BEAR LAKE, PA – June 19, 2012 – Chub Frank began Sunday night’s 50-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa., with high hopes of snapping a nearly three-year winless streak on the national tour.
Those dreams were dashed, however, by a tire-compound choice that the veteran driver from Bear Lake, Pa., quickly realized wasn’t correct. He started from the pole position but never led a lap of the feature, instead spending the duration of the event battling behind the leaders en route to a fifth-place finish on a night that saw rain knock on the door of the speedway but never strike hard enough to stop the show.
“We just put the wrong tires on,” said the 50-year-old Frank, who briefly held second place early in the distance before slipping to the back end of the top five. “We were too soft (on compound). (Tim) McCreadie (the outside polesitter and eventual race runner-up) rolled up there (to the starting grid) on a little harder tire, I knew (eventual fourth-place finisher) Bub (McCool) had one on, and I’m sure (third-place Rick) Eckert and (winner Darrell) Lanigan had a hard tire too. That’s what we needed.
“I was O.K. at the beginning and I could battle it out a little bit, but at the end of the race I was sliding around. I just couldn’t get off the corner. I think that harder tire would’ve been better because you could abuse it.
“But that’s O.K.,” added Frank, whose sixth top-five finish of 2012 already exceeds his total from the ’11 WoO LMS campaign. “That’s the whole thing about this deal – everything has to fall into place, everything has to be right.”
Despite falling short of Victory Lane at a track he used to call home on a weekly basis, Frank’s Eriez outing was still more enjoyable than his performance in last Saturday night’s 50-lap WoO LMS A-Main at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway. He started 18th after winning a B-Main and finished a quiet 12th, rallying to gain the position after pitting to change tires twice, on lap 20 (after he pulled up lame on the speedway to trigger a caution flag) and lap 33.
Frank kicked off his weekend last Friday night with a weekly DIRTcar UMP Late Model appearance at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., where he steered his Roush-Yates-powered Corry Rubber/Hino Toyota/Horton Equipment Rocket No. 1 to a second-place finish behind winner Davey Johnson.
“Davey started on the pole and we started 10th, so we never had a chance to race him once we got to second,” said Frank. “But I don’t think we could’ve passed him anyway. He was pretty good, the track was fast, and it took me a lot of laps to get up through there to second.”
Friday’s runner-up finish marked Frank’s fourth top-two run in as many starts at Lernerville this season. He has two wins and two second-place finishes in his visits to Lernerville, which hosts the WoO LMS ‘Firecracker 100’ on June 28-30.
Before reaching Lernerville next week, Frank, who remains third in the WoO LMS points standings, will head north for three events on the circuit. The World of Outlaws trail winds its way to Quebec’s Autodrome Granby on Fri., June 22; Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway on Sun., June 24; and Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway on Tues., June 26.
For more information on Chub Frank, visit his Web site at www.chubfrank.com.
Chub Frank Racing receives support from many valued sponsors, including Corry Rubber, Lake Shore Paving, Hino Toyota, Sorbera Family Chiropractic, Horton Equipment, All-Star Performance, Slavic Corporation, GW Performance, Integra Shocks, Hoosier Tire and Roush-Yates Racing Engines.