BEDFORD, PA – Sept. 21, 2007 – ‘Chubzilla’ ate up the competition on Friday night at Bedford Speedway.
Driving a uniquely-wrapped, green-and-white car themed to his popular nickname, Chub Frank emerged victorious in the half-mile fairgrounds oval’s first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series event.
Frank’s triumph in the ‘Bedford 50’ came in his first appearance with the ‘Chubzilla’ machine since its ballyhooed debut two weeks earlier in the UMP DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio – a weekend that was a smashing success for Frank on the merchandising side (he sold out of t-shirts and diecast cars), but a disappointing failure on the racing end (he failed to qualify after hitting the wall hard on the final lap of his heat race).
“Tonight was a lot better than the World,” understated Frank, smiling broadly after earning $10,225 for his WoO LMS-leading sixth win of 2007. “The World wasn’t a good deal, so we decided we’d run this body again closer to home and see if we could come up with some better results.”
Frank, 45, of Bear Lake, Pa., accomplished his competitive goal – and sold a few more t-shirts in the process. He moved up from the third starting spot to inherit the lead on lap 16 when Bo Feathers of Winchester, Va., retired with mechanical trouble, then outran Jeremy Miller of Gettysburg, Pa., for the remainder of the distance in his Lester Buildings Rocket.
A run-in with a lapped car gave Frank a scare with just three laps left, but Miller couldn’t take advantage of Frank’s momentary loss of momentum.
Miller, 36, settled for second place in the Buckler Motorsports Rocket, about six car lengths behind Frank at the checkered flag. It was Miller’s career-best outing on the WoO LMS, surpassing his fourth-place run on July 28 at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio.
Leading WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., advanced from the ninth starting spot to finish third in the Gypsum Express/JL Motorsports Rocket, followed by 12th-starter Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., in his J.P. Drilling/Cliburn Tank Lines GRT and Rick Eckert of York, Pa., in Raye Vest’s GRT.
Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., tumbled from third to sixth on the final lap thanks to a flat right-rear tire that caused him to limp across the finish line, while WoO LMS points leader Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., finished seventh – and maintained a 40-point edge over Frank – despite being hampered by a leaking rearend assembly and a flapping hood that partially obstructed his vision.
Frank had no problems with his repaired car, which sports a body that features reptile-like ‘scales’ and Day-Glo monster ‘eyes’ for headlights.
“This car has been good to us all year no matter what we do to it,” said Frank, who has been behind the wheel of the mount for five of his six WoO LMS wins this season. “It’s been bent three times, including at the World. We had to straighten the front and back clips after the World, but it’s still going strong.”
Frank paused, and then slyly added, “I’d have to say this car probably won’t get sold unless somebody really,
really wants it.”
Feathers provided Frank a stern test early in the A-Main. The Virginian, who bolted into the lead from the outside pole at the initial green flag, lost the top spot to Frank on lap nine but grabbed it right back on the 11th circuit.
Running the outside groove kept Feathers ahead of Frank until the 15th lap, when terminal mechanical woes caused him to stop in turn two and bring out the race’s first caution flag.
“That was a good race, fun racing,” Frank said of his battle with Feathers. “I could dive in the corner and get all the way up too him, but I knew he was gonna come off that top and beat me down the straightaway.
“He really wanted that top bad enough, and I let him have it. I didn’t figure that top would last, so I didn’t force the issue (to make an early pass). We really didn’t get a chance to find out if the top would last because (Feathers) broke, but I think the inside would’ve eventually gotten better than the top.”
Caution flags on laps 24 (for Dave Troutman’s stopped car) and 26 (for a turn-four spin by D.J. Myers) gave Miller, who started fifth, a shot at the lead. But Frank pulled away on each restart and was never seriously threatened by Miller on open track.
Frank’s march to the 13th WoO LMS victory of his career nearly ended on lap 47, however, when he had some trouble lapping Ricky Elliott of Seaford, Del.
“I was underneath him and he just turned left down the straightaway,” said Frank, whose last win at Bedford was a STARS/Renegade Series event in 2000. “I had to turn right and then drive into him, because if I’d have turned left we would’ve both spun out.
“We both just went straight into the corner. I was trying to go straight and brake at the same time so I didn’t slide up the racetrack anymore than I had to.
“I really lost all my speed, but luckily I had enough of a lead that Jeremy couldn’t pass us.”
Miller saw the opening that Frank left, but he couldn’t get his car through it fast enough.
“I would’ve had to have been right on him to get by him,” said Miller, who led 43 laps of the July 28 event at Sharon before being passed for the win by Frank. “I could’ve just kept my foot in it and knocked him out of the way, but that wouldn’t have been good. He helps me enough that I wasn’t gonna force it past him. I don’t race that way.”
Miller was satisfied with a $5,625 runner-up finish, which included the $500 WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ for being the highest-placing driver who isn’t ranked among the top 12 of the tour’s points standings and has never won a WoO feature.
“I’m super happy,” said Miller, who has two career wins in limited appearances at Bedford. “Running second to Chub? There’s no shame in that. It’s happened to a lot of other people.
“He was just better than us. I felt like our traction was the same, but he could rotate the corner better than I could. He could get on the gas sooner than I could. I had to drive my car a little more crooked, and I probably hurt the right-rear tire a little more.”
Fuller, 39, made his moves early, using the outside line to reach third by lap 18. He challenged Miller a couple times but lost ground as the race wore on and actually was passed on lap 47 for third by Lanigan, who gave the position right back to Fuller on the final circuit when his car’s bald right-rear tire finally popped.
“We made some moves before the track took some rubber and got harder to pass on,” said Fuller. “I didn’t have anything for Chub or Jeremy, but it didn’t help that my left-rear tire gave up toward the end. It was just about bald.”
Smith, 42, made one of the strongest advances to finish fourth. He went around the outside of Francis and Eckert in a three-lap span (laps 30-32) to reach fifth and tracked down Lanigan from nearly a straightaway back, but he noted that his effort could have been better.
“We messed up on gear choice,” said Smith, who solidly controls third in the WoO LMS points standings. “We were turning too many RPM and I had to back off halfway down the straightaway. It did help us make a couple passes in the middle of the corner, but we could’ve run ‘em down a lot faster and harder if we could’ve stayed in the fuel all the way down the straightaway.”
Eckert, 41, was hoping to claim his first WoO LMS victory of 2007 at a track where he captured four straight points titles from 1989-1992, but he couldn’t complain about a solid night topped by a fifth-place finish.
“We qualified better than we have all year (sixth-fastest) and won a heat (just his second of 2007),” said Eckert. “We just ran the wrong tires in the race.”
Francis, 40, felt fortunate to escape Bedford without losing more of his points lead to Frank.
“After the hood pin broke and the hood blew up (around lap 35), we couldn’t see real well,” said Francis, who has five events remaining in his pursuit of a career-first WoO LMS title. “I had made a real good run on Rick (for sixth), but then I had to slow down because I couldn’t see anything.
“Then we had the rear cover blow and about blow up the rearend. I didn’t know there was a problem with the rearend at the time, but I knew we were loose for some reason – this car is never loose – so it had to be dumping oil on the rear tires.
“But the rearend made the whole race and still had some grease left in it, and the hood didn’t blow up to where I couldn’t see a thing, so it could’ve been a lot worse.”
Finishing in positions 8-10 was Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va.; Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.; and 2007 Bedford Late Model champion Jack Pencil of Bedford, Pa.
Forty-seven cars were signed in for the event, which was run before what track promoters termed their biggest crowd of the season.
Francis set a new track record in time trials, turning a lap of 19.961 seconds to earn the $100 National Interstate Insurance Fast Time Award for the fourth time this season. He eclipsed the year-old one-lap record of 20.098 seconds that was held by 2006 WoO LMS champ Tim McCreadie.
Heat winners were Francis, Eckert, Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, and Frank, and the B-Mains were claimed by Jeff Miller of Huntingdon, Pa., and Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa.
Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., saw his WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Award hopes take a big hit when his Petroff Towing No. 3s puffed a huge fireball from under its hood as he led the second heat on the final lap. A busted distributor caused the flames, which Shirley escaped without harm.
The 26-year-old Shirley used a provisional to start the A-Main in a brand-new Rocket car, but he only ran four laps and then pulled in.
The WoO LMS visits Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway for the 19th annual ‘Pittsburgher’ event on Saturday night (Sept. 22).
For more info on the WoO LMS, visit
www.worldofoutlaws.com.
Results of WoO Late Model Series ‘Bedford 50’ (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won): 1. (3) Chub Frank/50 $10,225
2. (5) Jeremy Miller/50 $5,625
3. (9) Tim Fuller/50 $3,250
4. (12) Clint Smith/50 $2,500
5. (6) Rick Eckert/50 $2,000
6. (1) Darrell Lanigan/50 $1,700
7. (7) Steve Francis/50 $1,500
8. (10) Josh Richards/50 $1,300
9. (11) Shane Clanton/50 $1,200
10. (16) Jack Pencil/50 $1,100
11. (26) Chris Harr/50 $1,050
12. (18) Gary Stuhler/50 $1,000
13. (25) Scott Rhodes/50 $950
14. (20) D.J. Myers/50 $900
15. (19) Jeff Rine/50 $850
16. (8) Wayne Johnson/50 $800
17. (22) Donnie Lingo Jr./50 $770
18. (15) Ricky Elliott/49 $750
19. (17) Jeff Miller/49 $730
20. (21) Greg Fetters/49 $700
21. (4) Donnie Moran/43 $700
22. (14) Dave Troutman/24 $700
23. (2) Bo Feathers/15 $750
24. (24) Roy Mitchell/5 $700
25. (23) Brian Shirley/4 $700
26. (13) D.J. Troutman/1 $700
NOTE: Three drivers relinquished their scheduled starting spots and took the green flag from the rear of the field – Wayne Johnson (late to lineup), D.J. Troutman (switched cars) and Greg Fetters (late to lineup) Yellow Flags: 3 (Laps 15, 24, 26)
Lap Leaders: Feathers (1-8); Frank (9-10); Feathers (11-15); Frank (16-50)
Provisional Starters: Shirley, Mitchell (WoO); Rhodes, Harr (track)
Rookie of the Race: Fuller ($250)
WoO LMS ‘Bonus Bucks’ Winner: Jeremy Miller ($500)
National Interstate Insurance Fast Time Award: Francis ($100)
National Interstate Insurance Hard Luck Award: Feathers ($50)
Integra Shocks Crew Chief of the Race ($100): Mike ‘Smoke’ Countryman (Tim Fuller)
Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap): 1.15-Steve Francis/Ashland, KY 19.961 (NTR)
2. 3s-Brian Shirley/Chatham, IL 20.079
3. 99-Donnie Moran/Dresden, OH 20.105
4. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA 20.109
5. 19-Tim Fuller/Watertown, NY 20.202
6. 24-Rick Eckert/York, PA 20.371
7. 17-Wayne Johnson/Hancock, MD 20.405
8. 14-Jack Pencil/Bedford, PA 20.418
9. 24-Jeremy Miller/Gettysburg, PA 20.437
10. 1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV 20.451
11. 45-Ricky Elliott/Seaford, DE 20.463
12. 00-Bo Feathers/Winchester, VA 20.513
13. 151-D.J. Troutman/Hyndman, PA 20.614
14. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, KY 20.617
15. 90-Gary Stuhler/Greencastle, PA 20.624
16. 22A-Donnie Lingo/Millsboro, DE 20.634
17. 57-Jeff Miller/Huntingdon, PA 20.681
18. 7-Dave Troutman/Hyndman, PA 20.686
19. 25-Shane Clanton/Locust Grove, GA 20.693
20. 4b-Jackie Boggs/Grayson, KY 20.758
21. 91-Tim Gray/Mifflintown, PA 20.780
22. RG3-Greg Fetters/Everett, PA 20.783
23. 17-Nick Dickson/Lewistown, PA 20.789
24. 1d-Ronnie DeHaven Jr./Winchester, VA 20.827
25. 15P-Matt Parks/Three Springs, PA 20.844
26. 15s-Scott Flickinger/Elliottsburg, PA 20.878
27. W1-Chris Harr/Imler, PA 20.885
28. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA 20.897
29. 83R-Scott Rhodes/Somerset, PA 20.904
30. B2-Brian Booze/Marion, PA 21.017
31. 70J-D.J. Myers/Greencastle, PA 21.034
32. 2-Bump Hedman/Sugar Grove, PA 21.087
33. 5-Mike Blose/New Bethlehem, PA 21.093
34. 27-Jim Yoder/Selinsgrove, PA 21.094
35. 0-Ron Delano Jr./Stoystown, PA 21.160
36. 20-Shawn Claar/Imler, PA 21.197
37. 21d-Dan Stone/Thompson, PA 21.208
38. 27-Bobby Stokes/Milton, PA 21.398
39. M1-Andy Martz/Bedford, PA 21.482
40. 50e-Travis Dillman/Loysville, PA 21.519
41. 15-Shane Beegle/Everett, PA 21.637
42. 49-Eric Zembower/Bedford, PA 21.747
43. 31-Bob Gordon/Keyser, WV 21.841
44. 10-Gary Noel/East Freedom, PA 23.188
45. 93-Roy Mitchell/Hobart, IN 23.194
46. 92-Jeff Rine/Danville, PA N/T
47. 33-Scott Haus/Hamburg, PA N/T
Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Francis, Jeremy Miller, Fuller, D.J. Troutman, Jeff Miller, Parks, Rhodes, Stone, Gray, Beegle, Blose, Mitchell
Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Eckert, Lanigan, Richards, Dave Troutman, Rine, Fetters, Yoder, Booze, Zembower, Shirley, Stokes, Flickinger
Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Moran, W. Johnson, Clanton, Elliott, Stuhler, Myers, Harr, Haus, Dickson, Martz, Delano, Gordon
Heat No. 4 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Frank, Feathers, C. Smith, Pencil, Lingo, DeHaven, Hedman, Claar, Boggs, Dillman, Noel
B-Main No. 1 (12 laps – Top 3 Transfer): Jeff Miller, Rine, Fetters, Rhodes, Yoder, Stone, Parks, Booze, Flickinger, Gray, Beegle, Stokes, Blose, Zembower, Mitchell (DNS) Shirley
B-Main No. 2 (12 laps – Top 3 Transfer): Stuhler, Myers, Lingo, Harr, DeHaven, Haus, Boggs, Claar, Hedman, Delano, Dillman, Martz, Gordon, Noel, Dickson
2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings as of Sept. 21 - 39 features completed (rank/driver/wins/top-5s/top-10s/earnings/points/deficit to leader): 1. Steve Francis 3-22-35-$110,225-5,388 (-0)
2. Chub Frank 6-19-32-$123,180-5,348 (-40)
3. Clint Smith 4-17-29-$115,675-5,296 (-92)
4. Shane Clanton 2-13-27-$85,847-5,212 (-176)
5. Josh Richards 3-10-24-$90,032-5,200 (-188)
6. Rick Eckert 0-12-24-$74,110-5,198 (-190)
7. Darrell Lanigan 2-8-25-$79,065-4,942 (-446)
8. Tim Fuller 1-10-15-$70,705-4,259 (-1129)
9. Brian Shirley 1-4-11-$51,929-3,782 (-1606)
10. Shannon Babb 4-12-16-$82,060-3,582 (-1806)
11. Eddie Carrier Jr. 0-2-5-$23,720-2,571 (-2817)
12. Chris Madden 2-8-12-$89,215-2,379 (-3009)
13. Billy Moyer 1-9-12-$42,575-2,373 (-3015)
14. Roy Mitchell 0-0-0-$10,980-2,206 (-3182)
15. Brian Birkhofer 0-1-7-$23,410-2,004 (-3384)
16. Jimmy Mars 0-5-7-$27,930-1,773 (-3615)
17. John Blankenship 0-0-0-$10,720-1,663 (-3725)
18. Dennis Erb Jr. 2-4-7-$33,000-1,433 (-3955)
19. Dan Stone 1-1-3-$17,415-1,415 (-3973)
20. Brady Smith 0-2-4-$13,240-1,284 (-4104)
LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series live on DIRTvision.com through the DIRT Radio Network.
To listen to the free audio broadcasts, 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. For technical support or questions, e-mail
[email protected].
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by several sponsors and partners, including National Interstate Insurance Company and contingency sponsors Wrisco Industries, Crane Cams, Ohlins Shocks, Quarter-Master, Hawk Brake, MSD Ignitions, Eibach Springs and Integra Shocks.
