By Bret Emrick
When the 2005 World of Outlaws Late Model Series season completed the opening races at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park, Steve Francis of Ashland,KY had a long road ahead of him. A terrible “Speedweeks” run saw the “Kentucky Colonel” mired in 15th place in the Championship point standings. Not the way Francis envisioned starting out the 2005 season.
But, perseverance paid off. Primarily driving the MOPAR Performance Parts/Valvoline/Freeport Recycling sponsored No. 15 Steve Francis Racing owned Rocket Chassis/MOPAR-Stanton Racing Engines Dodge Interpid R/T, with an occasional appearance aboard the Larry Moring Motorsports owned MOPAR Performance Parts/Valvoline/MDI Environmental Services/Freeport Recycling No. 15 Rocket Chassis/MOPAR-Stanton Racing Engines Dodge Intrepid R/T, Francis never gave up.
Francis made an immediate impact on his Championship point deficit by taking the win in early April at Allegany (MD) County Speedway enabling him to climb to sixth in the Championship point standings. But, at the following race at Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway a bad finish saw Francis fall back to 12th in the points. A top five finish in late April at Lernerville (PA) Speedway propelled Francis back to the 9th position keeping his hopes of a Championship alive.
Francis continued to stay in the top 10 in Championship points until breaking into the Top 5 after the series wrapped up their June swing through the upper Midwest at Deer Creek (MN) Speedway. By the time mid-July rolled around Francis had continued to work his way into Championship contention sitting third when the series headed to Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee.
Heading into the M.M.P. event, Francis sat 74 points out of first but was able to whittle that down taking his second win of the season on the bullring moving into the runner-up slot. Once the series headed for I-44 Speedway in Missouri in late July, Francis was 30 points out of the Championship point lead but left with the lead after scoring his third victory of the season. Backing up his I-44 Speedway win by winning the next two events at Red River Valley Speedway in North Dakota gave Francis three wins in a row but also propelled him into the Championship points lead by 38 points.
Francis would keep his point lead until mid-August when mechanical problems at Lincoln Speedway in Pennsylavnia would see the hard work to get to the top suddenly go away. With a trip through the northeast, Francis found himself six points out of the lead ending the trip four points out of the lead as September rolled around.
Regaining the point lead after the Labor Day week-end events at Twin Cities Raceway Park in Indiana and Tri-City Speedway in Pennsylvania, Francis held a 14 point bulge as the series headed to the Midwest. After those events Francis’ lead had evaporated and he found himself again staring at the top spot.
Moving to within 10 points of the lead as the series wrapped up the 2005 season Francis gave it one more shot and it just about paid off. Regaining the Championship points lead by a scant 2 points after finishing fourth at Golden Isles Speedway in Georgia, Francis entered the final event of the 2005 World of Outlaws Late Model Series at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida knocking on the Championship door. Needing to finish one position ahead of Billy Moyer would sew up the Championship for Francis and his climb to the top would be complete. But, with less than two laps remaining Francis saw his hopes dashed when Moyer made the pass for the Championship. Ending up dead even with Moyer in total points, Francis would lose the Championship on a tie-breaker (most second place finishes) leaving him one step shy of his goal.
Among the leading series drivers in feature wins (5) and heat races wins (16), Francis parlayed 25 Top 5 finishes and 32 Top 10 finishes in his valiant effort at the 2005 World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Francis but he knew that his goal was within reach.
“We came down to the last race of the year and we were pretty good and Billy was pretty good”, said Francis. I’m sure if you look back on it, it was one of those situations where Billy could go back and see where he could have gotten two more points and I could do the same thing and maybe it wouldn’t have come down to what it did. But, it’s a long season and it’s over. We had a good year. We’ve won four championships in our career so you can’t say we don’t have anything to show for it. We won three STARS championships in a row and won the Big Johnson championship in 1999. Since then we’ve lost three championships by a total of like fourteen points and then lose the tie-breaker. I really don’t feel like we lost this championship. I can call MOPAR and the other sponsors and tell them that actually we didn’t lose the championship, we lost the tie-breaker. We don’t have anything to be ashamed of. I’m proud of my guy’s and my team and we’ll just go on to next year.”
2005 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Final Championship Points
Showing Pos., Car #, Driver, Residence, Entered, Starts, Wins, Top 5’s, Top 10’s, Fast Times, Heat Wins, “B” Wins, Dash Wins, Purse $ Won, Point Fund $ Won
2. #15 Steve Francis – Ashland,KY: 39 – 39 – 5 – 25 – 32 – 2 – 16 – 2 – 4 - $142,365 - $70,000
The World Of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to the fans across the country by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Hoosier Racing Tire and SPEED Channel. Promotional Partners include AMB i.t., RACEceiver, HUMMERSGONEWILD.COM, Zippo Lighters, and The University of Northwestern Ohio. Contingency sponsors include DART Machinery, MSD Ignitions, Wrisco Industries, and Quarter Master.
When the 2005 World of Outlaws Late Model Series season completed the opening races at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park, Steve Francis of Ashland,KY had a long road ahead of him. A terrible “Speedweeks” run saw the “Kentucky Colonel” mired in 15th place in the Championship point standings. Not the way Francis envisioned starting out the 2005 season.
But, perseverance paid off. Primarily driving the MOPAR Performance Parts/Valvoline/Freeport Recycling sponsored No. 15 Steve Francis Racing owned Rocket Chassis/MOPAR-Stanton Racing Engines Dodge Interpid R/T, with an occasional appearance aboard the Larry Moring Motorsports owned MOPAR Performance Parts/Valvoline/MDI Environmental Services/Freeport Recycling No. 15 Rocket Chassis/MOPAR-Stanton Racing Engines Dodge Intrepid R/T, Francis never gave up.
Francis made an immediate impact on his Championship point deficit by taking the win in early April at Allegany (MD) County Speedway enabling him to climb to sixth in the Championship point standings. But, at the following race at Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway a bad finish saw Francis fall back to 12th in the points. A top five finish in late April at Lernerville (PA) Speedway propelled Francis back to the 9th position keeping his hopes of a Championship alive.
Francis continued to stay in the top 10 in Championship points until breaking into the Top 5 after the series wrapped up their June swing through the upper Midwest at Deer Creek (MN) Speedway. By the time mid-July rolled around Francis had continued to work his way into Championship contention sitting third when the series headed to Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee.
Heading into the M.M.P. event, Francis sat 74 points out of first but was able to whittle that down taking his second win of the season on the bullring moving into the runner-up slot. Once the series headed for I-44 Speedway in Missouri in late July, Francis was 30 points out of the Championship point lead but left with the lead after scoring his third victory of the season. Backing up his I-44 Speedway win by winning the next two events at Red River Valley Speedway in North Dakota gave Francis three wins in a row but also propelled him into the Championship points lead by 38 points.
Francis would keep his point lead until mid-August when mechanical problems at Lincoln Speedway in Pennsylavnia would see the hard work to get to the top suddenly go away. With a trip through the northeast, Francis found himself six points out of the lead ending the trip four points out of the lead as September rolled around.
Regaining the point lead after the Labor Day week-end events at Twin Cities Raceway Park in Indiana and Tri-City Speedway in Pennsylvania, Francis held a 14 point bulge as the series headed to the Midwest. After those events Francis’ lead had evaporated and he found himself again staring at the top spot.
Moving to within 10 points of the lead as the series wrapped up the 2005 season Francis gave it one more shot and it just about paid off. Regaining the Championship points lead by a scant 2 points after finishing fourth at Golden Isles Speedway in Georgia, Francis entered the final event of the 2005 World of Outlaws Late Model Series at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida knocking on the Championship door. Needing to finish one position ahead of Billy Moyer would sew up the Championship for Francis and his climb to the top would be complete. But, with less than two laps remaining Francis saw his hopes dashed when Moyer made the pass for the Championship. Ending up dead even with Moyer in total points, Francis would lose the Championship on a tie-breaker (most second place finishes) leaving him one step shy of his goal.
Among the leading series drivers in feature wins (5) and heat races wins (16), Francis parlayed 25 Top 5 finishes and 32 Top 10 finishes in his valiant effort at the 2005 World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Francis but he knew that his goal was within reach.
“We came down to the last race of the year and we were pretty good and Billy was pretty good”, said Francis. I’m sure if you look back on it, it was one of those situations where Billy could go back and see where he could have gotten two more points and I could do the same thing and maybe it wouldn’t have come down to what it did. But, it’s a long season and it’s over. We had a good year. We’ve won four championships in our career so you can’t say we don’t have anything to show for it. We won three STARS championships in a row and won the Big Johnson championship in 1999. Since then we’ve lost three championships by a total of like fourteen points and then lose the tie-breaker. I really don’t feel like we lost this championship. I can call MOPAR and the other sponsors and tell them that actually we didn’t lose the championship, we lost the tie-breaker. We don’t have anything to be ashamed of. I’m proud of my guy’s and my team and we’ll just go on to next year.”
2005 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Final Championship Points
Showing Pos., Car #, Driver, Residence, Entered, Starts, Wins, Top 5’s, Top 10’s, Fast Times, Heat Wins, “B” Wins, Dash Wins, Purse $ Won, Point Fund $ Won
2. #15 Steve Francis – Ashland,KY: 39 – 39 – 5 – 25 – 32 – 2 – 16 – 2 – 4 - $142,365 - $70,000
The World Of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to the fans across the country by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Hoosier Racing Tire and SPEED Channel. Promotional Partners include AMB i.t., RACEceiver, HUMMERSGONEWILD.COM, Zippo Lighters, and The University of Northwestern Ohio. Contingency sponsors include DART Machinery, MSD Ignitions, Wrisco Industries, and Quarter Master.
