World of Outlaws Notebook
Notes: WoO southbound with red-hot Frank
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Chub Frank is rolling in Chad Valone's car. (pbase.com/cyberslash)
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series returns to the South on the Aug. 28-29 weekend for the first time since mid-April, visiting Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway on Friday and Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., on Saturday. Absent from Dixie since an April 17-18 doubleheader at Fayetteville and Virginia Motor Speedway, the national tour will contest a pair of 50-lap, $10,000-to-win events to close out a busy month of competition. | WoO schedule/results
Fayetteville is hosting the WoO for the second time this season – making the four-tenths-mile oval one of just six tracks with multiple tour events scheduled in 2009 – and third time in series history, while the three-eighths-mile Screven has an Outlaw date for the second time. Both tracks were part of the WoO for the first time in 2008.
Frank on a hot streak ...
No driver enters the weekend with more momentum than Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who has won the last two WoO events.
Frank, 47, busted out of 15-month-long, 62-race winless slump on the tour with back-to-back victories last week, on Aug. 20 at Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio (the Pepsi 40) and Aug. 22 at K-C Raceway in Alma, Ohio (a $20,600 score in the Buckeye 100). His checkered-flag explosion came after he decided to park his newest equipment in favor of a 2005-vintage Rocket chassis borrowed from western Pennsylvania racer Chad Valone, a machine he’ll continue to drive this weekend.
The driver known as Chubzilla will attempt to build the first three-race win streak of his WoO career at Fayetteville, a track where he’s enjoyed success in the past. He won a UDTRA event there on April 21, 2001, and finished third in the speedway’s inaugural WoO event on Oct. 7, 2008.
Frank didn’t fare as well at Fayetteville earlier this season, finishing a quiet 10th on April 17. He also struggled at Screven in his only previous appearance there, placing 12th in� the tour’s 50-lapper on Aug. 16, 2008.
... while Lanigan struggles
Defending WoO champion Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., is experiencing a rare slump, and if he hopes to hold his title, he needs to get back on track this weekend.
Since finishing third on Aug. 14 at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway, Lanigan has seen his deficit to the WoO points leader swell from 14 to 58 points. He has just one top 10 in his last three starts, which include a frustrating lap-down, 17th-place finish on Aug. 15 at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and a 15th-place run in last Saturday night’s Buckeye 100 after retiring on lap 61 because a leaking oil line caused his car’s motor to seize up.
Lanigan, who still sits third in the points standings, has WoO finishes of 11th (2008) and 13th (April 2009) at Fayetteville. He was much stronger in last year’s event at Screven, finishing second in the A-Main.
Home-track edge for Smith
Former Fayetteville track champion Jeff Smith of Dallas, N.C., turned back the Outlaws earlier this season, scoring one of the biggest victories of his career on April 17 when he was handed the lead heading to the white flag as a result of New Yorker Vic Coffey’s flat tire.
Can the 43-year-old Smith do it again with Mike Menscer’s Star Leasing Rocket? He should have plenty of confidence based on his solid 2009 season, which includes nine overall feature wins (four at Fayetteville) and the current Fayetteville points lead.
Redd's place
James "Redd" Griffin, who owns and promotes Screven Motor Speedway and the adjoining Savannah River Dragway, continues to build his oval’s stature in the Dirt Late Model world by bringing in the WoO for a return engagement.
Last year’s inaugural Outlaw show was a blockbuster for the high-banked, red-clay oval. A capacity crowd filled the track’s bleachers — including a new section that had just been erected for the event — and watched Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., sweep the evening, setting fast time, winning a heat race and capturing the A-Main in his first-ever start at Screven.
The local fans had plenty to cheer about last year thanks to some strong performances by Screven favorites, including Chesley Dixon of Swainsboro, Ga., who led the first five laps but finished 20th after spinning out of third place on lap 16, and Swainsboro's Jeremy Faircloth who led laps 6-10 and finished fourth. Both drivers are expected to challenge the Outlaws once again on Saturday night.
Home-state defenders
Shane Clanton and Clint Smith — the two WoO regulars who live in Georgia — weren’t happy with the outcome of last year’s tour stop at Screven. With Locust Grove’s Clanton finishing third and Senoia’s Smith placing 13th, it marked the first time in WoO history that Clanton or Smith didn’t emerge victorious when the tour raced at a Georgia track.
The two drivers had defended their territory well when they got the rare opportunity to run a WoO show in their backyard; Clanton won May 1, 2004, at North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth and Oct. 26, 2005, at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, and Smith was best in a season-opening program on Feb. 4, 2006, at Golden Isles.
