Norman, OK — April 12, 2006 — By Chris Dolack, VP Public Relations
There’s no doubt World of Outlaws action on a big, high-speed half-mile
oval is exciting if for nothing else than the sheer speed generated by
a winged sprint car cranking out more than 850 horsepower.
But for pure, wheel-to-wheel, edge-of-your-seat action, nothing beats
the World of Outlaws on a quarter-mile oval. On Saturday at Tri-State
Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind., the Mean 15 racers will scream down the
straights before cranking their machines 180 degrees through the tight,
paper-clip turns and doing it all over again. While drivers focus on
circling the quarter-mile track as quickly as possible in heavy
traffic, fans focus on the cars popping wheelies off of Turn 2 and Turn
4.
“Tom Helfrich does an awesome job at Haubstadt,” said Terry McCarl, the
Mean 15 driver of the Big Game Treestands Eagle who will be aiming for
the Tri-State single-lap record of 11.110 seconds on Saturday after
busting the Lawrenceburg track record last year with a lap in 10.058
seconds. “As a race fan, I’d never miss a race at that track because
that’s where you see most of the wheelie photos come from. It’s a lot
of fun to race as a driver, too, but it’s really exciting for a fan. I
think the half-miles are great for the speed, but the quarter-miles and
the smaller 3/8-mile tracks are where sprint cars belong.”
The rest of the Mean 15 racers tend to agree.
“I’m looking forward to it because it makes you race for it,” said
Randy Hannagan, who pilots the Mean 15 Terry Hannagan Racing Maxim. “A
lot of times, like at Eldora, your qualifying is important but motors
are so important and your setup and fuel curve on your motor, a lot of
the things people don’t know about are so critical that make a
difference between a tenth or two where you can get on a quarter-mile
and cowboy up and make up the difference. I’m looking forward to it.
We’ve run a lot of quarter-miles in the past, especially at Haubstadt
and Lawrenceburg. It’s good racing, and that’s the best thing for the
fans.”
While racing on quarter-mile ovals does reduce the dependence on
generating huge horsepower, it doesn’t eliminate the need for it,
especially at Tri-State Speedway.
“People always talk about quarter-mile ovals not being horsepower
tracks, but every track is a horsepower track,” said Dion Hindi, the
Mean 15 racer of the RealTruck.com/Snipertuning J&J. “At Haubstadt,
it’s a little paper clip. You go to the end of the straightaway and
turn 180 degrees and stand back on the throttle and you’ve got to have
the power to get out of the corner. A quarter-mile track is more what
I’m used to racing on back home. If there’s a track with a good cushion
and a good bottom, when it turns into a racetrack like Haubstadt
usually does, then we roll around it pretty good.”
One driver who rolled around Tri-State Speedway exceedingly well last
season was Brooke Tatnell, who posted a runner-up finish as he and his
Rush Racing team were still getting to know each other.
“It doesn’t take any less horsepower, but for me it’s like jumping on a
plane and flying back to Australia,” said Tatnell, who drives the Mean
15 Garlic Jim’s Pizza/Castrol Eagle. “It’s just another day of life on
the road. You don’t have to have as much finesse on a short track, you
just have to be more aggressive and wrestle it a little bit more. On
the big half-miles you can’t afford to twitch the wheel because then
you’re washing off horsepower. I’m looking forward to it. The bullring
stuff where you have to get in and muscle it, I love that.”
Tatnell’s not alone when it comes to enjoying short-track competition.
Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year contender Justin Henderson has been
impressive everywhere he’s raced this year and is excited to roll into
a couple of quarter-miles after his first experience last weekend at
Eldora.
“I really like the little bullrings,” said Henderson, a Mean 15 racer
from Sioux Falls, S.D., who drives the Jolt Energy Gum/Race Girl Schnee
powered by Hollywood Engines. “They’re my favorite type of racetrack,
actually. The only way to pass people sometimes is to run into each
other so it makes for a real exciting race for the fans. I like to
cowboy-up, run it on two wheels, especially when they get rough and
you’ve got to move the right rears out and run them a lot harder. It
separates the men from the boys just like these big fast tracks do,
too. We’ll see if I learned a lot from when I was running back home and
see what I can do.”
For several of the Mean 15 racers who live around Indianapolis, the
mere fact they can race in the Hoosier state with a series that
competes coast-to-coast is rewarding, especially considering many of
them learned the ropes at tracks just like Tri-State and Lawrenceburg.
“It’s an hour or two hours from my house so that’s the nice part of
running with the Outlaws and being able to race and be home in your own
bed at night,” said Joey Saldana, who drives the Mean 15 Kasey
Kahne-owned Central Merchant Services JEI powered by Mopar. “Usually
you don’t get to do that. I grew up racing on the quarter-miles and
look forward to them.”
For Mean 15 racer Brian Carlson, a native of Western Pennsylvania who
now calls Linden, Ind., home, the combination of racing near home and
on a quarter-mile oval has him geared up to showcase his talent.
“It’s nice being home, first off,” said Carlson, who drives the Lincoln
Electric Maxim. “Lawrenceburg and Haubstadt are a couple of places
where I cut my teeth. It takes more of the motor out of the equation.
It’s still important to qualify well, but it’s not just an
all-horsepower deal. You’ve got to be able to finesse the car and get
your elbows up and race somebody hard. A place like Eldora or Williams
Grove, it’s like pull in and hook the motor to a dyno and see who has
the best power that night. The quarter-miles make it a little more of a
fair game for the guys who don’t have quite as big motors. It gives you
closer racing action instead of follow-the-leader stuff that sometimes
the bigger tracks do. It’s nice to get back to little tracks and really
be able to drive the racecar.”
For many racers, they can’t wait to roll into the quarter-miles after
opening the season with seven of 10 race nights on big half-miles.
“I think it’s going to be exciting to get to the quarter-miles,” said
Becca Anderson, the Mean 15 racer of the Mike Woodring JEI. “It’s going
to be a lot more racy. It’s still going to be wide-open racing, but I
think it’s going to be more beneficial for us. We don’t really have the
killer motors so I think it’s going to put us a little more in the
hunt. We’ve been definitely struggling in time trials so hopefully
we’ll be making some shows now.”
Daryn Pittman can’t wait to get back to the short tracks, especially
after an impressive performance on April 1 at 1/3-mile I-55 Raceway
when he came from 23rd to finish fifth. Also, after struggling through
the summer last season, Pittman posted a top-five in August at
Lawrenceburg that sent him skyrocketing through the standings during
the season’s stretch run.
“For me it’s great because we can’t find our own rear right now on a
half-mile,” said Pittman, the Mean 15 racer who drives the Titan Racing
USA Maxim. “We’ve just been struggling for the past year-and-a-half on
big half-miles. We seem to go a lot better on a quarter, and then at
Pevely we were awesome there. Haubstadt has been good, I’ve been pretty
good at Lawrenceburg. I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks,
for sure. I’d like to figure out why we’re not so good on the
half-miles, but for the time being we’ll see if we can take advantage
of these quarter-miles.
“Lawrenceburg really turned our season around. We were struggling going
into that, qualified bad and came from the back and got up to fourth.
We never looked back for the rest of the year. We’re looking forward to
going back now. Hopefully we can start up front and have a good chance
to win. I enjoy all the real small short tracks. It’s puts a lot of the
driver back into it and takes a little bit away from the car and motor.
They’re really a lot of fun to run on.”
What most drivers appreciate the most about the World of Outlaws is the
opportunity the series provides to run on a high-speed, half-mile one
day and a short quarter-mile the next.
“I’ll tell you what, I enjoy the short tracks as much as the big
tracks,” said Craig Dollansky, the Mean 15 driver of the Karavan
Trailers Maxim who won last season at quarter-mile Silver Dollar
Speedway. “They’re always fun to race and a lot of stuff goes on there.
… There are a lot of things that come into play on a short track. It’s
not as much motor as it is how your car is handling. You have to cowboy
it around there a lot of times. They’re fun to race.”
Of course, with life on the road and traveling from track-to-track, it
can be easy to forget what type of track you’re competing on that
particular night, especially if the previous track was a half-miler.
“The first time you run into the corner it’s a little harder to slow
down,” said Donny Schatz, the current points leader who drives the
ParkerStory J&J. “Diversity is what makes the drivers better. It makes
the World of Outlaws what it is. You go to a big track, little track,
big track, little track, it makes a guy a little more diverse. It
teaches you a little more common sense and patience. It’s what makes it
fun. If we raced on half-miles all the time everybody would be bored.
I’m just glad to go back to a little place like Haubstadt where we’ve
been decent in the past and maybe we can get a victory.”
It’s the continuous wheel-to-wheel competition on quarter-miles that
keeps the intensity level so high. With constant turns, there’s little
time to get complacent.
“Short tracks are really racy,” said Jac Haudenschild, the pilot of the
Mean 15 Wright One Construction Maxim. “You’re always in traffic.
They’re a lot tighter. It’s really good racing. The half miles are a
lot wider and faster, you got a little bit more room. I like them
both.”
Chad Kemenah, who won the past four crowns with the All Star Circuit of
Champions, has experience at Tri-State and Lawrenceburg and will be
aiming for his second World of Outlaws victory this season and the
third in his career.
“It’s definitely different racing on quarter-miles,” said Kemenah, who
drives the Mean 15 Underground Utilities Inc. Eagle. “I like Haubstadt.
That’s a pretty neat little racetrack and it gets racy. Big tracks or
small tracks, it doesn’t matter to me, as long as you keep your nose
clean usually you’re all right.”
Jeremy Campbell, who at 22 is the youngest of the Mean 15 racers, is
another driver who has had success at Tri-State and Lawrenceburg in
races with the All Stars.
“Lawrenceburg the last couple of times I’ve been there with the All
Stars I’ve been quick time so I’m really looking forward to
Lawrenceburg,” said Campbell, who drives the Americas Best Value Inn
Maxim. “I love that place. A lot of people don’t like it because it’s
rough and out-of-control, but that thing is awesome.
“I’ve had good experience at both. Haubstadt will get dry slick, but
you can do some slide jobs. You can slide it in there and get some
awesome passing going on. The last time I was at both of those tracks I
finished in the top five. I really like racing on them. They’re fun.”
Nobody wants to partake in that fun more than Jason Martin, who can’t
wait to get medical clearance to get back into the NOS Energy
Drink/Mafia Motorsports Maxim for the first time since February when a
crash at East Bay Raceway Park left him with a neck injury. Martin is
expected to be cleared to compete by May 1.
“I think quarter miles will be more to our benefit because it’s not so
much a horsepower deal,” said Martin, a native of Liberal, Kan., who
has remained on the road with his team despite his injury. “It costs a
lot of money to build those horsepower motors so I think we’ll be right
in the ballgame at those tracks. We’ll get our car dialed in and go.”
The driver who has kept Martin’s machine in contention each night is
Rob Chaney, an Ohio racer who knows to expect the unexpected on
quarter-mile ovals.
“Moving to the quarter-miles is really a good thing because you get
out-horsepowered all the time on these big tracks,” Chaney said. “It’s
nice to go to the small tracks where you can maybe time-in a little
better because your car is better or you drive better laps than a guy
who has more horsepower than you.”
In any case, with horsepower or not, the winner on quarter-mile ovals
the next two weeks will be the driver who fought for every inch of
space on the track, and didn’t look back when a little contact touched
off some nerves. After all, the object is to wind up in the RacinSoles
Victory Lane. And any of the Mean 15 racers can accomplish that task.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Series is brought to the fans across the
country by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors
Hoosier Racing Tire and The Outdoor Channel. Promotional Partners
include AMB i.t., Choice Hotels and The University of Northwestern
Ohio. Contingency sponsors include DART Machinery, MSD Ignitions,
Wrisco Industries and RacinSoles.
There’s no doubt World of Outlaws action on a big, high-speed half-mile
oval is exciting if for nothing else than the sheer speed generated by
a winged sprint car cranking out more than 850 horsepower.
But for pure, wheel-to-wheel, edge-of-your-seat action, nothing beats
the World of Outlaws on a quarter-mile oval. On Saturday at Tri-State
Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind., the Mean 15 racers will scream down the
straights before cranking their machines 180 degrees through the tight,
paper-clip turns and doing it all over again. While drivers focus on
circling the quarter-mile track as quickly as possible in heavy
traffic, fans focus on the cars popping wheelies off of Turn 2 and Turn
4.
“Tom Helfrich does an awesome job at Haubstadt,” said Terry McCarl, the
Mean 15 driver of the Big Game Treestands Eagle who will be aiming for
the Tri-State single-lap record of 11.110 seconds on Saturday after
busting the Lawrenceburg track record last year with a lap in 10.058
seconds. “As a race fan, I’d never miss a race at that track because
that’s where you see most of the wheelie photos come from. It’s a lot
of fun to race as a driver, too, but it’s really exciting for a fan. I
think the half-miles are great for the speed, but the quarter-miles and
the smaller 3/8-mile tracks are where sprint cars belong.”
The rest of the Mean 15 racers tend to agree.
“I’m looking forward to it because it makes you race for it,” said
Randy Hannagan, who pilots the Mean 15 Terry Hannagan Racing Maxim. “A
lot of times, like at Eldora, your qualifying is important but motors
are so important and your setup and fuel curve on your motor, a lot of
the things people don’t know about are so critical that make a
difference between a tenth or two where you can get on a quarter-mile
and cowboy up and make up the difference. I’m looking forward to it.
We’ve run a lot of quarter-miles in the past, especially at Haubstadt
and Lawrenceburg. It’s good racing, and that’s the best thing for the
fans.”
While racing on quarter-mile ovals does reduce the dependence on
generating huge horsepower, it doesn’t eliminate the need for it,
especially at Tri-State Speedway.
“People always talk about quarter-mile ovals not being horsepower
tracks, but every track is a horsepower track,” said Dion Hindi, the
Mean 15 racer of the RealTruck.com/Snipertuning J&J. “At Haubstadt,
it’s a little paper clip. You go to the end of the straightaway and
turn 180 degrees and stand back on the throttle and you’ve got to have
the power to get out of the corner. A quarter-mile track is more what
I’m used to racing on back home. If there’s a track with a good cushion
and a good bottom, when it turns into a racetrack like Haubstadt
usually does, then we roll around it pretty good.”
One driver who rolled around Tri-State Speedway exceedingly well last
season was Brooke Tatnell, who posted a runner-up finish as he and his
Rush Racing team were still getting to know each other.
“It doesn’t take any less horsepower, but for me it’s like jumping on a
plane and flying back to Australia,” said Tatnell, who drives the Mean
15 Garlic Jim’s Pizza/Castrol Eagle. “It’s just another day of life on
the road. You don’t have to have as much finesse on a short track, you
just have to be more aggressive and wrestle it a little bit more. On
the big half-miles you can’t afford to twitch the wheel because then
you’re washing off horsepower. I’m looking forward to it. The bullring
stuff where you have to get in and muscle it, I love that.”
Tatnell’s not alone when it comes to enjoying short-track competition.
Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year contender Justin Henderson has been
impressive everywhere he’s raced this year and is excited to roll into
a couple of quarter-miles after his first experience last weekend at
Eldora.
“I really like the little bullrings,” said Henderson, a Mean 15 racer
from Sioux Falls, S.D., who drives the Jolt Energy Gum/Race Girl Schnee
powered by Hollywood Engines. “They’re my favorite type of racetrack,
actually. The only way to pass people sometimes is to run into each
other so it makes for a real exciting race for the fans. I like to
cowboy-up, run it on two wheels, especially when they get rough and
you’ve got to move the right rears out and run them a lot harder. It
separates the men from the boys just like these big fast tracks do,
too. We’ll see if I learned a lot from when I was running back home and
see what I can do.”
For several of the Mean 15 racers who live around Indianapolis, the
mere fact they can race in the Hoosier state with a series that
competes coast-to-coast is rewarding, especially considering many of
them learned the ropes at tracks just like Tri-State and Lawrenceburg.
“It’s an hour or two hours from my house so that’s the nice part of
running with the Outlaws and being able to race and be home in your own
bed at night,” said Joey Saldana, who drives the Mean 15 Kasey
Kahne-owned Central Merchant Services JEI powered by Mopar. “Usually
you don’t get to do that. I grew up racing on the quarter-miles and
look forward to them.”
For Mean 15 racer Brian Carlson, a native of Western Pennsylvania who
now calls Linden, Ind., home, the combination of racing near home and
on a quarter-mile oval has him geared up to showcase his talent.
“It’s nice being home, first off,” said Carlson, who drives the Lincoln
Electric Maxim. “Lawrenceburg and Haubstadt are a couple of places
where I cut my teeth. It takes more of the motor out of the equation.
It’s still important to qualify well, but it’s not just an
all-horsepower deal. You’ve got to be able to finesse the car and get
your elbows up and race somebody hard. A place like Eldora or Williams
Grove, it’s like pull in and hook the motor to a dyno and see who has
the best power that night. The quarter-miles make it a little more of a
fair game for the guys who don’t have quite as big motors. It gives you
closer racing action instead of follow-the-leader stuff that sometimes
the bigger tracks do. It’s nice to get back to little tracks and really
be able to drive the racecar.”
For many racers, they can’t wait to roll into the quarter-miles after
opening the season with seven of 10 race nights on big half-miles.
“I think it’s going to be exciting to get to the quarter-miles,” said
Becca Anderson, the Mean 15 racer of the Mike Woodring JEI. “It’s going
to be a lot more racy. It’s still going to be wide-open racing, but I
think it’s going to be more beneficial for us. We don’t really have the
killer motors so I think it’s going to put us a little more in the
hunt. We’ve been definitely struggling in time trials so hopefully
we’ll be making some shows now.”
Daryn Pittman can’t wait to get back to the short tracks, especially
after an impressive performance on April 1 at 1/3-mile I-55 Raceway
when he came from 23rd to finish fifth. Also, after struggling through
the summer last season, Pittman posted a top-five in August at
Lawrenceburg that sent him skyrocketing through the standings during
the season’s stretch run.
“For me it’s great because we can’t find our own rear right now on a
half-mile,” said Pittman, the Mean 15 racer who drives the Titan Racing
USA Maxim. “We’ve just been struggling for the past year-and-a-half on
big half-miles. We seem to go a lot better on a quarter, and then at
Pevely we were awesome there. Haubstadt has been good, I’ve been pretty
good at Lawrenceburg. I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks,
for sure. I’d like to figure out why we’re not so good on the
half-miles, but for the time being we’ll see if we can take advantage
of these quarter-miles.
“Lawrenceburg really turned our season around. We were struggling going
into that, qualified bad and came from the back and got up to fourth.
We never looked back for the rest of the year. We’re looking forward to
going back now. Hopefully we can start up front and have a good chance
to win. I enjoy all the real small short tracks. It’s puts a lot of the
driver back into it and takes a little bit away from the car and motor.
They’re really a lot of fun to run on.”
What most drivers appreciate the most about the World of Outlaws is the
opportunity the series provides to run on a high-speed, half-mile one
day and a short quarter-mile the next.
“I’ll tell you what, I enjoy the short tracks as much as the big
tracks,” said Craig Dollansky, the Mean 15 driver of the Karavan
Trailers Maxim who won last season at quarter-mile Silver Dollar
Speedway. “They’re always fun to race and a lot of stuff goes on there.
… There are a lot of things that come into play on a short track. It’s
not as much motor as it is how your car is handling. You have to cowboy
it around there a lot of times. They’re fun to race.”
Of course, with life on the road and traveling from track-to-track, it
can be easy to forget what type of track you’re competing on that
particular night, especially if the previous track was a half-miler.
“The first time you run into the corner it’s a little harder to slow
down,” said Donny Schatz, the current points leader who drives the
ParkerStory J&J. “Diversity is what makes the drivers better. It makes
the World of Outlaws what it is. You go to a big track, little track,
big track, little track, it makes a guy a little more diverse. It
teaches you a little more common sense and patience. It’s what makes it
fun. If we raced on half-miles all the time everybody would be bored.
I’m just glad to go back to a little place like Haubstadt where we’ve
been decent in the past and maybe we can get a victory.”
It’s the continuous wheel-to-wheel competition on quarter-miles that
keeps the intensity level so high. With constant turns, there’s little
time to get complacent.
“Short tracks are really racy,” said Jac Haudenschild, the pilot of the
Mean 15 Wright One Construction Maxim. “You’re always in traffic.
They’re a lot tighter. It’s really good racing. The half miles are a
lot wider and faster, you got a little bit more room. I like them
both.”
Chad Kemenah, who won the past four crowns with the All Star Circuit of
Champions, has experience at Tri-State and Lawrenceburg and will be
aiming for his second World of Outlaws victory this season and the
third in his career.
“It’s definitely different racing on quarter-miles,” said Kemenah, who
drives the Mean 15 Underground Utilities Inc. Eagle. “I like Haubstadt.
That’s a pretty neat little racetrack and it gets racy. Big tracks or
small tracks, it doesn’t matter to me, as long as you keep your nose
clean usually you’re all right.”
Jeremy Campbell, who at 22 is the youngest of the Mean 15 racers, is
another driver who has had success at Tri-State and Lawrenceburg in
races with the All Stars.
“Lawrenceburg the last couple of times I’ve been there with the All
Stars I’ve been quick time so I’m really looking forward to
Lawrenceburg,” said Campbell, who drives the Americas Best Value Inn
Maxim. “I love that place. A lot of people don’t like it because it’s
rough and out-of-control, but that thing is awesome.
“I’ve had good experience at both. Haubstadt will get dry slick, but
you can do some slide jobs. You can slide it in there and get some
awesome passing going on. The last time I was at both of those tracks I
finished in the top five. I really like racing on them. They’re fun.”
Nobody wants to partake in that fun more than Jason Martin, who can’t
wait to get medical clearance to get back into the NOS Energy
Drink/Mafia Motorsports Maxim for the first time since February when a
crash at East Bay Raceway Park left him with a neck injury. Martin is
expected to be cleared to compete by May 1.
“I think quarter miles will be more to our benefit because it’s not so
much a horsepower deal,” said Martin, a native of Liberal, Kan., who
has remained on the road with his team despite his injury. “It costs a
lot of money to build those horsepower motors so I think we’ll be right
in the ballgame at those tracks. We’ll get our car dialed in and go.”
The driver who has kept Martin’s machine in contention each night is
Rob Chaney, an Ohio racer who knows to expect the unexpected on
quarter-mile ovals.
“Moving to the quarter-miles is really a good thing because you get
out-horsepowered all the time on these big tracks,” Chaney said. “It’s
nice to go to the small tracks where you can maybe time-in a little
better because your car is better or you drive better laps than a guy
who has more horsepower than you.”
In any case, with horsepower or not, the winner on quarter-mile ovals
the next two weeks will be the driver who fought for every inch of
space on the track, and didn’t look back when a little contact touched
off some nerves. After all, the object is to wind up in the RacinSoles
Victory Lane. And any of the Mean 15 racers can accomplish that task.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Series is brought to the fans across the
country by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors
Hoosier Racing Tire and The Outdoor Channel. Promotional Partners
include AMB i.t., Choice Hotels and The University of Northwestern
Ohio. Contingency sponsors include DART Machinery, MSD Ignitions,
Wrisco Industries and RacinSoles.
