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Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, N.C. (April 28) - When the Mark Richards Racing Enterprises hauler shoves off from Shinnston, W.Va., on Thursday to begin an 800-mile trip to Missouri's Lebanon I-44 Speedway, driver Josh Richards won't be sitting on his usual seat inside it.
Instead, the 20-year-old star will delay his departure to the weekend's pair of World of Outlaws Late Model Series events in the Show-Me State to make his debut behind the wheel of a DIRTcar big-block Modified on Thursday night (May 1) at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, Va.
Richards is scheduled to enter VMS's Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series season opener as a teammate to big-block Modified supernova Brett Hearn of Vernon, N.J. Both drivers will chase a $10,000 top prize in the evening's 60-lap Paul Sawyer Memorial.
The Hearn-Richards big-block Modified pairing completes a gentleman's agreement that Hearn made with Richards's father back in August 2005 when the Garden State veteran drove one of Mark Richards's Rocket Chassis house cars in a WoO LMS event at Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. Hearn pledged that he'd someday give 'Kid Rocket' a shot to run a big-block Mod - and that time will come at Virginia Motor, a half-mile oval where Richards just scored a third-place finish on April 11 in a WoO LMS A-Main.
"I'm pretty excited to drive a Modified," said Richards, who will pull double-duty on Thursday night at VMS by running the Ernie Davis-owned No. 25 dirt Late Model in the companion $5,000-to-win event for the division. "It'll be real fun."
Richards will fly into St. Louis on Saturday morning to meet his dirt Late Model team, which will already be at the Petroff Towing shop outside the city preparing to head out with fellow WoO LMS driver Brian Shirley for tour events on Sat., May 3, at Lebanon I-44 and Sun., May 4, at Monett Speedway.
Richards and Shirley will enter the weekend's action buoyed by the two days they spent practicing last week at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.
WEEKEND RACERS: Richards authored the best performance of the WoO LMS regulars who went racing during the past weekend's idle-time from the tour, finishing a close second to Robbie Blair of Titusville, Pa., in Sunday night's UFO series 'Area 51' feature at Challenger Raceway in Indiana, Pa.
Driving the Ernie Davis No. 25 that is his stead for most non-WoO LMS events, Richards led twice for 13 laps but fell short in a late-race battle with Blair.
Defending WoO LMS champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., also competed at Challenger. He finished 10th driving Dale Beitler's No. 19.
Georgia residents Shane Clanton and Clint Smith, meanwhile, headed to the Talladega (Ala.) Short Track for Saturday night's O'Reilly Southern All-Stars show that was held in conjunction with the NASCAR weekend across the street. Clanton advanced from the eighth starting spot to finish third in the 50-lap A-Main, while Smith settled for a 14th-place finish.
INDESTRUCTABLE: It's going to take more than a wild, high-flying series of flips to put Chub Frank's favorite race car out to pasture.
Most observers who witnessed Frank's tumble midway through the Circle K Colossal 100 on April 19 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., probably thought the machine was a write-off, but that wasn't the case. Frank left most of the car's crushed bodywork in the pit area for fans to scavenge, but he said the damage was otherwise to bolt-on parts rather than the frame.
Frank, who calls his Rocket mount 'Old Faithful' for its consistent speed and strength since a debut run in September 2006, had the car back rolling by the end of last week. He won't have the car along for this weekend's WoO LMS shows in Missouri - "We're giving it a rest," he smiled - but expects to have a new body on the machine and a freshened motor bolted inside it for the tour's next swing, to Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park (May 16), Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway (May 17) and Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway (May 18).
The Bear Lake, Pa., standout, by the way, will stop in Charleston, Ill., on Friday (May 2) en route to Missouri to make an appearance at his sponsor Lester Buildings' plant. Frank will tour the Lester Buildings service center, visit with employees and display a brand-new Rocket car - complete with a slightly different graphics scheme - from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
SPECIAL DELIVERY: WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender Vic Coffey of Leicester, N.Y., welcomed a new member to his family on April 23, when his wife Jillian gave birth to the couple's first child - a bouncing baby boy named Kasey.
Kasey Coffey arrived almost exactly one month ahead of schedule, but the 6 pound, 1 ounce baby was pronounced healthy by doctors and sent home after the weekend.
Coffey, who also has two teenage children (Shelby, 12, and Kyle, 11), will try to win a WoO LMS event for his new son when he travels to Missouri with his Sweeteners Plus team for this weekend's Lebanon I-44/Monett doubleheader.
NEXT UP: For more information about this weekend's events at Lebanon I-44 Speedway and Monett Speedway, log on to www.lebanoni44speedway.net or www.monettspeedway.net.
INFO: To learn more about the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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