Boone County Raceway
Determined Clanton snaps 42-race WoO skid
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Clanton broke a 42-race drought. (Jerry Jacobs)
ALBION, Neb. (July 21) — Nothing was going to stop Shane Clanton from finally breaking into victory lane on the 2008 World of Outlaws Late Model Series in the Wild West Tour finale at Boone County Raceway. Not the series points leader. Not lapped traffic. And certainly not an overheating engine. Clanton, 32, of Locust Grove, Ga., fought through all the obstacles to score a satisfying victory in the 50-lapper at the 3/8-mile Nebraska oval. | WoO's 2007 Promoter of the Year looking for work | Slideshow
“Finally!” Clanton exclaimed after becoming the last driver ranked among the top nine in the WoO points standings to score a win this season. “We’ve been close so many times this year but just couldn’t get the job done, so it feels good to win again — real good.” After crossing the finish line 1.249 seconds ahead of Muscatine, Iowa’s Brian Birkhofer, Clanton celebrated his first WoO triumph since July 20, 2007, at Virginia Motor Speedway — a winless stretch of 42 races. It was his seventh career victory on the tour.
Points leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., finished third after leading laps 1-13, polesitter Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., placed fourth and eighth-starting Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., finished fifth. Lanigan, who started second, passed Francis for third on lap 48 after the trio of WoO regulars — all driving Rocket cars — battled for position throughout the race’s late stages.
While Clanton swept the night (he also set fast time and won a heat race) and dominated the action after passing Darrell Lanigan for the lead on lap 14, he experienced plenty of anxious moments. No problem was more worrisome to Clanton than the steaming engine he battled for the race’s final circuits.
“I thought our luck was gonna bite us again,” said Clanton, who started fifth in his RSD Enterprises Rocket car. “With 10 laps to go I started puking water again (out of the powerplant) like I did in the heat race. The water started covering me up, and I thought we were gonna have to pull in when I saw the temperature (gauge) get up to 220, 230 (degrees). The last two laps it got to 240, but it was two laps to go. What do you do at that point? You gotta go for it. If that motor didn’t break to pieces, I was gonna win it. It’s time for the motor to go back (to Custom) anyway, so we’ll just put a new one and send this one back to get freshened.”
Clanton, who used the track’s outside line to sweep by Francis and Lanigan in a four-lap span, used the top side to preserve his winning run. When the slower cars driven by John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va., and John Kaanta of Elk Mound, Wis., dulled Clanton’s momentum enough to let Birkhofer draw within striking distance with less than five laps remaining, the standout racer known as Coconut tossed his No. 25 around the outside of turns one and two on lap 47 and disposed of both potential nuisances.
“I finally said, ‘I can’t ride behind these guys no more,’ ” remarked Clanton, who earned $10,150. “I thought they (his pursuers) were probably catching me because I was getting held up, and I was thinking, ‘If they slide me the last two laps and cost me this race, I’m gonna be mad.' So I just got back up on the wheel and drove by them in one and two. I drove it harder than I had all night and cleared them, and then I felt like I was in pretty good shape.”
Clanton’s hard charge effectively ended Birkhofer’s hopes of pulling off a dramatic victory. “He was better running the top than me,” Birkhofer said of Clanton, “and when he got by those two lapped cars in one shot, that was it for me. My only shot was to get him in traffic.
“I’m just happy we got close to him,” added Birkhofer, who started third in his Mars Car but didn’t reach second place until lap 28. “After that caution (the race’s only slowdown, on lap 27 for the disabled car of Leicester, N.Y.’s Vic Coffey) it felt like my rear tires gave up. They just weren’t jiving with each other the rest of the race.”
The show simply belonged to Clanton, who took an immediate liking to Boone County Raceway. "I love the racetrack,” said Clanton, whose chief mechanic, Mark "Head" Lloyd, was named the Integra Shocks Crew Chief of the Race. “This is probably the closest I could get to Talladega (Short Track in Alabama), which is a place I always seem to go good at. I thought, ‘Talladega’ as soon as I pulled in and looked at this place. The size of the corners, the way the banking is — it reminds me of Talladega. Talladega has red clay and this place has black dirt, but if you have a good car, the surface don’t matter.”
Finishing in positions 6-10 were Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., who started 10th; John Anderson of Omaha, Neb., who earned the $500 Bonus Bucks cash for being the highest-finishing driver who hasn’t won a WoO feature and isn’t ranked among the top 12 in the tour points standings; Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga.; Rick Eckert of York, Pa., who started 18th; and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who slipped by Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., for the 10th spot in the final laps.
Notes: Clanton set fast time for the third time this WoO season. ... WoO ran its first Nebraska event since May 14, 2004, when the tour visited Eagle Raceway. A big crowd filled the historic covered grandstand at the track, which was operating in conjunction with the Boone County Fair. ... John Kaanta, who won the previous night's World Dirt Racing League event at Albion, finished 15th. ... Darrell Lanigan leads the WoO standings with 3,589 points over Josh Richards (3,487), Chub Frank (3,459) and Steve Francis (3,443). ... Blankenship had his car’s motor expire during hot laps, forcing him to miss qualifying action while a spare powerplant was installed. The WoO regular used a provisional spot to start the feature. ... With the Wild West Tour over, racing isn't. WoO drivers have two days to travel nearly 1,000 miles east to Zanesville, Ohio, for Thursday's event at Muskingum County Speedway, the start of Alltel Ohio Speedweek. The swing also includes July 25-27 events at Eldora Speedway, Sharon Speedway and Eriez Speedway near Erie, Pa.
World of Outlaws @ Boone County: (1) Shane Clanton, (2) Brian Birkhofer, (3) Darrell Lanigan, (4) Steve Francis, (5) Shannon Babb, (6) Tim Fuller, (7) John Anderson, (8) Clint Smith, (9) Rick Eckert, (10) Chub Frank, (11) Josh Richards, (12) Andrew McKay, (13) Jeremy Grady, (14) John Blankenship, (15) John Kaanta, (16) Frank Heckenast Jr., (17) Sean Beardsley, (18) Danny Johnson, (19) Vic Coffey, (20) Dustin Hapka, (21) Joe Isabell, (22) Chris Simpson, (23) Kyle Berck, (24) Dave Eckrich. Fast qualifier (among 33 cars): Clanton, 15.062 seconds. Heat race winners: Clanton, Birkhofer, Anderson, McKay. Consolation winners: Chris Simpson, Eckert. Provisional starters: Blankenship, Hapka.
