Barberville, FL— February 6, 2008--By: Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director
The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series open their 2008 season this weekend with the 37
th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park, beginning on Friday night and running for three consecutive nights. The series has competed at the half-mile eight times dating back to 1981 and eight different drivers have earned A-Feature victories. Each of the A-Feature events this year will pay $10,000-to win, with a field of over 50 drivers expected each night.
2007 Event Recap:
A new format greeted the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series competitors in 2007 at Volusia Speedway Park in the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals, with the biggest changes being the Top-Two finishers in each heat race moved directly into the dash, with the final two positions in the 10-car dash going to the fastest two drivers from time trials who were not first or second, but did transfer from their heat into the A-Feature.
The year began the same way that 2006 ended, with reigning series champion Donny Schatz in victory lane, but not before a battle with Joey Saldana.
Saldana got the jump at the start and opened up a sizeable advantage in the first five laps. As the pair entered lapped traffic, Schatz began to steadily chip away at the lead, after battling Danny Lasoski for the second spot. On the 12th lap, Schatz went low to take the lead in turn one. Saldana quickly battled back with a slide job, momentarily taking the lead back, before Schatz powered to the low side of the second turn to make the pass for the lead and ultimately the win.
Schatz masterfully worked his way through traffic as the laps wound down, in an event that went all 25 laps, green-to-checker in just under seven minutes. It was his 52nd career World of Outlaws A-Feature triumph.
On the second night of the season, Kerry Madsen earned his first career World of Outlaws A-Feature triumph. The win was bittersweet, as just days later his car owner Dave Helm passed away in California.
Madsen led at the drop of the initial green, but before a single lap was complete, there was a caution. With a complete restart in order, Madsen again powered his way to the high side of turn one and led the opening circuit.
Danny Lasoski, found the high side of the track to his liking on the second lap, as he powered his way around Madsen. He led four laps before Madsen retook the point on the sixth lap. Lasoski battled back for a number of laps and made a late charge, to finish second.
The Alltel DIRTcar National concluded with Daryn Pittman taking his first win of the season and Donny Schatz heading out of the Sunshine state as the series point leader.
After winning the dash to earn the pole position for the 30-lap event, he held off a hard charging Tim Kaeding and Schatz, in heavy lapped traffic. The pair staged a fierce battle for the second spot in the late going as they chased Pittman, who used strong restarts twice in the late going to pull away. The $12,000 triumph was the 20th of his career with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.
Craig Dollansky was crowned the overall Alltel DIRTcar Nationals champion for 2007 after earning Top-10 finishes in five of the six sprint car events contested during the full week of action.
2007 Alltel DIRTcar Nationals ResultsWorld of Outlaws Sprint Series A-main results; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, FLFebruary 9:A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#] 1) 15-Donny Schatz[1]
2) 9-Joey Saldana[2]
3) 83-Danny Lasoski[3]
4) 7-Craig Dollansky[6]
5) 11K-Tim Kaeding[9]
6) 21-Daryn Pittman[5]
7) R19-Jason Solwold[4]
8) D1-Justin Henderson[7]
9) 2-Brooke Tatnell[16]
10) 35-Jac Haudenschild[24]
11) 11-Steve Kinser[15]
12) 89-Cody Darrah[8]
13) 11H-Kerry Madsen[18]
14) 24-Terry McCarl[21]
15) 1X-Randy Hannagan[17]
16) 70-Chad Kemenah[13]
17) 20W-Greg Wilson[19]
18) 20-Paul McMahan[11]
19) 8K-Zach Chappell[20]
20) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[23]
21) 36-Jason Martin[26]
22) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[10]
23) 6T-Tim Shaffer[22]
24) 6S-Brad Sweet[14]
25) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[25]
26) 22-Greg Hodnett[12]
Lap Leaders: Joey Saldana 1-11, Donny Schatz 12-25
February 10A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#] 1) 11H-Kerry Madsen[2] [$8000]
2) 83-Danny Lasoski[6] [$4000]
3) 15-Donny Schatz[5] [$2500]
4) 7-Craig Dollansky[7] [$2200]
5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe[1] [$2100]
6) 1Z-Dusty Zomer[4] [$2000]
7) 20-Paul McMahan[10] [$1800]
8) 2-Brooke Tatnell[3] [$1600]
9) 24-Terry McCarl[13] [$1500]
10) 9-Joey Saldana[11] [$1300]
11) W20-Greg Wilson[8] [$1200]
12) 6S-Brad Sweet[9] [$1100]
13) 11-Steve Kinser[14] [$1000]
14) 21-Daryn Pittman[25] [$700]
15) 35-Jac Haudenschild[26] [$600]
16) 51-Fred Rahmer[15] [$600]
17) 8K-Zach Chappell[18] [$600]
18) 70-Chad Kemenah[19] [$600]
19) 5C-Chad Hillier[24] [$600]
20) 4-Danny Smith[16] [$600]
21) 22-Greg Hodnett[21] [$500]
22) 6T-Tim Shaffer[23] [$500]
23) 14-Jason Meyers[17] [$500]
24) 7S-Jason Sides[12] [$500]
25) R19-Jason Solwold[22] [$500] 26)
25-Lance Dewease[20] [$500]
Lap Leaders Kerry Madsen 1, 6-25; Danny Lasoski 2-5
February 11A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#] 1) 21-Daryn Pittman[1] [$12000]
2) 11K-Tim Kaeding[2] [$5500]
3) 15-Donny Schatz[6] [$4000]
4) 24-Terry McCarl[8] [$3000]
5) 6T-Tim Shaffer[7] [$2700]
6) 83-Danny Lasoski[4] [$2400]
7) 7S-Jason Sides[3] [$2100]
8) 9-Joey Saldana[24] [$2000]
9) 11H-Kerry Madsen[15] [$1900]
10) 51-Fred Rahmer[5] [$1800]
11) 14-Jason Meyers[21] [$1700]
12) 2-Brooke Tatnell[23] [$1600]
13) 7-Craig Dollansky[14] [$1500]
14) 6S-Brad Sweet[9] [$1200]
15) 20-Paul McMahan[25] [$300]
16) 5C-Chad Hillier[16] [$1000]
17) R19-Jason Solwold[13] [$900]
18) 28-Brian Paulus[19] [$850]
19) 1x-Randy Hannagan[18] [$800]
20) W20-Greg Wilson[20] [$800]
21) 35-Jac Haudenschild[26] [$0]
22) 70-Chad Kemenah[10] [$800]
23) 22-Greg Hodnett[17] [$800]
24) 11-Steve Kinser[22] [$800]
25) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[11] [$800]
26) 89-Cody Darrah[12] [$800]
Lap Leader Daryn Pittman, 1-30
Past A-Feature Winners:2007- Donny Schatz on Feb. 9, Kerry Madsen on Feb. 10, Daryn Pittman on Feb. 10 2006- Chad Kemenah on Feb. 9, Joey Saldana on Feb. 10
2005-Jeff Shepard on Feb. 11, Steve Kinser on Feb. 13
1981- Doug Wolfgang on Feb. 9
2007 Final Top-10 in Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Points1. Donny Schatz- 10,510
2. Joey Saldana- 10,373
3. Danny Lasoski- 9,937
4. Daryn Pittman- 9,878
5. Jason Meyers- 9,878
6. Steve Kinser- 9,811
7. Craig Dollansky- 9,650
8. Paul McMahan- 9,530
9. Tim Shaffer- 9,410
10. Jason Solwold- 9,394
What to look for this year at Volusia Speedway Park:*Seven drivers that have won with the series at the half-mile will be in action over the course of the three day event
*Donny Schatz led the series with nine wins on half-mile tracks in 2007 and won at Volusia on Tuesday night with the All Star Circuit of Champions
* On half-mile tracks last season with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, 12 different drivers earned A-Feature wins
*Three of the Top-Seven drivers in points from last year are with new teams this year (Donny Schatz, Danny Lasoski and Craig Dollansky)
*Over 20 drivers will begin the season full-time with the series in 2008, making it one of the deepest fields of cars assembled in the series history
* A majority of Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series drivers began the week by competing with the All Star Circuit of Champions at Volusia
* Danny Lasoski and Joey Saldana are two of the winningest drivers at Volusia Speedway Park in their careers * Competing in the event will be 11 of the last 12 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winners with the series
*Drivers competing in the season opening trio of events have accounted for 23 series championships
*The 37
th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals will begin the 30
th Anniversary season for the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
By the Numbers- 37th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park0.5- Miles around Volusia Speedway Park
3- Nights of racing for the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at the half-mile
4- NASCAR Nationwide Series races held at Volusia from 1989-1992, under the name of Volusia County Speedway
5- Drives that led laps in A-Feature competition last season at the half-mile
6- Total nights of sprint car racing for the World of Outlaws and the All Star Circuit of Champions at Volusia Speedway Park; Current World of Outlaws drivers that have won at Volusia Speedway Park with the series
8- Winners at the track in the same number of World of Outlaws events
9- Degrees of banking on the track; Former Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winners that will be competing in the event; Drivers that won heat races last season at Volusia Speedway Park with the World of Outlaws
12- Consecutive night of racing during the 2008 Alltel DIRTcar Nationals
12.948- Track record established byJason Solwold in time trials on February 6, 2007
14-Laps led by two-time defending World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz to win on the opening night of the season last year at the track
15- Miles to Daytona Beach from Volusia Speedway Park
16- Different states that World of Outlaws drivers hail from
21- Laps led by Kerry Madsen to earn his first career World of Outlaws A-Feature win on the second night of the Florida DIRTcar Nationals in 2007
23- World of Outlaws championships that will be accounted for by drivers participating in the Florida DIRTcar Nationals
30- Consecutive seasons the World of Outlaws have been sanctioning sprint car racing; Laps led by Daryn Pittman en route to winning the finale of the three-day event last season
37- Number of consecutive years that the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals have taken place, including this season
56- Drivers that took part in the World of Outlaws portion of the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals last season
75- Feet- width of the racing surface at Volusia Speedway Park
1981- Year that the first World of Outlaws event was held at the track
10,000- Dollars the winner will receive on February 8; Dollars the winner will receive on February 9; Dollars the winner will receive on February 10
Next Up: A trip to Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Mississippi on Saturday, February 16, followed by a trek to the West Coast for two nights of action at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California on February 22 and 23.
The 30
th anniversary Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season begins on February 8, 2008 with the 37
th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park, with tickets available at:
http://www.VolusiaSpeedwayPark.com.
Fans unable to attend the spectacular week at Volusia can still catch all the action on the DIRTVision Cybercast. For just $29.99 fans can purchase the 'Alltel DIRTcar Nationals Racepass' and watch live streaming video of all 12 nights of racing action. Log on to
www.dirtvision.com for more information.
Headquartered in Roanoke, Va., Advance Auto Parts is the second-largest retailer of automotive aftermarket parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items in the United States, based on store count and sales. As of October 6, 2007, the company operated 3,228 stores in 40 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The company serves both the do-it-yourself and professional installer markets.
