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Kevin Kovac
BRAINERD, Minn. (July 7) - Rick Eckert is undefeated at North Central Speedway.
The superstar driver from York, Pa., is also currently on the best World of Outlaws Late Model Series hot streak he's enjoyed since winning in his only career start at North Central in 2006, so it's no surprise he's looking forward to the national tour's return to the track after a one-year hiatus on Thursday night (July 10).
"I won there a couple years ago and we've been running good lately," said Eckert, who leads the Outlaws charge to North Central for a 50-lap feature paying $10,000 to win. "That makes me feel pretty good about our chances when we go back."
Eckert, 42, has nothing but fond memories of North Central Speedway, a three-eighths-mile oval that owner Cliff Sasker has built into one of the top facilities in Minnesota during his seven-year reign. The veteran professional known as 'Scrub' captured the only WoO LMS event previously run at the track, on May 31, 2006.
"It was an excellent racetrack," Eckert said when asked for his impressions of the North Central layout. "It's fairly flat and shaped like a paper-clip, but they had some really good dirt (clay surface) and you could race all over it. It's the kind of track you love to race on."
Eckert certainly used every inch of the oval in the 2006 'North Central 50,' which ranked as one of the most competitive A-Mains of that WoO LMS campaign. He battled his way forward from the sixth starting spot, outdueling fellow tour travelers Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., and Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., to assume command for good on lap 29.
"We had a real good battle for the lead," recalled Eckert, who controlled the race's late stages after Clanton slowed with a flat tire and Francis was unable to challenge while nursing his car to a second-place finish with a broken header. "The track was a few grooves wide, so that made for great racing."
Eckert's victory at North Central came in the midst of a downright torrid stretch on the WoO LMS for the veteran racer. It was his fourth checkered flag of the 2006 season and first in a record-setting four-race win streak - an explosion of success that would leave Eckert with eight wins in the first 17 races of the campaign.
But Eckert's win spigot ran dry after he registered his eighth triumph of '06, in July at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. He struggled to a seventh-place finish in the 2006 points standings and didn't win again until last month in Canada.
The long victory drought certainly frustrated Eckert, so he's relieved that he doesn't have to answer the irritating question - "When will you win again?" - anymore. He actually will arrive at North Central this Thursday night on a certified roll, with one win, one second-, one third- and two fifth-place finishes to his credit in the last five events of the recent WoO LMS 'Great Northern Tour' that visited Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario and Quebec. He's solidly positioned third in the series points standings, 50 points behind leader Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky.
Considering that Eckert owns wins at North Central as well as Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., which kicks off the nine-race WoO LMS 'Wild West Tour' on Wednesday night (July 9), he's bursting with confidence.
"Hopefully things will keep going the way they've been going," said Eckert, who will hit the North Central Speedway clay with the same Raye Vest-owned team he put in Victory Lane in 2006. "If we can run as well on this western swing as we did on that northern tour, we'll be happy."
The only WoO LMS regulars hotter than Eckert entering this week's action are Lanigan (10 straight top-five finishes) and 20-year-old Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. (a winner in two of the last three events and ranked second in the points standings). But neither driver can match Eckert's performance record at North Central - Richards finsihed eighth and Lanigan was 10th in the 2006 WoO LMS event.
Other WoO LMS travelers who competed in the 2006 event at North Central include defending champion Francis; Clanton, who led laps 10-25 of the A-Main before the flat tire relegated him to a 12th-place finish; Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. (finished third); Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga. (fifth); and John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va. (sixth). First-time WoO LMS visitors to North Central will include Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., 2007 Rookie of the Year Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., and '08 Rookie of the Year candidate Vic Coffey of Leicester, N.Y.
A host of regional stars have plans to enter the event, including Justin Fegers of Mound, Minn., who set fast time and finished seventh in the 2006 WoO LMS North Central 50; Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis.; Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis.; Adam Hensel of Barron, Wis.; Chad Simpson of Oxford, Iowa; and John Anderson of Omaha, Neb.
Interest is sky-high in the WoO LMS stop at North Central, which does not run Super Late Models on a regular basis.
"Everyone is excited about the Outlaws coming back," said North Central general manager Peggy Jensen, whose track will also host the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on Oct. 3. "We're expecting a big night."
Pit gates are scheduled to open at 4 p.m. and spectator gates will be unlocked at 5 p.m. on Thursday night. An autograph session with several WoO LMS drivers is set for 5:30 p.m., and time trials are scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m.
General admission to the program, which also includes a $1,000-to-win Midwest Modified special, is $30 for adults, $15 for kids (7-14) and free for children 6-and-under. Reserved seats are available for $35, and pit passes are also $35.
North Central Speedway is located on Business Rt. 371 in Brainerd, Minn., about 60 miles north of St. Cloud and 130 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
For more information on North Central Speedway, visit www.racencs.net or call 218-828-1545 (track) or 218-829-2231 (ticket information).
The North Central date is part of the WoO LMS 'Wild West Tour,' which also runs on July 9 at Deer Creek Speedway; July 11 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D.; July 12 at Estevan (Saskatchewan) Motor Speedway; 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 (Kan.) High Banks; and July 21 at Boone County Raceway in Albion, Neb.
Additional info on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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