FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 10, 2010

Contact: Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series PR Director
kkovac@dirtcar.com | 704-254-7929

New York’s Rolling Wheels Raceway Is A Special Place For McCreadie & Fuller

Former DIRTcar Big-Block Modified Regulars Will Chase World of Outlaws Late Model Series Score At ‘The Fast Track’ On Thurs., Aug. 19

ELBRIDGE, NY – Aug. 10, 2010 – There’s no debating this point: Tim McCreadie and Tim Fuller will be the odds-on favorites for victory on Thurs., Aug. 19, when the World of Outlaws Late Model Series returns to Rolling Wheels Raceway for the first time in five years.

The two former DIRTcar big-block Modified regulars-turned-WoO LMS stars simply have too much knowledge of – and history at – the five-eighths-mile central New York track to be considered anything but the likely candidates to capture the 50-lap, $10,000-to-win full-fender A-Main.

Rolling Wheels, which hosted its only previous WoO LMS event in 2005, holds a special place in the hearts of McCreadie and Fuller. The longtime DIRTcar-sanctioned facility happens to be the track where both Watertown, N.Y., drivers won their first career Super DIRTcar Series big-block Modified features – undoubtedly important milestones in each racer’s rise to national prominence.

McCreadie, 36, was the first to break through in Super DIRTcar Series action at Rolling Wheels, winning the track’s annual fall 200-lapper on Sept. 26, 1999. It’s a day he still remembers clearly.

“That was one of the big moments of my career,” said McCreadie, who was in just his third full season of big-block Modified competition in 1999. “There were probably five big 200s for Modifieds back then and Rolling Wheels was one of them, and I won it in my own car while I was still working a regular job (as a combat helicopter mechanic at Watertown’s Fort Drum military base). It was probably a big upset.”

McCreadie went on to roll up 18 Super DIRTcar Series triumphs over the next five years, but none felt quite as good as that first one. After all, the longtime specials-only track – the Wheels hasn’t operated on a weekly basis in nearly three decades – ranks as one of McCreadie’s favorites.

“I’ve always loved that place,” said McCreadie, who began accompanying his legendary father, ‘Barefoot’ Bob McCreadie (a winner of 32 career big-block features at the Wheels), to the track as a teenager. “I remember going there as a kid with my dad and seeing every big-name Modified driver race there. That was the place – if you won at the Wheels, you were definitely something special.”

The 42-year-old Fuller, meanwhile, also registered his first career Super DIRTcar Series win in the Rolling Wheels 200, on Sept. 21, 2003. It came in dramatic fashion by mere inches over...McCreadie.

“That was a close one,” recalled Fuller, who was driving for Pennsylvania car owner Bob Faust at the time. “Timmy pitted for tires with like 40 or 50 laps to go and was running me down at the end, and finally, on the last lap, he just whaled it down in there (in turns three and four) and got alongside me. I remember coming off turn four and saying, ‘Holy ----!’ when I saw somebody outside of me.

“He almost had me. There’s a picture of us coming under the checkered flag where you can’t barely see his car on the outside of me. We were that close.”

Fuller’s Wheels 200 triumph ended his frustrating eight-year, 160-plus-race pursuit of a victory on the Super DIRTcar Series. It effectively catapulted him to stardom on the circuit – he now owns 18 career wins on the big-block tour and captured the 2005 Mr. DIRTcar Modified championship – and ultimately a shot at dirt Late Model racing.

“What a relief it was to finally get over that hump and win a Series race,” said Fuller, who fielded his own big-block Modified equipment until hooking up with Faust late in the 1999 season. “After that, everything took off.”

Fuller also enjoyed his first big moment behind the wheel of a dirt Late Model at Rolling Wheels when he set fast time and won a heat race during the track’s inaugural WoO LMS event, on Aug. 16, 2005. He had made his dirt Late Model debut with John Wight’s Gypsum Express team the previous night at Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y.

“I felt pretty good going in there and setting fast time my second night out in a Late Model,” said Fuller. “When we also won our heat race I was like, ‘This isn’t too hard.’ Then (eventual winner) Chub (Frank) lapped us twice in the feature and we came back to reality.”

Fuller, who finished 13th in the 2005 WoO LMS event at the Wheels, returns to the track on Aug. 19 with his dirt Late Model resume showing the tour’s 2007 Rookie of the Year award and 12 career victories. He’s struggled on the series for the past month, but he’s confident that he can get his program on track on familiar turf.

“It’ll be good going in there now and knowing more about Late Model racing than we did back in 2005,” said Fuller, who has won seven big-block features and three 358-Modified headliners at Rolling Wheels in his career. “We didn’t even have the cars in our possession when we ran that race – Scott (Jeffery of the Gypsum Express team) was working on them and I just showed up and drove.

“The Wheels has been a good track for me – at one time we actually had the track record in the big-blocks, small-blocks and Late Models at the same time. I like the place because it’s more of what we’re used to running. Some of these places we’ve gone with the Late Model – like (the high-banked) Tazewell (Tenn.) – we’re just not used to that kind of track like some of the southern guys are. Rolling Wheels is more my speed and that’s why I think we’ll have a chance there (on Aug. 19)."

McCreadie has a similar feeling about running his Sweeteners Plus Racing machinery at the Wheels. He finished eighth in the 2005 WoO LMS A-Main after recovering from a broken right-rear wheel that forced him pitside while leading on the fourth lap.

“It’s an awesome place and I can’t wait to go back,” McCreadie said of the Wheels, where he’s won three career big-block Modified features. “It’s unique, it’s big, and you can race all over it. Usually the fans are treated to a good show there and I don’t see why this Outlaw race will be any different.

“The last time we were there (with the WoO LMS) there was a great crowd and a great atmosphere. I think it’ll be an even bigger show this time because Late Model racing has gotten so much bigger up in New York in the last five years.”

McCreadie, who sits third in the current WoO LMS points as he bids to repeat his 2006 championship season, and Fuller (eighth in the points standings) will do battle with a star-studded roster of tour regulars at the Wheels.

Defending champion Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. (finished 10th in the 2005 event at the Wheels) leads the WoO LMS points standings. He’s being chased by such talents as Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky. (15th in ’05 at the Wheels), Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky. (fourth), Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga. (ninth), Rick Eckert of York, Pa. (second), Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. (runaway winner in ’05), Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga. (17th), Russell King of Bristolville, Ohio, rookie Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., Brent Robinson of Smithfield, Va., and rookie Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Other drivers expected to take on the Outlaws at Rolling Wheels include 2008 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y.; DIRTcar Modified stars Billy Decker of Unadilla, N.Y., and Larry Wight of Baldwinsville, N.Y.; defending All-Star Late Model Series champion Robbie Blair of Titusville, Pa.; Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa.; Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa.; Gregg Satterlee of Rochester Mills, Pa.; Ron Davies of Erie, Pa.; and Mike Knight of Ripley, N.Y.

The Aug. 19 program, which also includes a full show for the DIRTcar Sportsman division, is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Adult reserved seating is available for $30. General admission grandstands tickets are $28 each, with students (ages 10-18) $10 and children 9-and-under admitted free of charge.

A special VIP upgrade ticket is available for $60, including food and beverage throughout the race along with special air-conditioned seating and access to the ever-popular viewing roof atop the tower.

For more information or to purchase reserved seats contact the DIRTcar Northeast offices at 315-834-6606 or visit www.dirtcar.com/tickets.

General admission tickets and pit passes will be available at the gate on race day.

For more information call the DIRTcar Northeast office at 315-834-6606 or go online at rollingwheelsraceway.com.

Additional information on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.