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Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, N.C. (March 17) - Steve Francis wouldn't mind at all if the good luck he experienced last Thursday night (March 13) at Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway in Calvert City, Ky., carries over to his points-chasing on the 2008 World of Outlaws Late Model Series.
The defending WoO LMS champion emerged victorious in the opening event of KLMS's scheduled three-night UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model 'March Madness' meet - with the right-rear tire on his Dale Beitler-owned No. 19 almost completely flat. He maintained just enough speed to nip 2007 UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model national champ Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., at the finish line by inches.
"I started feeling it going down with about five (laps) to go (in the 40-lap A-Main)," Francis said of his tire. "More than anything, it was dumb luck that we were able to hold on.
"I knew Erb was coming on the bottom on the last lap, so going into (turn) three I just tried to go wide and stay against the little bit of brown (lane) instead of sliding in hard on the bottom and maybe rolling the tire under. The car was just pointed the right way when I picked the throttle back up off the corner and I was able to beat (Erb) to the line."
Francis, 40, of Ashland, Ky., continued his run of success in limited appearances at the three-eighths-mile oval promoted by Sherri Heckenast - he's now won at least one race there in five straight seasons - and provided interested observers more proof that he's easily meshed with Beitler's team. It was his second victory of the season driving for Beitler, the veteran Maryland car owner who hired Francis in November.
"Everything's going great," Francis said of his deal with Beitler. "We can't wait to go racing."
For the next month or so, Francis will run two of Beitler's Reliable Painting-sponsored Rocket cars out of his shop in Kentucky. The machines and Beitler's hauler will stay based at Francis's place to minimize travel; the team's upcoming schedule shows events this weekend at either Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., or Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., then back-to-back, $20,000-to-win WoO LMS 100-lappers on March 28-29 at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss., and April 4-5 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway.
"Robby (Allen, Beitler's mechanical consultant) is back up in Maryland (at Beitler's shop) going over the car we ran in all the races last month (in Georgia and Florida)," said Francis, who is tied for fourth in the WoO LMS points standings. "We'll start racing that car and get everything back to Dale's shop around the time of the World of Outlaws show at Lernerville (Speedway in Sarver, Pa., on April 15)."
FINDING A RACE: Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., and 2007 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., met up last weekend and formed an unexpected caravan to Deep South Speedway, a four-tenths-mile oval between Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla.
Fuller, whose hauler and pair of Gypsum Express dirt Late Models have been parked at Smith's shop since the end of last month's Alltel DIRTcar Nationals in Florida to help him save on gas costs and rig wear-and-tear, flew down to Atlanta last Thursday in hopes of joining Smith to run weekend events at North Georgia Speedway and Cleveland (Tenn.) Speedway. Those races were washed out by the unruly weather that rolled across the Southeast, but the skies were clear at Deep South Speedway so they made a banzai run there to get in some action.
Smith, 42, ended up with the better finish in the two-day show, placing second to local driver Shep Lucas of McKenzie, Ala., in Saturday night's unsanctioned 40-lap Super Late Model A-Main that paid $5,000 to win. He challenged Lucas, but his hopes were hampered by a track on which passing was difficult and the caution flags that prevented his harder tires from coming alive.
The 40-year-old Fuller, meanwhile, registered a new track record in Friday night's time trials and won a heat race to earn the pole position in Saturday night's feature, but he couldn't shake the bad luck that plagued him last month in WoO LMS events at Volusia Speedway Park. He was the leader less than 10 laps into the A-Main when a hit from behind on a restart bent his car's left-rear bodywork, leaving him with a cut tire two circuits later. He returned after changing the tire, but retired shortly thereafter and settled for a 13th-place finish.
The WoO LMS traveling buddies returned to Smith's shop at 6 o'clock on Sunday morning. Fuller spent the day cleaning and massaging his equipment before hopping on an evening flight back to upstate New York.
Fuller will enter this Saturday night's Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series season opener for big-block Modifieds at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway before flying to Smith's on March 27. Then he'll fire up his hauler and drive to the WoO LMS 'March Through Dixie 100' at Pike County Speedway.
Smith, meanwhile, plans to compete at either Lavonia (Ga.) Speedway or Volunteer Speedway this weekend, then head to the Team GRT chassis shop in Greenbrier, Ark., at the beginning of the week. He'll spend a few days at GRT getting a new rear clip put on his car that was damaged in a crash last month at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla., and some updates added to his newest machine; then he'll stop at his sponsor Don Cliburn's Mississippi track, Jackson Motor Speedway, to do some testing before the WoO LMS weekend at Pike County.
TWO-FOR-TWO: Things are looking up for WoO LMS star Rick Eckert.
Hoping to rebound after an uncharacteristic winless WoO LMS campaign in 2007, the York, Pa., driver continued to tune up for his busy touring schedule ahead by winning on Saturday afternoon for the second time in three weeks at Hagerstown Speedway. The $2,000 victory in the day's 30-lap dirt Late Model feature allowed Eckert to already match his win total for the entire 2007 season.
After his trip to Volunteer Speedway was short-circuited by the cancellation of scheduled events on both Friday and Saturday, Eckert, 42, dashed back up Interstate 81 in time to enter Hagerstown's unsanctioned show. He drove his Raye Vest-owned GRT car forward from the eighth starting spot to grab the lead from fellow WoO LMS regular Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., at the halfway mark and never looked back.
Richards, who was behind the wheel of the Ernie Davis-owned No. 25 that he is running in many non-WoO LMS events this season, settled for a third-place finish.
NEW WHEELS: Chub Frank flew out to Nebraska last Friday to pick up his new hauler and trailer, which he had done by S&S.
The second-place finisher in the 2007 WoO LMS points standings drove his rig back home to Bear Lake, Pa., where he immediately began the process of stocking the conversion truck and trailer with everything he'll need for the road.
Frank recently sold his old hauler and trailer - as well as one of his dirt Late Models - to eastern Ohio's King Bros. Racing team. Young Russ King is making the move from big-block Modifieds to dirt Late Model competition this season.
NEXT UP: The 2008 WoO LMS gets rolling again on March 28-29 with the 'March Through Dixie 100' at Pike County Speedway.
Arguably the biggest early-season dirt Late Model event ever run in the state of Mississippi, the big weekend will include time trials and qualifying heats on Fri., March 28, and B-Mains and the $20,000-to-win 100-lap A-Main on Sat., March 29. The first-ever WoO LMS show at the three-eighths-mile oval will also feature a driver autograph session in the spectator area from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
For more information, visit www.pikecountyspeedway.com.
INFO: To learn more about the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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