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Kevin Kovac
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. (June 17) - Call it Homecoming Night for the DIRTcar big-block Modified drivers who have gone dirt Late Model racing.
When the World of Outlaws Late Model Series makes a first-ever stop at Canandaigua Speedway on Tues., June 24, for the Ferris Mowers 40 presented by Turner Automotive, the half-mile oval's fans will get a chance to watch a bunch of Empire State stars they've seen turn many laps around the sweeping track.
The only difference from a regular Saturday night at the Ontario County Fairgrounds facility? All the New Yorkers will be driving full-fender machines in the $7,000-to-win mid-week special, not the DIRTcar big-block Modifieds in which they endeared themselves to the Canandaigua faithful.
Five drivers who have been DIRTcar big-block Modifieds regulars at Canandaigua will be prominent participants in upstate New York's only WoO LMS event of 2008. Three of them are following the far-flung WoO LMS schedule this season (2007 Rookie of the Year Tim Fuller, '08 Rookie aspirants Vic Coffey and Danny Johnson); one is a former tour champion who is a semi-regular in '08 (Tim McCreadie); and one has proven to be a solid dirt Late Model contender while remaining focused primarily on DIRTcar big-block Modified action (Billy Decker).
Put the quintet together, and they own a combined 111 DIRTcar big-block Modified feature wins and possess untold experience at the track that's known in Modified circles as the 'Land of Legends.'
"There's really no hometrack advantage when you're racing against the best of the best (in national dirt Late Model racing) with the Outlaws," said Fuller, who drives a Gypsum Express dirt Late Model as a teammate to Decker. "But all of us have run Canandaigua plenty of times before, so at least we'll go into the race knowing what to expect when we get there.
"And we're all gonna see a lot of people we haven't seen in years. That will probably be the neatest part about coming back to Canandaigua for an Outlaw show."
The 40-year-old Fuller said he "learned a lot racing at Canandaigua" as an upstart big-block Mod driver. From the mid-1990s to the early-2000s he made a weekly three-hour-plus one-way haul from his native Edwards, N.Y., to compete with the division's top talents at Canandaigua.
"It's a real unique racetrack," said Fuller, whose single career DIRTcar big-block Modified win at the track came on May 19, 2001. "It's real fast and racy. I'm sure the Late Model racing there is going to be real good."
McCreadie, meanwhile, has a special place in his heart for Canandaigua. It is, of course, the track where he made his first-ever DIRTcar Modified start (in 1996, when he ran his underpowered 358-Modified against the big-blocks to gain some experience), and he rolled up 14 feature triumphs there from 1999-2003 to place him in a tie for 10th on the track's alltime win list. But it's also the place where he spent much of his youth watching his legendary father, 'Barefoot' Bob McCreadie, compile 99 career DIRTcar big-block Modified victories (second on the track's alltime win list).
"I love Canandaigua," said McCreadie, who unabashedly calls the oval "one of the best tracks in the country." "I tell everybody that I lived in Watertown, but I grew up in Canandaigua. As soon as I could go to the races with my Dad, that's where I went every week.
"I remember spending so many Saturday nights at the Econo Lodge hotel in town. It's what I did every weekend."
McCreadie, 34, expects to see plenty of familiar faces during Canandaigua's WoO LMS show.
"The fan support will probably be phenomenal for me, Vic, Fuller, Decker, Danny," said McCreadie, who will be behind the wheel of the Sweeteners Plus No. 39. "We're all from New York and we spent a lot of years at Canandaigua, so it'll be a night for all of us where we see all the friends we grew up with."
Tuesday will an especially memorable evening for Coffey, McCreadie's Sweeteners Plus Racing teammate. The 36-year-old with 16 career DIRTcar big-block Modified wins at Canandaigua lives just down the road in Leicester, N.Y., and the Sweeteners Plus shop is barely 20 minutes away in Avon, N.Y., so his cheering section will include, among others, his wife Jillian, his three children, his mother Ann and his step-father Carl Myers, who owns the Sweeteners Plus business and backs the two-driver team.
"They don't get too many chances to see me run the Late Model," bottom lined Coffey, who is making plans to step up his dirt Late Model involvement by following the remainder of the 2008 WoO LMS.
The 48-year-old Johnson - a four-time Canandaigua points champion who's fourth on the track's alltime win list, with 66 victories - is the newest addition to the dirt Late Model ranks from the DIRTcar big-block Modified world. An entrant in the WoO LMS Rookie of the Year battle, the resident of Phelps has been taking his lumps with the JIR Motorsports team but is hoping some home cooking helps get him on track.
"We've been struggling to figure out the Late Model," said Johnson, "but we did some testing the last few weeks at Brewerton (N.Y.) and Fulton (N.Y.) and hopefully we found some things. Maybe running somewhere I know will help me get going a little bit."
Decker, 43, of Unadilla, N.Y., has one track title and 14 career DIRTcar big-block Modified wins at Canandaigua, including a victory in the 2008 season opener on April 19. The winningest big-block driver on the DIRTcar Northeast circuit this season, Decker has proven himself in WoO LMS competition over the past four years, finishing as high as fourth in an A-Main.
Several other drivers with big-block Modified backgrounds will be in the Canandaigua field, including Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del., who finished second in an Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series event at Canandaigua in 1992 en route to winning the DIRTcar big-block Modified Rookie of the Year award; 2008 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender Joe Isabell of Pennellville, N.Y.; and Sean Beardsley of Central Square, N.Y.
All the big-block boys will have to work hard to turn back the invading WoO LMS contingent - a roster filled with the country's brightest dirt Late Model names.
Leading the WoO LMS charge to Canandaigua will be Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who has made himself well known to upstate New York fans in recent seasons. He's won four WoO LMS events in the area over the past three years, including two in 2005 (Fulton Speedway and Rolling Wheels Raceway) and the 2006 and 2007 shows at Cayuga County Fair Speedway in Weedsport.
Other WoO LMS stars headed to Canandaigua for the first time are defending champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky.; Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky.; 20-year-old sensation Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va.; Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who will drive a car owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup star Clint Bowyer; Rick Eckert of York, Pa.; Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.; Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga.; and John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va.
The field will be boosted by several top dirt Late Model drivers from the Northeast, including Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., who won his first-ever WoO LMS event in April at Virginia Motor Speedway; Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., an upset WoO LMS victor last year at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa.; Rick 'Boom' Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa.; and Mike Knight of Ripley, N.Y.
Pit gates are scheduled to open at 2 p.m. and the grandstands at 4 p.m. on June 24. On-track action is set to start at 7 p.m.
The program will also include a full program for the BRP CanAm 360 Late Model Series.
Reserved seats in the top-two rows of the grandstands are available for $27. Reserved-seat ticketholders will also have an opportunity to participate in a pre-race pit tour at 5:30 p.m.
For more information, visit www.canandaiguaspeedway.com or call the DIRTcar Northeast headquarters at 315-834-6606.
The Canandaigua event is part of the seven-race WoO LMS 'Great Northern Tour,' which barnstorms across the Northeast through the end of the month. The swing begins at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway on June 17 and also includes stops on June 19 at Ohsweken (Ont.) Speedway; June 21 at Quebec's Autodrome Drummond; June 22 at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway; June 25 at Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa.; and June 27-28 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (the $40,000-to-win Firecracker 100).
Additional info on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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