BEDFORD, PA – Sept. 19, 2007 – Friday night’s first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model visit to Bedford Speedway will bring back plenty of memories for Rick Eckert.

But the York, Pa., star is mostly hoping that the biggest dirt Late Model event in the facility’s long history gives him a hometrack edge he can ride to a slump-busting victory.
 
It’s been a frustrating year for Eckert, who has not won a WoO LMS A-Main this season. But he could get a big-time morale boost if he ends his 51-race WoO LMS losing streak at a track that’s close to his heart.
 
“Bedford would be a great place to get that first win of the year,” said Eckert, whose last WoO LMS triumph came on July 8, 2006, at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. “I really started racing Late Models at Lincoln Speedway (in Abbottstown, Pa.), but then I moved to Bedford and won the title there four years in-a-row. I had a lot of good nights at Bedford.”
 
Yes, Eckert, 41, owned the half-mile fairgrounds oval from 1989-1992, winning the championship each season and becoming the track’s alltime winningest dirt Late Model driver in the process. He has 22 career victories at Bedford, which still ranks him third on the alltime win list behind Scott Haus of Hamburg, Pa. (32) and Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa. (24).
 
Eckert’s success at Bedford helped launch him into a career as a fulltime dirt Late Model traveler, so he’s “probably only been back to race there four or five times in the last 15 years.” His last triumph at Bedford came on April 25, 1993 – back when his daughter Courtney, who recently began her freshman year at Millersville (Pa.) University, was just four years old.
 
Two months ago, on July 13, Eckert dropped in at Bedford for a Mid-Atlantic Championship Series event and finished third. Since then his Raye Vest-owned team has switched to a GRT chassis and hired a new crewman (Chad Curran of Conway, Ark.), but Eckert’s familiarity with the unique speedway remains the same.
 
“It’s a neat place,” said Eckert, who sits sixth in the WoO LMS points standings with six events left on the 2007 schedule. “The facility is improved from when I ran there all the time, but the racetrack itself is the same. It’s and up- and down-hill track – the backstretch goes uphill, and then you come off (turn) four and go downhill.
 
“It’s a challenge to get around the place. You just try to get good at the end (of the track) that everybody is bad in – that way it makes it easier to pass.”
 
Eckert, whose home is about a two-hour drive from Bedford, will have plenty of family support on Friday night. The virtual hometown race means that his parents will load up their ‘Eckert Racing Bus’ with family and friends – mostly family – and bring an entire cheering section to root ‘Scrub’ on.
 
“It’s always fun when you get to race back around home,” said Eckert, whose 15 career WoO LMS victories is tied with Scott Bloomquist for the most since 2004.
 
Eckert will face plenty of tough competition in Friday night’s $10,000-to-win ‘Bedford 50.’
 
No one on the tour is hotter than WoO LMS points leader Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., who enters the weekend riding a hot streak that has him poised to win his first championship. He leads Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who won a STARS/Renegade Series event at Bedford in 2000, by 54 points, which means he can assure himself the title if he finishes among the top-five in all remaining events this season.
 
Other WoO LMS travelers headed for Bedford include Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga.; Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.; Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va.; Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky.; and Rookie of the Year contenders Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., and Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill.
 
Top regional and local drivers expected include Haus; Stuhler; Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa; 2007 Bedford track champ Jack Pencil of Bedford; Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio; Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa.; Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., who returns to the WoO LMS after scoring an emotional upset victory on Sept. 2 at Tri-City Speedway; Bo Feathers and Ronnie DeHaven Jr., both of Winchester, Va.; Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del.; D.J. Myers of Winchester, Va.; Scott Rhodes of Somerset, Pa.; Wayne Johnson; Dave Troutman; and Eric Zembower.
 
Bedford’s gates are scheduled to open at 4 p.m. on Friday. Hot laps are set for 7 p.m. and WoO LMS time trials will begin at 7:30 p.m., with racing to follow.
 
General admission tickets are $30 and pit passes are $40. Camping and parking is free, and utility hookups are available for a minimal fee.
 
For more information about Bedford Speedway, call the speedway office at 814-623-0500 of visit www.bedfordspeedway.com.