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Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, N.C. (March 3) - It was far from the richest win of Rick Eckert's standout dirt Late Model career, but it was incredibly satisfying.
No surprise there, though, considering that Eckert's triumph in Sunday afternoon's 30-lap season opener at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway marked his first visit to Victory Lane in nearly eight months.
"Oh yeah, it feels good to win again," a relieved Eckert said after pocketing $2,000 for capturing the unsanctioned event. "Hopefully this gets us going."
Coming off an uncharacteristically quiet 2007 campaign that saw him go winless on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series for the first time since becoming a regular traveler in '04, Eckert is focused on returning to his usual form this season. A taste of victory at a half-mile track that's just an hour's drive from his York, Pa., home would seem to be a good start.
Eckert, 42, knows his Hagerstown score doesn't mean his frustrating 59-race WoO LMS winless streak is about to become history, but experiencing a successful day after putting in so much hard work in preparation for Sunday's program certainly buoys his confidence.
Following a three-and-a-half-week trip to Georgia and Florida that included a second-place finish (from the 24th starting spot) in the WoO LMS season opener on Feb. 14 at Volusia Speedway Park but few other outings that pleased him, Eckert returned to his shop and spent two weeks cutting and welding on his Raye Vest-owned GRT car.
"We worked on both ends of the car," Eckert said of the machine he entered in the Southeastern events. "We tried some things that I was hoping would make the car better, so I wanted to go somewhere this weekend to run it and see how it worked."
Eckert originally planned to attend the Friday/Saturday 'Spring Thaw' weekend at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. - a high-banked track that hosts two WoO LMS events in 2008, on Aug. 20-21 and Oct. 11 - but bad weather postponed the show until March 21-22. He ended up taking his orange No. 24 to Hagerstown, an oval he knows very well.
The verdict on the reworked car? Eckert was very pleased with its performance after winning a heat race and emerging from a scrape with J.T. Spence amid lapped traffic to take the lead with two laps remaining in the feature.
"I feel like the car worked as good as any car I've run (at Hagerstown)," Eckert said after his 19th career win at the speedway, which has a WoO LMS event scheduled for May 31. "The track (surface) wasn't like a typical daytime deal - (turns) one and two was wet and had a cushion for most of the day, and three and four was dry-slick. It was sort of like a night-time track, so I would like to think we learned something we could use there when we go back (for the WoO LMS show)."
Did Eckert also find something that will boost him when the WoO LMS returns to action with the $20,000-to-win 'March Through Dixie 100' on March 28-29 at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss.?
"We'll see about that," said Eckert, whose last win had come on July 12, 2007, in the unsanctioned Camp Barnes Benefit Race at Delaware International Speedway. "I'm just happy to get a win. We needed it."
WEST COAST VISITOR: A last-minute deal to run the two-night 'Las Vegas Dirt Classic' last Thursday and Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway turned out sweet for 2006 WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie.
After landing a ride in the Bakersfield, Calif.-based Victory Circle house car wrenched by Chris Sivesind on Wednesday, McCreadie caught a Thursday-morning flight from Rochester, N.Y., to Vegas. He finished third in Thursday night's feature and then drove to a $3,000 victory in Friday's night's 30-lap headliner, outdueling Scott James of Greendale, Ind., for the top prize.
"Everybody needs a win," said McCreadie, whose lone dirt Late Model triumph in 2007 came in an unsanctioned event in early May at Virginia Motor Speedway. "I sure needed one. I didn't run too many Late Model shows last year, so a win gets me excited."
McCreadie, 33, of Watertown, N.Y., is currently splitting his time between North Carolina - where he has a residence after signing as a Richard Childress Racing Development Driver last year - and his native upstate New York. With his RCR schedule in limbo as the team attempts to land a sponsor for its No. 21 NASCAR Nationwide Series car, McCreadie is looking at doing more dirt Late Model racing.
In that vein, McCreadie was in Avon, N.Y., working with crewman Al Stevens on his familiar Sweeteners Plus Racing No. 39 dirt Late Models when the opportunity to race at Las Vegas presented itself. He plans to do more preparation on the Sweeteners equipment in the coming weeks before entering back-to-back, $20,000-to-win WoO LMS events - the 'March Through Dixie 100' on March 28-29 at Pike County Speedway and the 'Illini 100' on April 4-5 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway.
McCreadie has also entered the WoO LMS Circle K Colossal 100 on April 18-19 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. But for that event, he'll be behind the wheel of 2007 WoO LMS champion Steve Francis's Valvoline No. 15, which he's scheduled to steer in several major dirt Late Model shows this season.
NO BREAKS: WoO LMS standout Shane Clanton still has a black cloud hovering over his head.
The star-crossed driver from Locust Grove, Ga., was hoping to shake his early-season bad luck with a trip to Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., for Sunday's 'March Madness' event, but misfortune struck him again. He tangled with 2004 WoO LMS champ Scott Bloomquist while running third on a lap-two restart during the fourth heat race, ending his day with left-front suspension damage.
MARCH MADNESS ENTRANTS: WoO LMS regulars Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., and Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., joined Clanton in Cherokee's field.
Babb, making his first start in NASCAR Sprint Cup star Clint Bowyer's dirt Late Model since the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park, enjoyed a respectable outing. He advanced from the seventh starting spot to finish fifth in the 60-lap A-Main won by Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn.
Smith, meanwhile, was unable to repeat his 2007 'March Madness' victory at the four-tenths-mile oval. He started ninth but dropped out of the event, settling for a 19th-place finish on a challenging, rough track surface.
'KID ROCKET': The youngest Outlaw, soon-to-be 20-year-old Josh Richards (he leaves his teenage years behind on March 22), finished third in Sunday afternoon's dirt Late Model feature at Hagerstown Speedway.
Shinnston, W.Va.'s Richards drove the Ernie Davis-owned Rocket No. 25, a machine he is running in most of his non-WoO LMS appearances this season.
NEXT UP: The countdown is on for the resumption of the 2008 WoO LMS on March 28-29 at Pike County Speedway, the three-eighths-mile oval right off Interstate 55 in southern Mississippi.
Arguably the biggest early-season dirt Late Model event ever run in Mississippi, the format will feature time trials and qualifying heat races for the WoO LMS on Fri., March 28, and the B-Mains and 100-lap A-Main on Sat., March 29.
For more information, visit www.pikecountyspeedway.com or call the track at 601-783-2500.
More information on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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