CONCORD , NC – April 24, 2007 –
WHAT A SHOW: With a little help from Mother Nature, the second annual Circle K Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway was a spectacular weekend of racing for racers and fans alike.
After the inaugural event in April 2006 was plagued by rainy weather, warm, sunny weather prevailed this time around. The result was a blockbuster two-day program that just might have clinched the Colossal 100’s place as the crown-jewel dirt Late Model show of the spring.
The Dirt Track’s director, Roger Slack, couldn’t help but wear a broad smile as he stood outside the VIP tower and watched the huge crowd file out to the parking lot following the 100. His attention to the departing fans was diverted only when he spotted Randy Grove, the cheery Marylander who whipped up the track surface that drew praise from racers throughout the pit area.
“Great job, Randy!” Slack said as he shook Grove’s hand.
Indeed, Grove and his crew worked hard to give the drivers a racy track surface. Even Slack pitched in – though his efforts were curtailed a bit after he turned a water truck on its side earlier in the week, leaving him with bruises that he still felt on Saturday.
”The track was in great shape,” said Tim McCreadie, who finished fourth in the 100. “They (track officials) said they hit on something last year (with track prep), and it seems like they’re sticking to the plan.”
Pennsylvania star Chub Frank minced no words when asked about the surface: ““The track was awesome – the best track I’ve ever seen at Lowe’s. I wish we would’ve lasted longer (he dropped out while on the verge of cracking the top five on lap three after something hit his car’s dry-sump pump, causing his engine to lose oil pressure), because you could race all over it.”
BLOOMER’S BOYS: Making Scott Bloomquist’s second consecutive Colossal 100 victory even sweeter was the performance of the ‘Team Zero’ drivers using his Bloomquist Chassis Late Models.
Bloomquist Chassis scored a top-three sweep in the event, with Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C. , finishing second and Jimmy Owens of Newport , Tenn. , placing third.
“I gotta take my hat off to Chris and Jimmy,” said Bloomquist. “Jimmy came from way back (32nd starting spot), and Chris was really strong.”
Michael England of Glasgow, Ky., Jeremy Clements of Spartanburg, S.C., and Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., also campaigned Bloomquist Chassis cars in the event. England finished 11th in the Colossal 100 after running as high as fourth at mid-race, while Clements finished 35th (he won a heat race but was towed off with mechanical trouble on lap three of the 100) and Smith didn’t qualify after being involved in a heat-race accident.
CATCHING UP: Madden thought about his personal battle with Bloomquist at The Dirt Track after finishing second to his mentor.
“I’m the only three-time winner (in Super Late Model action at The Dirt Track), and he has two now, so I gotta get another one on him,” joked Madden, who is chasing the World of Outlaws Late Model Series for the first time in 2007.
BUILDING SOMETHING GOOD: Owens sees a bright future with Mike Reece’s dirt Late Model team, which he joined for the 2007 season.
“We’re still a new team,” said Owens, who plans to enter this Friday night’s WoO LMS event at Farmer City ( Ill. ) Raceway. “We want to get things going real good this year, and then maybe next year we can run a series.”
STILL CHASING A BIG ONE: Reigning WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown , N.Y. , might be focusing much of his attention this year on breaking into the NASCAR world as a Richard Childress Racing development driver, but he remains super-serious about winning his first mega-dollar, crown-jewel dirt Late Model event.
“I want to win one bad,” McCreadie said after finishing fourth in the Colossal 100. “We’re close to winning one.”
McCreadie, 33, felt good about his performance at The Dirt Track.
“When we went to Bulls Gap ( Tenn. ) a month ago, we weren’t in the same area code of those three (Bloomquist) cars,” he said. “Now we’re close. We’re one small adjustment away from being up there battling instead of following.”
McCreadie knows that defeating Bloomquist and his ‘Team Zero’ clan is a tough proposition.
“He’s smart, he knows what he’s doing and what he wants, and he’s not afraid to try different things,” McCreadie said of Bloomquist. “You gotta have an open mind to not let yourself get stuck in a rut, and I think Scott’s pretty good at that.
“And the guys he’s got in his cars are good guys. He doesn’t have any slouches in his cars. It’s not like he went out and got some B-Main guys in his cars.”
SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Following Saturday night’s draw for starting positions in the Colossal, WoO LMS regular Steve Francis of Ashland , Ky. , was honored in front of the huge crowd for being the first driver to win 50 WoO LMS heat races since 2004. He reached the milestone on March 25 at North Alabama Speedway.
WoO LMS director Tim Christman and tour announcer Rick Eshelman presented a plaque to Francis, who drove Tim Logan’s No. 11 to a sixth-place finish in the 100.
GOOD LOOKING: WoO LMS stalwart Darrell Lanigan’s always sharp crew donned slick shirts for the Colossal, helping him them earn recognition as the Best Appearing Team. Their reward was $500 in cash and $5,000 off of a Motorsports Designs trailer wrap.
HEARTBREAK: Shinnston , W.Va. ’s Josh Richards felt as if he had a shot at the biggest win of his young career ripped from him by Lady Luck.
The 19-year-old was running second and challenging Madden for the lead when his car’s power-steering cylinder broke from the rack-and-pinion, forcing him to pull up lame in turn two. With the race offering only show-up points toward the WoO LMS title, he accepted his 28th-place finish and loaded up.
“We definitely had an awesome car,” said Richards. “We ran our swing-arm car and tried some different setups, and I think we had a legitimate shot to win.
“I wasn’t even pushing the car too hard. I just got to second and ran right there with Madden, trying not to wear my stuff out.”
CHANGE: It took some getting used to the new graphics scheme that Shane Clanton debuted at the Colossal – especially for Clanton.
Clanton reported that the No. 25 on his bright-yellow car had a different look for the first time in his racing career. It was angled slightly, as opposed to the upright numerals that have always appeared on his doors.
“When I first started racing I had a guy hand-paint my number on the car,” said Clanton. “I just used the same style number on every car after that.”
Clanton had a rough weekend. He missed transferring through a heat race by one spot, then gave up the lead in a B-Main due to mechanical trouble. He made the feature in the 22nd starting spot thanks to a provisional, but struggled in the 100, pitting on lap 51 and finishing one lap down in 15th.
TOUGH LUCK: Eric Jacobsen’s appearance on the DNQ list belied how strong he was all weekend.
After registering the seventh-fastest lap in time trials, the Santa Clara , Calif. , driver missed transferring through a heat by one spot. He then was battling for the lead in the second B-Main on Saturday when a flat left-rear tire ended his hopes during a caution period with five laps to go.
Jacobsen fielded a second car for fellow Californian Kellen Chadwick, who gave a great account of himself by winning the second B-Main.
BACK ON TOUR: John Blankenship of Williamson , W.Va. , was back in action with the WoO LMS after missing the previous two tour events, at Virginia Motor Speedway and Lernerville Speedway.
Blankenship’s absence was definitely notable – the VMS and Lernerville shows were the first WoO LMS events he did not enter since the tour restarted under the DIRTcar Racing banner in 2004.
Blankenship, who transferred with a second-place finish in his heat and finished 18th in the 100, plans to continue traveling with the WoO LMS after retooling during his one-week hiatus.
ENGINE TROUBLES: Western Pennsylvania drivers Dave Hess Jr. and Keith Barbara saw their weekends end in eerily similar fashion: with blown motors during their respective C-Mains.
Hess was leading the first 20-lap C-Main when his powerplant expired in a cloud of steam on lap 13, while Barbara’s run in a transfer spot during the second C- Main was snuffed out when flames spewed from beneath his car on the 11th lap.
Barbara did manage to smile about his fate.
“I had the steering wheel off and belts undone before the car was stopped – my foot was on fire for a minute,” explained Barbara. “My wife joked with me after – she said that I was on the big (video) screen (in the infield) and that I should have ran around like Ricky Bobby (character from the movie Talladega Nights).
“If I knew I was on the big screen, I would have,” he joked.
NOTABLE…
* Rick Eckert’s Colossal 100 lasted a mere three laps. When the York , Pa. , star slowed for a caution flag, a shove from behind sent him into the backstretch wall, damaging his car’s right-front suspension and even slightly bending its frame.
* WoO LMS co-points leader Clint Smith of Senoia , Ga. , looked strong in a heat-race win on Friday, but he was never a factor in the 100. He retired on lap 61 due to a broken left-rear shock.
* Muscatine , Iowa ’s Brian Birkhofer gained entry to the 100 thanks to a WoO LMS provisional after dropping out of a B-Main transfer spot with four laps remaining. He climbed from the 36th starting spot to the verge of the top 10 before slowing with a flat left-rear tire on lap 51.
* Former WoO LMS regular Dale McDowell, who this year is running a limited dirt Late Model schedule while serving as teenager Austin Dillon’s racing coach at Richard Childress Racing, admitted that he was “a little rusty” behind the wheel last weekend. But he climbed as high as seventh (from 16th) in the 100 before his car got tight, relegating him to a 13th-place finish.
* Chatham , Ill. ’s Brian Shirley was slowed by a flat tire in time trials and brake problems in his heat, but he advanced Kenny Schrader’s No. 99 through the C- and B-Mains to make the Colossal 100 field. He stopped to bring out the 100’s final caution flag, on lap 84, and finished 19th.
* Ricky Elliott of Seaford , Del. , experienced a difficult weekend with the Starrett Trucking team. A mechanical malfunction sent him into the backstretch wall while he was battling for the lead in a Friday heat, and in Saturday’s second B-Main he spun into an infield tractor tire between turns one and two while contesting the final transfer spot.
* Dan Schlieper of Sullivan , Wis. , was very strong early in the 100, climbing up to third place by lap 11. But four laps later a right-rear flat tire forced him to the pits, ending his hopes.
* The worst crash of the weekend involved Robert Fletcher of Catlettsburg , Ky. He slammed the wall between turns three and four during the second C- Main and tumbled end-over-end, shedding parts as he flipped.
Fletcher’s car was a virtual write-off, but he emerged from the vicious wreck shaken but otherwise uninjured.
For more information on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings (as of April 21):
1. (tie) Shannon Babb 968
1. (tie) Clint Smith 968
3. Shane Clanton 964
4. Rick Eckert 960
5. Chub Frank 946
6. Steve Francis 940
7. Josh Richards 934
8. Jimmy Mars 924
9. Chris Madden 909
10. Darrell Lanigan 900
11. Brian Birkhofer 868
12. Eddie Carrier Jr. 815
13. Tim Fuller 811
14. Billy Moyer 774
15. John Blankenship 569
16. Eric Jacobsen 559
17. Billy Decker 536
18. Earl Pearson Jr. 519
19. Chris Wall 497
20. Brian Shirley 469
WHAT A SHOW: With a little help from Mother Nature, the second annual Circle K Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway was a spectacular weekend of racing for racers and fans alike.
After the inaugural event in April 2006 was plagued by rainy weather, warm, sunny weather prevailed this time around. The result was a blockbuster two-day program that just might have clinched the Colossal 100’s place as the crown-jewel dirt Late Model show of the spring.
The Dirt Track’s director, Roger Slack, couldn’t help but wear a broad smile as he stood outside the VIP tower and watched the huge crowd file out to the parking lot following the 100. His attention to the departing fans was diverted only when he spotted Randy Grove, the cheery Marylander who whipped up the track surface that drew praise from racers throughout the pit area.
“Great job, Randy!” Slack said as he shook Grove’s hand.
Indeed, Grove and his crew worked hard to give the drivers a racy track surface. Even Slack pitched in – though his efforts were curtailed a bit after he turned a water truck on its side earlier in the week, leaving him with bruises that he still felt on Saturday.
”The track was in great shape,” said Tim McCreadie, who finished fourth in the 100. “They (track officials) said they hit on something last year (with track prep), and it seems like they’re sticking to the plan.”
Pennsylvania star Chub Frank minced no words when asked about the surface: ““The track was awesome – the best track I’ve ever seen at Lowe’s. I wish we would’ve lasted longer (he dropped out while on the verge of cracking the top five on lap three after something hit his car’s dry-sump pump, causing his engine to lose oil pressure), because you could race all over it.”
BLOOMER’S BOYS: Making Scott Bloomquist’s second consecutive Colossal 100 victory even sweeter was the performance of the ‘Team Zero’ drivers using his Bloomquist Chassis Late Models.
Bloomquist Chassis scored a top-three sweep in the event, with Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C. , finishing second and Jimmy Owens of Newport , Tenn. , placing third.
“I gotta take my hat off to Chris and Jimmy,” said Bloomquist. “Jimmy came from way back (32nd starting spot), and Chris was really strong.”
Michael England of Glasgow, Ky., Jeremy Clements of Spartanburg, S.C., and Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., also campaigned Bloomquist Chassis cars in the event. England finished 11th in the Colossal 100 after running as high as fourth at mid-race, while Clements finished 35th (he won a heat race but was towed off with mechanical trouble on lap three of the 100) and Smith didn’t qualify after being involved in a heat-race accident.
CATCHING UP: Madden thought about his personal battle with Bloomquist at The Dirt Track after finishing second to his mentor.
“I’m the only three-time winner (in Super Late Model action at The Dirt Track), and he has two now, so I gotta get another one on him,” joked Madden, who is chasing the World of Outlaws Late Model Series for the first time in 2007.
BUILDING SOMETHING GOOD: Owens sees a bright future with Mike Reece’s dirt Late Model team, which he joined for the 2007 season.
“We’re still a new team,” said Owens, who plans to enter this Friday night’s WoO LMS event at Farmer City ( Ill. ) Raceway. “We want to get things going real good this year, and then maybe next year we can run a series.”
STILL CHASING A BIG ONE: Reigning WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown , N.Y. , might be focusing much of his attention this year on breaking into the NASCAR world as a Richard Childress Racing development driver, but he remains super-serious about winning his first mega-dollar, crown-jewel dirt Late Model event.
“I want to win one bad,” McCreadie said after finishing fourth in the Colossal 100. “We’re close to winning one.”
McCreadie, 33, felt good about his performance at The Dirt Track.
“When we went to Bulls Gap ( Tenn. ) a month ago, we weren’t in the same area code of those three (Bloomquist) cars,” he said. “Now we’re close. We’re one small adjustment away from being up there battling instead of following.”
McCreadie knows that defeating Bloomquist and his ‘Team Zero’ clan is a tough proposition.
“He’s smart, he knows what he’s doing and what he wants, and he’s not afraid to try different things,” McCreadie said of Bloomquist. “You gotta have an open mind to not let yourself get stuck in a rut, and I think Scott’s pretty good at that.
“And the guys he’s got in his cars are good guys. He doesn’t have any slouches in his cars. It’s not like he went out and got some B-Main guys in his cars.”
SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Following Saturday night’s draw for starting positions in the Colossal, WoO LMS regular Steve Francis of Ashland , Ky. , was honored in front of the huge crowd for being the first driver to win 50 WoO LMS heat races since 2004. He reached the milestone on March 25 at North Alabama Speedway.
WoO LMS director Tim Christman and tour announcer Rick Eshelman presented a plaque to Francis, who drove Tim Logan’s No. 11 to a sixth-place finish in the 100.
GOOD LOOKING: WoO LMS stalwart Darrell Lanigan’s always sharp crew donned slick shirts for the Colossal, helping him them earn recognition as the Best Appearing Team. Their reward was $500 in cash and $5,000 off of a Motorsports Designs trailer wrap.
HEARTBREAK: Shinnston , W.Va. ’s Josh Richards felt as if he had a shot at the biggest win of his young career ripped from him by Lady Luck.
The 19-year-old was running second and challenging Madden for the lead when his car’s power-steering cylinder broke from the rack-and-pinion, forcing him to pull up lame in turn two. With the race offering only show-up points toward the WoO LMS title, he accepted his 28th-place finish and loaded up.
“We definitely had an awesome car,” said Richards. “We ran our swing-arm car and tried some different setups, and I think we had a legitimate shot to win.
“I wasn’t even pushing the car too hard. I just got to second and ran right there with Madden, trying not to wear my stuff out.”
CHANGE: It took some getting used to the new graphics scheme that Shane Clanton debuted at the Colossal – especially for Clanton.
Clanton reported that the No. 25 on his bright-yellow car had a different look for the first time in his racing career. It was angled slightly, as opposed to the upright numerals that have always appeared on his doors.
“When I first started racing I had a guy hand-paint my number on the car,” said Clanton. “I just used the same style number on every car after that.”
Clanton had a rough weekend. He missed transferring through a heat race by one spot, then gave up the lead in a B-Main due to mechanical trouble. He made the feature in the 22nd starting spot thanks to a provisional, but struggled in the 100, pitting on lap 51 and finishing one lap down in 15th.
TOUGH LUCK: Eric Jacobsen’s appearance on the DNQ list belied how strong he was all weekend.
After registering the seventh-fastest lap in time trials, the Santa Clara , Calif. , driver missed transferring through a heat by one spot. He then was battling for the lead in the second B-Main on Saturday when a flat left-rear tire ended his hopes during a caution period with five laps to go.
Jacobsen fielded a second car for fellow Californian Kellen Chadwick, who gave a great account of himself by winning the second B-Main.
BACK ON TOUR: John Blankenship of Williamson , W.Va. , was back in action with the WoO LMS after missing the previous two tour events, at Virginia Motor Speedway and Lernerville Speedway.
Blankenship’s absence was definitely notable – the VMS and Lernerville shows were the first WoO LMS events he did not enter since the tour restarted under the DIRTcar Racing banner in 2004.
Blankenship, who transferred with a second-place finish in his heat and finished 18th in the 100, plans to continue traveling with the WoO LMS after retooling during his one-week hiatus.
ENGINE TROUBLES: Western Pennsylvania drivers Dave Hess Jr. and Keith Barbara saw their weekends end in eerily similar fashion: with blown motors during their respective C-Mains.
Hess was leading the first 20-lap C-Main when his powerplant expired in a cloud of steam on lap 13, while Barbara’s run in a transfer spot during the second C- Main was snuffed out when flames spewed from beneath his car on the 11th lap.
Barbara did manage to smile about his fate.
“I had the steering wheel off and belts undone before the car was stopped – my foot was on fire for a minute,” explained Barbara. “My wife joked with me after – she said that I was on the big (video) screen (in the infield) and that I should have ran around like Ricky Bobby (character from the movie Talladega Nights).
“If I knew I was on the big screen, I would have,” he joked.
NOTABLE…
* Rick Eckert’s Colossal 100 lasted a mere three laps. When the York , Pa. , star slowed for a caution flag, a shove from behind sent him into the backstretch wall, damaging his car’s right-front suspension and even slightly bending its frame.
* WoO LMS co-points leader Clint Smith of Senoia , Ga. , looked strong in a heat-race win on Friday, but he was never a factor in the 100. He retired on lap 61 due to a broken left-rear shock.
* Muscatine , Iowa ’s Brian Birkhofer gained entry to the 100 thanks to a WoO LMS provisional after dropping out of a B-Main transfer spot with four laps remaining. He climbed from the 36th starting spot to the verge of the top 10 before slowing with a flat left-rear tire on lap 51.
* Former WoO LMS regular Dale McDowell, who this year is running a limited dirt Late Model schedule while serving as teenager Austin Dillon’s racing coach at Richard Childress Racing, admitted that he was “a little rusty” behind the wheel last weekend. But he climbed as high as seventh (from 16th) in the 100 before his car got tight, relegating him to a 13th-place finish.
* Chatham , Ill. ’s Brian Shirley was slowed by a flat tire in time trials and brake problems in his heat, but he advanced Kenny Schrader’s No. 99 through the C- and B-Mains to make the Colossal 100 field. He stopped to bring out the 100’s final caution flag, on lap 84, and finished 19th.
* Ricky Elliott of Seaford , Del. , experienced a difficult weekend with the Starrett Trucking team. A mechanical malfunction sent him into the backstretch wall while he was battling for the lead in a Friday heat, and in Saturday’s second B-Main he spun into an infield tractor tire between turns one and two while contesting the final transfer spot.
* Dan Schlieper of Sullivan , Wis. , was very strong early in the 100, climbing up to third place by lap 11. But four laps later a right-rear flat tire forced him to the pits, ending his hopes.
* The worst crash of the weekend involved Robert Fletcher of Catlettsburg , Ky. He slammed the wall between turns three and four during the second C- Main and tumbled end-over-end, shedding parts as he flipped.
Fletcher’s car was a virtual write-off, but he emerged from the vicious wreck shaken but otherwise uninjured.
For more information on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
World of Outlaws Late Model Series Point Standings (as of April 21):
1. (tie) Shannon Babb 968
1. (tie) Clint Smith 968
3. Shane Clanton 964
4. Rick Eckert 960
5. Chub Frank 946
6. Steve Francis 940
7. Josh Richards 934
8. Jimmy Mars 924
9. Chris Madden 909
10. Darrell Lanigan 900
11. Brian Birkhofer 868
12. Eddie Carrier Jr. 815
13. Tim Fuller 811
14. Billy Moyer 774
15. John Blankenship 569
16. Eric Jacobsen 559
17. Billy Decker 536
18. Earl Pearson Jr. 519
19. Chris Wall 497
20. Brian Shirley 469
