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Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, N.C. (July 1) - From the massive 55-car field that opened the swing on June 17 at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway to the spectacular heat-race action that ended up closing it on June 27 during the Firecracker 100 weekend at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., the World of Outlaws Late Model Series 'Great Northern Tour' was a smashing success.
Yes, the 'Great Northern Tour' did end in anticlimactic fashion when two days of showers forced the postponement of the $40,000-to-win Firecracker 100 to Tues., July 29, but the six races that were completed provided plenty of memorable moments for the Northeast's fans.
The WoO LMS visited five tracks for the first time during the 'Great Northern Tour' and it was embraced warmly by spectators at every stop. The only facility that wasn't packed to capacity was Ohsweken (Ont.) Speedway on June 20, but beaming track promoter Glenn Styres pointed out that the turnout for a rare dirt Late Model event at the three-eighths-mile oval would have likely filled Ohsweken's old bleachers (new stands that were completed just in time for the WoO LMS show have more than doubled Ohsweken's seating, to 8,000) and was more than enough for him to begin planning a return engagement for 2009.
Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Que., which hosted the first-ever WoO LMS program in Canada last year, returned on June 21 as the middle event in an expanded three-race trip north of the border and once again enjoyed a stellar crowd. The vocal fans gave 'Quebec 50' winner Rick Eckert a rousing ovation during the wild Victory Lane ceremonies, which included a fireworks display set to music that had been planned for pre-race driver introductions before approaching weather forced a hasty start to the A-Main.
"That's a great crowd," Eckert said of the French-speaking Drummond faithful. "They cheer and holler. I'm not sure what they're saying, but those are the kind of fans you want to race in front of."
The WoO LMS headlined one of the biggest events ever presented at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway, which drew a standing-room-only crowd for its 'Triple Crown of Racing' program on June 22 that also included the Empire Super Sprints and DIRTcar 358-Modifieds. There was nary an open space left in the tight pit area of the quarter-mile oval, a spic-and-span facility owned by Ron Morin.
Mid-week shows at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway (June 24) and Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa. (June 25) maintained the tour's momentum. Both tracks are mainstays of Northeast dirt Modified racing, but they drew large, electric crowds for dirt Late Model events.
BEFORE THE DELUGE: Not a single car hit Lernerville Speedway's racing surface on Saturday night nor Sunday's raindate before officials postponed the finale of the Firecracker 100 weekend, but Saturday's off-track activities were completed.
Eight drivers were paired with fans for the second annual Firecracker 100 Horseshoes Tournament. Held in the parking lot behind the main grandstands, the tourney was the centerpiece of the afternoon 'weenie roast' and pre-race concert featuring singer Sarah Wilson.
Emerging victorious in the horseshoes competition for the second straight year was Lernerville dirt Late Model star Lynn Geisler. Teamed with Rich Friberg of Forest Hills, Pa. - a Geisler fan who, ironically, works for Geisler's sponsor, #1 Cochran - Geisler defeated WoO LMS standout Rick Eckert and his partner in the championship round to capture the $200 first prize.
First-round losers in the tournament were the pairings headed by drivers Shane Clanton (the tourney's runner-up last year), Brian Birkhofer, Alex Ferree and Josh Richards, and falling in the semi-finals were the teams led by dirt Late Model stars Clint Smith and Scott Bloomquist.
The driver/fan interaction continued from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., when every driver ready for action on Saturday night participated in an autograph session underneath the main grandstand.
WHO'S HOT: The 'Great Northern Tour' was a great time for Darrell Lanigan, Josh Richards, Rick Eckert and Tim McCreadie. Each driver made a Victory Lane visit - Richards picked up two wins - and were solid contenders virtually every night.
Lanigan, of course, enjoyed the steadiest swing, rolling up a top-five finish in all six events (including a win at Big Diamond) to build a 36-point lead in the WoO LMS standings by the time he headed home to Union, Ky.
Richards, meanwhile, captured back-to-back wins at Cornwall and Canandaigua and ran off four straight top-five finishes to close the tour; Eckert ended a 71-race winless slump on the WoO LMS with a victory at Drummond and was a top-five finisher in every A-Main except the tour opener at Port Royal; and McCreadie captured the Ohsweken event for his first WoO LMS win since his 2006 championship season and didn't finish outside the top-three in his other three starts.
WHO'S NOT: Steve Francis entered the swing in a tie for the points lead with Lanigan, but he ended it in fourth place (70 points behind) after failing to crack the top-five after a runner-up finish in the tour opener at Port Royal. He called the 'Great Northern Tour' "one of the worst trips I've ever had."
Shannon Babb ended the 'Great Northern Tour' with a pair of sixth-place finishes as his best runs - not satisfactory for the hyper-competitive star from Moweaqua, Ill., who fell to seventh in the points standings, 120 points behind Lanigan. He did put on a memorable show at Big Diamond when he used the high side of the track to grab the lead late in the distance, but a flat tire with six laps remaining ended his bid.
Tim Fuller started off strong with fourth-place finishes at Port Royal and Ohsweken, but a 10th-place finish at Canandaigua was the best he could manage for the rest of the trip. Especially frustrating to Fuller was the fact that he guessed wrong on his A-Main combination at Cornwall and Canandaigua, two ovals he ran often during his days as a DIRTcar Modified regular.
WILD RIDE: The first-ever hot-lap session for Super Late Models at Cornwall Motor Speedway was a little too spectacular for Rick 'Boom' Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa., who gave everyone a scare when he executed a wild series of flips after his car dug into the track surface in turn three as soon as he throttled up.
Briggs, who won the 2004 WoO LMS Crew Chief of the Year Award while working for his cousin Chub Frank, took at least two parts-shedding rolls before his car came to rest on its wheels. He was conscious but clearly disoriented when safety crews reached him, but he gingerly climbed out of his demolished machine with some assistance and walked back to his trailer under the supervision of WoO LMS director Tim Christman. After changing into street clothes, Briggs was convinced to visit a local hospital for a checkup.
Doctors put him through a CAT scan and conducted other tests, but he was diagnosed with nothing more serious than a concussion and released around 2 a.m. He was hanging out soon afterward with the Frank and Jeremy Miller teams in the parking lot of a Cornwall truck stop, complaining mostly of a sore shoulder while trying to remember exactly what happened on his first practice lap at the quarter-mile oval.
Briggs had a long list of people to thank after the first flip of his racing career: "My wife for allowing me to race and mom and dad for providing the finances for me to race…Mary (Frank, Chub's wife) for staying at the hospital with me the whole time…Chub (who joined his wife at the hospital after Cornwall's program) for the help…Rick Eckert and Mark Richards for getting to me first and getting me out of the car…Rocket chassis for a safe car, Simpson for the safety equipment and Kirky for building a safe seat…and the track safety crew for their assistance and the World of Outlaws officials for their help and concern."
After making a follow-up visit to his home doctor, Briggs was told that he must not race for three weeks. He plans to be action, however, as soon as his doctors says it's O.K. - and he'll be behind the wheel of a new Rocket car he ordered the day after his wreck.
ETCETERA…
* The rain that postponed Ohsweken Speedway's WoO LMS event from Thursday (June 19) to Friday (June 20) wiped out a scheduled travel day for the teams running the remainder of the Canadian swing, setting up a challenging overnight haul of roughly eight hours to Drummondville, Que.
* Making an impressive cameo appearance on the WoO LMS for the Canadian shows was Neil Baggett, a 25-year-old from Shannon, Miss., who accepted Clint Smith's offer to drive his second car. He timed second-fastest - right behind top-qualifier Smith - his first night out at Ohsweken, and he scored a WoO LMS career-best finish of seventh at Drummond.
* Northeast standout Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., and several members of his Buckler Motorsports team arranged their vacation days well in advance in order to follow the entire 'Great Northern Tour,' but he didn't enjoy the results he would have liked.
Miller, who won his first career WoO LMS A-Main in April at Virginia Motor Speedway, managed just a single top-10 finish on the swing (eighth place at Drummond). He had a potential seventh-place finish at Port Royal wiped out by a flat tire on the final lap, and his other four starts resulted in a top run of 20th.
The talented driver chalked up his trip as a learning experience, noting that it was the first time he's truly been able to think nothing but racing for two full weeks.
* Seaford, Del.'s Ricky Elliott ran the events in Canada and at Canandaigua in the Rocket No. 121 fielded by New Yorker Joe Beyea, a DIRTcar Modified driver who is becoming well known for his Beyea Custom Headers enterprise. The machine was wrenched by champion DIRTcar Modified crew chief Randy Kisacky, who has taken on the job of maintaining Beyea's dirt Late Model as a mechanical challenge.
Elliott scored finishes of seventh (Ohsweken) and 10th (Drummond) before struggling at Cornwall and Canandaigua. His Cornwall effort was behind the eight-ball from the start after the car's rearend blew in hot laps.
* Tyrone, Ga.'s Tony Knowles got a taste of the WoO LMS road by running the entire 'Great Northern Tour' except the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville.
Part of the same RSD Enterprises team as WoO LMS regular Shane Clanton, the 21-year-old Knowles flashed his potential with a tour-best finish of ninth at Canandaigua after starting 19th. His 17-year-old chief mechanic, Jared Morris, was that night's surprised recipient of the Integra Shocks 'Wrench of the Race' Award.
UP NEXT: The WoO LMS will embark on the 'Wild West Tour,' a swing of nine races in 13 days beginning on July 9 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. The tour then continues on July 10 at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minn.; July 11 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D.; July 12 at Estevan Motor Speedway in Estevan, Saskatchewan; July 13 at Williston Basin Speedway in Williston, N.D.; July 16 at Gillette (Wyo.) Thunder Speedway; July 18 at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, S.D.; July 20 at the Belleville (Kans.) High Banks; and July 21 at Boone County Speedway in Albion, Neb.
INFO: For more on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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