WoO Late Models headed to Lone Star Spwy. 3/27/10

[rebelracewriter]

World of Outlaws Late Model Series Headed For First Visit To Lone Star Speedway Since 2004 On Saturday Night (March 27)

 

KILGORE, TX - March 23, 2010 - Now the full-fender monsters carrying the World of Outlaws racing brand name have their chance to thrill the fans at Lone Star Speedway.

 

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series visits the half-mile oval for the first time in six years on Saturday night (March 27), taking center stage just two weeks after its sister WoO Sprint Car Series stopped at the revitalized track owned by Sam Hafertepe Sr. and his wife Lisa.

 

Lone Star Speedway is one of just 14 tracks in the United States and Canada that is scheduled to host events for both the WoO Late Model and Sprint Car series in 2010.

 

"We are so excited to have the World of Outlaws Late Model Series coming to Lone Star Speedway," said speedway spokesperson Melody Johnson, who works under the Hafertepes. "There's a lot of Late Model fans in the area, and ever since we reopened the track last year a lot of people have been asking when we were going to have a World of Outlaws Late Model race. We're giving the fans what they want and, judging by the interest in the race, everybody is really looking forward to it."

 

A sprawling oval billed as the 'Fastest Half-Mile Track In Texas,' Lone Star Speedway hosted a pair of WoO LMS events on April 16-17, 2004, but was shuttered later that season. The facility sat silent until 2009, when the Hafertepes – the parents of WoO Sprint Car driver Sam Hafertepe Jr. – topped off their October 2008 purchase and ensuing reconstruction of the overgrown property with a grand reopening in late March and a WoO Sprint Car event a couple weeks later.

 

Sam Hafertepe Sr., who operates an industrial plumbing company in Dallas, has overseen a successful comeback story at the high-banked track located two hours east of Dallas and one hour west of Shreveport, La. He established a specials-only schedule that included two O'Reilly Southern United Professional Racing (SUPR) series events for dirt Late Models in 2009 and has three Late Model shows slated this season, highlighted by Saturday's 50-lap, $10,000-to-win WoO LMS spectacular.

 

"Late Model racing is really starting to pick up again around here," said Johnson, who expects Lone Star's expansive 10,000-seat grandstand to be teeming with fans for the return of WoO LMS action. "That's one of the reasons we wanted to have a World of Outlaws Late Model show."

 

Saturday's program will bring several WoO LMS regulars back to Lone Star Speedway, including Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., whose runner-up finish in the second A-Main contested in 2004 ranks as the best run at Lone Star by a current tour championship contender. The winners during the track's '04 doubleheader were Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., and Bart Hartman of Zanesville, Ohio, both of whom no longer follow the series fulltime.

 

"I remember it being a pretty big racetrack with some corners that were a little tight," Frank said of Lone Star. "It's been a long time now since we were there, but we had a good finish that one night (after placing 19th in the first A-Main). Hopefully we'll have another run like that when we go back."

 

Six other 2010 WoO LMS travelers competed in the 2004 events at Lone Star, but none managed to record a top-10 finish in both events. Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., was third in the April 16 event and 21st in the April 17 A-Main; Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., was fifth and 15th; Rick Eckert of York, Pa., was eighth and 23rd; Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., was ninth and 13th; and Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., was eighth and 17th.

 

Eckert, who set fast time during the first night of action in 2004, likens the Lone Star layout to a track that's in his central Pennsylvania backyard.

 

"It's shaped about like Williams Grove (Speedway, a famous Sprint Car track in Mechanicsburg, Pa.)," said Eckert, who heads to Texas ranked sixth in the WoO LMS points standings through four events but still in search of his first top-five finish of 2010. "The straightaways are long like at Williams Grove and the turns are tight, but it's banked more than the Grove so you can carry more speed through the corners."

 

Drivers on this year's WoO LMS roster who have never raced at Lone Star include defending champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who leads the tour points standings entering the two-race Texas trip that begins on Friday night (March 26) at Battleground Speedway in Highlands; Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., who already has a victory this season; Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y.; 2009 Rookie of the Year Russell King of Bristolville, Ohio; and 2010 Rookie of the Year contender Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., who recorded his first career WoO LMS A-Main victory on March 20 at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga.

 

Richards, who turned 22 on March 22, was a 16-year-old dirt Late Model upstart when the WoO LMS last visited Lone Star. His father Mark's Rocket Chassis house car team made the trek to Texas that year and celebrated a victory in the weekend finale with then-driver Hartman, but Richards had to stay home to attend his high-school classes. One week later Richards made his WoO LMS debut in an event at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.

 

Among the drivers expected to challenge the Outlaws at Lone Star are three-time WoO LMS champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark.; Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa; Jack Sullivan of Greenbrier, Ark.; and Texas/Louisiana standouts such as Ray Moore of Shreveport, La.; Howard Willis of Dayton, Texas; Kevin Sitton of Baytown, Texas; and Chris Brown of Cleveland, Texas.

 

Brown, who won a SUPR series event at Lone Star last year, will also field a second car in this weekend's WoO LMS events for All-Star Late Model Series regular Rick 'Boom' Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa., a former WoO LMS Crew Chief of the Year and cousin of tour veteran Chub Frank. Brown purchased his two cars from Frank and often calls the national superstar for setup assistance.

 

Gates will open at 4 p.m. for Saturday night's program, which also includes action for open-wheel Modifieds, Limited Modifieds, Winged Modifieds and Factory Stocks. Race time is 7:30 p.m.

 

Advance-sale tickets are available at www.lonestarspeedway.com for the discounted price of $25 (reserved) or $20 (general admission) through March 26 at 5 p.m. Tickets purchased on race day will be $30 (reserved – all ages) and $25 (general admission), with general admission for children ages 6-12 priced at $10 and ages 5-and-under admitted free with a paid adult (general admission only).

 

Pit passes for all ages cost $30 in advance and $35 on race day.

 

Saturday night's attendees will have an opportunity to check out the Tornados Snack Foods Racing 'Bold Is How We Roll Tour' hauler and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series No. 39 show car driven by Ryan Newman. Fans can get hot samples of the unique Tornados rolled snacks hot off the grill from 3-7 p.m. and check out Newman's show car and souvenir trailer.

 

Additional info on Saturday night's WoO LMs event at Lone Star is available by logging on to www.lonestarspeedway.com or calling 903-986-9731.

 

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.