|
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
News & Notes: Wrapping Up The 39th Annual DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH
BARBERVILLE,
FL
- Feb.
15, 2010 -
BREAKING
THROUGH: Before the start of Saturday night's DIRTcar Nationals by
UNOH finale at
Volusia
Speedway
Park,
Brady Smith stood by an Arizona Sports Shirts merchandise trailer
behind the track's grandstand and talked about his winless 2009
season on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and his hopes of
ending the dry spell in 2010.
Several hours
later, Smith's frustrating pursuit of his first checkered flag as a
WoO LMS regular was over. He dominated the tour's 50-lap A-Main,
rolling to a victory that clearly showed he's ready to be a title
contender in his second campaign on the road with the Outlaws.
"We finally
put a whole night together," said Smith, who scored three runner-up
finishes (and lost one sure-fire win to a flat tire on the last lap)
during the 2009 WoO LMS season. "We swept the night -- fast time,
won our heat and won the feature. We had the Bloomquist car dialed
in all night.
"Last year it
seemed like we would qualify well and then not heat-race well, or
not qualify well and then heat-race O.K. and start at the back of
the feature. You have to be consistent all night if you want to race
races against this kind of competition, so we sat and talked over
the winter and got ourselves focused on putting whole nights
together.
"That's
something we did here the last two nights," added Smith, who won a
heat and finished third in the 2010 WoO LMS season opener on
Thursday night. "We qualified well enough to start on the front row
of our heat both nights, and we were able to win both heats. That
put us up front in the feature and we took advantage of it."
One year ago,
of course, Smith got off to a disappointing start in the WoO LMS
lidlifter at Volusia, failing to qualify for the Thursday-night
A-Main after a heat-race tangle sent him into the turn-four wall. He
rallied to finish second in the Saturday event, but he still left
Florida in a major hole -- 19th in the points standings, 71 points
behind the leader -- and never climbed higher than sixth in the
rankings before settling for an eighth-place finish.
Now Smith, 32,
of Solon
Springs,
Wis.,
is the WoO LMS points leader for the first time in his career -- and
the possibilities for 2010 seem endless.
"It's pretty
early to start thinking about points, but after the way we started
out here last year it's a lot better to come out on top," said
Smith, who sported a new sponsor, Michaletz Trucking of Owatonna,
Minn., on the quarter-panels of his car at Volusia. "We'll just take
it and keep working."
WHAT A
COMEBACK: As Tim McCreadie sat buckled into his backup car awaiting
the start of a B-Main on Saturday night, his hopes of chasing the
WoO LMS championship for the first time since he won it in 2006
seemed to be disappearing in the cold
Florida
air.
"I could almost
cry right now," said McCreadie, shaking his head.
McCreadie, 35,
of
Watertown,
N.Y.,
knew his chances of charging from the rear of the field to grab one
of two transfer spots available in the 12-lap B-Main weren't good,
so he was resigned to absorbing a crushing DNQ to end a difficult
day. There was already a somber feeling running through his team --
on Tuesday one of his teammate Vic Coffey's close friends, longtime
Sweeteners Plus employee Leo LaVerdi Jr., passed away suddenly at
the age of 46 (Coffey skipped Saturday's show to attend the
funeral), and on Saturday his crewman Mike Amell ' mother,
19-year-old daughter and girlfriend were involved in a highway
accident near the track and rushed to a local hospital -- and the
driveline problems that sidelined McCreadie's primary car during
heat action continued the run of bad news.
But a funny
thing happened when McCreadie pulled out of the B-Main during an
early caution period. He was informed by WoO LMS director Tim
Christman that Saturday night's A-Main included a provisional
starting spot for the highest-ranked driver in the week's DIRTcar
Nationals by UNOH Late Model points standings who failed to qualify
-- a position that would go to McCreadie provided Wisconsin's Dan
Schlieper held on to a transfer spot in McCreadie's B-Main.
When Schlieper
secured a second-place finish to qualify for the 50-lap A-Main,
McCreadie had new life. He took full advantage of the unexpected
opportunity, thrilling the chilled crowd with a memorable drive from
the 28th starting spot to a third-place finish.
"I thank the
(World Racing Group) organization for making the (starting) field
bigger tonight," said McCreadie, who was short on manpower on
Saturday night because Amell left the track to be with his loved
ones at the hospital (Amell's girlfriend and his daughter's friend
were treated and released, but his mother and daughter remained
there on Monday undergoing treatment for back injuries). "When you
have a big Speedweek like this with so many cars and the track this
size, I don t think there's anything wrong with starting 30 cars. It
helps more guys make a little money to get home, so kudos to the
organization for adding a few more spots to the feature.
"It definitely
helped us," he continued. "Having a chance to race definitely
salvaged our night. It's just nice to finish (the week) on a strong
note. It makes me feel like all the hard work we put in produced
something."
With
McCreadie's spectacular outing sending him home sitting fourth in
the WoO LMS points standings (he also finished fourth on Thursday
night), the odds of him running the tour fulltime jumped
exponentially. He stopped short of committing to an all-out assault
on a second title, but he's certainly considering it.
"I'd like to
do the series," said McCreadie. "These last two runs definitely make
me think I can do it. We've struggled a lot (during his
season-opening trek to Georgia and Florida), but at least now I know
that with the guidance I got from Mark Richards (of Rocket Chassis)
and other people this week, I feel like we can contend with these
guys.
"It would be
fun to do (the WoO LMS) again, so we'll see. We're gonna go home,
take a couple days, and see what everybody says."
NICE START:
Josh Richards proved no one knows opening night on the WoO LMS like
he does when he captured the tour's lidlifter at Volusia for the
fourth consecutive year on Thursday night, but he once again fell
short of pulling off a historic sweep of Outlaw action during the
DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH.
A third-place
starting spot in Saturday night's A-Main -- light years better than
the 17th-place starting position he was saddled with on Thursday
night -- wasn't enough to make Richards the first driver to sweep
the two WoO LMS events that are traditionally part of the DIRTcar
Nationals by UNOH. (Since 2005 a pair of Outlaw shows have been
contested at Volusia every February except in 2007, when rain washed
out one scheduled event.) The soon-to-be 22-year-old from Shinnston,
W.Va., settled for a fourth-place finish in Saturday's 50-lapper,
leaving him tied for second in the points standings with Earl
Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla.
"The track was
a lot drier," said Richards, comparing Saturday's surface to the
Thursday conditions he mastered. "We had the same tires McCreadie
had on, but for me (the compound) was way too soft. I had to bury
myself against that bottom and just ride. I couldn't run that top
like McCreadie could.
"I think the
car was way better than what it showed though, so I was tickled with
a fourth."
ON THE MEND:
WoO LMS regular Shane Clanton was credited with a pair of last-place
finishes at Volusia -- 29th on Thursday, 30th on Saturday -- but not
as a result of any bad racing luck.
Clanton, 34,
of
Locust Grove,
Ga.,
traveled to the half-mile knowing his name would appear at the end
of each evening's finishing order. Still recovering from a serious
strep infection that materialized after he cut his left thumb in his
team's race shop and forced him to spend a week in the hospital,
Clanton had no choice but to simply enter each WoO LMS event and use
emergency provisionals to gain entry to the A-Main fields for
points-chasing purposes.
It was a tough
situation for Clanton, who could do nothing more than slowly circle
the track during the pace laps in RSD Enterprises teammate Tony
Knowles's car and quietly drive into the pits as the race began. He
was unable to race competitively because a PICC line remained in his
left arm so he could receive IV bags filled with powerful
antibiotics every eight hours in order to rid his bloodstream of the
strep bacteria that had spread from his infected thumb.
"It's no fun
being here and not racing," said Clanton, who will have to make an
unprecedented rally to win the 2010 WoO LMS title after leaving
Volusia tied for 29th in the points standings, 112 points behind
leader Brady Smith. "I wanted to step on the gas when I was out
there, but I knew I couldn't."
Clanton said
doctors hope to remove the PICC line from his arm next week if his
recovery progresses on schedule.
IN A HOLE:
Steve Francis has some catching up to do in the WoO LMS points
standings after a 28th-place finish in Saturday night's A-Main ended
what he termed a "frustrating" season-opening trip to the Southeast.
Back driving
his own equipment after spending the last two seasons with Maryland
car owner Dale Beitler, Francis managed just one top-five finish in
10 starts at three tracks in Georgia and Florida. His highlight was
a fifth-place run (from the 19th starting spot) in Thursday night's
WoO LMS A-Main at Volusia.
"This was not
necessarily what we wanted to start with," said Francis, who parked
his under-performing new Rocket car after a subpar DIRTcar
UMP-sanctioned outing on Wednesday night at Volusia and brought out
a Rocket that he prepared for NASCAR star Ryan Newman s limited dirt
Late Model appearances last year. "Everybody worked hard, but
sometimes things go right and sometimes they go wrong -- and
everything that could go wrong did go wrong this week. That's why
they call it racing."
After a busted
oil-pump belt eliminated Francis just three laps into Saturday
night's A-Main, he headed out the pit gate mired in 15th in the
points standings, 60 points behind leader Brady Smith.
"We'll go back
and regroup," said Francis, who will marry Amanda Ferrell on Feb.
27. "I've left here in worse shape than this before."
ETCETERA:
* Sporting a
new, silver-dominated color scheme on his No. 29, 2008 WoO LMS champ
Darrell Lanigan appeared primed for the start of the tour schedule
after winning Monday night's DIRTcar UMP Late Model A-Main at
Volusia. But he was never a factor in WoO LMS action, only managing
quiet finishes of 11th (Thursday) and 12th (Saturday).
* Rick
Eckert's pair of WoO LMS were opposites -- on Thursday he started
seventh and faded to a 13th-place finish, and on Saturday he started
12th and improved to seventh at the checkered flag. The veteran from
York, Pa., who is fielding his own team this season after his
longtime car owner Raye Vest's passing last year, thought he could
have climbed even higher on Saturday if his car's engine hadn't been
plagued by an oil-pressure problem.
* Tim Fuller's
hopes for a fast start in the 2010 points battle weren't realized.
Racing at a track where he's never enjoyed much success with a dirt
Late Model (his best WoO LMS finish is an eighth in 2009), he
struggled en route to finishes of 14th and 21st. He's tied for 16th
in the points standings (-64 points); last year he left Volusia
seventh in the points races, 36 points behind.
* As far as
Chub Frank is concerned, his visit to Volusia Speedway Park never
happened. He experienced no memorable moments during the DIRTcar
Nationals by UNOH, finishing 17th and 18th in the WoO LMS A-Mains
and failing to qualify for both DIRTcar UMP Late Model events that
were run earlier in the week.
* Clint Smith
had to make an engine change after suffering a blown powerplant
during Wednesday night's DIRTcar UMP program, but a solid heat-race
effort and 13th-place finish in Saturday night's WoO LMS show had
him feeling like he's "headed in the right direction" with his new
Rocket car.
* It wasn't a
good week for 2009 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Russell King, who used
an emergency provisional to start both Outlaw A-Mains. He did not
finish either event, scoring a pair of 24th-place finishes.
* Teenage
sensation Austin Hubbard made his WoO LMS debut behind the wheel of
Dale Beitler's familiar No. 19. The 2010 Rookie of the Year
candidate qualified through a B-Main for both WoO LMS headliners and
registered finishes of 10th and 21st.
* Other
drivers on hand at Volusia who are contemplating '10 WoO LMS Rookie
of the Year assaults were Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Tony
Knowles of Tyrone, Ga. Both racers failed to make an A-Main cut.
* Tim Dohm of
Cross Lanes, W.Va., who earned the $500 WoO LMS 'Bonus Bucks' cash
on both Thursday (finished eighth) and Saturday (16th), said he's
considering following the national tour with team owner Tracy
Seymour.
* Brent
Robinson missed a couple days of classes at Old Dominion University
in Norfolk, Va., to run the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH. He failed to
qualify for an A-Main in his No. 3, which carried a new color
scheme.
* Jordan
Bland, the runner-up in the 2009 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year battle,
said he plans to follow the tour's schedule this season as long as
it's financially feasible for him. He reported during a Wednesday
Media Day press conference that his father decided to retire as a
team owner during the off-season, but the elder Bland did leave
Jordan all the necessary equipment to go racing and told him, "Now
it's up to you to try to make it on your own like Scott (Bloomquist)
and Billy (Moyer)."
Bland turned
heads with strong DIRTcar UMP runs early in the week, running second
until a sealed-up tire (Monday) and a spin (Wednesday) ended his
bid. He failed to qualify for a WoO LMS A-Main.
* Tyler
Reddick, who last year became the youngest A-Main starter in WoO LMS
when he qualified for the tour's opener at Volusia, was unable to
make the cut for a feature this year. The 15-year-old from Corning,
Calif., missed transferring through a B-Main by three spots on
Thursday and five on Saturday.
NEXT UP: The
WoO LMS will be silent for one month before returning to Florida on
March 19 for the first-ever tour event at Ocala Speedway. A visit to
Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., on March 20 will round out
the early-season weekend in the Southeast.
For more
information on the WoO LMS, visit
www.worldofoutlaws.com
|
