CONCORD, NC – Nov. 16, 2007 – 
 
SELECT COMPANY: In 2007 Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., became the fourth driver to win the World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship, joining an all-star group that includes Billy Moyer (1988, 1989, 2005), Scott Bloomquist (2004) and Tim McCreadie (2006).
 
IMPECCABLE PERFORMANCE: There’s no secret as to how Francis was able to claim the WoO LMS points title by the largest winning margin (126 points over second-place Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa.) since the current points system came into use in 2004.
 
Just consider some of the key statistical categories that he topped in the 2007 season, which included 44 A-Mains.
 
Francis, 40, led all drivers with 27 top-five finishes (Frank was second with 19); 40 top-10 finishes (Frank was next with 34); and an average A-Main finish of 5.79 (Frank was second at 8.0). He also completed the most laps (2,281 of a possible 2,350) and registered the most consecutive lead-lap finishes – an amazing 38 consecutive (no other drivers strung together more than 19 in a row) spanning from the Circle K Colossal 100 on April 21 to the season-finale ‘Outlaws World Finals’ on Nov. 3, both at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.
 
The ‘Kentucky Colonel’ failed to finish just two A-Mains this season – March 24 at Columbus (Miss.) Speedway (broken driveshaft while leading on lap four) and April 17 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (rearend problems while running fourth on lap 27). He completed every lap in each of the other 42 A-Mains.
 
CHECKERED FLAGS: Chub Frank was the tour’s winningest driver for the first time in his career, recording six victories.
 
It was a personal single-season high on the WoO LMS for Frank, who won in Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
 
Frank’s checkered-flag total was the lowest for a top winner in the history of the WoO LMS – a testament to the competitiveness of the 2007 tour. A record 19 different drivers reached Victory Lane, including 11 who recorded two or more victories.
 
There were seven first-time WoO LMS winners in 2007: Dennis Erb Jr., Brian Harris, Tim Fuller, Patrick Sheltra, Brian Shirley, Dan Stone and Jeep VanWormer. Donnie Moran also scored his first series victory since 2004, but he did win twice during the tour’s first incarnation (1988-89) under the direction of late WoO Sprint Series founder Ted Johnson.
 
TIME ON TOP: Francis controlled the WoO LMS points lead from June 30 at Lernerville Speedway to the conclusion of the season (20 straight events), but four other drivers held at least a share of the top spot in the standings during the campaign.
 
Francis held the points lead after the most events (24). Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., was next (17), followed by Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill. (seven), Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. (two) and Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga. (one).
 
There was one three-way tie for the points lead (Francis, Smith and Richards after the season’s second event), and a tie among two drivers after five events. The last tie was among Francis and Smith following the June 24 event at Cayuga County Fair Speedway in Weedsport, N.Y.
 
STEADY, BUT NOT STRONG ENOUGH: York, Pa., standout Rick Eckert’s failure to win an A-Main was one of the most unlikely stories of the 2007 WoO LMS campaign and left him extremely disappointed with his season, but he did show a healthy dose of durability.
 
Eckert led the tour in one non-so-insignificant category: fewest DNFs. He was running at the finish of all but one A-Main (an early tangle knocked him out of the Circle K Colossal 100 on April 21), allowing him to finish second to Francis in laps completed (2,251 of a possible 2,350 laps).
 
THEN THERE WERE FIVE: Eckert and Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, experienced winless seasons on the WoO LMS for the first time since the tour was rekindled under the World Racing Group banner in 2004.
 
Thus Shane Clanton, Steve Francis, Chub Frank, Darrell Lanigan and Billy Moyer are now the only drivers who have won at least one A-Main in each WoO LMS campaign since 2004.
 
BUSY SEASON: The 2007 WoO LMS contested 44 A-Mains at 36 tracks in 22 states and one Canadian province (Quebec).
 
There were eight events held in Pennsylvania; four in North Carolina; three in Illinois and Indiana; two in Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia; and one each in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, North Dakota and Wisconsin. One event was run in the Canadian province of Quebec.
 
Eight scheduled events were canceled during the season and not rescheduled. Weather wiped out shows at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park (Feb. 15), New Egypt (N.J.) Speedway (April 13), New York’s Stateline Speedway (June 27), Mississippi’s Pike County Speedway (July 6-7), Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park (July 25) and Ohio’s K-C Raceway (Aug. 25). In addition, a concession stand fire in April at Ohio’s Wayne County Speedway forced the cancellation of the track’s May 5 date plus the companion event scheduled at Ohio’s Raceway 7 on May 4.
 
LOTS OF CARS: The average WoO LMS field in 2007 numbered a healthy 44 cars.
 
What’s more, a total of 671 drivers entered at least one WoO LMS event this season, and 293 drivers competed in A-Main action.
 
MUCHO DINERO: This season’s WoO LMS purse payouts totaled over $2.4 million.
 
Six events paid to win than a standard WoO LMS purse – the Circle K Colossal 100 ($50,000) and the Jani-King Southern Showdown ($18,000) at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway ($50,000); the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville ($30,000); the Scorcher 100 and Tennessee Fall Brawl 100 at Volunteer Speedway ($20,000 each); and the 60th Anniversary Classic at Hagerstown Speedway ($12,000).
 
Six drivers reached six-figures in purse earnings on the ’07 tour, led by Francis with $143,575. He was followed by Frank ($129,780), Clint Smith ($121,075), Bloomquist ($110,288), Richards ($105,707) and Babb ($102,295).
 
HARD CHARGER: The deepest in the starting field that a driver came from to win a WoO LMS A-Main this season was 19th – Mooresburg, Tenn.’s Scott Bloomquist on Nov. 2 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He even pitted early in that event and restarted at the rear.
 
Other drivers who won from double-digit starting spots included Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill. (11th on May 12 at Wisconsin’s Charter Raceway Park), Clint Smith (10th on July 3 at Missouri’s Lebanon I-44 Speedway), and Francis (11th on Sept. 14 at Kentucky’s Paducah International Raceway).
 
Eleven A-Mains were won from the pole position, but only six of those victors led the event from flag-to-flag.
 
The average starting spot for an WoO LMS A-Main winner in 2007 was 4.21.
 
BACK IN THE LEAD: After going winless on the tour in limited appearances one year ago, Bloomquist scored three triumphs in 2007 to reclaim the status of winningest WoO LMS driver since 2004.
 
Bloomquist ended the season atop the win list for the tour’s World Racing Group-era (2004-2007), with 16 victories. Eckert sits second (15) and Francis is third (14).
 
Moyer is the alltime WoO LMS feature winner, with 31 career wins. He won 22 races in 1988-89 and nine more over the past four seasons.
 
TALENTED ROOKIES: Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., won the 2007 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Award over Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., by 162 points (3,924-3,762).
 
The title was determined using a driver’s best 30 finishes.
 
Fuller, 40, and Shirley, 26, also made history in ’07. Both drivers won A-Mains – Fuller on June 12 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., and Shirley on May 13 at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway – marking the first time that two rookies captured WoO LMS events.
 
Josh Richards (2005) was the only driver who had previously won an A-Main while chasing the WoO LMS Rookie of the Year honor.
 
CHASSIS BATTLE: Six dirt Late Model chassis companies claimed victories in WoO LMS A-Mains during the 2007 season.
 
Rocket Chassis led the way with 19 wins (divided among Frank, Francis, Richards, Clanton, Lanigan and Fuller). Rayburn was second with 10 wins (Babb, Erb, Moyer, Shirley and Patrick Sheltra), followed by Bloomquist Chassis with five (Bloomquist and Chris Madden); MasterSbilt with five (Earl Pearson Jr., Brian Harris, Jeep VanWormer and Donnie Moran); GRT with four (Clint Smith); and BRC Lazer with one (Dan Stone).
 
MORE MONEY COMING: The top-10 drivers in the 2007 points standings will share nearly $400,000 in points-fund cash during the World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘Night of Champions’ Awards Banquet on Thurs., Dec. 6, at the International Plaza Resort and Spa in Orlando, Fla.
 
Francis will receive $100,000 for winning the title at the gala affair, which is being held in conjunction with the Performance Racing Industry trade show for the first time.
 
This will be the third different site in four years for the WoO LMS Awards Banquet. It was held in Tunica, Miss., in 2004 and Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2005 and 2006 – immediately following the season-ending races on each occasion.
 
ETCETERA…
 
* Six drivers had perfect attendance on the ’07 tour: Steve Francis, Chub Frank, Clint Smith, Shane Clanton, Rick Eckert and Josh Richards. Darrell Lanigan, meanwhile, didn’t enter one event, and Rookie of the Year contenders Tim Fuller and Brian Shirley each entered 37 programs.
 
* Clanton proved his 2007 qualifying strength by registering the best average time-trial position of the top-10 drivers in the final points standings. A National Interstate Insurance Fast Time Award winner four times, his average position of 10.35 just nipped Josh Richards (10.54).
 
* Shannon Babb earned the $1,000 bonus from National Interstate Insurance for rolling up the most Fast Time Awards in ’07, finishing the year with six.
 
* Twenty-three different drivers won a National Interstate Insurance Fast Time Award this season.
 
* No driver was able to win more than two consecutive A-Mains. Three drivers earned back-to-back victories: Babb (Virginia Motor Speedway/Lernerville Speedway); Frank (I-96 Speedway/Delaware International Speedway); and Richards (Hagerstown Speedway/Eriez Speedway).
 
* Babb, Frank and Francis tied for the fewest B-Main appearances of the top-10 drivers, running a last-chance event five times each. Eckert, Fuller and Shirley made the most B-Main starts, with 14 apiece.
 
* Richards was the only top-10 driver who didn’t use a single provisional to start an A-Main all season. Francis, meanwhile, relied on a points provisional twice.
 
* Babb and Francis led all drivers with five consecutive top-five finishes. Francis managed to rip off five in-a-row twice, including the final five A-Mains of the 2007 season.
 
* Clanton recorded the most consecutive top-10 finishes, putting together a string of 17 straight from May 18 at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich., to July 26 at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. Francis had the second-longest top-10 streak, with 16.
 
* Francis continued to reign supreme on the heat-race wins front, scoring a series-leading 18 in 2007, including his 50th career prelim victory early in the season.
 
* Fifty-three different drivers won at least one heat race on the tour.
 
* Eckert and Shirley recorded the most B-Main victories, capturing five apiece.
 
* There were 52 different B-Main winners in 2007.
 
* Richards won a career-high four A-Mains – and he led from flag-to-flag in each event. His stranglehold on first place in those shows helped him lead more laps than any other driver in 2007 (304 laps).
 
* Thirty-two drivers led at least one lap this season in WoO LMS A-Main competition.
 
* Francis and Eckert ended the season as the only drivers who have started all 154 WoO LMS A-Mains run since 2004.
 
For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.