FRANKLIN, PA – Aug. 27, 2007 – Final-lap drama. Wild action. Controversy. Big, star-studded fields. Post-race fun.
 
Last year’s Oil Region Labor Day Classic at Pennsylvania’s Tri-City Speedway had it all – and it’s why this weekend’s version of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series doubleheader is so hotly anticipated.
 
If only Mother Nature will cooperate more than she did last year, then Tri-City’s two-day extravaganza of speed this Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 1-2) is sure to take off in the big way that co-promoters Roger Crick and Mike Graham have envisioned.
 
“We think that having a two-day World of Outlaws Late Model show over Labor Day weekend is something we can build into a major annual event for Tri-City Speedway,” said Graham, who has operated the half-mile oval with Crick since 1996. “Last year the weather definitely didn’t help us, but the racing was great and that has everybody pumped up for this weekend.”
 
Last year the remnants of Tropical Storm Ernesto hampered the Oil Region Labor Day Classic, pushing the program back one day, to Sunday and Monday, and creating unsettled, dreary conditions when the action finally did begin. But Graham said there’s no such weather system in sight for the 2007 version, so the prospects for a blockbuster holiday weekend are very bright.
 
“Everyone is excited for the weekend,” said Graham, who has posted nearly $100,000 in purse awards for the Classic’s pair of 50-lap, $10,000-to-win WoO LMS features (a complete show will be run each night). “People only get to see the Late Models once a year here at Tri-City, so they’re hungry for the Outlaws to come in.”
 
If the doubleheader even approaches the thrills that last year’s edition provided, then no one will go home disappointed. WoO LMS regulars Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., and Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., claimed memorable victories in last year’s pair of 50-lap A-Mains.
 
Frank, whose shop is roughly a half-hour drive from Tri-City Speedway, pulled off a last-lap win over 2005 WoO LMS champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., on the first night of last year’s Classic. He threw caution to the wind on the last circuit, blasting around the outside of turns three and four to take the lead from Moyer, who executed a stirring 360-degree spin in turn four after possible contact with Frank’s car.
 
“I never cracked the throttle – I just mashed it,” Frank said when asked to describe his last-lap heroics in last year’s event. “I just ran ‘er in there wide-open.
 
“It sure was exciting for me,” he added, “because I thought I was gonna wreck.”
 
A repeat performance this weekend by the 45-year-old Frank wouldn’t be surprising, considering his record of success at Tri-City. He’s won five times at the track since it was reopened in 1996, tying him with Dick Barton of Ashville, N.Y., for the most dirt Late Model victories over the past decade. (Tri-City last ran dirt Late Models regularly in 1997.)
 
Racing at a facility that’s close to home and familiar to him should also help Frank in the WoO LMS points standings. Chasing his first-ever Outlaws title, he enters the weekend ranked second in the standings, 38 points behind Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky. Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., is breathing down Frank’s neck in third place, 58 markers behind Francis.
 
Clanton, who is in a tight battle for fourth place in the WoO LMS standings with Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., and 2005 Oil Region Labor Day Classic winner Rick Eckert of York, Pa. (they are separated by only 16 points), recorded his first WoO LMS victory of 2006 on the second night of last year’s Classic weekend.
 
And Clanton’s triumph might have been even more exciting than Frank’s – a “spin-and-win that was pretty cool,” as Clanton fondly recalls.
 
Clanton, who started 13th, executed a 360-degree twirl between turns three and four after contact with Frank as they raced for the lead on lap 39. The ‘Locust Grove Lightning’ kept his position, but he was overtaken for the lead shortly thereafter by WoO LMS regular Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who appeared headed to victory until tangling with a lapped car as the white flag was displayed. After a caution flag, Clanton passed Lanigan’s damaged car for the top spot and marched on to a win that helped propel him to a career-high second-place finish in the 2006 WoO LMS points standings.
 
Will this weekend’s program match up to the 2006 edition? Clanton doesn’t see why not.
 
“It’s a pretty good racetrack,” Clanton said of Tri-City. “Hopefully they get the top (groove) wet down some, and then you’ll be able to race all over it.”
 
A host of talented regional dirt Late Model stars have plans to challenge the WoO LMS travelers, led by Robbie Blair of Titusville, Pa. The champion of the last full dirt Late Model season run at Tri-City (1997), Blair scored finishes of second and third in last year’s Classis A-Mains.
 
Other top racers expected include Barton; Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., who came within five laps of winning the WoO LMS event on July 28 at Ohio’s Sharon Speedway; Dave Hess Jr. of Waterford, Pa.; Dutch Davies of Warren, Pa.; Brent Rhebergen of Clymer, N.Y.; and Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa., a former WoO LMS Crew Chief of the Year when he worked with Chub Frank.
 
The WoO LMS will run a complete program – time trials, heat races, B-Mains and a 50-lap A-Main – on both Saturday and Sunday. Support classes each evening will be the track’s E-Mods and Pro-Stocks.
 
Gates are scheduled to open at 2 p.m. both days. WoO LMS time trials will begin at 4 p.m., and then track crews will work on the speedway surface before heat races start at 6 p.m.
 
Adult grandstand admission will be $30 each night, or a two-day ticket can be purchased for $50. Pit admission will be $35 each night, with a two-day ticket available for $60.
 
Adding to the weekend’s fun, following Saturday night’s program Engles Trucking and Ray’s Racing Specialties will sponsor the ‘South Ghetto’ party in the parking lot, featuring a huge bonfire and the band ‘Intent’ performing live.
 
There is no admission charge to enjoy the camaraderie of the ‘South Ghetto’ party and band, and there will be free camping at the speedway all weekend for those attending the races.
 
For more information, contact the track office at 814-473-4038 or visit www.tricityspeedway.com.
 
Tri-City Speedway is located seven miles north of Franklin, Pa., off State Route 417.
 
For more information on the WoO LMS, log on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.