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Kevin Kovac
ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 5) - Josh Richards is normally one of the most reserved, cool-headed drivers on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.
But NASCAR star Tony Stewart got him to let loose a little more than usual on Wednesday night at Eldora Speedway.
After Stewart drove the Rocket Chassis No. 20 wrenched by Richards to a convincing victory in the Old Spice Prelude to the Dream feature event, good old 'Smoke' enticed the 20-year-old racing sensation from Shinnston, W.Va., to join him in a celebratory climb of Eldora's homestretch catch fence that whipped up the sold-out crowd estimated at over 23,000.
"Tony said, 'I'm not climbing the fence alone this year. Let's go have some fun,'" related Richards. "So we all climbed it with him."
Stewart's group of Spidermen also included Richards's father, Mark, and the rest of the crew that assists Richards on the WoO LMS. Stewart, after all, credited the entire Mark Richards Racing Enterprises team with providing him a brand-new car that performed flawlessly in the Prelude, a unique charity event that pitted 25 world-renowned drivers against each other in dirt Late Models on Stewart's famed high-banked, half-mile oval.
Though donning a crew shirt and serving as Stewart's chief mechanic for the night felt a bit strange to Richards, he certainly enjoyed the experience.
"This was the second year we've won the Prelude with Tony (Stewart captured the second annual event in 2006), but it felt like this one was a lot bigger," said Richards, whose team has spent the last three years fielding a dirt Late Model that Stewart runs in selected events. "It looked like the crowd was even bigger, and of course this time it was (telecast) live on Pay-Per-View.
"And the competition level from the first (Prelude) to now has gone way up. All the guys (the field was comprised predominantly of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars) were having fun, but they're pretty serious about it too. Everybody was out there to win."
There's no doubt that Stewart had a checkered flag - and bragging rights in the Cup garage - on his mind. Richards wasn't surprised that Stewart manhandled the car around Eldora's treacherous top side to score the win.
"He just knows how to run on dirt," said Richards. "You could bring him back here on Saturday and put him in a heat (for this weekend's $100,000-to-win Dirt Late Model Dream event) and he'd be tough to be."
Richards and Co. prepared a car for Stewart that proved to be unbeatable. The machine, which sported a sharp Day Glo-orange/camouflage graphics combo along with sponsorship from Old Spice and Bass Pro Shops, didn't miss a beat after the team corrected some early carburetor-jetting issues, allowing Stewart to dominate the 30-lap race.
"The car was new and we changed some stuff around on it," said Richards, who ranks third in the current WoO LMS points standings with two victories to his credit this season. "Tony said he really liked it, so we're gonna change some things on our car to make it the same (setup) this weekend."
A first-ever win in the UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned Dream 100 would be a great cap to a week at Eldora for Richards, who enters the Friday-Saturday extravaganza coming off a career-first Eldora win in the Johnny Appleseed Classic on May 25.
"Hopefully we can climb that fence again on Saturday night," smiled Richards, the 2005 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year.
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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