 39 races.
* Accompanying Shannon Babb on the trip east was his fiancée Emily Meyers, who is still beaming since Babb proposed to her just prior to leaving on his first WoO LMS jaunt east in mid-April. The couple has not yet set a date for their wedding, but she noted with a smile, "It definitely won't be during racing season."
* Top '07 rookie contender Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., missed his first WoO LMS event of the season on Thursday at DIS. He opted to compete in that night's Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series show for big-block Modifieds at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y.
Fuller was back in his John Wight-owned dirt Late Model on Saturday at Hagerstown and said that for the remainder of the season he will run every WoO LMS event that does not conflict with a Modified SDS date. He said he made a commitment to his DIRTcar Modified sponsor, John Lazore, to chase the Mr. DIRTcar Modified championship this season so those races will take precedence for him, but his plan is to go WoO LMS racing fulltime in 2008.
* Veterans Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa., and Les Hare of Felton, Pa. - both winners of WoO LMS A-Mains at Hagerstown during the tour's first incarnation (1988-89) - were in the field on Saturday night. Hare failed to qualify, but Stuhler won a heat race and ran in the top five early in the feature before fading to an eighth-place finish.
* Several drivers had rough run-ins with the marker tires that are buried on the inside of the turns at Delaware International.
The group included Clint Smith, who bent his car's left-front spindle when he hit a tire during his heat but still managed to qualify; Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del., who knocked his car's handling off-kilter when he clipped a tire while bidding for second place on lap seven of the A-Main (a lap-21 scrape with McCreadie that sent him over the bank in turns three and four caused Elliott to fall to eighth at the finish); Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., who spun between turns one and two after catching a tire on lap eight of the feature; and Vic Coffey of Leicester, N.Y., whose crew had to bolt on a new nosepiece after he bounced over the tires during heat action.
* Thursday's program at Delaware International was rough on Pennsylvanians Jim Bernheisel and Davey Johnson.
Bernheisel, a chassis builder who fields a house car for Johnson in selected events, saw his own night behind the wheel of Rob Ormsbee's car end due to a broken steering rack during heat competition.
Johnson, meanwhile, had his Bernheisel No. 1J sidelined by engine woes during time trials, so he drove the No. 119 normally steered by Bernheisel the rest of the night. A heat-race tangle bent up the machine, but he qualified through a B-Main and completed 33 laps before retiring from the feature.
* DIS regular Kerry King was able to limp across the finish line of the second heat in a transfer spot despite the heavy damage his car sustained in a final-lap tangle that also involved Johnson, but he couldn't repair the machine for the feature.
So what did King do? Since his shop is barely one mile for the track, he had a second car hauled over on a flatbed and ran it in the feature. He had to start at the rear of the field, however.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Kevin Kovac, World of Outlaws Late Model Series P.R. Director
704-254-7929 . kkovac@dirtmotorsports.com
World of Outlaws Late Model News & Notes: Delaware International Speedway & Hagerstown Speedway
CONCORD, NC - June 4, 2007 -
TRYING SOMETHING OLD: Shannon Babb hasn't been happy with his recent performance on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, so he pulled a race car out of mothballs in hopes of getting his groove back.
Babb entered Thursday night's 'First State 50' at Delaware International Speedway behind the wheel of the C.J. Rayburn-built machine that he drove in most of last year's UMP DIRTcar Racing Summernationals events. The car had sat idle since he steered it to victory in the 2006 Summernationals finale on July 15 at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio.
"I've been looking at the thing in the shop the last few weeks and thinking about running it," said Babb. "I thought running the old car might help us figure out what we might be doing wrong with the new ('07 style) car."
Babb dropped out midway through DIS's A-Main due to an engine meltdown that he said resulted from his continuing to race with an overheating condition, but the information he learned during the night was worthwhile. He broke out his new-style car on Saturday night at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and promptly piloted the Jay Dickens-powered No. 18 to victory in the 'Conococheague 50.'
"I got my mind right again," Babb said when asked about the benefits of using his old mount, which he will likely yield to a prospective buyer upon returning to his Illinois shop. "I'm back to thinking the right things."
POST-RACE VISIT: Chub Frank took an unusually long time to drive his car back to the pit area after being feted in Victory Lane for his triumph in the 'First State 50' at Delaware International.
The Bear Lake, Pa., driver spent nearly a half-hour parked on the homestretch talking to his aunt, a resident of nearby Dover, Del., who surprised Frank with her appearance at Thursday's race. She waved to him from the grandstand area during the post-race ceremonies, prompting Frank to call her down to the track for some pictures.
Frank's win, by the way, marked the first time he has captured back-to-back WoO LMS events in his career. He fell short, however, of becoming just the fourth driver since 2004 to win three straight WoO LMS A-Mains, finishing fourth on Saturday night at Hagerstown.
'Chubzilla' was happy with a top-five run at Hagerstown, but a bit perplexed about his car's performance.
"I've never been that loose here before," Frank said after Hagerstown's checkered flag. "We even actually tightened up more and still were loose.
"I don't know what it was, but (the surface) was just so slippery. Usually we run three-wheel brake here, and we were running four-wheel brake from like lap two."
STYLIN': Clint Smith debuted a new, snazzier graphics package on his GRT No. 44 at Delaware International. The 'wrap' that was put on his car featured splashes of blue.
Second in the point standings entering the doubleheader, Smith moved in front with a fifth-place finish at DIS and a third at Hagerstown. He now leads Babb by 12 points.
Smith, who had led the WoO LMS point standings just a single time during the three previous seasons, has either been tied or held sole possession of the lead after 11 of this season's 16 events.
BAD NEWS: After driving his Raye Vest-owned MasterSbilt to a second-place finish at Delaware International, Rick Eckert was hopeful that the WoO LMS doubleheader at two tracks close to his York, Pa., home would be good to him.
Unfortunately, Saturday night at Hagerstown was forgettable for the veteran racer. He relinquished a potential top-10 finish when a flat left-rear tire forced him to pit during a lap-23 caution period (he continued and finished 18th), and bad news he received following the A-Main led him to cut short his usual post-race visiting with family and friends at Hagerstown.
Eckert was informed that his 17-year-old nephew, Cody Darrah, had been injured in a hard 410 Sprint Car crash on Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa., and was being transported to a nearby hospital. Eckert left the track and later learned that Darrah had suffered a broken arm.
WHAT A RUN: The darling of Hagerstown's 'Conococheague 50' had to be Jason Covert, a 36-year-old good guy from York Haven, Pa., who has proven his skills in a dirt Late Model since joining Barry Klinedinst's team last year.
Driving an '02 Rocket car equipped with an SB-2 motor rebuilt during the off-season by Curt Hershey, the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Championship Series (MACS) champion ran toe-to-toe with the Outlaws and finished a sterling second. His $5,500 payday was the biggest single-race earnings of his career.
"It's intimidating (to race with the Outlaws), but I love it," said Covert, whose next WoO LMS start should be the Wed., June 20, event at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway. "These guys are the best, and they race hard and clean. You learn so much racing with them, because they race so hard every lap. I'm used to just local racing, short 25-lappers, and these guys make you realize there's no laps off.
"Even if you run 20th (in a WoO LMS A-Main), you learn so much. I've got a huge learning curve going right now racing with all these different series, but it makes you a better driver."
BABY O.K.: Gray Court, S.C.'s Chris Madden sent thanks out to all the members of the racing fraternity who provided thoughts and prayers over the past week to Chris and his wife Stephanie, who gave birth to the couple's third child, a boy named Avery, one month prematurely.
The early delivery created concern and cast doubt on Madden's participation in the WoO LMS doubleheader, but the baby weighed in at nearly seven pounds and doctors assured Madden early in the week that Avery would be healthy enough to go home within days.
Madden ran well in his first career appearance at both tracks, but there was no storybook victory to present his new son. He finished fourth at DIS and suffered his first DNF of the WoO LMS season at Hagerstown due to terminal engine trouble.
THE CHAMP RETURNS: Reigning WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie entered both events, hitting the dirt hot off a lengthy stock-car test session at Kentucky Speedway on Tuesday.
McCreadie, who is learning the NASCAR stock-car ropes this season as a Richard Childress Racing development driver, joined with NASCAR regular Scott Wimmer to test the new R07 Chevy Nextel Cup engine for RCR. McCreadie got plenty of seat time, turning nearly 400 miles in the car.
The Kentucky laps were all invaluable to McCreadie, who is preparing to make his first starts in ARCA and NASCAR Busch Series events in the near future.
A GOOD NIGHT: Teenage WoO LMS sensation Josh Richards was very satisfied with a fifth-place finish in Saturday night's 'Conococheague 50.'
"A top-five at Hagerstown is a big deal for me," said Richards, who enjoyed his best run ever at the half-mile oval. "I've always had a tough time trying to get used to this place, so it feels good that we went forward.
"I'm still trying to get better at any place where you have to use a lot of brake, and Hagerstown is one of those places. Once you get the braking down, you can get better here."
FUN IN THE SUN: A large contingent of WoO LMS teams took advantage of Friday's off-day between DIS and Hagerstown to enjoy some R&R in Ocean City, Md.
The teams that headed to the beach - Clint Smith, Steve Francis, Chub Frank, Rick Eckert (who owns a property in Ocean City), Shane Clanton, Darrell Lanigan, Eddie Carrier Jr., John Blankenship and Tim McCreadie - spent time playing beach volleyball, riding go-karts, strolling the boardwalk and visiting watering holes such as the famed 'Purple Moose.'
NOTABLE.
* Darrell Lanigan remained without a top-five finish in WoO LMS action this season after outings of sixth (DIS) and 10th (Hagerstown). He appeared primed for his first top-five at DIS, but Clint Smith snuck by him for fifth heading to the white flag.
* Steve Francis remained consistent with finishes of third (DIS) and seventh (Hagerstown), but he continues to be frustrated by his uncharacteristically long winless streak on the WoO LMS. His last victory came on May 5, 2006, at Brushcreek Motorsports Complex in Peebles, Ohio - a losing streak that now sits at 39 races.
* Accompanying Shannon Babb on the trip east was his fiancée Emily Meyers, who is still beaming since Babb proposed to her just prior to leaving on his first WoO LMS jaunt east in mid-April. The couple has not yet set a date for their wedding, but she noted with a smile, "It definitely won't be during racing season."
* Top '07 rookie contender Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., missed his first WoO LMS event of the season on Thursday at DIS. He opted to compete in that night's Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series show for big-block Modifieds at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y.
Fuller was back in his John Wight-owned dirt Late Model on Saturday at Hagerstown and said that for the remainder of the season he will run every WoO LMS event that does not conflict with a Modified SDS date. He said he made a commitment to his DIRTcar Modified sponsor, John Lazore, to chase the Mr. DIRTcar Modified championship this season so those races will take precedence for him, but his plan is to go WoO LMS racing fulltime in 2008.
* Veterans Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa., and Les Hare of Felton, Pa. - both winners of WoO LMS A-Mains at Hagerstown during the tour's first incarnation (1988-89) - were in the field on Saturday night. Hare failed to qualify, but Stuhler won a heat race and ran in the top five early in the feature before fading to an eighth-place finish.
* Several drivers had rough run-ins with the marker tires that are buried on the inside of the turns at Delaware International.
The group included Clint Smith, who bent his car's left-front spindle when he hit a tire during his heat but still managed to qualify; Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del., who knocked his car's handling off-kilter when he clipped a tire while bidding for second place on lap seven of the A-Main (a lap-21 scrape with McCreadie that sent him over the bank in turns three and four caused Elliott to fall to eighth at the finish); Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., who spun between turns one and two after catching a tire on lap eight of the feature; and Vic Coffey of Leicester, N.Y., whose crew had to bolt on a new nosepiece after he bounced over the tires during heat action.
* Thursday's program at Delaware International was rough on Pennsylvanians Jim Bernheisel and Davey Johnson.
Bernheisel, a chassis builder who fields a house car for Johnson in selected events, saw his own night behind the wheel of Rob Ormsbee's car end due to a broken steering rack during heat competition.
Johnson, meanwhile, had his Bernheisel No. 1J sidelined by engine woes during time trials, so he drove the No. 119 normally steered by Bernheisel the rest of the night. A heat-race tangle bent up the machine, but he qualified through a B-Main and completed 33 laps before retiring from the feature.
* DIS regular Kerry King was able to limp across the finish line of the second heat in a transfer spot despite the heavy damage his car sustained in a final-lap tangle that also involved Johnson, but he couldn't repair the machine for the feature.
So what did King do? Since his shop is barely one mile for the track, he had a second car hauled over on a flatbed and ran it in the feature. He had to start at the rear of the field, however.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.