SYRACUSE, NY - Sept. 29, 2009 - Last year Tim McCreadie watched the Rite Aid 200 at the New York State Fairgrounds from the press box as a color commentator for the SPEED cable network's broadcast of the race.
But this year the 2006 World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion will happily be back in the middle of the action during Super DIRT Week XXXVIII, chasing a $50,000-plus victory in the world's richest DIRTcar big-block Modified event.
For the first time since 2005, McCreadie will be a competitor in the prestigious autumn spectacular that runs from Oct. 7-11 at the famed Syracuse Mile.
“Doing the television thing was neat and I had a good time with it, but it wasn't like being part of the show,” said McCreadie, who starred in the DIRTcar big-block Modified ranks before emerging as a full-fender standout when he won the 2004 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year award. “I've missed running (Super DIRT Week) the last few years so I'm real excited to have a chance to do it again.”
McCreadie, 35, of Watertown, N.Y., is returning to the Super DIRT Week scene in a big way. In addition to entering the Rite Aid 200 in a big-block Modified from the same Sweeteners Plus Racing team that supplies his familiar dirt Late Model equipment, T-Mac has secured a 358-Modified ride with Vinnie Salerno's Four-Star Transmissions Motorports operation for the Syracuse 150 on Sat., Oct. 10, and satellite events on Thurs., Oct. 8, at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway and Fri., Oct. 9, at Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y.
Certainly McCreadie's abbreviated 2009 racing season – he was sidelined for five months while recovering from a back injury suffered in a January crash during the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Okla. – has him anxious to get in as many starts as possible during Super DIRT Week. But that's not the primary reason he'll be so active.
“If I'm going to be there, I want to be part of the whole show,” said McCreadie. “I don't want to just run the big-block race. I want to get out there and race all week in the 358 stuff too, and fortunately Vinnie (Salerno) is giving me an opportunity to do that.”
McCreadie will go for the gold in the Rite Aid 200, which culminates the week on Sun., Oct. 11, behind the wheel of a Bicknell big-block Modified that has a proven track record at the ‘Moody Mile.' He was a contender for victory with the car in both the 2004 and 2005 events before experiencing mechanical trouble, and his Sweeteners Plus teammate, 2008 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y., drove the machine to his second career Rite Aid 200 triumph in 2007. Coffey also ran the car in last year's Rite Aid 200 (he dropped out early due to broken right-front spindle), but he decided to turn the mount over to McCreadie this year and prepare a new car for himself.
McCreadie and his crewmen, Al Stevens and Mike Amell, worked last week at the Sweeteners Plus shop in Avon, N.Y., to get the big-block Modified ready for Syracuse duty before hitting the road for a week-long dirt Late Model trip. When they return from this weekend's Knoxville Late Models at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway – McCreadie is the defending champion of the $40,000-to-win 100-lapper – they will only have to install a fresh CC Performance big-block engine in the Modified and switch over some equipment in their hauler.
Super DIRT Week's on-track action starts on Wed., Oct. 7, at 3 p.m. with a ‘Happy Hour' practice session that will prove very valuable for McCreadie. After all, he hasn't taken a lap around the intimidating one-mile oval since 2005 – his planned assault on the 2006 event was dive-bombed when a WoO LMS race was rescheduled for the same weekend; he was a spectator in 2007 because his short-lived pavement deal with Richard Childress Racing took him to Talladega Superspeedway; and last year he opted to work with the television crew after deciding that his late-season return to fulltime dirt-track racing didn't leave him enough time to put together a serious Syracuse effort.
“That ‘Happy Hour' will be important for us because I think it will take a little while for me to get comfortable in a Modified again,” said McCreadie, who has made one appearance in a Modified this season. “The (Super DIRT Week) schedule is also a little different from what I've been used to. ‘Happy Hour' is Wednesday instead of Tuesday and there's only one day of time trials now, so there's not as much time to get everything right as there used to be.
“I feel good about our chances. I'm used to the speed (of the mile) because we go to a lot of high-speed places with the Late Model, so I think if we can get the car comfortable for me and setup right we should be O.K.”
Finding some Syracuse luck might be McCreadie's most formidable challenge. The place has been a house of horrors for him since he made his first appearance there in 1996; he has, in fact, never even finished the Rite Aid 200 in nine career starts. While he's run up front numerous times and in 2001 started from the pole position, his finishes (in order from 1997-2005) are forgettable – 26th, 25th, 40th, 38th, 38th, 33rd, 34th, 23rd, 23rd.
McCreadie has posed in Victory Lane at Syracuse, but it was as a 12-year-old when his legendary father, ‘Barefoot' Bob McCreadie, won the Rite Aid 200 in 1986. He yearns to shed his history of Super DIRT Week disappointment and join his dad as a winner of the event.
“It would be huge if I could win it,” said McCreadie, whose victories this year include an emotional WoO LMS triumph in front of his father on June 23 at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway. “I grew up with Syracuse always being the big deal every year. All the major Modified guys over the years have won it, so it's definitely one of the things I look at that I'd like to put on my resume.
“We're going there to win it. Like Carl (Myers, McCreadie's car owner) said, ‘Hey, let's put our best effort into it and see if we can pull it off.'”
For more information about Super DIRT Week, including ticket info, contact DIRTcar Racing Northeast Headquarters during the week at 315-834-6606. Further newsworthy items can be found at www.superdirtcarseries.com and www.superdirtweekonline.com, while tickets can be ordered on-line by logging into https://syracuse.ticketdirector.com.
Additional information on the WoO LMS can be obtained by visiting www.worldofoutlaws.com.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Crane Cams (Official Valvetrain), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Fusion Energy Boost (Official Energy Boost), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser) and VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors Champ Pans, Eibach Springs, Hoosier Tires, Integra Shocks, Jake's Custom Golf Carts, Ohlins Shocks, Racing Electronics, Quarter Master and Wrisco Aluminum; Crane Cams Engine Builder's Challenge participants Cornett Racing Engines, Custom Race Engines and Pro Power Racing Engines; and Chassis Builder Challenge participants Rocket Chassis and Team Zero by Bloomquist.
But this year the 2006 World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion will happily be back in the middle of the action during Super DIRT Week XXXVIII, chasing a $50,000-plus victory in the world's richest DIRTcar big-block Modified event.
For the first time since 2005, McCreadie will be a competitor in the prestigious autumn spectacular that runs from Oct. 7-11 at the famed Syracuse Mile.
“Doing the television thing was neat and I had a good time with it, but it wasn't like being part of the show,” said McCreadie, who starred in the DIRTcar big-block Modified ranks before emerging as a full-fender standout when he won the 2004 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year award. “I've missed running (Super DIRT Week) the last few years so I'm real excited to have a chance to do it again.”
McCreadie, 35, of Watertown, N.Y., is returning to the Super DIRT Week scene in a big way. In addition to entering the Rite Aid 200 in a big-block Modified from the same Sweeteners Plus Racing team that supplies his familiar dirt Late Model equipment, T-Mac has secured a 358-Modified ride with Vinnie Salerno's Four-Star Transmissions Motorports operation for the Syracuse 150 on Sat., Oct. 10, and satellite events on Thurs., Oct. 8, at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway and Fri., Oct. 9, at Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y.
Certainly McCreadie's abbreviated 2009 racing season – he was sidelined for five months while recovering from a back injury suffered in a January crash during the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Okla. – has him anxious to get in as many starts as possible during Super DIRT Week. But that's not the primary reason he'll be so active.
“If I'm going to be there, I want to be part of the whole show,” said McCreadie. “I don't want to just run the big-block race. I want to get out there and race all week in the 358 stuff too, and fortunately Vinnie (Salerno) is giving me an opportunity to do that.”
McCreadie will go for the gold in the Rite Aid 200, which culminates the week on Sun., Oct. 11, behind the wheel of a Bicknell big-block Modified that has a proven track record at the ‘Moody Mile.' He was a contender for victory with the car in both the 2004 and 2005 events before experiencing mechanical trouble, and his Sweeteners Plus teammate, 2008 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y., drove the machine to his second career Rite Aid 200 triumph in 2007. Coffey also ran the car in last year's Rite Aid 200 (he dropped out early due to broken right-front spindle), but he decided to turn the mount over to McCreadie this year and prepare a new car for himself.
McCreadie and his crewmen, Al Stevens and Mike Amell, worked last week at the Sweeteners Plus shop in Avon, N.Y., to get the big-block Modified ready for Syracuse duty before hitting the road for a week-long dirt Late Model trip. When they return from this weekend's Knoxville Late Models at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway – McCreadie is the defending champion of the $40,000-to-win 100-lapper – they will only have to install a fresh CC Performance big-block engine in the Modified and switch over some equipment in their hauler.
Super DIRT Week's on-track action starts on Wed., Oct. 7, at 3 p.m. with a ‘Happy Hour' practice session that will prove very valuable for McCreadie. After all, he hasn't taken a lap around the intimidating one-mile oval since 2005 – his planned assault on the 2006 event was dive-bombed when a WoO LMS race was rescheduled for the same weekend; he was a spectator in 2007 because his short-lived pavement deal with Richard Childress Racing took him to Talladega Superspeedway; and last year he opted to work with the television crew after deciding that his late-season return to fulltime dirt-track racing didn't leave him enough time to put together a serious Syracuse effort.
“That ‘Happy Hour' will be important for us because I think it will take a little while for me to get comfortable in a Modified again,” said McCreadie, who has made one appearance in a Modified this season. “The (Super DIRT Week) schedule is also a little different from what I've been used to. ‘Happy Hour' is Wednesday instead of Tuesday and there's only one day of time trials now, so there's not as much time to get everything right as there used to be.
“I feel good about our chances. I'm used to the speed (of the mile) because we go to a lot of high-speed places with the Late Model, so I think if we can get the car comfortable for me and setup right we should be O.K.”
Finding some Syracuse luck might be McCreadie's most formidable challenge. The place has been a house of horrors for him since he made his first appearance there in 1996; he has, in fact, never even finished the Rite Aid 200 in nine career starts. While he's run up front numerous times and in 2001 started from the pole position, his finishes (in order from 1997-2005) are forgettable – 26th, 25th, 40th, 38th, 38th, 33rd, 34th, 23rd, 23rd.
McCreadie has posed in Victory Lane at Syracuse, but it was as a 12-year-old when his legendary father, ‘Barefoot' Bob McCreadie, won the Rite Aid 200 in 1986. He yearns to shed his history of Super DIRT Week disappointment and join his dad as a winner of the event.
“It would be huge if I could win it,” said McCreadie, whose victories this year include an emotional WoO LMS triumph in front of his father on June 23 at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway. “I grew up with Syracuse always being the big deal every year. All the major Modified guys over the years have won it, so it's definitely one of the things I look at that I'd like to put on my resume.
“We're going there to win it. Like Carl (Myers, McCreadie's car owner) said, ‘Hey, let's put our best effort into it and see if we can pull it off.'”
For more information about Super DIRT Week, including ticket info, contact DIRTcar Racing Northeast Headquarters during the week at 315-834-6606. Further newsworthy items can be found at www.superdirtcarseries.com and www.superdirtweekonline.com, while tickets can be ordered on-line by logging into https://syracuse.ticketdirector.com.
Additional information on the WoO LMS can be obtained by visiting www.worldofoutlaws.com.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Crane Cams (Official Valvetrain), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Fusion Energy Boost (Official Energy Boost), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser) and VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors Champ Pans, Eibach Springs, Hoosier Tires, Integra Shocks, Jake's Custom Golf Carts, Ohlins Shocks, Racing Electronics, Quarter Master and Wrisco Aluminum; Crane Cams Engine Builder's Challenge participants Cornett Racing Engines, Custom Race Engines and Pro Power Racing Engines; and Chassis Builder Challenge participants Rocket Chassis and Team Zero by Bloomquist.
