Bristol Motor Speedway
Goal-driven Richards eyes more progress
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Josh Richards. (DirtonDirt.com)
Josh Richards set some personal goals for his 2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series season — and he came within a hair of achieving them all.
At least four WoO feature victories? Check.
Victories at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway? Check.
A top-five finish in the WoO point standings? Not quite.
Richards, 19, of Shinnston, W.Va., fell a mere four points shy of cracking the top five in the tour’s final rankings, but a career-high sixth-place points finish and the realization of his other goals gave the 2005 WoO rookie of the year plenty to be excited about.
“I would’ve liked to get a top-five in the points, but I still had a lot of fun this year,” said the low-key Richards, who campaigns his father Mark’s familiar Rocket Chassis house car. “I’d give our season a B-plus. We accomplished a lot of what we wanted to, and I know that if we didn’t have some bad luck when we were running up front in a few races, it would’ve definitely been a great year.”
For Richards, the 2007 season was another step in his steady rise to the top of the dirt Late Model world. A winner once in each of the past two WoO LMS campaigns, he broke through with four triumphs in ’07, tying him with champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., and third-place points finisher Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., as the tour’s third-winningest driver.
The precocious talent known as Kid Rocket signaled his emergence as a serious title contender by winning the 2007 season opener Feb. 17 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. Later, he was one of only three drivers to score back-to-back victories with successes on July 21 at Hagerstown ($12,000-to-win 60th Anniversary Classic) and July 22 at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa., and he rolled to an overwhelming triumph on Sept. 22 in the 19th annual Pittsburgher at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.
Each of Richards’s checkered flags had some special meaning, but the Hagerstown and PPMS wins really stick out in his mind. While he took pride in defeating one of the season’s most star-studded fields at Volusia and winning at a bullring like Eriez that hasn’t been his specialty, he deeply coveted victories at Hagerstown and PPMS.
“I’ve always wanted to win at both Hagerstown and Pittsburgh,” said Richards, who lives within a three-hour drive of the two tracks. “Hagerstown is where I ran my first feature (as a dirt Late Model driver in 2004), and I’ve always considered it one of the toughest tracks around. And I’ve been going to the Pittsburgher since I was a little kid, so winning it was pretty awesome.”
There was one thing for certain about his performance in ’07: when he was on, he was on. In all four of his victories, he dominated the action from flag-to-flag. Those 210 laps he paced accounted for the bulk of his series-leading 304 laps led this season — a giant leap from 2006, when he led a total of 35 circuits on the tour.
Richards registered 12 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes while competing in all 44 WoO features. He was the only driver in the top 10 of the final points standings who didn’t use a single provisional starting spot in 2007.
A handful of slaps from Lady Luck, however, prevented Richards from placing higher in the final points standings and perhaps even challenging Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., for the honor of winningest series driver.
Richards could only wonder what might have been if:
• He hadn’t been spun into the inside wall at the original start of the April 17 event at Lernerville Speedway
• He didn’t break a power-steering cylinder while challenging for the lead on April 21 in the Circle K Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.
• He didn’t tangle with a lapped car while leading on May 31 at Delaware International Speedway.
• He hadn’t cracked a right-rear axle tube while dominating the June 15 event at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway.
• He didn’t bust a jackshaft challenging Frank for the lead on July 27 at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway
• He hadn’t caught the cushion and damaged his nosepiece after blasting from 21st to the lead in 10 laps of the Oct. 10 Jani-King Southern Showdown at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Yes, it could have been a truly memorable season for Richards if the breaks had gone his way. But the heartbreaks are part of racing for all rising young drivers, and the always-positive Richards never let the disappointments get him down. Richards, whose father co-owns Rocket Chassis, considered 2007 to be a successful season.
“I think I’ve improved a lot as a driver this year,” said Richards, who pocketed $105,707 to rank as one of six drivers to reach the six-figure mark in purse earnings. “I’ve probably improved more from last year to this year than I have in any other years. I kinda felt like last year I had plateaued a little bit, but this year I feel like I’ve learned a lot more and become a better driver.
“I’ve always liked the big, fast tracks best, but this year I learned more about running the smaller tracks. I’ve also always seemed to struggle the most with (track) conditions that are in between slick and wet because you can’t tell how hard you have to drive; there’s a fine line there, but I think I’m getting better at that.”
Richards paused. He considered his progression on the WoO — from entering selected events as a 16-year-old in 2004 to points finishes of eighth (2005) and ninth (2006) — and then talked about how becoming a success on the tour is tougher than anyone can ever imagine.
“We’re slowly getting better,” Richards said. “I feel like we’re not too far off from being really good, but it just takes time.
“Everybody on the series who’s good, they’ve been racing for so many years and they’re just awesome at it. For a while there I thought they were so good just because they had better cars, but I’ve realized that experience is the biggest factor.”
