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Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, N.C. (August 5) - Time is running out on Steve Francis.
But with momentum finally on his side, the defending World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion is ready to make a final push for a $100,000 repeat.
"This is about the time we got on our roll last year," said Francis, recalling how a strong close to the 2007 season resulted in his first career WoO LMS points title. "Hopefully we can do it again."
Francis, 40, of Ashland, Ky., is arguably the hottest Outlaw entering the national tour's upcoming Southeastern doubleheader, on Aug. 15 at Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Aug. 16 at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga. He won two of the four A-Mains that made up the recent Alltel Ohio Speedweek, and he's registered a top-five finish in five of the last six WoO LMS events.
The problem for Francis, of course, is that, unlike a year ago, his late-season surge isn't padding his points lead. He's playing catch-up on Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., whose amazing campaign has him on course to beat the series record championship points margin of 126 points, established in 2007 by Francis.
With 31 A-Mains completed and 14 events currently remaining on the 2008 WoO LMS schedule, Francis sits tied with 20-year-old Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., for second in the points standings, a healthy 146 points behind Lanigan.
What kind of uphill climb does Francis face in his pursuit of the ultra-steady Lanigan, who owns 19 top-five finishes in his last 21 starts? Consider that during his run of success over the last six events, Francis has made up exactly zero points on Lanigan.
"A bad night for Darrell right now is fifth (place)," Francis said in admiration of Lanigan's rock-solid performance on tracks big and small, banked and flat, slick and tacky. "You don't beat that kind of consistency, so really, for us to beat him for the championship, he's gonna have to default to us a few times.
"Darrell is on the ride that I was on last year," he continued. "You're just on an even keel. You're not necessarily winning a lot of shows (Lanigan has two victories versus three for Francis), but you're third, fourth, fifth, second - you run that way every night, and that's hard to beat."
Driving Rocket cars fielded by Maryland's Dale Beitler this season after steering his own Valvoline-sponsored equipment to the 2007 championship, Francis finds himself racing from behind thanks to some uncharacteristic lulls and bad luck. His worst stretch was the six-race 'Great Northern Tour' in June - he tumbled from a tie for the points lead with Lanigan to 70 points behind in fourth place - but he also lost significant ground during July's eight-race 'Wild West Tour,' hitting a season-low sixth in the standings early in the swing and dropping 146 points in arrears of Lanigan by the end of it.
"We struggled on the Northern Tour and were hit-and-miss out west," analyzed Francis. "We did a lot of testing with Dale before we really got into the season and we thought we had everything figured out, but when we got into the heat of summer we were off a little bit.
"Now we're back gaining on it again. We finally got our car good again."
Francis is the leader in one very important WoO LMS category: money won. He's the only driver who's cracked six-figures in earnings this season, with $127,450 to date thanks to his $50,000-plus victory in April's Circle K Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.
But Francis would also like to add a 100-grand championship check to his take at the conclusion of the season-ending Vault Outlaws World Finals on Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway. He knows that the only way he can make that happen is to be absolutely perfect for the remainder of the tour's schedule - and achieving that type of '07-like consistency has been elusive.
"We won Zanesville (Ohio's Muskingum County Speedway on July 24) then went to Eldora (the following night) and had everything in the world go wrong," said Francis, whose victory in the Alltel Ohio Speedweek finale on July 27 at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa., made him the winningest WoO LMS driver since 2004 (17 wins). "We can't afford to follow up a good night with a bad one any more.
"Clint Smith always says, 'When you're dial's right, you're dial's right, and when it falls off, it falls off.' Hopefully we can keep that dial pegged the right way for the rest of the year."
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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