Bristol Motor Speedway
Western swing, 4 races in Canada on WoO slate
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writerORLANDO, Fla. (Dec. 6) — The 2008 World of Outlaws Late Model Series schedule includes a new western swing with the first-ever series event in Wyoming as well as events at four Canadian tracks. The 46-race slate, released Thursday at the Performance Racing Industry trade show, is expected to crack the 50-event mark after another half dozen races are added later, series officials said. | Thursday's PRI notebook
The richest events on the schedule are the $50,000-to-win Colossal 100 set for April 18-19 at the Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., and the $40,000-to-win Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., on June 27-28.
Three regional swings also highlight the schedule with the Wild West swing running July 9-21 with nine races in 13 days. The swing kicks off in the upper Midwest at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., stretches all the way to Gillette (Wyo.) Speedway on July 16, and wraps up July 21 at Boone County Speedway in Albion, Neb.
The Great Northern Tour runs June 17-25 with six events split evenly between the United States and Canada. Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway hosts the first event with races following at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario, Autodrome Drummond in Quebec, Cornwall Motor Speedway in Ontario, Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway and Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa. The events lead into Lernerville's Firecracker, which boosts its winner's earnings to $40,000, up from $30,000 in 2007.
Another stretch of racing is set for July 24-27 with three straight events in Ohio — Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Eldora Speedway in Rossburg and Sharon Speedway in Hartford — and the four-race Thursday-Sunday stretch wrapping up at Eriez Speedway near Erie, Pa.
Most races pay $10,000 to win with seven paying $7,000 to win. Besides the Colossal and Firecracker, a pair of $20,000-to-win events are scheduled for back-to-back weekends with a March 28-29 event at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss., and an April 4-5 event at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, an event that will be the richest Dirt Late Model race in Illinois history.
The Oct. 8 event at Lowe's Motor Speedway, the Jani-King Southern Showdown, pays a guaranteed $10,000 to the winner with possible bonuses that would pay $30,000.
The season kicks off at Florida Speedweeks with Feb. 14 and Feb. 16 events at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.