Bristol Motor Speedway
Francis leads top 10 in pursuit of WoO crown
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Rick Eckert (left) and Steve Francis. (DirtonDirt.com)
The top 10 drivers from the 2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series points standings have committed to chasing the tour’s prestigious championship trophy this season, series officials announced Jan. 27.
Led by defending series champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., the 2008 traveling-driver lineup is teeming with top-notch talent. Each of the 10 drivers has at least one career WoO victory to his credit — the first time since the tour’s reincarnation in 2004 that every contracted racer will enter a season having already captured a series feature.
The all-star group of drivers own a combined 80 WoO feature victories, 22 touring-series championships, six Dirt Track World Championship triumphs, two World 100 wins and two $100,000 Dirt Late Model Dream checkered flags, as well as single wins in the Topless 100, North-South 100 and Knoxville Late Model Nationals.
“With the quality of the drivers and teams who have signed on to follow the 2008 World of Outlaws Late Model Series, the battle for the championship will be wide open,” said series director Tim Christman. “Every driver has championship potential, which means fans can count on witnessing more of the drama and excitement that the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is known to provide.”
The touring drivers will follow the most expansive schedule in the history of the WoO. Currently the schedule lists 46 dates at 39 tracks in 22 states and three Canadian provinces, including first-time visits to more than a dozen speedways.
The 2008 WoO kicks off with 50-lap, $10,000-to-win events on Feb. 14 and 16 as part of the 37th annual Alltel DirtCar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. The drivers:
The tour’s 2008 driver roster includes:
• Steve Francis, a winner of 14 series features since 2004 (third best) as well as a three-time champion of the STARS-Renegade Series and former victor of the World 100 and Dirt Track World Championship events, the 40-year-old has joined forces with Maryland car owner Dale Beitler to pursue his second consecutive points crown.
• Chub Frank, 46, of Bear Lake, Pa., led the WoO with six victories in 2007 and finished a career-high second in the points standings. Frank's sparkling resume includes 13 career WoO wins as well as four STARS/Renegade Series titles and victories in crown-jewel shows such as the World 100, Dirt Track World Championship and North-South 100.
• Clint Smith, 42, of Senoia, Ga., who enjoyed his best WoO campaign ever in 2007, winning four times — all in the Midwest, increasing the national popularity of the Southeastern standout — and finishing third in points. A winner of 10 career WoO features, he’s a former Hav-A-Tampa Series champion and owns four titles with the Southern All-Stars.
• Shane Clanton, 32, of Locust Grove, Ga., a still-rising Southern star who steered Ronnie Dobbins’ yellow No. 25 to a pair of triumphs and a fourth-place points finish on the 2007 trail. Tied for 10th on the all-time WoO win list with six victories, he announced his arrival as a national power in 2006 with a second-place finish in the WoO standings and over the past two years has recorded major wins in the Pittsburgher 100 and Magnolia State 100.
• Rick Eckert, 42, of York, Pa., the second-winningest driver (15 victories) on the WoO since 2004 and one of only two drivers (Francis is the other) to start all 154 tour A-Mains contested over the past four years. The two-time Hav-A-Tampa Series champion, whose major-event victories include the $100,000 Dirt Late Model Dream and the Dirt Track World Championship, is primed for a return to the spotlight after going winless in 2007.
• Josh Richards, 19, of Shinnston, W.Va., who took the next step of his burgeoning career in 2007, becoming a multiple-race WoO winner (four features) and improving to a personal-best sixth-place finish in the points standings. The 2005 Rookie of the Year and winner of six career WoO features is poised to cement his status as dirt Late Model racing’s brightest young star by challenging for the 2008 title.
• Darrell Lanigan, 37, of Union, Ky., won twice and finished seventh in 2007 points. A big-track virtuoso with eight career WoO victories to his credit, his resume boasts triumphs in such dirt Late Model mega-events as the $100,000 Dirt Late Model Dream and Dirt Track World Championship.
• Tim Fuller, 40, of Watertown, N.Y., a big-block modified superstar who established himself as a serious dirt Late Model contender on his way to the 2007 WoO Rookie of the Year Award. Following the big-block nodified-to-dirt Late Model path set by 2006 WoO champ Tim McCreadie, the former Mr. DIRT titlist and winner of the prestigious Rite Aid 200 big-block Modified spectacular at the Syracuse (N.Y.) Mile captured his first career WoO A-Main in ’07 and finished eighth in points while still focused on Advance Auto Parts Super DirtCar Series big-block Modified action in the Northeast. He plans to concentrate on full-fender competition in 2008.
• Brian Shirley, 26, of Chatham, Ill., an X-Games-cool young gun who has made an impressive rise from local UMP action to top contender on the national scene in a mere six years. A former standout in flat-track motorcycle racing, Shirley busted out with a victory in the 2006 Knoxville (Iowa) Late Model Nationals and then hit the road heavily in ’07 with the support of veteran Midwest car owner Ed Petroff, winning his first career WoO feature and making a run at the rookie crown despite getting a late start on his travels. He finished ninth in the ’07 standings and is confident he’ll improve this season as a full-time Outlaw.
• Shannon Babb, 34, of Moweaqua, Ill., a Midwestern superstar who won five WoO features last season (second only to Frank) and finished 10th in points, will run in 2008 for NASCAR star Clint Bowyer’s new dirt Late Model team. Babb brings along a sterling resume that includes two UMP Summernationals titles, a pair of victories in the Dirt Track World Championship and a Topless 100 win.
“We are simply thrilled to have the entire top 10 in points from 2007 committed to touring the country with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series this season,” said Christman, who pointed out that 2006 was the only other season in which the top 10 drivers from the previous year signed on to follow the series. “We have an all-star group of drivers from the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast who are ready to take on the best regional and local racers everywhere we go.
“And we’re very proud of the fact that several drivers have progressed through the ranks within our own (World Racing Group) company, coming from the UMP DirtCar Racing circuit and the DirtCar Northeast big-block modified tracks to compete on a national stage with the World of Outlaws. It shows the type of talent that is being developed at DirtCar racing tracks across the country.”
Added Christman: “This talented driver roster is another big step for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series as we continue to grow and get stronger.”
Two more openings in the WoO Winner’s Circle travel program remain open and will be determined early in the season by attendance and points standing.
In addition, others drivers are making plans to follow much of the 2008 WoO in pursuit of the Rookie of the Year Award.
