World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes

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World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes: Lanigan Is Top Outlaw In World 100 At Eldora Speedway

 

CONCORD, NC - Sept. 13, 2010 -

 

TOP OUTLAW: Darrell Lanigan spent the last quarter of Saturday night’s 40th annual World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, battling with some familiar rivals.

 

Unfortunately for Lanigan and Co., they weren’t racing for the $43,000 winner’s prize in the dirt Late Model division’s most prestigious event.

 

Lanigan, 40, of Union, Ky., was the highest-finishing World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular in the 100-lapper, placing seventh after starting in the same position. He outdueled three of his fellow travelers on the national tour – Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., Rick Eckert of York, Pa., and Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. – to earn the bragging rights.

 

“I felt like I was running an Outlaw race,” quipped Lanigan, who swapped positions with his WoO LMS brethren from lap 70 to the finish. “I just wish we were running for the lead.”

 

Lanigan briefly challenged for a spot in the top five early in the distance, but his Rocket car – a machine that sported a new white-dominated color scheme – wasn’t quite stout enough to keep him up front. He was hampered by an incorrect tire-compound choice.

 

“I know we were on the wrong tires,” said Lanigan, who doesn’t expect to run his white graphics package again. “We were too hard compared to what (eventual winner Billy) Moyer had on. I would’ve liked to come in and change tires. During that last caution (on lap 28) I told (his crew) to get some more tires ready, but we never had another caution.”

 

Lanigan’s seventh-place finish was his best in the World 100 since a third in 2007. The second-place driver in the current WoO LMS points standings (he trails Richards by just two markers) made his 17th career start in a World 100 A-Main since 1990 – only five drivers have qualified for the feature more – but is winless in the event.

 

The 35-year-old Clanton, meanwhile, owns a triumph in the 2008 World 100 and was considered a pre-race favorite to win again after making a run at victory in June’s Dream XVI at Eldora. But he was never a factor in Saturday’s headliner, settling for an eighth-place finish after starting 16th in his fourth career World 100 feature outing.

 

Clanton said he wasn’t setup well enough to run the inside groove with his Rocket car, which carried a unique Georgia Bulldogs theme. Red and black with his homestate university’s distinctive ‘G’ logo on the doors (his No. 25 was on the rear quarter-panels), the mount was voted the DirtonDirt.com Best Appearing Car. Clanton and graphics designer Ron Slavic split a $1,000 prize from DirtonDirt.

 

Eckert, 44, improved one spot from the 10th starting spot, placing ninth to earn his first top-10 finish in the World 100 since 2005.

 

“I could run at the top as fast as whoever was in front of me but I was a little too free to run the bottom and pass them,” said Eckert, who is winless in 12 career World 100 A-Main starts.

 

Richards, 22, entered the World 100 hyped as a good bet for victory after capturing his first-ever 100-lap WoO LMS event on Sept. 1 at Mohawk International Raceway in Akwesasne, N.Y., but he could only manage a 10th-place finish. He timed second-fastest in Friday night’s 134-car qualifying session, but he failed to qualify in the second heat and thus had to use his fast-time provisional to start 20th in the 100.

 

The defending WoO LMS champion, who started sixth in his heat but lost several spots at the initial green flag when he was shoved into the cushion that was still wet following an afternoon shower, climbed as high as seventh in the 100. He lost two spots on the final laps when he bounced over the cushion in turns one and two as he attempted to overtake Lanigan.

 

“We kind of threw a Hail Mary at it (for the feature) and it didn’t work out like we hoped,” said Richards, who made the World 100 starting field for the fifth time in his six career appearances. “We committed ourselves to running the top of the racetrack and we were O.K. at first, but once that top burnt off we were pretty much done. We were way too free to run the bottom like those guys up front did.”

 

FRUSTRATING WEEKEND: Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who sits third in the WoO LMS points standings, started the World 100 A-Main for the fifth time in the last six years but didn’t enjoy himself.

 

McCreadie started 13th in the feature but immediately fell backward when the green flag flew. He never cracked the top 15 before finally retiring just after the halfway point, finishing 22nd.

 

The weekend actually started going sour for McCreadie during Friday night’s time trials. A timing malfunction forced him to run an extra qualifying lap – and unfortunately, he slapped the wall on that added circuit. Though McCreadie was able to patch up his black Sweeteners Plus car enough to turn the 19th-fastest lap in the second qualifying round, he wondered what might have been if he hadn’t damaged a machine that he thought was fast enough to time at least second-fastest.

 

NO MILESTONE: Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., failed to qualify for the event, preventing him from joining Scott Bloomquist, Donnie Moran and Billy Moyer on the elite list of drivers with at least 20 career starts in the World 100 A-Main.

 

A World 100 entrant since 1986, Francis, 42, won the race in 1999 and came into this year’s blockbuster having made the feature cut 19 times. His chances for a 20th career World 100 run looked bright after he timed third-fastest in Friday’s qualifying session, but his hopes were dashed after a backstretch scrape with another car on the first lap of the third heat popped his machine’s left-rear tire. His crew changed the tire after he slowed to draw a caution flag on lap four, but by the time he slithered through the crowded pit area and returned to the track he was a couple laps down.

 

“I thought we had a pretty good car,” said Francis, who was a World 100 non-qualifier for the first time since 2005. “But somebody got into my left-rear on the backstretch and pretty much ended our weekend right there. It pretty much describes what kind of year we’ve had.”

 

NO FUN: WoO LMS followers who fell short of the World 100 starting field included...

 

* Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., whose weekend began with a trip into the outside wall during time trials (he lost control after the nose of his green-and-black car folded under) and never got better. He was running two spots out of a transfer position on lap seven of the second B-Main when he was collected in Michael Asbury’s homestretch spin, forcing him to the pit area to change a flat tire and leaving him without enough time to climb higher than 10th at the finish.

 

* Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del. The WoO LMS rookie sensation timed 18th-fastest on Friday night in Dale Beitler’s No. 19, but he didn’t even complete a lap in the fifth heat because he got crossed up on the backstretch and was hit by Ray Cook.

 

* Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., retired midway through the fourth heat after his car developed a hole in its radiator, causing his engine temperature to rise.

 

* Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa, who was 124th-fastest in Friday’s qualifying and thus didn’t make the 120-driver cut for Saturday’s heat races. She entered the weekend action coming off a history-making outing on Sept. 6 at the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, Iowa, where she became the first female driver to qualify for a feature event – in any class – during the annual week-long event. The 32-year-old George won an IMCA Late Model heat and finished ninth in the A-Main.

 

GET OUT THE RAZOR: WoO LMS regulars Clanton, Eckert, Francis and McCreadie were among a group of 17 drivers who had their heads shaved as part of the ‘Brave The Shave,’ a fundraiser for cancer research organized by Michigan’s Jeep VanWormer.

 

Eckert and Francis got their haircuts on Eldora’s stage on Friday night, while Clanton and McCreadie went under the razor prior to the start of Saturday’s action. WoO LMS announcer Rick Eshelman also participated, raising over $1,055 on his own in three hours on Friday and then getting his hair shaved off.

 

VanWormer said the ‘Brave The Shave’ raised nearly $40,000 that will be donated to the American Children’s Foundation, the American Cancer Society and American Cancer Research.

 

NEXT UP: The WoO LMS returns to action with the Pepsi Nationals this Saturday night (Sept. 18) at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo.

 

The Pepsi Nationals features a bonus offer of a FREE t-shirt from Pepsi (while supplies last) to fans who purchase tickets in advance at www.WorldofOutlaws.com/tickets or by calling the track at 636-479-3219. Another attractive offer available to attendees of the Pepsi Nationals is a FREE pit-pass upgrade to admission tickets for fans who recycle a Pepsi 20-ounce bottle on race day.

 

Pepsi Nationals advance tickets are $28 (general admission) and $30 (reserved), while tickets on race day will be $30 (general) and $32 (reserved). Pit passes are $30 for DIRTcar members and $35 for non-members.

 

Additional info is available by logging on to www.i55raceway.com.

 

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