World of Outlaws Notebook
Notes: Eckert more than salvages Speedweeks
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Rick Eckert got rolling late in the week at Volusia. (thesportswire.net)
Rick Eckert came to life at the end of the 40th annual DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH — just in time to save his trip to Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., and send him into the 2011 World of Outlaws Late Model Series schedule on a strong note.
Racing with the doors of his Team Zero by Bloomquist car largely blank to draw attention to his desperate need for sponsorship assistance, Eckert finished no better than 13th in the week’s first four events (including a 13th-place run in the WoO opener) before scoring a runner-up finish in the 40-lap DIRTcar UMP finale on Feb. 18. He backed that up with a solid fifth-place outing in Saturday night’s WoO 50-lapper, allowing him to leave Volusia feeling good about his position in the tour’s points standings. | Health woes put Lanigan in hole
Eckert, 45, of York, Pa., ended Saturday’s action tied for sixth in the points standings, just the fourth time in his eight years as a WoO regular that he departed Volusia ranked among the top six. He’s second among expected Outlaw full-timers, just 12 points behind Hubbard.
“We made some changes to our car while we were down here and it lets me drive it really hard,” said Eckert, who quipped that he hadn’t made “enough money to buy diesel fuel to get back home” before earning $7,050 over the final two nights. “We were lacking that for a while, so hopefully we got something there now.”
Eckert felt he might have been able to contend for victory in Saturday’s Outlaw program if he had made a slightly different tire-compound choice, but he was pleased with his performance nonetheless.
“I had a little bit harder tire than the rest of the (top-running) guys because I was a little conservative,” said Eckert, who swapped motors on Saturday afternoon due to some ignition problems. “I probably needed a little softer tire like the rest of them guys had, but I wasn’t sure what the track was gonna do so I was trying to make sure I had enough tire because it was a points race.
“I wish Friday night’s race was an Outlaw show too, but we’re happy about how we’re leaving here.”
Leader of the gang
Austin Hubbard’s goal of improving upon his unprecedented 2010 WoO Rookie of the Year campaign seems on target after he enjoyed the best visit to Volusia of his young career.
After a week highlighted by his WoO finishes of third (Thursday) and ninth (Saturday) behind the wheel of Dale Beitler’s familiar blue-and-white No. 19, Hubbard headed home as the highest-ranked Outlaw regular in the points standings, sitting in a tie for fourth overall.
“It’s been a good week except for a few motor issues we had,” said Hubbard, who also registered noteworthy finishes of seventh (Monday) and fifth (Friday) in DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned events. “It’s nice to start the points off with some good runs. There’s a lot of stuff that can go on the rest of the year, but it’s definitely way better to start off on top of the hill than on the bottom like we did last year.
“I’m really looking forward to the season. I think we have a great team this year and it’s shown so far.”
Hubbard’s third-place run in Thursday night’s WoO opener — he ran as high as second early in the distance and briefly challenged eventual winner Scott Bloomquist for the lead — came after a motor from his father Mike’s stockpile was installed in his machine. After Hubbard used an engine borrowed from Mark Richards on Wednesday night, his father made a 12-hour overnight drive (accompanied by Delaware dirt Late Model veteran Kenny Pettyjohn) from Seaford, Del., to deliver his powerplant as a reinforcement.
“Austin called and asked if I could bring down one of my motors,” said Mike Hubbard. “I said, ‘Hey, it’s your birthday (Austin turned 19 on Feb. 17), so I’ll bring it down for you.’ ”
Streak snapped
Josh Richards ran as hard as he could in a bid to win the WoO season opener at Volusia for an unprecedented fifth straight year, knowing it might give a lift to traveling partner Darrell Lanigan, who missed the race because of health issues.
“I wanted to win that race so bad,” said Richards, who turns 23 next month. “I wanted to win it for five in-a-row, and I was trying to win that one for Darrell. That would’ve been our 29th Outlaw win and we drew pill No. 29 (Lanigan’s number), so with him missing the show, if we would’ve won I was gonna dedicate it to him.”
Alas, after pulling off some breathtaking moves to put himself in the lead with a lap-29 pass of Bloomquist, Richards was unsuccessful in his Drive for Five. The standout from Shinnston, W.Va., lost momentum when he slammed the ample cushion between turns one and two on lap 41, ceded the top spot to Bloomquist and then saw his Rocket car’s right-rear wheel break off exiting turn two on the final lap as he attempted to hang on to second place. Richards limped across the finish line on three wheels and finished 14th.
Richards finished a relatively quiet eighth in Saturday night’s feature, sending him home ranked eighth in the points standings, 44 points out of the lead and 20 markers behind leading Outlaw Hubbard. It’s the first time he hasn’t left Volusia either first or second in the points race since 2006, when he ended the DIRTcar Nationals� sitting 10th in the standings (76 points behind the leader).
WoO's rookie crop
Four drivers approved for WoO Rookie of the Year contender status — Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis., Ron Davies of Warren, Pa., John Lobb of Frewsburg, N.Y., and Brian Reese of Sharpsburg, Wis. —� competed in all six nights of the DIRTcar Nationals.
Doar, 47, shined the brightest of the rookie hopefuls. A veteran full-fender racer on the upper Midwest’s WISSOTA circuit who has never run open Late Models extensively, Doar was the only contender to qualify for a WoO feature, making the cut for both 50-lappers. Though he only managed finishes of 20th (Thursday) and 28th (Saturday), he earned his first career Ohlins Shocks Time Trials fast-qualifier honor on Thursday night with a blistering new-track-record lap of 15.783 seconds around the half-mile oval.
Davies, a long-time competitor on the western Pennsylvania circuit who turned 53 on Feb. 18, had the rookie clan’s best finish of the week when he placed ninth in the 30-lap DIRTcar UMP feature on Feb. 16. Lobb, 41, and Reese, 29, did not transfer to a feature.
Columbus up next
The WoO heads to Mississippi for a huge weekend of competition on March 18-19 at Columbus Speedway, which hosts the $20,000-to-win Cash Cow 100. A practice night on March 17 will kick off the tour’s first visit to Columbus since 2007.
General admission tickets, both multi- and single-day options, for the event are on sale at www.worldofoutlaws.com/tickets. Fans who purchase a two-day weekend pass in advance will receive special perks, including a discounted price and the opportunity to enter the grandstand area 15 minutes prior to the general front-gate opening time for a show that is expected to pack the high-banked, third-mile oval.
