2006woo.htm

Restructured Rookie of the Year Program For 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series Sure To Draw Interest From Rising Drivers

CONCORD, NC – Jan. 3, 2007 – Up-and-coming drivers will have plenty of incentive to test their skills on the 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series in 2007 thanks to a restructured Rookie of the Year program announced by DIRT MotorSports officials.

Highlighting the program is the $15,000 year-end bonus that will go to the rookie contender who accumulates the most points for their 30 best finishes in tour competition.

In addition, a $250 bonus will be presented to the highest-finishing Rookie of the Year contender in each 360 OTC WoO LMS A-Main contested in 2007.

A total of 49 events at 40 tracks in 23 states and one Canadian province are currently listed on the DIRT MotorSports-owned tour’s most ambitious schedule ever.

“We’re confident that the Rookie of the Year program we’ve put in place for 2007 will attract some exciting, rising talent to the series,” said Tim Christman, who is set to begin his first season as director of the 360 OTC WoO LMS. “With a driver’s top 30 finishes being used to determine the Rookie of the Year, we expect to see increased interest from up-and-coming racers in every region that the 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series will visit.

“It’s a tall order for a rookie driver to follow our entire 2007 schedule, so setting a best-30-finishes standard to determine the Rookie of the Year will open the door for more racers to make a run at the award and get a taste of traveling with the World of Outlaws.”

Since DIRT MotorSports began operating the tour in 2004, the 360 OTC WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Award has been presented to the driver ranked highest in the final overall point standings. Previous winners were Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y. (2004), Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. (2005) and Eddie Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, W.Va. (2006).

While rookie contenders are not required to run all of this season’s 360 OTC WoO LMS events, they will have the opportunity to race their way into the tour’s ‘Winner’s Circle’ incentive program. Earning a coveted ‘Winner’s Circle’ spot after several early-season shows could help a rookie chase the complete tour and potentially finish high enough in the final standings to collect cash from the lucrative points fund.

The 2007 season for the 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series kicks off with events on Feb. 15 and 17 as part of the 36th annual DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Mopar Speed Shop at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

Prospective WoO LMS rookie contenders can obtain more information on the Rookie of the Year program from series director Tim Christman by calling 405-623-1452 or e-mailing tchristman@dirtmotorsports.com.

360 OTC TO SPONSOR OF WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES

Title Sponsorship Launches in 2007


CONCORD, N.C. — Dec. 14, 2006 — The World of Outlaws Late Model  Series, the premiere dirt late model racing series in the U.S., has  announced a multi-year partnership with Rockford-Montgomery Labs and  its 360 OTC pain reliever brand, it was announced today.  The World  of Outlaws Late Model Series is now the 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late  Model Series through 2009.

In addition to titling the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, 360  OTC will become the Official Pain reliever of the World of Outlaws  Sprint Car and Late Model series.

As part of its 2007 product roll-out to consumers, 360 OTC will  include World of Outlaws contents in its in-store presence in such  retail channels as Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart and CVS.

"We see a great fit between 360 OTC and the World of Outlaws," said  Michelle Shearer, CEO of Rockford-Montgomery Labs, Inc. "There isn't  a motorsports series as legitimately grassroots as the World of  Outlaws, and 360 OTC is a product of value to everyday consumers  everywhere."

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series sponsorship rounds out a new  and robust series of high-profile property relationships for 360  OTC.  Previously announced is the 2007 title sponsor of the No. 36  360 OTC Toyota to be driven by Jeremy Mayfield in the NASCAR NEXTEL  Cup Series.  In addition, 360 OTC will be an Official Partner with  the enormously popular WWE wrestling series.

In support of its sponsorship properties, 360 OTC will employ a  unique airship featuring a theater-like "SKYSCREEN" capable of  displaying full-color high-resolution video content. "The 360 OTC  blimp will fly over World of Outlaws events and provide viewing  entertainment value to the fans," added Shearer.
"With this announcement and introduction of 360 OTC to dirt racing,  the World of Outlaws continues to make great progress," said Tom  Deery, President and CEO of DIRT MotorSports.  "The World of Outlaws  in total will have more than 140 events in 2007, providing current  and new fans an opportunity to take in the sport through ESPN, SPEED  and DIRTVision.com."

"We were seeking a consumer product as title sponsor of the World of  Outlaws," said Rob Butcher, Chief Marketing Officer for DIRT  Motorsports.  "Both World of Outlaws series will benefit immeasurably  with the 360 OTC partnership.  The World of Outlaws brand will be in  the pain reliever aisle of select national mass retailers while  having the opportunity to cross promote the World of Outlaws with the  WWE and the #36 360 OTC NASCAR NEXTEL Cup car."

In addition to the FDA-approved 360 OTC over-the-counter pain  reliever, Athens, Ga., headquartered Rockford-Montgomery Labs markets  360 OTC Ignite Maximum Strength, a fast-acting alertness aid; 360 OTC  Hangover Extra Strength Relief, a hangover reliever and fatigue  reducer; 360 OTC Hangover Relief Lite, a hangover reliever; and 360  OTC Heartburn Maximum Strength, a heartburn relief medicine.

Details of the partnership between the World of Outlaws and 360 OTC  includes:
• 360 OTC will be title sponsor of the World of Outlaws Late Model  Series for three-years
• 360 OTC will commit millions of dollars each year in activation and  promotional support of the World of Outlaws
• 360 OTC will be the exclusive pain reliever product of both World  of Outlaws series
• With this partnership, the World of Outlaws is introducing new  series logos

World Finals At Lowe’s Motor Speedway Ultimate Finish To 2007 Season

CONCORD, NC – Dec. 7, 2006 – By Chris Dolack, DIRT VP Public Relations

Dirt racing history will be made in 2007 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway. For the first time, the World of Outlaws and the World of Outlaws Late Models will share the bill for the inaugural Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The unprecedented Nov. 1-3 Outlaws World Finals will crown the champion for both the greatest sprint car drivers and the best collection of late model racers in the world. It will feature qualifying on Thursday followed by two full nights of racing on Friday and Saturday, including $10,000-to-win A-main races on each night for the World of Outlaws and for the World of Outlaws Late Models.

“The World Finals is the event that all dirt racing fans have been dreaming of for years. This is a spectacular way to wrap up the 2007 season for not only the World of Outlaws and the World of Outlaws Late Models, but for dirt track fans everywhere,” said DIRT MotorSports President and CEO Tom Deery. “With qualifying on the first night, including unprecedented access to competitors, and two solid nights of pure dirt racing, we are excited to be working with such a world class facility as The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.”

“Bringing the world’s two premier dirt track series together is a tremendous way to conclude the 2007 season,” said H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “There are only a few marquee dirt track events that attract fans from across the country and the Outlaws World Finals will join that prestigious list.

“We look forward to working with World of Outlaws officials and competitors to make this a destination event for all dirt racing fans.”

In each of the past three years, the World of Outlaws Late Model title was decided on the final night of the season, with Tim McCreadie wrapping up the championship in 2006 a year after Billy Moyer claimed the 2005 title after a tiebreaker.

The superstars of sprint car racing are competing with the World of Outlaws in 2007 as Donny Schatz takes aim at his second consecutive championship while Steve Kinser seeks his record 21st crown and Danny Lasoski tries for his second title and first since 2001. With the unparalleled competition, the championship race is expected to be one of the most hotly contested titles in the near 30-year history of the series.

The Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway will be the culmination of an entire season of about 90 World of Outlaws events and 50 World of Outlaws Late Model races — all seen or heard on ESPN2, SPEED or DIRTVision.com.

Tickets for the Nov. 1-3 Outlaws World Finals are now on sale. Reserved seats are $59 and include all three nights. They can be purchased by calling the Lowe’s Motor Speedway ticket office at 1-800- 455-FANS or visiting www.lowesmotorspeedway.com.

DIRT MotorSports Announces 'Colossal' 2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Schedule

CONCORD, NC - Dec. 4, 2006 - The 2007 World of Outlaws Late Models season will be, in a word, "colossal."
 
Highlighted by the addition of the $50,000-to-win 'Colossal 100' at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway, DIRT MotorSports officials on Monday released an '07 schedule that promises to be the most ambitious in the history of the nation's premier dirt Late Model tour.
 
Forty-eight confirmed events make up the busy '07 World of Outlaws Late Models schedule, which commences with $10,000-to-win 50-lap A-Mains on Feb. 15 and 17 during the DIRTcar Nationals Presented By Mopar Speed Shop at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.
 
The attractive schedule features inaugural WoO LM visits to The Dirt Track and two more of the country's most famous dirt ovals; five 'crown-jewel' 100-lap races paying $20,000 or more to win; three regional 'mini-tours'; and a major season-ending event to be announced within the next week.
 
"We promised the drivers that we'd bring them the best series schedule ever in 2007," said Tim Christman, who was named the director of the World of Outlaws Late Models in October. "I believe we've delivered that to them thanks to the help of so many racetrack promoters and owners across the country."
 
The second annual 'Colossal 100,' set for April 19-21, will serve as the first World of Outlaws Late Model event at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway, a world-class, four-tenths-mile oval located just miles from DIRT MotorSports' new corporate headquarters in Concord, N.C. It will offer the richest first-place prize in the tour's history.
 
The 'Colossal' will be the first of five big-money 100-lappers dotting the calendar, giving WoO LM drivers an opportunity to pad their bank accounts even further.

The well-known, historic Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., will earn recognition as the only track to host two $20,000-to-win extra-distance specials: the high-banked track's traditional 'Scorcher 100' (Aug. 21-23) and a new two-day weekend in the fall (Oct. 12-13). The high-banked, three-eighths-mile oval returns to the WoO LM schedule for the first time since March 27, 2004.

Meanwhile, Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., will hold the inaugural 'Firecracker 100' on June 29-30 - boasting a $30,000 top prize and $140,000 total purse, it will be the biggest dirt Late Model event ever run in the Keystone State - and Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss., will appear on the WoO LM trail for the first time as the site of the $20,000-to-win 'Freedom 100' extravaganza on July 6-7.

With only a handful of events still to be announced by DIRT officials, the WoO LM tour is set to compete at 39 different tracks in 23 states and one Canadian province. Only seven tracks, including The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway, will host more than one event in '07, making the championship chase a true test of drivers' versatility.
 
The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway and Pike County are among 18 tracks that the WoO LM tour is scheduled to visit for the first time in 2007 - a sure sign of its growing popularity.
 
Two hallowed dirt tracks, Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, and Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, head the list of '07 newcomers. Eldora's 50-lap event on Fri., July 27, will mark a rare show for a national dirt Late Model tour at the half-mile oval owned by NASCAR star Tony Stewart, while the Knoxville half-mile will play host to the World of Outlaws Late Models on Fri., June 15 - the night before the World of Outlaws Sprint Car drivers take to the fairgrounds track.
 
The WoO LM will also chart new territory at North Alabama Speedway (March 25); New Egypt (N.J.) Speedway (April 13); Indiana's Kamp Motor Speedway in Boswell (April 28), Brownstown Speedway (May 16) and Lawrenceburg Speedway (July 26); The Raceway at Powercom Park in Cedar Rapids, Wis. (May 12); Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway (May 13); I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich. (May 18); Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kans. (June 16); Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway (June 20); Quebec's Autodrome Drummond (June 23); Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa. (July 22); Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park (July 25); and Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway (Sept. 14).
 
The 50-lap event on Sat., June 23, at Autodrome Drummond in the French-speaking province of Quebec will usher in a new 'international' era for the World of Outaws Late Models, which will contest a race outside the U.S.A.'s borders for the first time. Drummond, which has run big-block and 358-Modifieds under a DIRT MotorSports-sanction for more than two decades, is located less than an hour's drive from Montreal.
 
The new additions to the '07 WoO LM tour immediately caught the eye of 2006 champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y.
 
"When the series starts racing at famous tracks like Charlotte (Lowe's), Eldora and Knoxville, things are obviously going in the right direction," said McCreadie, who was the WoO LM Rookie of the Year in 2004 and finished third in the '05 point standings. "And when so many tracks are interested in the series that you can have in the neighborhood of 50 races, it definitely shows things are going in the right direction.
 
"I've always believed in the series, and I'm excited to see it continue to grow bigger and better."
 
Bringing more intrigue to the '07 WoO LM series, three 'mini-tours' will barnstorm across different regions of the country in May, June and July.
 
The first, dubbed the 'Monster Midwest Tour,' is scheduled to race through five states from May 9-18. It will start on Wed., May 9, on the Davenport (Iowa) Speedway Quarter-Mile (the WoO LMS ran on Davenport's half-mile oval in 2005), then travel to Wisconsin's The Raceway at Powercom Park on Sat., May 12; Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway on Sat., May 13; Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway on Wed., May 16; and Michigan's I-96 Speedway on Fri., May 18.
 
The 'Great Northern Tour' will get the green flag on Wed., June 20, at Pennsylvania's Port Royal Speedway. Drummond will be up next on Sat., June 23, followed by DIRT MotorSports NorthEast flagship track Cayuga County Fair Speedway in Weedsport, N.Y., on Sun., June 24; Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y., on Wed., June 27; and the two-day 'Firecracker 100' at Lernerville on June 29-30.
 
July will be closed out by the inaugural World of Outlaws Late Models Speedweek, set to visit Attica Raceway Park on Wed., July 25; Lawrenceburg Speedway on Thurs., July 26; Eldora on Fri., July 27; and Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, on Sat., July 28. Sharon is the only 'Speedweek' participant that is not new to the World of Outlaws Late Models, having hosted the tour once per season in 2004, '05 and '06.

"The 'mini-tours' will be great additions to the schedule for both our fulltime drivers and the many talented regional racers whom we welcome at events across the country," explained Christman. "For the fulltime teams, linking races together in specific regions makes sense from a traveling standpoint and provides them more money-making opportunities. As for the regional racers, they'll be enticed to participate with the World of Outlaws Late Models on a part-time basis when the tour visits their areas."
 
Returning tracks to the WoO LM that will host single events in '07 include Baton Rouge Speedway in Baker, La. (March 23); Columbus (Miss.) Speedway (March 24); Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway (April 27); Ohio's Brushcreek Motorsports Complex in Peebles (May 4), Wayne County Speedway in Orrville (May 5) and K-C Raceway in Alma (Aug. 25); Delaware International Speedway in Delmar (May 31); River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.Dak. (June 12); Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. (June 14); and Missouri's Lebanon I-44 Speedway (July 10) and I-55 Raceway in Pevely (Sept. 15).
 
Lernerville, Virginia Motor Speedway in Saluda, Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., are among the select group of tracks that will host multiple events. Lernerville will have a mid-week show on Tues., April 17, two months prior to the 'Firecracker 100; Virginia Motor, which has enjoyed visits from the WoO LM in 2005 and '06, will promote 50-lap tour events on Sat., April 14, and Fri., July 20; Hagerstown, which has had five WoO LMS races since 2004, has booked a $10,000-to-win 50-lap feature for Sat., June 2, and a $12,000-to-win 60-lap A-Main on Sat., July 21, to celebrate the track's 60th anniversary; and Tri-City will once again run separate 50-lap races paying $10,000 to win as the headliner of its two-day 'Coal Region Labor Day Classic' on Sept. 1-2.
 
"We're proud of the schedule we've been able to put together for our World of Outlaws Late Model drivers," said Christman. "We believe it's the biggest, most exciting schedule that any dirt Late Model sanctioning body has ever announced.
 
"Everyone associated with the series has worked hard to get us to the point where a great 2007 season is ahead of us. We just have to keep it up so the series continues to grow."
 
For more information on the World of Outlaws Late Models, visit www.dirtmotorsports.com/LMS.
 
2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Schedule (as of Dec. 4, 2006)
 
Date - Day - Track/Location - Event - To Win - Laps
 
Feb. 15 - Thurs. - Volusia Speedway Park/Barberville, FL - DIRTcar Nationals - $10,000 - 50L
Feb. 17 - Sat. - Volusia Speedway Park/Barberville, FL - DIRTcar Nationals - $10,000 - 50L
 
March 23 - Fri. - Baton Rouge Raceway/Baker, LA - $10,000 - 50L
March 24 - Sat. - Columbus Speedway/Columbus, MS - $10,000 - 50L
March 25 - Sun. - North Alabama Speedway/Tuscumbia, AL - $7,000 - 40L
 
April 13 - Fri. - New Egypt Speedway/New Egypt, NJ - $10,000 - 50L
April 14 - Sat. - Virginia Motor Speedway/Saluda, VA - $10,000 - 50L
April 17 - Tues. - Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, PA - $10,000 - 50L
April 19,20,21 - Sat. - The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway/Concord, NC - COLOSSAL 100 - $50,000 - 100L
April 27 - Fri. - Farmer City Raceway/Farmer City, IL - $10,000 - 50L
April 28 - Sat. - Kamp Motor Speedway/Boswell, IN - $10,000 - 50L
 
May 4 - Fri. - Brush Creek Motorsports Complex/Peebles, OH - $10,000 - 50L
May 5 - Sat. - Wayne County Speedway/Orrville, OH - $10,000 - 50L
May 9 - Wed. - Davenport Speedway Quarter-Mile/Davenport, IA - Monster Midwest Tour - $10,000 - 50L
May 12 - Sat. - The Raceway at Powercom Park/Beaver Dam, WI - Monster Midwest Tour - $10,000 - 50L
May 13 - Sun. - Lincoln Speedway/Lincoln, IL - Monster Midwest Tour - $7,000 - 40L
May 16 - Wed. - Brownstown Speedway/Brownstown, IN - Monster Midwest Tour - $10,000 - 50L
May 18 - Fri. - I-96 Speedway/Lake Odessa, MI - Monster Midwest Tour - $10,000 - 50L
May 31 - Thurs. - Delaware International Speedway/Delmar, DE - $10,000 - 50L
 
June 2 - Sat. - Hagerstown Speedway/Hagerstown, MD - $10,000 - 50L
June 12 - Tues. - River Cities Speedway/Grand Forks, ND - $10,000 - 50L
June 14 - Thurs. - Deer Creek Speedway/Spring Valley, MN - Gopher 50 - $10,000 - 50L
June 15 - Fri. - Knoxville Raceway/Knoxville, IA - $10,000 - 50L
June 16 - Sat. - Lakeside Speedway/Kansas City, KS - $10,000 - 50L
June 17 - Sun. - TBA
June 20 - Wed. - Port Royal Speedway/Port Royal, PA - Great Northern Tour - $7,000 - 40L
June 23 - Sat. - Autodrome Drummond/Drummondville, QUE - Great Northern Tour - $10,000 - 50L
June 24 - Sun. - Cayuga County Fair Speedway/Weedsport, NY - Great Northern Tour - $10,000 - 50L
June 27 - Wed. - Stateline Speedway/Busti, NY - Great Northern Tour - $7,000 - 50L
June 29,30 - Sat. - Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, PA - FIRECRACKER 100 - $30,000 - 100L
 
July 6,7 - Sat. - Pike County Speedway/Magnolia, MS - FREEDOM 100 - $20,000 - 100L
July 10 - Tues. - Lebanon I-44 Speedway/Lebanon, MO - $10,000 - 50L
July 20 - Fri. - Virginia Motor Speedway/Saluda, VA - $10,000 - 50L
July 21 - Sat. - Hagerstown Speedway/Hagerstown, MD - 60th Anniversary Race - $12,000 - 60L
July 22 - Sun. - Eriez Speedway/Hammett, PA - $10,000 - 50L
July 25 - Wed. - Attica Raceway Park/Attica, OH - WoO LM Speedweek - $7,000 - 40L
July 26 - Thurs. - Lawrenceburg Speedway/Lawrenceburg, IN - WoO LM Speedweek - $7,000 - 40L
July 27 - Fri. - Eldora Speedway/Rossburg, OH - WoO LM Speedweek - $10,000 - 50L
July 28 - Sat. - Sharon Speedway/Hartford, OH - WoO LM Speedweek - $10,000 - 50L
 
Aug. 21,22,23 - Thurs. - Volunteer Speedway/Bulls Gap, TN - SCORCHER 100 - $20,000 - 100L
Aug. 25 - Sat. - K-C Raceway/Alma, OH - $10,000 - 50L
 
Sept. 1 - Sat. - Tri-City Speedway/Franklin, PA - Oil Region Labor Day Classic - $10,000 - 50L
Sept. 2 - Sun. - Tri-City Speedway/Franklin, PA - Oil Region Labor Day Classic - $10,000 - 50L
Sept. 14 - Fri. - Paducah International Raceway/Paducah, KY - $10,000 - 50L
Sept. 15 - Sat. - I-55 Raceway/Pevely, MO - $10,000 - 50L
Sept. 16 - Sun. - TBA
Sept. 21 - Fri. - TBA
Sept. 22 - Sat. - TBA
 
Oct. 10 - Wed. - The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway/Concord, NC - Jani-King Showdown - $10,000 - 50L
Oct. 12,13 - Sat. - Volunteer Speedway/Bulls Gap, TN - $20,000 - 100L
 
Nov. 1 - Thurs. - Season Championship - TBA
Nov. 2 - Fri. - Season Championship - TBA - $10,000 - 50L
Nov. 3 - Sat. - Season Championship - TBA - $10,000 - 50L

World of Outlaws Late Model Series Champion Tim McCreadie Among Nominees For 2006 AARWBA All-America Team

CONCORD, NC - Nov. 27, 2006 - Tim McCreadie has already been recognized as the 2006 World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion.

Soon he might be a motorsports "All-American" as well.

McCreadie, 32, of Watertown, N.Y., is among a standout group of drivers nominated for the 2006 Auto Racing All-America team, which will be determined by a vote among more than 300 members of the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA).

A first-time WoO LMS titlist this season, McCreadie is nominated for the AARWBA All-America team in the Short Track category, which also prominently includes 2006 World of Outlaws Sprint Series champion Donny Schatz.

Other nominees in the Short Track category include USAC National Midget champion Jerry Coons Jr., USAC Silver Crown titlist Bud Kaeding, National Sprint Tour champ Danny Lasoski and USAC Sprint champion Josh Wise.

"We're very proud that Tim McCreadie's championship season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series has earned him recognition alongside some of the best short-track racers in the country," said Tim Christman, who directs the WoO LMS for DIRT MotorSports. "It's further testament of the significance that winning the World of Outlaws Late Model Series title holds in the motorsports world."

The annual voting by the AARWBA membership will name two nominees from each of seven categories to the 2006 All-America first team. Other categories include Open Wheel, Stock Car, Road Racing, Drag Racing, Touring Series and At Large.

Drivers placing third and fourth in each category will be named to the second team, while all others receiving at least five percent of the vote will be cited as honorable mentions.

The nominee who earns the most votes in the balloting - regardless of category - will be presented the prestigious Jerry Titus Award.

All of the All-America teams and the winner of the Jerry Titus Award will be announced at the annual AARWBA banquet on Jan. 13, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis.

McCreadie is one of 19 racers on the 42-driver ballot seeking a first career appearance on the AARWBA All-America team. This is also his first time as a nominee.

McCreadie's road to the AARWBA ballot began in January when he shocked the open-wheel racing establishment by winning the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Okla. He raised his stature even further with his performance on the WoO LMS, winning the title in only his third full season of dirt Late Model competition.

The son of Northeast DIRT Modified legend "Barefoot" Bob McCreadie, T-Mac drove Carl Myers's Sweeteners Plus Rocket No. 39 to two wins in '06 on the hyper-competitive WoO LMS, taking features at K-C Raceway in Alma, Ohio, and Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. The 2004 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year recorded 12 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes in 30 events en route to a narrow 16-point margin of victory in the final standings over Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.

McCreadie's WoO LMS championship brought him a points-fund payoff of $120,000 - the largest single check any dirt Late Model driver received in 2006. His total WoO LMS earnings for the season totaled $216,500.

McCreadie, who began his dirt-track racing career in 1996 by entering the DIRT 358-Modified division, also had his talent recognized this season when he was invited to participate in the G.M. Driver Development Program. He was among a group of drivers who tested Busch Series cars at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C., and Nashville (Tenn.) SuperSpeedway.

The AARWBA membership has annually chosen an All-America Auto Racing team since 1970.

The AARWBA banquet is open to the public. Ticket information is available by writing the AARWBA at 922 N. Pass Ave., Burbank, Calif., 91505, or calling 818-842-7005.

Still Racing: World of Outlaws Late Model Series Standout Clint Smith Adds To Strong Season By Taking 'Gobbler 75' Victory

CONCORD, NC - Nov. 19, 2006 - Clint Smith will have a happy Thanksgiving.

That's because the World of Outlaws Late Model Series standout from Senoia, Ga., scored a long-sought victory in a traditional pre-holiday event, capturing Saturday night's 18th annual 'Gobbler 75' at Cleveland (Tenn.) Speedway.

The only 2006 WoO LMS regular to enter the extra-distance special, Smith, 41, outdueled Chris Madden of Gaffney, S.C., to pocket a $5,000 top prize.

"I've run (the 'Gobbler') for probably the last 10 years," said Smith, who has been a featured WoO LMS traveler since DIRT MotorSports launched the tour in 2004. "I think I've stood on the frontstretch after the race for the last five years, but that was because I always finished second or third.

"It feels good to finally win this one and get it out of the way."

The only part of the triumph that didn't quite meet Smith's expectations was the hardware he received in Victory Lane following the race. He wasn't presented a unique 'Gobbler 75' trophy like he had seen some other drivers receive in the past.

"I remember them giving out a stuffed turkey (as a trophy) a few times," quipped Smith. "They didn't do that this year."

After a frustrating Friday night at Cleveland Speedway that saw him start 16th and finish seventh in the Joe Lee Johnson Memorial, Smith came back with a vengeance on Saturday. He turned the second-fastest lap in time trials to earn the outside pole starting spot for the A-Main, setting him up for a battle with Madden, the evening's fast-timer and polesitter.

Madden, who won the WoO LMS season-finale Gator 100 last month at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., and Smith diced side-by-side for the lead during the early laps around the one-third-mile oval. Smith finally seized control near the halfway mark with a powerful outside move around Madden and a lapped car and never looked back.

"I had a real good race with Madden," said Smith, who drove his familiar J.P. Drilling-backed GRT No. 44. "We got into lapped traffic pretty fast and got to racing hard with some slower cars. I got by him on the outside when I got a good run in lapped traffic, and I was fortunate enough to still be in the lead a few laps later when a caution came out.

"Once I was leading I had the chance to pick where I wanted to run on the racetrack, and that was the difference."

Madden, who won Friday night's feature, chased Smith across the finish line in the runner-up spot. Mike Weeks of Friendsville, Tenn., placed third, followed by Anthony White of Clinton, Tenn., and Bo Feathers of Winchester, Va.

Smith was a happy camper after turning the tables on Madden, who led Smith under the checkered flag to win the Nov. 12 Blue-Gray 100 at Cherokee SuperSpeedway in Gaffney, S.C., and adding another flourish to one of his best racing seasons ever.

The victory was Smith's 11th overall of 2006. Four of his wins came on the WoO LMS - a personal career-high on the tour, and the second-highest win total (behind Rick Eckert's eight) on the '06 trail.

"In terms of money won, this year was second to (2005) for me," said Smith, who earned $75,110 in purses this season on the WoO LMS plus another $29,000 for finishing 10th in the tour point standings. "But we had a lot of success. Our GRT program was really good, and after doing some experimenting, I'd say that now our engine program (with RaceTek) is on top of the game."

Smith felt that he flashed more sheer speed in '06 than he ever has in his career, and he was very pleased to be a major contender for victory in several of dirt Late Model racing's premier special events.

"We had the potential to win some really big shows," said Smith, "like the (UMP-sanctioned) World 100 (at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio) and the Dirt Track World Championship (at K-C Raceway in Alma, Ohio). Maybe it was some driver error or inexperience being in those positions that cost us in those races, but we were right there and I'm proud of that."

Smith has enjoyed himself so much in '06, he's not quite ready to call it a season. He plans to run one more race before beginning to plot his '07 assault: this weekend's (Nov. 24-25) 'Turkey 100' at Swainsboro (Ga.) Speedway.

"Swainsboro is in a part of the country where I have a pretty good fan base, but we don't get to run around there too often," said Smith. "We're gonna go down there and see some people we usually don't get to see because we're on the road so much."

For more information on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series visit www.dirtmotorsports.com/LMS.

SPEED Set To Air 2006 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Season-Finale ‘Gator 100’ This Sunday (Nov. 19)

NORMAN, OK – Nov. 13, 2006 – The 2006 World of Outlaws Late Model Series season-finale ‘Gator 100’ will be telecast this Sunday (Nov. 19) at 6 p.m. EST on SPEED.

The one-hour program will feature lap-by-lap coverage of the ‘Gator 100,’ which was held on Oct. 14 at the half-mile Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., clinched the 2006 WoO LMS points title – worth a cool $120,000 – with his run in the ‘Gator 100.’ He came out on top of a dramatic points battle that also included Shane Clanton, Chub Frank, Billy Moyer and Darrell Lanigan.

SPEED commentators Rick Benjamin and Shane Andrews and pit reporter Mark Kenyon will call the action on Sunday’s telecast, which precedes SPEED’s weekly ‘NASCAR Victory Lane’ show.

The ‘Gator 100’ will close out the ’06 WoO LMS broadcast schedule on SPEED. Other tracks that were sites for SPEED event tapings during the ’06 WoO LMS season included Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.; Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn.; Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio; Cayuga County Fair Speedway in Weedsport, N.Y.; and Virginia Motor Speedway in Saluda.

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.dirtmotorsports.com/LMS.

‘Georgia Trio’ Represents World of Outlaws Late Model Series Well At North Georgia and Cherokee Speedways

NORMAN, OK – Nov. 13, 2006 – The World of Outlaws Late Model Series’s ’Georgia Trio’ represented the tour well over the weekend.

Racing into the late fall while most of their fellow 2006 WoO LMS travelers have already called it a season, Peach State residents Dale McDowell, Clint Smith and Shane Clanton added strong finishes to their ’06 records in weekend special events at North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth and Cherokee Super Speedway in Gaffney, S.C.

All three drivers entered Saturday night’s ’Turkey Rumble 60’ at North Georgia Speedway, a one-third-mile, high-banked oval that hosted the WoO LMS on May 8, 2004.

It was no surprise that the highest-finishing WoO LMS regular in North Georgia’s season-ender was McDowell, the 40-year-old from Chickamauga, Ga., who has his dirt Late Model driving school based at the track. He finished second in his Larry Shaw Race Cars/J&J Steel Rocket No. 17M behind four-time UMP Modified national champion Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn.

McDowell, coming off a $30,000 National 100 victory on Nov. 5 at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City, led the middle portion of the race before being passed by Owens, who used lapped traffic to assume command and grab the $5,000 victory.

Locust Grove, Ga.’s Clanton, the runner-up in the ’06 WoO LMS point standings, chased McDowell during the event’s late stages and finished third. Clanton, who won the only WoO LMS event ever held at North Georgia, drove Ronnie Dobbins’s RSD Enterprises Rocket No. 25.

Senoia, Ga.’s Smith, meanwhile, appeared headed to a top-five finish in his J.P. Drilling GRT No. 44 when mechanical trouble forced him to retire from competition midway through the event.

Smith turned his fortunes around in Sunday’s 16th annual Blue-Gray 100 at Cherokee Super Speedway.

The only WoO LMS regular in the field at Cherokee, Smith ran a steady race to finish second behind local favorite Chris Madden of Gaffney, S.C., who last month won the WoO LMS season-finale ‘Gator 100’ at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, S.C.

Smith inherited second place on the final lap from Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, whose car blew a tire.

Tire wear was an issue in the Blue-Gray 100, but Madden and Smith managed to go the distance on the same set of tires while most of the drivers finishing behind them pitted to make late-race rubber changes.

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.dirtmotorsports.com/LMS.

Winning The 2006 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Snap-on Tools Crew Chief of the Year Award Was A Thrill For Eddie Carrier Sr.

NORMAN, OK – Oct. 30, 2006 – Eddie Carrier Sr. had tears in his eyes on Oct. 15 as he addressed the crowd during the 2006 World of Outlaws Late Model Series awards banquet in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Being named the tour’s Snap-on Tools Crew Chief of the Year clearly meant a lot to the affable gentleman who turns the wrenches for his son Eddie Jr.

“Gosh,” said Carrier Sr., who oversaw his son’s run to the ’06 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year award. “I never expected this.”

The elder Carrier was overcome with emotion after being singled out as the trail’s top mechanic for the ’06 season. He received $7,500 worth of Snap-on Tools for the award, which was determined by a vote of the WoO LMS’s crew chiefs and officials.

Considering the Carriers were regulars on the nation’s premier dirt Late Model series for the first time this year, the Snap-on Tools Crew Chief of the Year voting demonstrated how quickly Carrier Sr. earned the respect of his peers.

“It means everything to be voted the winner of this award,” said Carrier Sr., who spent more than 20 years as a dirt Late Model driver before stepping out of the cockpit in the mid-‘90s to help his son’s burgeoning career. “When they said my name, I couldn’t believe that I won it. This was my first year with these guys, and they picked me.

“Man, I couldn’t believe it,” he added, shaking his head while receiving congratulatory handshakes following the awards ceremonies.

Carrier Sr., 54, of Salt Rock, W.Va., and his 35-year-old son hit the road with the WoO LMS this year in pursuit of the rookie title despite missing the tour’s opening event, on Feb. 4 at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Ga. They competed in the WoO LMS shows two weeks later at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., then decided to follow the remainder of the schedule after meeting with car owner Carl Grover.

The Carriers said they opted to run with the Outlaws largely because they were treated well by the tour’s officials during the Florida action. The respectful treatment erased any lingering doubts they had about DIRT MotorSports – a point Carrier Sr. touched upon while standing on stage during the WoO LMS awards banquet.

“A couple years ago I thought you were the worst guys in the world,” he said while glancing over at DIRT MotorSports officials, drawing laughs from the assemblage. “Now I think you’re the best.

“I really enjoyed racing with DIRT MotorSports (owners of the WoO LMS) this year, and I appreciate everything you do for the sport and dirt Late Model racing.”

Carrier Sr.’s popularity with the WoO LMS crowd was evident by the loud ovation he received when he was revealed as the Snap-on award’s winner. His home-spun modesty was on display when the clapping stopped.

“I want all the crew chiefs in the room to stand up,” he said, motioning his fellow mechanics to accept a moment in the spotlight. “I know how hard you worked, and everybody here deserves recognition.

“We’re all friends, we race each other, we travel together, we work our butts off. I know a lot of guys who work just as hard as I do and deserve this (award) just as much.”

Carrier Sr. also had a message for all his fellow mechanics: “When you get something like this after working so hard all year, it’s like winning the World 100.”

The younger Carrier, who has over 175 career victories combined in dirt Late Model and UMP-type Modified competition, was thrilled to see his father win the award.

“It was a surprise to see him get it after our first year on the series, but I think he’s well deserving of it,” said Carrier Jr., who received $25,000 for capturing WoO LMS Rookie of the Year honors. “I know all the hours all these crew chiefs put in, and even though he’s got a little age on some of ‘em, the blood, sweat and tears he puts out is unbelievable.

“This is what he lives for,” added Junior. “I remember one day somebody asked him what his favorite season is, and he said, ‘Race season.’”

Carrier Sr. simply relishes the opportunity to make his living working on race cars and traveling up-and-down the highway with his son.

“It’s awesome,” said Carrier Sr. “I think I live the best life. I’m not rich or nothing, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“Carl Grover gives us the opportunity to go do this and I hope it lasts a long time.”

The Carriers are already looking forward to the 2007 WoO LMS season. They’re hoping the experience they gained as Carrier Jr. drove Grover’s Engines Inc./Railway Equipment Inc. Rocket cars to an 11th-place finish in this year’s point standings will lead to brighter days, including a career-first tour victory.

“I think we learned (in ’06) how you gotta step it up a notch as a driver and as a team getting the car ready,” said Carrier Sr., who calls Grover “the best owner” anyone could ever ask for. “You gotta be prepared when you get to the track, but what we found out also is that there’s always somebody you can go talk to that won’t lie to you.

“That’s why (the Outlaws are) such a great group of guys to race with.”

ON THE WEB: For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.dirtmotorsports.com/LMS.

ON TELEVISION: The final WoO LMS television broadcast of 2006 is scheduled for SPEED on Sun., Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. EST.

Featured in the one-hour telecast will be the tour’s season-finale ‘Gator 100’ that was run on Oct. 14 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

DIRT MotorSports Names Tim Christman Director of World of Outlaws Late Model Series

NORMAN, OK – Oct. 25, 2006 – DIRT MotorSports officials have named Tim Christman the director of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

Christman, 37, brings a deep motorsports background to the post, including time as a short-track owner/operator and a stint as the sales and marketing director of Dover Downs Entertainment. He joined DIRT MotorSports earlier this year as the company’s special-events coordinator.

A resident of Locust Grove, Ga., Christman’s duties with the WoO LMS will include handling the concerns of the touring race teams and working with track promoters to schedule events and make them successful undertakings.

Bret Emrick, who served as the WoO LMS director in 2006 after replacing Dean Miracle in the spring, will remain with the nation’s premier dirt Late Model tour. He will fill the role of competition/race director for the 2007 season.

“I’m passionate about dirt Late Model racing,” said Christman. “I think it’s the top form of short-track racing from a fan’s standpoint, and it’s the most competitive form of racing from a competitor’s standpoint.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with the great drivers, team owners and promoters who are involved with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.”

Ben Geisler, DIRT MotorSports’ Executive Vice President, Operations, feels the WoO LMS will prosper under Christman’s direction.

“Tim was fortunate enough in his career to become the sales and marketing director for all of Dover Downs Entertainment’s facilities and motorsports events,” said Geisler. “But he really couldn’t get short-track racing out of his blood, and DIRT MotorSports and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series will be the beneficiary.

“I think we’re incredibly fortunate to have him with us as series director.”

With Christman’s arrival, DIRT’s WoO LMS and WoO Sprint Series will now follow identical operation models.

“With the World of Outlaws Sprint Series, we have a competition/race director (Don Grabey) and a series director (Carlton Reimers),” said Geisler. “That’s worked great for us with the Sprints, and we’ll have the same success with the Late Models.”

Geisler noted that Emrick gladly accepted a change in his WoO LMS job description. Emrick said he relishes the opportunity to focus on the competition side of the tour as Christman tends to the administrative end.

“We all owe a great debt of gratitude to Bret Emrick for stepping up as series director this year when Dean Miracle stepped aside,” said Geisler. “He did a great job for us, and we’re thrilled that he’s staying on with us next year as race director.”

Christman’s connection to short-track racing runs deep. It began when he was a kid growing up in Amsterdam, N.Y., near the venerable Fonda Speedway dirt track, where his father spent time toiling as a flagman and Christman worked as a youngster on Saturday nights.

“I was always around the sport,” said Christman, whose father also raced on asphalt tracks around New York’s Capital District.

After Christman’s family relocated to Florida when he was a teenager, his parents purchased and promoted Lake City Speedway, a three-eighths-mile dirt oval. His family was also involved with the Florida Pro Series, a pavement Super Late Model tour that was launched in the early ‘90s.

Christman graduated from Florida Southern University in 1992 with a degree in finance. He spent several years working in the financial world before moving to Dover, Del., in 1996 to serve as the director of sales and marketing at Dover International Speedway. Shortly thereafter he relocated to Nashville, Tenn., to become the national director of sales and marketing for Dover Downs Entertainment, the parent company of Dover International Speedway, Gateway International Raceway, Nashville SuperSpeedway and the Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix.

Short-track racing called Christman’s name again in 2000 when he departed Dover Downs Entertainment to purchase the paved Ocala (Fla.) Speedway. He spent several years operating Ocala, Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, Fla. (a lease deal) and a UMP-sanctioned open-wheel Modified series in the Southeast before relocating to the Atlanta area.

Now he’s with DIRT MotorSports, hard at work already on formulating an ambitious WoO LMS schedule and other plans for the 2007 season.

“I’ve been on the promoter’s side of the fence so I can speak to the promoters with an idea of what they need and want,” said Christman, a married father of a six-year-old daughter (his wife, Jennifer, is due to deliver the couple’s second child in February). “I also have experience running a traveling series, so hopefully I can blend those two areas of knowledge as the director of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.”

Christman believes the tour has a great future ahead of it.

“I firmly believe the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is the best thing out there,” said Christman. “We have the best drivers, the best car owners and the best staff. I’m happy to be part of it.”

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World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes: Wrapping Up The Season-Finale Gator 100 & 2006 Awards Banquet 

NORMAN, OK – Oct. 17, 2006 –  

NICE HARDWARE: Tim McCreadie got in some heavy lifting during Sunday night’s 2006 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Awards Banquet in Daytona Beach, Fla., when he became the first driver to receive what will become the trademark WoO champion’s trophy.

Weighing in at a robust 38 pounds, the unique bronze trophy features a race car driver kneeling proudly in front of a background that conjures up a dirt track’s sweeping turns. DIRT MotorSports officials commissioned artist/sculpture Jack Norris to create the trophy, which will be presented annually to the champs of DIRT’s WoO LM and Sprint series.

MAKING A DEAL?: During his acceptance speech, McCreadie said he knew it would be tough to maintain the eight-point lead over Shane Clanton he took into Saturday night’s season-finale Gator 100 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

How tough? Well, McCreadie glanced toward Clanton in the banquet crowd and joked that he had concocted a plan to stay ahead.

“I told everybody last night that I was paying people $50 a lap to hold you back,” McCreadie quipped to the Georgia driver. “Chub (Frank) didn’t want $50 though; he wanted 25 percent of this (the $120,000 champion’s check in McCreadie’s hand).”

McCreadie smiled as he noted that making a deal with the hard-nosed Frank might have been a good idea: “I realized he might have been the only guy who could’ve got it done!”

STATING THE OBVIOUS: Rocket Chassis’s Mark Richards, who was named the 2006 WoO LMS Chassis Builder of the Year during the awards banquet, made an appropriate summation of this year’s tour champion when he stood on stage and addressed the crowd.

“Three years ago not many people in dirt Late Model racing knew who Tim McCreadie was,” Richards said of the New York star, who has used Rocket cars since entering the dirt Late Model ranks part-time in 2003. “But now everybody knows who Tim McCreadie is.

“It didn’t take Timmy long to make his mark.”

GREAT FINISH: Josh Richards, Mark’s 18-year-old son, closed out his second-half surge with an impressive march from the 17th starting spot to a fourth-place finish in Saturday night’s Gator 100 at Volusia Speedway Park.

>From the beginning of August to the season finale, the 2005 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year tallied more points on the tour than any other driver. A slow start – which he acknowledged during his on-stage banquet remarks – relegated him to a $31,000 ninth-place finish in the point standings.

“At the beginning of the year, I thought I was going to get fired,” quipped Richards, who drives his father’s Rocket Chassis house car.

UNEXPECTED DELAY: Richards and Co. had some problems just getting to the Sunshine State last weekend.

On Oct. 11, a couple hours after leaving the Jani-King Southern Showdown at The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., the Mark Richards Racing Enterprises hauler got hung up in a precarious position entering a gas station in South Carolina. The rig’s wheels came off the ground and the trailer protruded into the road, blocking two lanes of traffic.

It took a wrecker crew more than two hours to dislodge the rig and get the team back on the highway.

SIGN OF AFFECTION: Shane Clanton got a laugh from the banquet attendees when he punctuated his remarks on finishing second in the WoO LMS point standings by thanking his crewmen, whom he jokingly called “my dummies over there.”

A LITTLE SYMPATHY: Steve Francis, who earned $37,000 for finishing sixth in the ’06 point standings, told Clanton to keep his head up after coming oh-so-close to winning the championship.

“I know exactly how Shane feels right now,” said Francis. “I’ve been there before twice (runner-up in ’04 and ’05).”

TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW: DIRT MotorSports officials and WoO LMS drivers took time during their banquet comments to acknowledge Dale McDowell, who has announced he won’t be a WoO LMS regular in 2007 because he’s taken a position working on a driver development program with Richard Childress Racing.

McDowell, who pocketed $33,000 for finishing eighth in the ’06 point standings, will spend the bulk of his time next year tutoring Childress’s teenage grandsons, Austin and Ty Dillon, in the intricacies of dirt Late Model racing. He will compete with the WoO LMS when his schedule allows.

One of McDowell’s friendly rivals, Rick Eckert, joked that there’s one reason he’s happy to see the respected, well-spoken McDowell go.

“I’m gonna miss Dale McDowell,” Eckert said after accepting his $35,000 check for finishing seventh in the point standings, “but I’m not gonna miss coming up on stage after him (at the banquet). He just talks up here so much more professional than me!”

TWO-CAR ASSAULT: Chub Frank entered a second car in the Gator 100 with his cousin Rick “Boom” Briggs behind the wheel.

Briggs, who won the 2004 WoO LMS Crew Chief of the Year Award while traveling the circuit with Frank, spent ’06 racing his dirt Late Model on tracks in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and New York. He finished as high as sixth in a WoO LMS event (on Sept. 4 at Pennsy’s Tri-City Speedway) and qualified for the Gator 100 by winning one of the ‘Whiplash Bash’ events for B-Main starters on Friday night.

Briggs also outqualified his boss in Friday’s time trials, but “they don’t pay you for that,” Frank said with a smile. ‘Chubzilla’ flashed plenty of speed in the Gator 100, climbing as high as fourth from the 12th starting spot before a worn-out right-front tire caused him to slip backward over the final 30 laps and finish sixth.

Frank’s performance allowed him to overtake 2005 WoO LMS champion Billy Moyer, who finished 15th after pitting on lap 42 to change shocks and getting lapped on the 64th circuit, for a career-high tour points finish of third. The one-spot advancement in the final standings was worth $7,000 to Frank; he received $50,000 for third while Moyer picked up $43,000 for fourth.

NICE REWARD: Eddie Carrier Jr. experienced a forgettable night at Volusia on Saturday. His No. 28 developed ignition problems during the Gator 100 pace laps, forcing him to roll into the pit area and end up with a last-place finish.

But he was soothed on Sunday night, when he left the banquet with a whopping $51,500 in cash. He received $26,500 for finishing 11th in the point standings, plus another $25,000 for winning the tour’s Rookie of the Year Award.

Consider that Carrier’s post-season awards were almost double the amount of purse money ($26,510) he earned on the ’06 WoO LMS.

EYES WIDE OPEN: Good-guy racer Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., made the long haul to Volusia for the Gator 100 – with his No. 21d in plain sight for the entire trip on an open trailer.

Stone, who made the cut for the Gator 100 through a B-Main and finished 25th after bringing out a caution flag with mechanical trouble on lap 11, was awestruck prior to Friday’s qualifying when informed of the points-fund and Rookie of the Year cash that Carrier was set to collect from DIRT MotorSports.

“I don’t think I’ve ever even made $25,000 in a whole season,” quipped Stone.

MEMORABLE RUN: Chris Madden’s convincing victory in the Gator 100 made him just the fourth non-Outlaw driver to win a feature on the tour in 2006, following Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., Dick Barton of Ashville, N.Y., and Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa.

The triumph also bore an ironic resemblance to the other $20,000 win of his career: a 2003 Xtreme DirtCar Series score at 311 Speedway in Madison, N.C.

“That win at Madison was one of my first races back after being out for awhile from the neck and back injuries I got in a wreck at Charlotte,” said Madden, 31, of Gaffney, S.C. “Now this win tonight comes not long after I came back from missing seven weeks because I fell off my truck at the shop and broke both my feet.

“I guess there’s something about coming back from injuries that gets me going good.”

NO SUCCESS: Illinois residents Shannon Babb and Brian Shirley – a pair of Petroff Towing-backed racers who have been among the hottest dirt Late Model drivers in the country this season – entered the Gator 100 but had disappointing weekends.

Babb, the two-time defending champion of the UMP Summernationals, qualified for the 100 through a heat. But the 2004 WoO LMS feature winner at Volusia wasn’t a factor before bringing out a caution flag and retiring on lap 65.

The 25-year-old Shirley, meanwhile, came to Volusia hot off his huge victory in the Sept. 30 Knoxville Late Model Nationals. The 2002 UMP Late Model Rookie of the Year, who spent the week leading to the race hanging out in the Daytona Beach sun after running the Oct. 6-7 Dixie Shootout in Georgia, failed to qualify after being unable to recover from a turn-two twirl during a B-Main.

NICE NUMBERS: The Gator 100 dropped the curtain on a 2006 WoO LMS campaign that saw an average of 42.3 cars enter the 30 events.

The season-high car count was 87 (on Feb. 17 at Volusia), and the tour drew more than 50 cars seven times; more than 40 cars 10 times; and more than 30 machines on nine occasions.

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Madden Dominates Gator 100 At Volusia Speedway Park; Quiet McCreadie Clinches First-Ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series Title

BARBERVILLE, FL – Oct. 14, 2006 – Chris Madden of Gaffney, S.C., got the job done on Saturday night, scoring an impressive victory in the Daytona Dodge Mopar Speed Gator 100 at Volusia Speedway Park.

Tim McCreadie also got the job done, albeit in a slightly different manner. A quiet ninth-place finish allowed him to clinch his first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series points championship.

McCreadie, 32, of Watertown, N.Y., claimed the title, worth $120,000, by 16 points (4,110-4,094) over Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., who started and finished 13th.

“It wasn’t the easiest ninth I ever had in my life,” said McCreadie, who fell back from the sixth starting spot in his Sweeteners Plus Rocket No. 39. “But it got us where we needed to be.”

The 2006 season finale of the nation’s premier dirt Late Model tour was a runaway for Madden, who wasn’t challenged after slipping past Rick Eckert of York, Pa., for the lead on lap 21. He cruised to his first career WoO LMS triumph, earning himself a $20,000 check.

“This win is real satisfying because it kinda shows everyone that we can get the job done,” said the 31-year-old Madden, the current points leader and 2005 champion of the Southern All-Stars Late Model Series. “We’re good enough to run up front no matter who we’re racing against.”

Eckert finished a distant second, 3.174 seconds – nearly a full straightaway – behind Madden.

Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., placed third, followed by 17th-starter Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., and defending Gator 100 winner Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., who started ninth but slipped outside the top 10 early in the distance.

Madden’s victory came in just his third competitive visit to Volusia. Last year he raced in both the February Race Weeks events and fall Gator 100 at the half-mile oval, but he didn’t see action in the 2006 Race Weeks meet because he returned home upon learning that his friend’s father had died.

Despite his relative inexperience at the DIRT MotorSports-owned facility, Madden was without peer on Saturday night.

Once Madden steered his Henderson Amusements/Century Plastics No. 44M from the third starting spot to the lead, he pulled away from the pack at will. He was slowed only by four caution flags, on laps 21, 26, 42 and 65.

“The laps were just going so smooth,” said Madden. “I never even pushed it the whole race. This (Scott) Bloomquist chassis was just super-good tonight.”

Madden gained control for good on the 21st circuit when Eckert, who had surged off the outside pole to lead from the initial green flag, ran into trouble with lapped traffic. He lost his momentum momentarily when he clipped the sliding Eric Jacobsen of Santa Cruz, Calif., in turn four.

The contact left Eckert’s Raye Vest-owned Rocket with minor front-end damage

“One lapped car run into another one and they slid up across the racetrack,” remembered Eckert. “I got on the brakes and got into (Jacobsen) a little bit, just enough to break the hood pin off. After that the hood was up so high (flapping in the air) I could never see to turn into the corner.”

That was a major problem for Eckert.

“This place is a circle and you gotta look left all the time, so I couldn’t see where I needed to be,” said Eckert. “I ran looking at the hood, so I kept looking at the inside guardrail guessing where I was at. I made sure I didn’t miss the corners too much, but I was too low three-quarters of the time.

“I may have been good enough to win the race,” he added, “but we’ll never know.”

Eckert, 40, did end the season on a strong note, registering just his second top-five finish in the tour’s last 13 events. The run helped him hold on to seventh place in the final WoO LMS point standings.

Francis, 39, also shook himself out of an extended slump with his third-place finish. He got his Mopar Rocket up to second before losing the position to Eckert on a lap-42 restart.

But Francis couldn’t pick up any positions in the final points rundown. He settled for sixth place in the standings, four points behind Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who finished eighth in the 100.

Richards, 18, was the race’s biggest mover-and-shaker, shuffling his Rocket house car steadily forward during the main. He overtook Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., for fourth shortly after a lap-65 restart and caught Francis 10 circuits later, but he couldn’t find a way to snare third place, finishing 0.366 of a second behind Francis.

The battle for the WoO LMS title between McCreadie and Clanton, who entered the night separated by only eight points, didn’t materialize as expected. Neither driver was a major factor in the event, and Clanton’s only bid to overtake McCreadie was a fleeting one following a lap-42 restart.

Clanton struggled to navigate the track using the high groove.

“I couldn’t go on the bottom, so I had to try something,” said Clanton, whose two-race WoO LMS win streak came to an end. “I tightened the car up too much to run the bottom, and I think I needed to tighten it up more to run the top.”

Describing his effort to pass McCreadie, Clanton said, “I thought if I could just get in front of him, I’d either pull left or stay wide and beat him. But it didn’t work out.”

Clanton walked to Victory Lane following the race and congratulated McCreadie. He was disappointed with the outcome but certainly not unhappy.

“Anytime you run second in points, you gotta say it’s a pretty good season,” said Clanton, who missed a portion of the 2005 WoO LMS campaign while recovering from a shoulder injury. “We wanted to win a race this year and we did, but we just fell a little bit short in the points. I guess we’ll have to get ‘em next year.”

The time is now for McCreadie, who hung on to capture the title despite failing to record a top-five finish in the season’s last four events, including a frustrating Gator 100 outing.

“We missed something tonight,” said McCreadie, who is in his third season driving Carl Myers’s dirt Late Model on the WoO LMS. “I thought at the start that I had something, but after that one (mid-race) restart, I don’t know if a tire sealed up or something, but we just went right in the tank from then on.

“It was just a matter of hoping for the best. I figured Shane would be coming along, but I guess it was just our night.

“I’m disappointed with the way we ran, but it was enough,” he added. “We’re happy right now. It’s a lot of relief to win this championship.”

Frank finished sixth in the 100, allowing the veteran racer to place third in the WoO LMS point standings. He overtook defending tour champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., who pitted to change shocks after bringing out a caution flag on lap 42 and was lapped by Madden on the 64th circuit, leaving him 15th at the finish.

With time trials and heat races completed on Friday, two B-Mains highlighted Saturday’s qualifying agenda. Richards and Johnny Cloer Jr. of Chatsworth, Ga., captured the last-chance events.

Moyer won the dash to earn the pole position for the feature.

Most of the WoO LMS teams were planning to remain in the Sunshine State on Sunday night (Oct. 15) to attend the tour’s annual awards banquet at The Shores Resort in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Results of WoO Late Model Series Gator 100 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won): 1. (3) Chris Madden/100 $20,000; 2. (2) Rick Eckert/100 $10,000; 3. (5) Steve Francis/100 $6,000; 4. (17) Josh Richards/100 $5,000; 5. (9) Scott Bloomquist/100 $4,000; 6. (10) Chub Frank/100 $3,500; 7. (8) Earl Pearson Jr./100 $3,000; 8. (4) Darrell Lanigan/100 $2,700; 9. (6) Tim McCreadie/100 $2,500; 10. (15) Dale McDowell/100 $2,200; 11. (12) Clint Smith/100 $2,000; 12. (20) John Blankenship/100 $1,800; 13. (13) Shane Clanton/100 $1,700; 14. (14) Chris Wall/100 $1,600; 15. (1) Billy Moyer/99 $1,500; 16. (25) Steve Shaver/98 $1,500; 17. (7) Dan Schlieper/96 $1,500; 18. (26) Rick Briggs/96 $1,500; 19. (22) Patrick Sheltra/90 $1,500; 20. (16) Shannon Babb/64 $1,500; 21. (24) Garrett Durrett/59 $1,500; 22. (18) Johnny Cloer Jr./55 $1,500; 23. (19) Ray Cook/24 $1,500; 24. (23) Eric Jacobsen/20 $1,500; 25. (21) Dan Stone/10 $1,500; 26. (11) Eddie Carrier Jr./0 $1,500.

Time of Race: 50 Mins., 14.996 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 3.174 Secs.
Yellow Flags: 4 (Laps 21, 26, 42, 65)
Lap Leaders: Eckert (1-20); Madden (21-100)

B-Main No. 1 (12 laps – Top 3 Transfer): Josh Richards, Ray Cook, Dan Stone, Steve Shaver, G.R. Smith, Tony Knowles, Brian Shirley, Marshall Austin, Casey Barrow, Ivedent Lloyd, Garrett Durrett.

B-Main No. 2 (12 laps – Top 3 Transfer): Johnny Cloer Jr., John Blankenship, Patrick Sheltra, Eric Jacobsen, Johnny Collins, Larry Perry Jr., David Browning, Rick Briggs Jr., Homer Leonard, Bodine Massengill, Michael Lloyd.

Dash (4 laps): Moyer, Eckert, Madden, Lanigan.

Final 2006 WoO Late Model Series Point Standings: 1. Tim McCreadie 4,110; 2. Shane Clanton 4,094; 3. Chub Frank 4,076; 4. Billy Moyer 4,068; 5. Darrell Lanigan 4,066; 6. Steve Francis 4,062; 7. Rick Eckert 3,956; 8. Dale McDowell 3,926; 9. Josh Richards 3,894; 10. Clint Smith 3,847; 11. Eddie Carrier Jr. 3,439; 12. John Blankenship 3,404; 13. Eric Jacobsen 3,281; 14. Garrett Durrett 3,227; 15. Dave Hess Jr. 1,158; 16. Robbie Blair 1,065; 17. Mike Balzano 998; 18. Ricky Elliott 953; 18. Brady Smith 953; 20. Jimmy Mars 932.

LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series live on Dirtvision.com through the DIRT Radio Network.

To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo.

Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@dirtvision.com.

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by several sponsors and partners, including Series sponsor Hoosier Tire; Promotional sponsors AMB i.t., Choice Hotels International, COESfx, The University of Northwest Ohio and Snap-on. Contingency sponsors include DART Machinery, Holley Performance Products Inc., MSD Ignition, Quarter Master, Ohlins and Wrisco Industries. 

World of Outlaws Late Model Series Points Leader Tim McCreadie Builds Confidence With Strong Effort On Gator 100 Qualifying Night At Volusia Speedway Park

BARBERVILLE, FL – Oct. 13, 2006 – Tim McCreadie doesn’t know if his solid performance in Friday’s qualifying-night action will translate to success – and his first World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship – in Saturday’s Daytona Dodge Mopar Speed ‘Gator 100’ at Volusia Speedway Park.

But he does know that it felt good.

“This is what we needed,” said McCreadie, whose runner-up finish in Friday’s second heat earned him the sixth starting spot for the Gator 100. “Now we’re in the game.”

Despite entering the season-finale weekend for the 2006 WoO LMS leading the point standings, McCreadie had struggled in three straight races. As a result, his points lead shrank from 42 to eight over Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.

It appeared McCreadie’s problems might be continuing on Friday when he half-spun between turns three and four during his first lap of time trials, but he recovered with aplomb. After smartly driving his car backward on the track and turning around in the first corner in order to rebuild his momentum, he proceeded to rip off a 16.829-second circuit that ultimately left him second-fastest in qualifying – behind only Clanton, who turned a lap of 16.776 seconds.

McCreadie outperformed Clanton in heat competition, taking the bridesmaid spot in the second heat to Clanton’s fourth place in the first prelim. Later, he beat Clanton one-on-one in the semi-finals of the ‘Gator Challenge,” winning the best-of-three match-race series (each race was three laps) with a 2-0 shutout.

The $1,000 Gator Challenge top prize fell to McCreadie after he defeated Chris Madden of Gaffney, S.C., who had swept John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va., in the semis, by a 2-1 margin in the final round.

McCreadie ended the night with renewed confidence that he can outduel Clanton, Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark. (30 points behind McCreadie), Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. (-40) and Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky. (-46) for the $120,000 WoO LMS title – and maybe even pocket the Gator 100’s $20,000 first-place cash as well.

“All I ask for is a car that’s competitive, and then whatever happens, happens,” said McCreadie, who gave good grades to the one-race-old Pro Power engine he had under the hood of his Sweeteners Plus Rocket No. 39. “I think we’ll be competitive and be part of the race. Whether we’ll be good enough to contend for a win, we’ll see.”

McCreadie cautioned that being fast on Friday doesn’t mean he’ll be just as good in the 100-lapper.

“I think (the setup he ran on Friday) will still win a lot of the races (run) on the little wetter-type tracks,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s gonna win a race you run on real hard tires where you gotta drive around and maneuver.”

And that’s what McCreadie envisions for the Gator 100.

“I don’t think the track will be as fast tomorrow (as it was on Friday),” he said. “You’ll probably have to use hard tires, and things change when get on ‘em. All of a sudden guys shine who didn’t shine before.

“A guy like Clint (Smith) might have been off a little tonight, but if he puts on hard tires he’s gonna be hard to outrun. His stuff just goes good on hard tires.”

McCreadie, who can assure himself the WoO LMS title by finishing third or better in the Gator 100, won’t be counting points on Saturday night.

“I’m not worried about it,” he said of the points lead. “I was more worried about it a few races ago when we first got in the lead.

“Now I’m just worried about racing. If I’ve got a competitive car, I want to win. I don’t race any different. I’m not gonna lay off. I’m gonna run hard.”

The 31-year-old Clanton, meanwhile, will start 13th in the Gator 100 after a disappointing heat-race run. He started from the pole position but slipped to a fourth-place finish.

“We still got a good car,” said Clanton, noting that he fell backward after making one slip and then “overdriving” in frustration. “We got a hundred laps to do it (win the title). That’s a long time.”

Moyer, who won the 2005 WoO LMS championship with a dramatic performance in the Gator 100, and Lanigan authored the strongest heat-race runs of the title contenders. Both scored heat wins and will join fellow prelim victors Madden and Rick Eckert of York, Pa., in Saturday night’s pole dash.

Frank finished third in the second heat, behind Lanigan and McCreadie. He’ll start 10th in the Gator 100.

Thirty-nine cars entered the program – a significant increase over the event’s 26-car field in 2005.

Also part of the show were the unique ‘Whiplash Dash’ races. The 12-lappers were aligned in reverse order of Saturday’s B-Main starting fields, and with victories in the events Steve Shaver of Vienna, W.Va., and Rick Briggs of Bear Lake, Pa., who drove his cousin Chub Frank’s second car, guaranteed themselves starting positions in the Gator 100.

Saturday’s card will feature two B-Mains, the pole dash and the Gator 100 for the WoO LMS. Volusia’s regular Late Model division will also be in action.

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and spectator gates will be unlocked at 5 p.m. Racing is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

For more information visit www.volusiaspeedwaypark.com or call 386-985-4402.

Time Trial Results (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):

1. 25-Shane Clanton/Locust Grove, GA 16.776

2. 39-Tim McCreadie/Watertown, NY 16.829

3. 44M-Chris Madden/Gaffney, SC 16.911

4. 23-John Blankenship/Williamson, WV 16.933

5. 21-Billy Moyer/Batesville, AR 16.936

6. 29-Darrell Lanigan/Union, KY 16.956

7. 1b-Rick Briggs Jr./Bear Lake, PA 16.993

8. 24-Rick Eckert/York, PA 17.039

9. 15-Steve Francis/Ashland, KY 17.043

10. 1*-Chub Frank/Bear Lake, PA 17.061

11. 9-Dan Schlieper/Sullivan, WI 17.103

12. 1p-Earl Pearson Jr./Jacksonville, FL 17.122

13. 0-Scott Bloomquist/Mooresburg, TN 17.193

14. 71-Chris Wall/Holden, LA 17.199

15. 28-Eddie Carrier Jr./Salt Rock, WV 17.229

16. 18-Shannon Babb/Moweaqua, IL 17.270

17. 53-Ray Cook/Brasstown, NC 17.291

18. 58c-Garrett Durrett/Simsboro, LA 17.383

19. 17M-Dale McDowell/Chickamauga, GA 17.383

20. 23s-Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown, FL 17.449

21. 3s-Brian Shirley/Chatham, IL 17.502

22. 22*-G.R. Smith/Mooresville, NC 17.519

23. M7-Michael Lloyd/Jacksonville, FL 17.545

24. 44-Clint Smith/Senoia, GA 17.564

25. 21d-Dan Stone/Thompson, PA 17.581

26. 1-Josh Richards/Shinnston, WV 17.616

27. 5-Eric Jacobsen/Santa Cruz, CA 17.671

28. 5c-Johnny Collins/Jacksonville, FL 17.679

29. 30-Steve Shaver/Vienna, WV 17.989

30. 66-Tony Knowles/Tyrone, GA 18.048

31. 41-Johnny Cloer Jr./Chatsworth, GA 18.125

32. M5-Bodine Massengill/Jacksonville, FL 18.156

33. 42-Marshall Austin/Dover, FL 18.200

34. 98-Casey Barrow/Savannah, GA 18.292

35. 28b-David Browning/Jacksonville, FL 18.308

36. 21p-Larry Perry Jr./Lake City, FL 18.594

37. J17-Mark Whitener/Jacksonville, FL 19.067

38. 21L-Ivedent Lloyd/Ocala, FL 19.251

39. 1L-Homer Leonard/Jacksonville, FL 19.382

Heat No. 1 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Moyer, Francis, Bloomquist, Clanton, Cook, Shirley, Stone, Shaver, Whitener, Austin.

Heat No. 2 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Lanigan, McCreadie, Frank, Wall, Richards, I. Lloyd, Durrett, G.R. Smith, Knowles, Barrow.

Heat No. 3 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Madden, Schlieper, Carrier, McDowell, Cloer, M. Lloyd, Jacobsen, Briggs, Browning, Leonard.

Heat No. 4 (10 laps – Top 4 Transfer): Eckert, Pearson, C. Smith, Babb, Blankenship, Sheltra, Massengill, Collins, Perry.

‘Whiplash Bash’ No. 1 (12 laps – Winner Guaranteed to Start Gator 100): Shaver, Shirley, Stone, Cook, Durrett, I. Lloyd, Knowles, G.R. Smith, Whitener, Barrow, Richards (DNS) Austin.

‘Whiplash Bash’ No. 2 (12 laps – Winner Guaranteed to Start Gator 100): Briggs, Blankenship, M. Lloyd, Sheltra, Perry, Browning, Collins, Jacobsen, Massengill (DNS) Leonard, Cloer.

Lineup of B-Main No. 1 (to be run Saturday): 1. Ray Cook, 2. Josh Richards, 3. Brian Shirley, 4. Ivedent Lloyd, 5. Dan Stone, 6. Garrett Durrett, 7. Steve Shaver, 8. G.R. Smith, 9. Mark Whitener, 10. Tony Knowles, 11. Marshall Austin, 12. Casey Barrow.

Lineup of B-Main No. 2 (to be run Saturday): 1. Johnny Cloer Jr., 2. John Blankenship, 3. Michael Lloyd, 4. Patrick Sheltra, 5. Eric Jacobsen, 6. Bodine Massengill, 7. Rick Briggs, 8. Johnny Collins, 9. David Browning, 10. Larry Perry Jr., 11. Homer Leonard.

LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series live on Dirtvision.com through the DIRT Radio Network.

To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo.

Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network. For technical support or questions, e-mail webmaster@dirtvision.com.

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by several sponsors and partners, including Series sponsor Hoosier Tire; Promotional sponsors AMB i.t., Choice Hotels International, COESfx, The University of Northwest Ohio and Snap-on. Contingency sponsors include DART Machinery, Holley Performance Products Inc., MSD Ignition, Quarter Master, Ohlins and Wrisco Industries.

World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes

NORMAN, OK – Oct. 12, 2006 –

BIG ‘MO’: If momentum means anything, then Shane Clanton should be the man to beat in this weekend’s (Oct. 13-14) World of Outlaws Late Model Series season finale at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

Clanton, 31, of Locust Grove, Pa., enters the $20,000-to-win Daytona Dodge Mopar Speed ‘Gator 100’ on a major roll. He’s won the last two WoO LMS events – on Sept. 4 at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., and Oct. 8 at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway – and in that span has sliced 34 points off Tim McCreadie’s points lead, pulling within a scant eight markers of the Watertown, N.Y., driver.

What’s more, two days prior to his $18,000 Pittsburgher 100 victory at PPMS, he earned a cool $15,000 for capturing the first round of the Dixie Shootout at Rome (Ga.) Speedway.

“When it’s your time to win, it’s your time to win,” Clanton modestly said after celebrating his Pittsburgher triumph in COESfx Victory Lane. “We’ve had a good weekend, a good month. I mean, this is the most money I’ve ever won in a single event.”

Clanton asserted that his hot streak isn’t the result of his team “really doing anything different,” but he does give credit to his recently revitalized engine program.

“I always have good equipment (fielded by Ronnie Dobbins), but every motor I got is fresh now, so hopefully that’s helping us,” said Clanton. “We got two brand new (Custom) motors a month ago and they’re really working good for us.”

Clanton has never won at Volusia, but he’s no stranger to the half-mile oval. He finished 11th in last year’s Gator 100, and during the track’s February Race Weeks action earlier this year he scored finishes of third and fifth in WoO LMS events and ninth, 21st and 11th in UMP-sanctioned Late Model shows.

LOVING THE KEYSTONE STATE: Pennsylvania has been very good to Clanton in 2006.

Of Clanton’s nine overall triumphs this season, three have come in Pennsy. Prior to his Tri-City and PPMS WoO LMS scores, he won the unsanctioned ‘Yankee-Doodle 50’ on July 3 at Central PA Speedway in Clearfield.

TRAVELING BUDDIES: Clanton made an 11-hour overnight drive to PPMS after competing in the second round of the Dixie Shootout on Oct. 7 at Georgia’s Dixie Speedway. He “car-pooled” with fellow WoO LMS regular Clint Smith to defray travel costs back to western Pennsy; Clanton’s hauler carried both his car and Smith’s No. 44.

STRUGGLING: Tim McCreadie might have left PPMS on Sunday night sitting atop the WoO LMS point standings, but he wasn’t a happy camper.

“We were bad from the beginning to the end,” he said after starting third but finishing a dismal 10th in the 100-lapper. “The car just wasn’t bolted to the racetrack.”

McCreadie, 32, went to the post at PPMS with a completely rebuilt car (his crew spent three days during the week at Rocket Chassis in Shinnston, W.Va., where a new front clip was put on the machine McCreadie crashed on Sept. 28 in Knoxville, Iowa) and a new Pro Power engine under its hood (marking the first time in his dirt Late Model career that he didn’t use a C.C. Performance motor). But he said getting adjusted to a repaired car and new engine was no excuse for his disappointing performance.

“We had all year to race the car. If we can’t figure it out now, we ain’t never gonna figure it out,” commented McCreadie. “We just gotta get going better. We’re just not going good enough.”

McCreadie paused, and then added, “We better find a way to start winning some races, or we don’t deserve to win (the WoO LMS championship). That’s the way I look at it. Obviously the cream is rising to the top, and right now that’s not us.”

KEEPING TABS: McCreadie’s racing roots are in the DIRT big-block Modified division, so the New Yorker and his crew spent the afternoon of the Pittsburgher 100 thinking about what was going on almost six hours away in Syracuse, N.Y.

The Pittsburgher’s postponement to Oct. 8 forced McCreadie to miss the biggest DIRT Modified event of the season – the $50,000-to-win Eckerd 200 that closes Super DIRT Week at the Syracuse Mile. He had competed in every Eckerd 200 since 1997, though without much luck; he’s been a contender for victory but has never finished the race’s entire distance.

Cell-phone text messages kept McCreadie and Co. up-to-date on the action in the Eckerd 200 as they prepared for the Pittsburgher.

STILL SOME HOPE: Billy Moyer will take the green flag in Saturday’s Gator 100 trailing McCreadie by 30 points in the WoO LMS standings, so he’ll need to catch some breaks if he’s going to win a second straight tour title.

The 48-year-old dirt Late Model legend from Batesville, Ark., won’t give up his throne without a fight, however.

“We’ll just pull all the stops out, go for the win and let the chips fall where they may,” said Moyer. “But (McCreadie’s) running in the conservative mode now I think, and for him to be worse than 15th and give us a chance, something would have to break or he’ll have to wreck.”

Moyer will carry some momentum into the Gator 100. A sixth-place finish in the Pittsburgher 100 seemed to signal that he’s getting a hold on the new MasterSbilt car he plans to run at Volusia – and on Wednesday night he earned $10,000 to help fund his haul to Florida by winning the Jani-King Southern Showdown at The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

MICROCOSM: Steve Francis could only shake his head after running well early and then fading to a frustrating ninth-place finish in the Pittsburgher 100.

“The car was super-good at the beginning and I was up there thinking, Go green, go green,” said Francis. “But I think after that caution came out (on lap 46) we just sealed the tires up. We didn’t have ours cut up (siped) as much as a lot of them did and it cost us. It was a dumb mistake, but it ain’t nobody’s fault but mine.

“This is typical of my season though,” added the Ashland, Ky., star. “It’s the way to describe my whole year.”

Francis, who has two WoO LMS victories in 2006 but is winless since May 5 at Brushcreek Motorsports Complex in Peebles, Ohio, battled Moyer for the tour championship in last year’s Gator 100. His 60-point deficit entering Saturday’s edition of the event leaves him with no title hopes, so he’ll be out to get his early-season groove back (he won at Volusia on Feb. 18) and maybe pick up a couple spots in the point standings.

TEACHER: Dale McDowell will be behind the wheel of his familiar Rocket No. 17M this weekend at Volusia, one week after driving a second Marak Richards Racing Enterprises Rocket Chassis house car in the Pittsburgher 100.

McDowell, 40, of Chickamauga, Ga., traveled to PPMS without his crew chief brother, Shane, and his equipment because the postponement of the event created a business conflict for him. As part of his new position working with Richard Childress Racing’s Driver Development Program, McDowell and his brother were obligated to field a dirt Late Model for Childress’s grandson, Austin Dillon, on Oct. 6-7 at the Talladega (Ala.) Short Track.

Austin, 16, raced to finishes of seventh on Friday and 10th on Saturday under the watchful eye of McDowell, who has been hired by Childress to tutor Austin and Austin’s 14-year-old brother Ty.

“I’d like to thank Mark and Josh (Richards) for letting me run their car,” said McDowell, who finished fifth in the Pittsburgher 100.

GOING STRONG: Josh Richards doesn’t want to see the 2006 season come to a close.

With a third-place finish in the Pittsburgher 100, the 18-year-old from Shinnston, W.Va., continued a second-half surge that has him itching to run more races.

“I’m just starting to get to where I feel comfortable – and we only have about four races (one WoO LMS event) left to go,” said Richards, who finished 19th in last year’s Gator 100. “I’m just gonna have to get up on the wheel and try to get (a win in) one of these last races of the year.”

TALENTED FIELD: A purse of nearly $85,000 for this weekend’s Gator 100 is expected to attract a top-notch field of drivers from across the country to battle the WoO LMS regulars at DIRT MotorSports’ Volusia Speedway Park.

In fact, five of the country’s hottest dirt Late Model racers are planning to invade the Sunshine State oval.

The Gator 100 is on the schedules of Mooresburg, Tenn.’s Scott Bloomquist, who won the event last year; Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., who captured last month’s prestigious UMP-sanctioned World 100 at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway; Chris (‘The Intimagator’) Wall of Holden, La., who has dominated the Louisiana/Mississippi circuit in 2006; Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., the 2006 UMP Summernationals champion; and Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., whose torrid win pace since mid-July was highlighted by an upset triumph in the Sept. 30 Knoxville Late Model Nationals.

Other top talents who have put the Gator 100 on their skeds include Steve Shaver of Vienna, W.Va., who won the prestigious North-South 100 in August; Chris Madden of Grey Court, S.C.; Ray Cook of Brasstown, N.C.; Brandon Kinzer of Allen, Ky.; Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa.; and G.R. Smith of Concord, N.C.

TWO DAYS OF ACTION: Volusia’s racing weekend will kick off on Fri., Oct. 13, with time trials and heat races for the WoO LMS. Also on the agenda will the ‘Whiplash Dash’ for Late Model non-qualifiers, the first annual $1,000-to-win Gator Challenge Match Races and heats and features for the Hobby Stocks and Street Stocks.

The Gator Challenge Match Races will pit the two highest points drivers and the next two fast-timers from Friday’s qualifying.

The Sat., Oct. 14, program will include WoO LMS B-Mains, a pole dash and the Gator 100, which offers $1,500 to take the green flag. Volusia’s Late Model division will also be in action.

Pit gates are scheduled to open each day at 4 p.m., and spectator gates will be unlocked at 5 p.m.

Friday ticket prices are $14 for general admission, $15 for reserved seats and $25 for pit passes. Saturday prices are $28 for general admission, $30 for reserved seats and $35 for the pits.

A two-day reserved seat is available in advance for $40 and includes a free Friday pit pass. Two-day pit combo tickets are also available at a cost of $50.

GATOR INFO: For more information on the Gator 100 at Volusia Speedway Park call 386-985-4402 or visit www.volusiaspeedwaypark.com and www.dirtmotorsports.com.

Just Eight Points Separates McCreadie & Clanton In World of Outlaws Late Model Series Points Race Entering This Weekend’s Season-Finale Gator 100 At Volusia Speedway Park

BARBERVILLE, FL – Oct. 9, 2006 – The battle for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series points championship will go down to the final race.

Again.

For the second consecutive year there will be drama aplenty at DIRT MotorSports’ Volusia Speedway Park, which this weekend (Oct. 13-14) hosts the 2006 WoO LMS season finale Daytona Dodge Mopar Speed Shop Gator 100.

Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., enters the blockbuster weekend clinging to a scant eight-point lead over Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga. Also lurking in the shadows are defending tour champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark. (30 points behind McCreadie), Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. (-40) and Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky. (-46) – all of whom remain alive for the title but will need poor outings from McCreadie and Clanton to reach the top of the standings.

The prize awaiting the ’06 champ at the end of the rainbow? A cool $120,000 check, which the winner will receive on Sunday night during the 2006 WoO LMS Awards Banquet at The Shores Resort in Daytona Beach, Fla.

McCreadie, 32, and Clanton, 31, will be the focal points of the Gator 100, which pays $20,000 to win. Both drivers are chasing a first career WoO LMS championship.

McCreadie will arrive in the Sunshine State mired in a slump, frustrated with three consecutive finishes outside the top five. But his confidence should be bolstered by the fact that the site of the Gator 100 is Volusia Speedway Park, a high-banked, half-mile oval he’s very familiar with.

Volusia happens to be the track that McCreadie has competed on the most times since launching his dirt Late Model career in 2003. His annual February Race Weeks visits to Volusia have resulted in WoO LMS and UMP-sanctioned victories, and he’s also been triumphant at Volusia in DIRT Modified competition.

“I guess the experience helps,” said McCreadie, who won the WoO LMS Rookie of the Year award in 2004 and finished third in last year’s tour point standings. “But it shouldn’t matter where we’re racing. The bottom line is we just gotta get going better if we’re gonna win this championship.”

McCreadie can assure himself of the title by finishing third or better in the Gator 100. But if he places worse than that, he could end up nervously counting positions and points right up to the checkered flag.

The odds are good that Clanton will make closing out the points race hard on McCreadie. After all, he’ll pull into the Volusia pit area as the WoO LMS’s hottest driver, riding a two-race win streak forged on Sept. 4 at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., and Oct. 8 at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.

Clanton also feels good about racing at Volusia despite having never visited Victory Lane there.

“We ran real good at Volusia in February,” said Clanton. “We won some heat races and were good in the features.”

The flickering title hopes of Moyer, Frank and Lanigan are pinned to the fates of McCreadie and Clanton.

A basic round-up: Moyer, 48, will be eliminated from title contention if McCreadie finishes 14th or better and Clanton places 10th or better; Frank, 44, has no shot at the title if McCreadie finishes 19th or better and Clanton places 15th or better; and Lanigan, 36, will be struck from championship consideration if McCreadie finishes 22nd or better and Clanton finishes 18th or better.

“All we can do is try to win the race and let the chips fall where they may,” bottom-lined Moyer.

Of course, if both McCreadie and Clanton finish below the thresholds that automatically eliminate Moyer, Frank and Lanigan, then things could get really interesting. Countless scenarios are possible, including some that could leave two or more drivers tied atop the standings.

In that case, the champion will determined by the WoO LMS tie-breaker formula, which begins with number of feature wins.

Using a tie-breaker isn’t unprecedented for the WoO LMS. It happened last year at Volusia, where Moyer’s pass of Ashland, Ky.’s Steve Francis on the final lap of the Gator 100 left the two drivers tied for the points lead.

Moyer ended up with his third career WoO LMS title thanks to the second WoO LMS tie-breaker: number of second-place finishes.

The 14 WoO LMS travelers will be joined by a host of talented invaders for the Gator 100 weekend, which boasts a total purse of nearly $85,000.

Three of the country’s hottest dirt Late Model racers are expected to take on the WoO LMS superstars. The Gator 100 is on the schedules of Mooresburg, Tenn.’s Scott Bloomquist, who won the event last year; Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., who captured last month’s prestigious UMP-sanctioned World 100 at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway; and Chris (‘The Intimagator’) Wall of Holden, La., who has dominated the Louisiana/Mississippi circuit in 2006.

Volusia’s racing weekend will kick off on Fri., Oct. 13, with time trials and heat races for the WoO LMS. Also on the agenda will the ‘Whiplash Dash’ for Late Model non-qualifiers, the first annual $1,000-to-win Gator Challenge Match Races and heats and features for the Hobby Stocks and Street Stocks.

The Gator Challenge Match Races will pit the two highest points drivers and the next two fast-timers from Friday’s qualifying.

The Sat., Oct. 14, program will include WoO LMS B-Mains, a pole dash and the Gator 100, which offers $1,500 to take the green flag. Volusia’s Late Model division will also be in action.

Pit gates are scheduled to open each day at 4 p.m., and spectator gates will be unlocked at 5 p.m.

Friday ticket prices are $14 for general admission, $15 for reserved seats and $25 for pit passes. Saturday prices are $28 for general admission, $30 for reserved seats and $35 for the pits.

A two-day reserved seat is available in advance for $40 and includes a free Friday pit pass. Two-day pit combo tickets are also available at a cost of $50.

For advance ticket sales, event information and driver entry forms, call 386-985-4402 or visit www.volusiaspeedwaypark.com.

Volusia Speedway Park is located 15 miles west of Ormond Beach, Fla., on Highway 40.

WoO Late Model Series Points Standings (after Oct. 8): 1. Tim McCreadie 3,978; 2. Shane Clanton 3,970; 3. Billy Moyer 3,948; 4. Chub Frank 3,938; 5. Darrell Lanigan 3,932; 6. Steve Francis 3,918; 7. Rick Eckert 3,810; 8. Dale McDowell 3,796; 9. Josh Richards 3,752; 10. Clint Smith 3,719; 11. Eddie Carrier Jr. 3,341; 12. John Blankenship 3,278; 13. Eric Jacobsen 3,179; 14. Garrett Durrett 3,119; 15. Dave Hess Jr. 1,158; 16. Robbie Blair 1,065; 17. Mike Balzano 998; 18. Ricky Elliott 953; 18. Brady Smith 953; 20. Jimmy Mars 932.

Clanton Closes In On World of Outlaws Late Model Series Points Lead With
Powerful Pittsburgher 100 Victory

IMPERIAL, PA - Oct. 8, 2006 - Shane Clanton couldn't have picked a better time
to catch fire.

After making Sunday night's 18th annual Pittsburgher 100 at Pittsburgh's
Pennsylvania Motor Speedway his second consecutive victory on the World of
Outlaws Late Model Series, the Locust Grove, Ga., standout can now do more than
dream of winning the $120,000 tour title.

Clanton, 31, will enter the WoO LMS season-finale Gator 100, on Oct. 13-14 at
Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., trailing points leader Tim
McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who finished a disappointing 10th in the
Pittsburgher, by a mere eight markers.

"I ain't really been close enough to think about the championship all year,"
said Clanton, who began Sunday's feature 28 points behind McCreadie. "But now
that it's the last race and we're right there, yeah, I'm thinking about it.

"It would mean a lot to win it. You could do a lot with 120,000 bucks - and
you'll also put your name in the record books."

Clanton put himself in position to battle McCreadie for the points crown with a
powerful performance in his first-ever start at the track known as 'Dirt's
Monster Half-Mile.' He moved steadily forward from the eighth starting spot in
his Ronnie Dobbins-owned RSD Enterprises Rocket car, finally overtaking Chub
Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., for the lead on lap 88 while racing through lapped
traffic.

Frank, who led laps 17-87, settled for runner-up money, about 10 car lengths
behind Clanton at the checkered flag.

Teenage sensation Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., finished third, followed by
10th-starter Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Dale McDowell of Chickamauga,
Ga., who left his familiar No. 17m home for the rescheduled event and instead
drove a Rocket House Car as a teammate to Richards.

Clanton, who earned a career-high paycheck of $18,000, chalked up his deciding
move to having the racing gods on his side.

"Chub just got balled up behind that lapped traffic and I got a good run on
him," said Clanton, who charged underneath a momentarily obstructed Frank
rounding turns one and two to assume command on the 88th circuit. "I don't know
if I could've got him on open track. Everybody gets so much momentum built up
here, something's gotta break it if you wanna go by 'em.

"I hated that lapped traffic done it to him, but that's part of racing."

Frank, who has competed in 17 of the 18 Pittsburgher 100s (he missed last year's
edition) and won the event in 2001, built an edge of nearly a full straightaway
shortly after passing Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., for the lead on lap 17.

But Frank, who drove his Lester Buildings Rocket machine, didn't pull away from
Clanton following the race's third and final caution flag, which flew on lap 72
for a flat tire on the car of Senoia, Ga., racer Clint Smith. That meant
Clanton was in position to take advantage of Frank's trouble with the lapped
car driven by Robbie Scott on lap 87.

"I just got stuck in lapped traffic," said Frank, a 44-year-old who has become
very friendly with Clanton while traveling the WoO LMS. "I thought the lapped
car I followed into (turn one) was gonna go to the bottom and I was gonna sweep
him on the outside. So when he checked up there on the outside, I had nowhere
to go but stop on the top, and (Clanton) just cut to the bottom and did what he
had to do to take the lead.

"It was just one of those racing deals. (Clanton) picked the right lane and I
didn't."

Frank?s second-place finish kept him in title contention, pulling him within
40 points of McCreadie, who started third but was never a factor in the event.
The fourth-ranked driver in the point standings didn't draw closer, however, to
the one driver he had his eye on.

"The guy I wanted to beat was Clanton, because he's the one I thought I could
catch in the points over these last two races," said Frank, who heads to
Volusia trailing Clanton by 32 points. "Now we'll just see what happens at
Volusia.

"It's another 100-lapper, so anything can happen. Somebody could drop out. I
just hope it ain't us."

Clanton hopes he can extend his WoO LMS hot streak, which he commenced with his
first tour win of the season on Sept. 4 at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa.,
for one more show. But he realizes he could quickly swap fortunes with
McCreadie, who has struggled for the last three WoO LMS events.

"Any of these guys on this series can struggle for two months and then go win
the next race," said Clanton, who registered his fourth career WoO LMS victory.
"They just go to work on their program and get right back on track, so you
can't take anything for granted.

"You just gotta go into every race to win. I know (McCreadie) is gonna do that
in Florida, so that's what we?ll be doing too."

Of course, Clanton will go racing in the Sunshine State with the confidence that
comes from winning one of the country's most prestigious dirt Late Model
events.

Clanton, whose weekend also included a $15,000 triumph in the first round of the
Dixie Shootout on Friday night at Rome (Ga.) Speedway, was proud to put his
name among the talents who have won the Pittsburgher 100.

"I've been to (Rocket Chassis co-owner) Mark Richards?s place 10 or 12 times,
and every time I'm there I look at these (oversized) checks they have hanging
in the shop," said Clanton, pointing to the coveted fake check he received in
Victory Lane on Sunday night. "He's won the Pittsburgher with numerous drivers,
and I've always said to myself, 'Dang, I wish I could win it one time.'

'And don't we come up here for the first time and win it.'

Josh Richards, Mark's 18-year-old son, at one point appeared capable of bringing
his father another Pittsburgher triumph. Driving the same Rocket house car ?
and using almost the identical setup ? that Ohio's Bart Hartman used to win
the 2004 Pittsburgher, Richards reached third place on lap 61 and was able to
challenge Frank and Clanton following restarts on laps 63 and 72.

But Richards couldn't overtake the veterans ahead of him.

"For a little bit I thought we were gonna get 'em, but they had the momentum,"
said Richards. "My car was a little tight on the throttle, so I had to hit it
just perfect to avoid shoving the right-front or breaking the right-rear loose.

"I moved around a little bit to where I felt comfortable, but once the front
cars get moving it's hard to go up there and pass them."

Finishing in positions 6-10 were defending WoO LMS champion Billy Moyer of
Batesville, Ark., who started 15th behind the wheel of his MasterSbilt mount;
Rick Eckert of York, Pa., who passed Francis for second on lap 46 but lost the
spot to Clanton 13 circuits later; top local Keith Barbara of South Park, Pa.;
Francis, who led laps 1-16; and McCreadie.

Two B-Mains kicked off the remainder of the Pittsburgher 100 Day 2 action, which
was postponed from Sept. 23. PPMS regulars Jared Miley of South Park, Pa., and
Lou Bradich of Chester,