* The World of Outlaws Late Model Series returns to action this weekend with a highly-anticipated three-race swing through the Midwest, visiting Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway on Fri., Sept. 14; I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., on Sat., Sept. 15; and La Salle (Ill.) Speedway on Sun., Sept. 16.

 

The ‘Paducah 50’ at PIR and the annual ‘Pepsi Nationals’ at I-55 Raceway will feature 50-lap A-Mains paying $10,000 to win, and Sunday evening’s ‘Best Western Illinois Fall Nationals’ at La Salle will be headlined by a 40-lap A-Main offering $7,000 to its victor.

 

 

* On Friday at Paducah International Raceway, pit gates will open at 4 p.m. and the grandstands at 5 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to start at approximately 6:30 p.m., with WoO LMS qualifying at 7 p.m. and racing commencing about 7:30 p.m.

 

* I-55 Raceway’s gates will be unlocked at 4 p.m. on Saturday, with hot laps set for 6 p.m. and WoO LMS time trials at 6:30 p.m. Racing is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

 

* For La Salle’s early-evening program on Sunday, pit gates will open at 2 p.m. and the grandstand gates open at 4 p.m. Practice is scheduled to get the green flag at 5 p.m., followed by WoO LMS time trials at 5:30 p.m. and racing action at 6 p.m.

 

 

* Paducah International Raceway is a three-eighths-mile oval owned by NASCAR Stars Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ken Schrader and Tony Stewart and Track Enterprises’ Bob Sargent. Earnhardt, Schrader and Sargent purchased the oval in November 2005, and two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Tony Stewart joined as a partner in September 2006.

 

The track, which has been revitalized under its new ownership group, is located off Exit 11 of Interstate 24 in Paducah, Ky.

 

* I-55 Raceway is a fast, high-banked one-third-mile oval that is owned by NASCAR veteran Kenny Schrader. It is located off Pevely Exits 180 and 178 of Interstate 55, about a half-hour south of downtown St. Louis.

 

* La Salle Speedway is a high-banked, quarter-mile oval centrally located on US Rt. 6 in the ‘Land of Lincoln,’ 60 miles west of Joliet, 80 miles east of the Quad Cities, 70 miles south of Rockford and 60 miles north of Bloomington.

 

Sunday’s event at La Salle is being promoted by Sargent’s Track Enterprises, which also ran the UMP DIRTcar Racing Summernationals show that was held at the track earlier this year, on July 12.

 

 

* Tickets for Paducah’s event are $25 for adults, with kids 12 and under $5. Pit passes will be $35.

 

* I-55 Raceway is offering reserved seats for $30, with general admission tickets $25 and kids 12 and under admitted free in general admission sections. Pit passes will be $35.

 

* For La Salle Speedway’s ‘Illinois Fall Nationals’ program, grandstand admission for adults is $25 and $5 for children 11 and under. Pit passes will be $35.

 

 

* For more information about Paducah International Raceway, call the PIR hotline at 270-448-4PIR; the track at 270-898-SHOW (7469); or log on to www.paducahinternationalraceway.com or www.paducahracing.com.

 

* Information about I-55 Raceway is available by calling 636-479-3219 or visiting www.i55raceway.com.

 

* For more details about La Salle’s ‘Illinois Fall Nationals,’ contact Track Enterprises at 217-764-3200; La Salle Speedway at 815-223-6939; or visit www.trackenterprises.com

 

* The WoO LMS will be making its first-ever appearances at both Paducah and La Salle, but the tour is returning to I-55 Raceway after a year’s absence. Billy Moyer was victorious in the only WoO LMS event previously run at I-55 – the 2005 Pepsi Nationals, held on Sept. 17 of that year.

 

 

* Steve Francis, discussing his mindset for the stretch run to the $100,000 WoO LMS points title: “I can tell you right now, we’re gonna run the rest of the year for wins. If we win the points deal we win it, and if we don’t, we don’t. If I win or lose this thing, I’m gonna win or lose it going out to win. I’m not gonna try to go out and win or lose it running fourth or fifth.”

 

* Brian Shirley, on competing at tracks he’s familiar with: “It gives you a little more comfortable situation, but all these guys are still just as tough as they are everywhere else. Being back home and being on the tires we’re more used to running (all three events will use the UMP DIRTcar Racing Hoosier 20/40 tire rule) will hopefully let us go to a couple races without a learning curve. We’ll be able to have our guns wide open ready to fight, I guess.”

 

* Bidding for his first career WoO LMS championship, Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., leads the WoO LMS standings entering the Midwestern weekend. He is coming off a win and a second-place finish in the last WoO LMS events – a doubleheader on Sept. 1-2 at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa. – that pushed his points lead to 52 markers over Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa.

 

* Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., has held at least a share of the WoO LMS points lead after 17 events this season, but he’s fallen to third place in the standings, 78 points behind Francis. He has hopes that he can get back on track with a trip to the Midwest, considering all three of his WoO LMS victories this season have come at tracks in middle America – Kamp Motor Speedway in Boswell, Ind., Belleville (Kans.) High Banks and Missouri’s Lebanon I-44 Speedway.

 

* Josh Richards, the 19-year-old sensation from Shinnston, W.Va., figures to be a pre-race favorite. He has already seen action this season at Paducah, finishing fourth in a ‘NASCAR Night’ feature on July 31 driving an Ed Petroff-owned Rocket car as a teammate to Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill. Richards also served as PIR co-owner Tony Stewart’s crew chief that evening, turning the wrenches on Stewart’s Tracker Boats/Bass Pro Shops Rocket No. 20.

 

Richards raced in the heart of the Midwest just over one week ago, steering a Tony Stewart-owned Chevy to a third-place finish in the ARCA RE/MAX ‘Southern Illinois 100’ at the DuQuion (Ill.) State Fairgrounds one-mile dirt oval.

 

* WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender Brian Shirley, who has done extensive traveling this season to enter 28 of the 35 tour events to date, will finally have a chance to race close to home. He’s very excited about the weekend – especially the shows at Paducah and I-55, two tracks he knows quite well.

 

Almost exactly one year ago Shirley won the MARS DIRTcar Series-sanctioned USA World 50 at Paducah, and he’s captured several special events at I-55 during his short dirt Late Model career. Shirley also finished third in the 2005 WoO LMS event held at I-55, a sign that he had the talent to battle the touring stars.

 

Shirley is currently trailing Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., in the WoO LMS Rookie of the Year chase, 3,685-3,294. The title will be determined using a driver’s best 30 finishes; Fuller has already reached the 30-race mark and is now replacing his worst finishes, while Shirley will hit that standard on Saturday at I-55 Raceway.

 

* Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who has four WoO LMS wins this season and ranks 10^th in the tour points standings, will be back in action with the series. He is planning to enter all three events to help shore up his hold on 10^th place in the standings – the last spot that offers points-fund cash at the end of the season.

 

* The WoO LMS travelers will face some stiff competition from at least a half-dozen well-known drivers who are expected to enter all three events, including 2005 WoO LMS champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark.; recent Topless 100 winner Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis.; former UMP DIRTcar Racing Summernationals champ Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind.; and Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis.

 

Other talented drivers expected to compete in weekend events include Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa; 2007 UMP DIRTcar Racing Summernationals champ Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill.; Jeep VanWormer of Pinconning, Mich.; 2006 UMP national Late Model titlist Randy Korte of Highland, Ill.; and Steve Sheppard Jr. of New Berlin, Ill.

* The influx of regional and local standouts who compete in the weekend events will chase a $500 WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ award in each night’s A-Main. The cash will go to the highest-finishing driver who is not ranked among the current top-12 in the WoO LMS point standings and has never won a WoO feature will.

 

 

* This weekend’s swing continues the WoO LMS ‘Race to the World Finals.’ Scheduled for Nov. 1-3, the highly-anticipated inaugural ‘Outlaws World Finals’ is a WoO Late Model/Sprint Car doubleheader that will close both divisions’ points battles at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

 

 

* Fans who can’t make it to the track can listen to the action live thanks to the DIRT Radio Network, which will broadcast the weekend’s races over the internet.

 

To listen to the free audio broadcast, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo.

 

Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. Those who sign up for a free membership can enjoy advanced features while listening to the races, such as text chat and live scoring via AMB.it.

 

* Before heading out to La Salle Speedway this Sunday (Sept. 16), fans can tune their televisions to the SPEED cable network to watch the tour’s July 28 National Interstate Speedweek finale at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. The event will be broadcast from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET.

 

 

* Log on to the WoO LMS website at www.worldofoutlaws.com.

 

1. Steve Francis 2-19-31-$94,900-4,822 (-0)
 

2. Chub Frank 5-15-28-$105,855-4,770 (-52)

3. Clint Smith 3-14-26-$100,100-4,736 (-86)

4. Josh Richards 3-10-22-$85,832-4,686 (-136)

5. Shane Clanton 2-13-24-$81,197-4,684 (-138)

6. Rick Eckert 0-11-21-$68,410-4,662 (-160)

7. Darrell Lanigan 2-7-22-$71,290-4,394 (-428)

8. Tim Fuller 1-8-12-$63,805-3,835 (-987)

9. Brian Shirley 1-3-9-$43,884-3,294 (-1528)

10. Shannon Babb 4-11-14-$75,035-3,190 (-1632)

11. Eddie Carrier Jr. 0-2-5-$23,720-2,571 (-2251)

12. Chris Madden 2-8-12-$89,215-2,379 (-2443)

13. Billy Moyer 1-9-11-$41,175-2,237 (-2585)

14. Roy Mitchell 0-0-0-$8,280-1,790 (-3032)

15. Brian Birkhofer 0-1-5-$20,910-1,738 (-3084)

16. John Blankenship 0-0-0-$10,720-1,663 (-3159)

17. Jimmy Mars 0-4-6-$22,830-1,397 (-3425)

18. Dan Stone 1-1-3-$17,305-1,340 (-3482)

19. Dennis Erb Jr. 2-4-6-$31,700-1,295 (-3527)

20. Billy Decker 0-0-1-$7,390-1,267 (-3555)