Contact: World Racing Group Kevin Kovac, World of Outlaws Late Model Series P.R. Director 704-254-7929 * [email protected][email protected]>
Clanton Leads World of Outlaws Late Model Series Contingent Into This Weekend's Prestigious World 100 At Eldora Speedway
ROSSBURG, OH - Sept. 4, 2008 - Shane Clanton is on a hot streak with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series - and earlier this year, he was a serious contender for victory in the $100,000 Dirt Late Model Dream event at Eldora Speedway.
So is Clanton a favorite to win this weekend's (Sept. 5-6) UMP DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned World 100 at Tony Stewart's famed Eldora half-mile? You bet he is.
Of course, Clanton, 32, of Locust Grove, Ga., has never ridden into dirt Late Model racing's most prestigious event with such high expectations swirling around him. But that's the lot of a driver who's become a major force on the nation's premier tour and flashed head-turning speed on a big Eldora stage.
"I go into every race thinking I can win it, but I definitely feel better about the World this year than I ever have," said Clanton, who is coming off a dominating half-lap triumph in the WoO LMS Oil Region Labor Day Classic finale on Aug. 31 at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa. "We do have a good car there and our program has picked up there, so yeah, we have confidence going back to Eldora.
"We're taking the same (RSD Enterprises Rocket) car that we had at the Dream (on June 7) and the World of Outlaws race (at Eldora on July 25). It has two thirds there already, and if we come out of there with at least a third again, we'll be happy.
"If we get a win," he added, "well, then we'll be tickled to death."
With Clanton a relative newcomer to the national dirt Late Model scene - he's in just his seventh season as a fulltimer in the division - he doesn't have a long history at the storied Eldora high banks. He's only qualified for the World 100 twice, finishing 11th in both 2004 and 2005; last year he ended up with a DNQ after cutting a tire while bidding for a transfer spot in a B-Main.
But Clanton has been bad-fast in both of his Eldora appearances in 2008. He set quick-time and led laps 4-23 in the 100-lap Dream A-Main before finishing third, and he might have had the best car in July's WoO LMS show but settled for another third-place finish after he damaged his machine's right-rear spoiler with a slap of the turn-two wall while in a battle for the lead.
Clanton doesn't profess to having figured out how to win at Eldora, but he feels like he's getting closer.
"The pace at Eldora is so demanding, if you don't save your tires just enough, you're no good," said Clanton, who sits third in the 2008 WoO LMS points standings with a career-high three victories, including two wins in the last five events. "I've been trying my best to learn how to save my tires and I ain't mastered it yet, but I followed Scott (Bloomquist) at the Dream for a long time and I think I learned some stuff. After he passed me I ran behind him for 70-some laps (Bloomquist went on to win the race), so now I feel like I know how fast you can go and still save your tires.
"Scott was better than us (at the Dream), but I had never finished on the same straightaway as him at Eldora until that race so that's a good sign," he continued. "If we go back and gain a little bit and he slows down a little bit, maybe we can win the race."
What would a World 100 victory mean to Clanton? He has a long list of positives - the $41,000 top prize; the joy it would bring his car owner Ronnie Dobbins, who has been fielding a car in the event for two decades without a win; the increased stature he would receive in the dirt Late Model world for capturing a crown-jewel event; and, last but not least, that coveted globe trophy that goes to the race winner.
"I've got a special place reserved for that trophy right above my fireplace," smiled Clanton. "It's just waiting to go up there."
Eight of the top-10 drivers in the current WoO LMS points standings have plans to compete in this weekend's 38th annual World 100 festivities, including former event winners Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa.
Defending WoO LMS champion STEVE FRANCIS will carry plenty of momentum into the World 100. The tour's winningest driver this season (six victories) captured two of the three series A-Mains that were run last weekend in Pennsylvania.
Francis won the World 100 in 1999, but he followed that with a dismal seven-year stretch in the event that saw him not even make the starting field three times. He rebounded nicely last year with a second-place finish to Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., after leading laps 18-86.
This weekend Francis, who sits second in the WoO LMS points standings, goes to the post in one of the Dale Beitler-owned Rocket cars that he's driven throughout the 2008 season. Beitler has never enjoyed a memorable World 100 finish as a car owner, but he did win the 2007 Dream with Steve Casebolt of Richmond, Ind., behind the wheel of his car.
Francis, who turns 41 on Sept. 10, failed to qualify for the Dream earlier this year after blowing a tire while challenging for a heat transfer spot. He put on a car owner's hat for the Dream A-Main to watch 2006 WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., steer his familiar Valvoline No. 15 to a fifth-place finish, but Francis will be leaving his own equipment home this weekend because McCreadie has entered the World 100 with his normal Sweeteners Plus ride.
CHUB FRANK, who won the World 100 in 2004, will bring his Lester Buildings Rocket car to the event sporting a limited-edition graphics and color scheme for the second consecutive year.
Last year Frank's machine carried a 'Chubzilla' motif, complete with bright green 'scales' and menacing Day-Glo orange 'eyes' for headlights. This weekend he'll break out a 'Chub's Army' graphics package, saluting U.S. troops with orange camouflage and headlights that resemble eyes looking through a gun's crosshairs.
Win or lose, Frank, 46, will sell loads of t-shirts, diecasts and other merchandise associated with his themed World 100 car. But he'd also like to stuff his pockets with the race's $41,000 winner's check, which would go a long way toward helping him right a 2008 season that hasn't been extremely successful for the Pennsy veteran.
Frank, who missed last year's World 100 A-Main field after slamming the first-turn wall during his heat race, finished ninth in June's Dream at Eldora. He wasn't as strong in this year's WoO LMS event at the Big E, however, placing a quiet 12th.
DARRELL LANIGAN of Union, Ky., would like nothing more than to punctuate what is looking like his first-ever WoO LMS championship season with a victory in the sport's most prestigious event.
With his impeccable consistency in 2008 giving him a commanding lead in the WoO LMS points standings with just six events remaining on the schedule, Lanigan will attempt to extend his success to the World 100. The 38-year-old has a Dream victory on his resume but is among the group of drivers with the most World 100 starts who has yet to win the Big One; he's made all but four World 100 A-Mains since 1990 with a top finish of second, in 1999.
Lanigan, whose Rocket No. 29 will carry the colors and logo of his new sponsor Fusion Energy, finished third in last year's World 100. But his 2008 starts at the half-mile haven't been memorable: he failed to qualify for the Dream after blowing a motor during heat action and finished a quiet eighth in the track's WoO LMS 'Subway 50.'
Perhaps no driver is on more 'Most Likely To Win A Major Event Soon' lists than JOSH RICHARDS of Shinnston, W.Va. He's just 20 years old but is already looking to start the World 100 for the fourth time.
The youngest World 100 qualifier ever when he made the 2005 field at the age of 17, Richards was in the mix for the win in 2006 before settling for fourth place. He only managed a 19th-place finish in last year's event, but he returns this weekend with his Mark Richards Racing Rocket No. 1 with memories of his July 'Subway 50' performance at Eldora still fresh in his mind. Richards, who is fourth in the 2008 WoO LMS points standings with four victories, finished fourth in Eldora's WoO LMS show but felt he could've challenged for the win if he hadn't picked the wrong lane on a mid-race restart.
SHANNON BABB of Moweaqua, Ill., knows what it feels like to cross the finish line first in a World 100 after doing just that in 2005.
Unfortunately, the 34-year-old doesn't know the joy of holding aloft the globe trophy in Victory Lane. His apparent triumph three years ago was stripped from him because his car weighed in light following the race.
Babb, who has officially finished as high as second in the World 100 (2006) and placed sixth in last year's event, will try to finally complete the job in the World 100 this weekend driving for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Clint Bowyer. The first-time WoO LMS regular has been strong in 100-lap events this season, including a victory in the $40,000-to-win Diamond Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., but he failed to qualify for this year's Dream and managed only a 13th-place finish in the Eldora's WoO LMS event.
RICK ECKERT of York, Pa., has won the Dream at Eldora, but his best finish in nine career World 100 feature starts is fourth, in 1999. Last year he qualified for the World 100 through a B-Main and finished 20th.
Eckert, 42, has struggled in his two Eldora appearances this season, failing to qualify for the Dream and finishing 14th in the WoO LMS event. But he enters this weekend's action running as formidably as he has all season, with top-five finishes in three of his last four starts on the WoO LMS, including a pair of thirds last weekend in Pennsylvania.
CLINT SMITH of Senoia, Ga., will strive to recapture the Eldora speed he flashed in 2006, when he finished a late-charging sixth in the World 100.
Smith, 43, hasn't enjoyed much success at Eldora this season. He failed to qualify for the Dream after being swept up in a heat-race tangle, and he placed 10th in the WoO LMS show.
The driver known as 'Cat Daddy' feels confident entering this weekend's competition after his reworked GRT car performed well in holiday-weekend WoO LMS events in Pennsylvania.
TIM FULLER of Watertown, N.Y., and VIC COFFEY of Leicester, N.Y., who sit ninth and 10th, respectively, in the WoO LMS points standings, do not plan to enter this year's World 100.
Fuller, who won the 2007 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Award, has opted to stay close to home to spend some time retooling his equipment for the fall events (he hasn't yet decided where he'll race). Coffey, the 2008 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year points leader, plans to enter a Saturday-night dirt Late Model event at Little Valley (N.Y.) Speedway - the site of his first career full-fender victory a year ago.
Time trials and non-qualifiers events for the World 100 are scheduled for Fri., Sept. 5. Heat races, last-chance events and the World 100 final will be run on Sat., Sept. 6.
Visit www.worldofoutlaws.com<http://www.worldofoutlaws.com/> this weekend for an update on the results of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series drivers in the World 100, and visit www.eldoraspeedway.com<http://www.eldoraspeedway.com/> for more information on the huge dirt Late Model event.