Already the host of a World of Outlaws Sprint Car event earlier this year, the three-eighths-mile oval co-owned by NASCAR stars Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ken Schrader and Tony Stewart and well-known promoter Bob Sargent will present its biggest national dirt Late Model show in nearly five years.

 

Friday night’s ‘Paducah 50’ will offer a $10,000 top prize from a total purse approaching $50,000, and it will mark the first-ever appearance of the WoO LMS at the high-banked track.

 

The last time a dirt Late Model tour with a national footprint approaching the WoO LMS’s visited PIR was on May 26, 2003, when Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., captured a UDTRA/Xtreme DirtCar Series event. The UDTRA/Xtreme Series also ran three other races at Paducah (1997-99), and from 1979-1983 the old National Dirt Racing Association (NDRA) competed at the track a total of five times.

 

PIR, which was built in 1972, closed down in the late ‘80s but reopened in 1996. The track has annually hosted a UMP DIRTcar Racing Summernationals event ever year since its reopening, but Friday’s WoO LMS spectacular figures to attract a field stocked with more talent than any other dirt Late Model race in PIR history.

 

The track has been on a steady upswing since its purchase in November 2005 by NASCAR personalities Earnhardt and Schrader and Sargent, a veteran event organizer who heads the Macon, Ill.-based Track Enterprises, Inc. Stewart joined the PIR team as a fourth partner in September 2006.

 

The new ownership group has made noticeable improvements to the facility, with more planned for the future.

 

And fans and racers alike have taken notice of the consistently well-prepared track surface, which has helped earn PIR a reputation for hosting some of the most competitive dirt-track racing in the country.

 

One of the WoO LMS travelers, Rookie of the Year Contender Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., got a first-hand glimpse of PIR’s top-notch surface on Aug. 24 when he entered the MARS DIRTcar Series ‘USA World 50.’ Shirley, who won the 2006 ‘USA World 50’ at PIR, pronounced the track ready for a thrilling night of WoO LMS action.

 

“I think the World of Outlaws show is gonna be a great race,” said Shirley, a former championship flat-track motorcycle racer who will enter Friday’s program behind the wheel of longtime team owner Ed Petroff’s No. 3s. “When I was there a few weeks ago, it was slick from top to bottom – a really good racetrack.

 

“You can really get moving up on the high side there, but when the track’s in perfect condition like it was for the MARS show, you can run the high side, the bottom or right through the middle. It’s everything a driver could want in a racetrack.”

 

Another WoO LMS driver who has already had a taste of competition at Paducah this season is Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. He finished fourth in the track’s ‘NASCAR Night’ feature on July 31 driving a Petroff Towing car as a teammate to Shirley; the 19-year-old Richards also served as Tony Stewart’s crew chief that evening, turning the wrenches on Stewart’s Tracker Boats/Bass Pro Shops dirt Late Model.

 

The other regulars on the WoO LMS haven’t seen Paducah quite as recently as Shirley and Richards – if at all.

 

Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who sits second in the WoO LMS points standings, has made the most recent visit to Paducah of the tour’s travelers. He ran a UMP DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned event there on June 2, 2006, but an incorrect tire choice prompted him to retire early from the A-Main.

 

WoO LMS points leader Steve Francis, who hails from Ashland, Ky., on the eastern side of the Bluegrass State, will have to get acquainted with the revitalized Paducah oval, as will fellow travelers Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., Rick Eckert of York, Pa., Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Rookie of the Year contender Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y.

 

Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., who won four A-Mains while following the first half of the 2007 WoO LMS schedule, will be a favorite in Friday’s 50-lapper considering his past record of success at Paducah. Babb, who ranks 10^th in the current WoO LMS points standings, won back-to-back UMP DIRTcar Racing Summernationals events at PIR, in 2005 and 2006.

 

Dirt Late Model legend Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., who won the 2005 WoO LMS championship, has also experienced the thrill of victory at Paducah. He captured this year’s UMP Summernationals event, on June 28, and was triumphant in a 1999 UDTRA/Xtreme DirtCar Series show.

 

Another driver planning to compete on Friday night who has won a special event at PIR is Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind. He registered UMP Summernationals triumphs there in 2003 and 2004.

 

Other talented racers expected to sign in for Friday’s ‘Paducah 50’ include recent Topless 100 winner Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis.; Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis.; Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa; Jeep VanWormer of Pinconning, Mich., who was spectacular en route to a second-place finish in this year’s UMP Summernationals event at PIR; 2006 UMP national Late Model titlist Randy Korte of Highland, Ill.; and runaway 2007 PIR points leader Kevin Cole of Christopher, Ill., who has earned 10 of his 17 overall UMP DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned feature wins this season at his hometrack.

 

Paducah’s 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.

 

Tickets are $25 for adults, with kids 12 and under $5. Pit passes will be $35.

 

PIR is located off Exit 11 of Interstate 24 in Paducah, Ky.

 

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.

 

Additional info on the WoO LMS can be obtained by visiting www.worldofoutlaws.com.