Bristol Motor Speedway
Colossal, Firecracker top 45-race WoO schedule
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model SeriesThe World of Outlaws Late Model Series will be bigger and better than ever in 2009. A record number of events are listed on the national tour’s schedule, which was released on Thursday during the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Orlando, Fla. | Schedule | DirtonDirt.com commentary: Sadly, Show-Me 100 faces same-state WoO event
The action-packed season will blaze new territory with first-time visits to at least a half-dozen tracks and feature several big-money, extra-distance races, highlighted by the $50,000-to-win Circle K Colossal 100 on March 27-28 at the Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., and the third annual Firecracker 100 on June 26-27 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.
The sixth consecutive WoO campaign under the World Racing Group banner kicks off Feb. 12 and 14 with two 50-lappers during the 38th annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. It will end for the third straight year with the World Finals on Nov. 5-7 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
“We’re proud to put together a schedule that is attractive for our full-time traveling teams and brings World of Outlaws Late Model Series racing to more race fans across the country,” said series director Tim Christman. “We still plan to add at least seven more events, which will push the 2009 schedule to over 50 dates. That will be a record number of events for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and more proof that the demand for races from track promoters just continues to grow.”
Forty-five confirmed events at 37 tracks in 20 states and three Canadian provinces currently make up the 2009 WoO schedule.
The WoO will notably end long absences from the racing scenes in Texas and West Virginia, contesting events in each state for the first time since 2004. Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas, is scheduled to host the tour on March 20 and Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., will bring full-fender Outlaws competition to the Mountaineer State — home to 20-year-old series star Josh Richards — on May 31.
In addition, the series will return to Alabama (Deep South Speedway in Loxley on March 13-14), Iowa (34 Raceway in West Burlington on May 23) and Wisconsin (Charter Raceway Park in Beaver Dam on May 24) after a one-year hiatus. Deep South, which has scheduled a two-day show paying $7,000 to win on Friday and $12,000 on Saturday, will host the WoO for the first time, while 34 Raceway is on the tour schedule for the first time since 1989 and Charter is back after holding its lone series event in 2007.
Three extended swings that filled the summer schedule in 2008 will be reprised in ’09, beginning with the Great Northern Tour from June 18-27. The stretch includes Canadian events at Ohsweken (Ont.) Speedway on June 18, Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Que., on June 20 and Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway on June 21, followed by stops at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway on June 23, Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa., on June 24 and the blockbuster Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway on June 26-27.
After a 10-day break the WoO will commence its longest, most far-flung swing of the season. The Wild West Tour begins July 8 with the Gopher 50 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., which will be part of the WoO for the fifth consecutive season. Also scheduled are events on July 9 at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minn.; July 10 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., which hosts the series for the fourth year in a row; July 11 at Estevan (Saskatchewan) Motor Speedway; and July 15 at Gillette (Wyo.) Speedway. Three additional Wild West Tour dates remain under negotiation.
The WoO will close a busy July by heading east for another series-within-a-series: the four-night Alltel Ohio Late Model Speedweek that appears on the schedule for the third straight season. A visit to Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio, on July 23 starts the stretch of racing, followed by engagements on July 24 at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park, which hosted its first-ever WoO event in May 2008; July 25 at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio; and July 26 at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa.
A pair of $20,000-to-win 100-lappers will join the Firecracker 100 and Circle K Colossal 100 as high-dollar specials on the ’09 schedule: the Illini 100 on April 3-4 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, which drew rave reviews following the inaugural two-day spectacular in 2008, and a new extra-distance shootout on May 1-2 at K-C Raceway in Alma, Ohio, which hosted a late-summer WoO event in 2008.
Other tracks that will hold WoO events for the first time in 2009 include U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo. (May 22) and Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa. (Aug. 13).
Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway will return to the WoO schedule on May 16 after a one-year absence, albeit in a different form. The track has been enlarged from a quarter-mile bullring to a high-speed 3/8-mile oval, a reconstruction project that was not completed in time for a scheduled May 2008 event.
Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., is back on the WoO docket after hosting the tour for the first time in 2008. The 3/8-mile track has an event scheduled for Aug. 29.
The WoO will also visit several regular series tracks, including Virginia Motor Speedway (April 18); Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway (May 17); Delaware International Speedway in Delmar (May 28); Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway (May 30 and Aug. 15); Bedford (Pa.) Speedway (Aug. 14); Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa. (Sept. 5-6); I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo. (Sept. 19); and La Salle (Ill.) Speedway (Sept. 20).
Hagerstown, of course, has hosted a WoO event every season of the tour’s existence except 2008, when rain washed out a scheduled event and it could not be reset. VMS and Tri-City have been on the tour each year since 2005 and Delaware International will conduct a race for the fifth time in six years. Seven tracks are scheduled to host multiple WoO events in 2009. The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway leads the list with four dates (including the mid-week Showdown on Oct. 14, which could pay its winner as much as $30,000 with a passing bonus), while two races will be held at Volusia, Deep South, Hagerstown, Tri-City, Lernerville (May 5 and June 26-27) and Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway (April 17 and Aug. 28).
