World of Outlaws Notebook
Notes: Briggs eager for close-to-home events
By Mike Warren
World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series
Boom Briggs (DirtonDirt.com)
Boom Briggs has seen many scenarios in his Late Model career. However, 2022 brought him a new challenge — owning two cars on the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series.
As the national tour heads into a three-race weekend at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. (Friday), Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio (Saturday) and Tri-City Raceway Park in Franklin, Pa. (Sunday), he’s still fighting through adversity.
Last December, Josh Richards joined Briggs as the second car of the Briggs Transport stable. They’ve been playing catchup ever since.
“It was kind of a last-minute put together deal,” Briggs said. “I think we’re struggling with how fast we put it together. Honestly, we still don’t truly have enough help along with (Richards) going through a camper fire (during Georgia-Florida Speedweeks) to broken nose to (Covid-19). It’s not been a very good year.”
Despite the struggles, Briggs, who drives the other team car, and his team can find solace in racing close to home this weekend. He’s found success at both Sharon and Tri-City and hopes for a successful show as the series returns to the Franklin, Pa., venue for the first time since 2010.
“Back in the day, it used to race really good,” Briggs said. “I did hear they’re bringing somebody else in to do track prep this weekend to make sure we get a good racetrack and a good show. As long as they can get the track slowed down a little bit, I think it’ll be a good race.
“Any time you got back to a venue you haven’t been to in 10 years, you want to put on a good show and see the track do well with attendance.”
Briggs has more than 300 WoO starts, but a trip to victory lane has eluded the 51-year-old driver. This weekend, he has the chance to bring hometown fans to their feet as Sharon and Tri-City are less than two hours from his Bear Lake, Pa., home. Briggs realizes what a win at either of those tracks would mean to him.
“I always said give me one national win, and I’d be happy,” Briggs said. “To do it at home would mean more than anything, especially at Sharon, which is one of the nicest racetracks in the country.
“I have a lot of history at Tri-City; I passed Robbie Blair there one time to win a race with a couple of laps to go. I love racing there; they just don’t run Late Models there anymore. Either one of those two tracks would be a pretty awesome deal.”
A trip home also means he’ll get to race against his cousin and original Dirty Dozen member Chub Frank. Briggs looks forward to taking on the tour legend and hopes he comes to more WoO events.
“Me and Chub race hard together,” Briggs said. “Last Friday night, we went up to (Freedom Motorsports Park) in New York and ran fourth and fifth or whatever and raced together the whole night. It’s a cool deal. We grew up together; we worked together, raced together, and hopefully, I’m trying to get him to go to Davenport (Iowa) next weekend.”
WoO’s new Hall of Famer
When veteran WoO announcer Rick Eshelman grabbed a microphone for the first time, a Hall of Fame-worthy career never crossed his mind. But with Saturday’s induction into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, he joins Jimmy Mosteller, Bret Emrick and fellow 2022 inductee James Essex among announcers in the Union, Ky., Hall of Fame.
Eshelman has been announcing dirt races since 1982, when he grabbed a microphone at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND. And while his induction may seem like an honor at the end of a career, the Michigan native doesn’t plan on getting out of the booth anytime soon. He still enjoys every race on the schedule.
“It’s still exciting; it’s still what I want to do,” Eshelman said. “What drives me is going from track to track, not being at the same track. I did that, and it was great. But to go to a different state and see totally different people. It’s still exciting to go see different tracks and see old friends every year.”
World Racing Group Brian Carter said Eshelman is part of making WoO a successful series.
“Rick has dedicated his life to Late Model racing,” Carter said. “He takes great pride in knowing the drivers and enjoying the race and not only communicating that to not only the fans in the stands but the people that have been listening and now watching his career.
“He brings life and energy and excitement to the racetrack with him and tries to portray that in a way to entertain race fans.”
Eshelman’s career has lasted 40 years in dirt racing, meaning he’s played a role in some of the most significant events in both Dirt Late Model and racing history — especially at Eldora Speedway. Two of those events stand out as his favorites.
“Being the announcer at Eldora and announcing the first-ever (Eldora) Million, and the first-ever million-dollar, non-wing sprint car race,“ Eshelman said. “Nobody else can say they announced a million-dollar Late Model race and the (Mopar Million) in the same year.”
Odds and ends
WoO points leader Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., enters the weekend 164 points ahead Tanner English and 184 points ahead of Max Blair, both tour rookies. In three Pennsylvania races in Pennsylvania this season, Erb has a victory at Marion Center Raceway, a runner-up finish at at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway, and a ninth at Port Royal Speedway. He also finished fourth when the tour visited Sharon in May. … Full-time WoO driver and 2015 champion Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., is the lone driver with multiple series victories at Tri-City, winning in 2006 and ’08. He’s also been successful at Sharon, narrowly missing a victory in May after leading most of the main event. … Series regular Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, has first- and second-place finishes at Sharon, including May’s victory, his first on the tour. … Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, is among series interlopers expected to compete in weekend action. He finished fifth at Sharon in May and has five top-10 finishes in 10 series starts in 2022.
