Last season Daryn Pittman patiently waited until early June to make his first visit of the season to Victory Lane. This year, he made sure that it would not take nearly as long, as he led wire-to-wire on Sunday night in finale of three straight nights of racing for the World of Outlaws as part of the 36th Annual Florida DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Mopar Speedshop.
After winning the dash to earn the pole position for the 30-lap event, he held off a hard charging Tim Kaeding and Donny Schatz, in heavy lapped traffic. The pair staged a fierce battle for the second spot in the late going as they chased Pittman, who used strong restarts twice in the late going to pull away. The $12,000 triumph was the 20th of his career in World of Outlaws action.
“It is a great way to get started and a great boost for the whole team,” said Pittman, driver of the Titan Garages Maxim. “It’s always good to get a win at the end of the week. Our team just keeps getting better every year, and hopefully we can stay consistent and get wins when we can.”
Starting the season off on a high note was one of Pittman’s goals for 2007, and after the win, he is well on his way. The veteran driver was one of the most consistent drivers over the last three months of last season.
“No matter who you are and how long you have been doing this and how many wins you have, come June and July if you have no wins, car owners get a little antsy,” he said. “They spend a lot of money and want wins. Being able to always refer back to getting one early is great. We got one now and we have some confidence, and hopefully we can go out and get some more.”
With a cross-country trip awaiting the team, Pittman is glad that they will have some time to go back to the shop and prepare to head to California at their own pace. The group led by Crew Chief Glenno Inglis, who was battling illness during the late stages of the DIRTcar Nationals, will have an enjoyable trip back to their shop in Indiana.
“We going to go home and relax,” Pittman commented. “My crew has worked their tails off. Every year when we come to Florida we come down here ready for 100 races. We don’t go home to build cars. We’ll do the maintenance on the car we ran tonight and take it to Tulare. My guys are going to get some time off. We are ready to go. I look forward to going home and fine tuning on a few things so we can keep getting better.”
Tim Kaeding made a late charge for the lead, as he closed the gap on Pittman with a couple laps to go. On the final lap, he and Donny Schatz staged an entertaining battle for the second spot, as they both were just behind Pittman. Schatz used a slide job on Kaeding to momentarily move into the second spot exiting the fourth turn. Kaeding immediately fought back and claimed the runner-up spot at the line by mere inches.
“We had a little trouble with this thing taking off, and Daryn would get ahead of us a little bit,” said Kaeding, driver of the Steve Kinser Racing Maxim. “I knew Donny was coming eventually and he pulled off a slider, and I did what I knew how to do and what I needed to do, and that was turn back underneath him and get back in front of him as quick as I could and get the air off his wing.”
For Schatz, the reigning series champion, he finished in the Top-Three each in night of the World of Outlaw portion of the Florida DIRTcar Nationals. He won the season opener on Friday night, and backed that up with a third-place run on Saturday night, and was third again on Sunday, after starting the event on the outside of the third row.
“We came here to win and we were good enough to win all three nights,” said Schatz, driver of the Parker Store J&J. “Tonight we never really hit lapped traffic. There were a lot of good cars out here and on an open race track, it’s hard to pass. We moved around and tried everything we could. We’re going to head back and do a little work, and hopefully be as good in California as we were here.”
Terry McCarl raced his way to a fourth-place finish after lining up eight. The native of Altoona, Iowa finished ninth on Saturday night and backed that up with a very solid run on Sunday night, as he prepares to head to Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., where he won in 2004.
“We started the week off doing well with the All Stars, and then kind of hiccupped a little the first two nights (of the World of Outlaws season),” said McCarl, driver of the Big Game Treestands Eagle. “We need to keep getting in the Top-Five this year. It’s going to be pretty brutal this year, so every one of these Top-Five’s is important. “
Tim Shaffer picked up his first Top-Five of the season on Sunday as he came home fifth in the Casey’s General Stores Maxim.
The rest of the Top-10 was: Danny Lasoski in the Roth Motorsports Eagle in sixth, Jason Sides in the WTS Maxim in seventh, Joey Saldana charged from the 24th starting spot in the Open Joist JEI to finish eighth, with Saturday night’s winner Kerry Madsen in the Selma Shell Maxim in ninth, and Fred Rahmer in the C&S Lawn & Landscape J&J in 10th.
With Pittman’s victory, the sprint car portion of the Florida DIRTcar Nationals came to a close, with Craig Dollansky named the Champion. The native of Elk River, Minn., finished sixth or better in five of the six events, including two second-place finishes and two fourths. Brad Sweet, a native of Grass Valley, Calif, was named the Rookie of the Year for the sprint car portion of the Florida DIRTcar Nationals.
The World of Outlaws return to action on February 23-24 at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California.
VOLUSIA SPEEDWAY PARK NOTEBOOK SIGHT SEEING: World of Outlaws team owner and two-time NASCAR Champion Tony Stewart was in attendance on Sunday night, as his driver Paul McMahan was in action. Fellow World of Outlaws team owner and NASCAR star Kasey Kahne was also on-hand. 2004 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Kraig Kinser, who now competes in the NASCAR Truck Series, also visited the track. Randy LaJoie, a two-time NASCAR Busch Series Champion was also taking in the action. Kenny Wallace, a multi-time winner in the NASCAR Busch Series, competed in the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds all week as part of the Florida DIRTcar Nationals.
• FAST QUALIFIER: Tony Bruce Jr. paced the cars that took time with an AMB i.t.-timed lap around the 1/2-mile oval in 13.098 seconds. For his qualifying effort, Bruce earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Terry McCarl (4), Chad Kemenah (3), Cody Darrah (2), and Jason Solwold (1). Volusia Speedway Park is a semi-banked 1/2- mile oval. The track record of 12.948 seconds was set by Jason Solwold on February 6, 2007.
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jason Sides, Tim Kaeding, Donny Schatz, and Danny Lasoski won heat races…. Dustin Lindquist won the C-Main… Randy Hannagan won the B-Main… Daryn Pittman won the dash.
• ON THE WEB: The Official World of Outlaws Web site is at http://www.worldofoutlaws.com. Among the features are updated driver biographies with individual statistics and pictures, race-by-race statistics, detailed track information and race coverage, series news and team press releases. Also, links to the Media Guide and 2007 Official Rulebook can be found at the bottom of the home page.
• LISTEN ONLINE: If fans can’t get to a track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws 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.
• UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws will travel across the country for two days of racing at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California. It marks the series first visit to the racy 1/3-mile track since 2005.
• UPCOMING EVENTS: On March 2 the series returns to USA Race Park in Tucson, Arizona, followed by the Cactus Classic at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix on March 3. A return to Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas is in store on March 16, with a trip to Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Mississippi to follow on March 17. The series will make their inaugural visit to Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee on March 24, and will close out the month at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia on March 31.
World of Outlaws Sprint Series Statistical Report; Volusia Speedway Park; Feb. 11, 2007
Qualifying 1) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr 13.098
2) 24-Terry McCarl 13.109
3) 70-Chad Kemenah 13.209
4) 89-Cody Darrah 13.231
5) R19-Jason Solwold 13.277
6) 7-Craig Dollansky 13.293
7) 11H-Kerry Madsen 13.326
8) 6T-Tim Shaffer 13.332
9) 21-Daryn Pittman 13.346
10) 6S-Brad Sweet 13.373
11) 51-Fred Rahmer 13.397
12) 83-Danny Lasoski 13.403
13) 7S-Jason Sides 13.420
14) 11K-Tim Kaeding 13.430
15) 15-Donny Schatz 13.456
16) 5C-Chad Hillier 13.457
17) 22-Greg Hodnett 13.478
18) 96-Bronson Maeschen 13.481
19) 1x-Randy Hannagan 13.487
20) 28-Brian Paulus 13.501
21) W20-Greg Wilson 13.510
22) 19-Becca Anderson 13.512
23) 14-Jason Meyers 13.515
24) 32-Justin Barger 13.522
25) 11-Steve Kinser 13.535
26) 2-Brooke Tatnell 13.536
27) 36-Jason Martin 13.557
28) 9-Joey Saldana 13.570
29) 1Z-Dusty Zomer 13.572
30) 11D-Dion Hindi 13.602
31) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.611
32) 8K-Zach Chappell 13.624
33) 20-Paul McMahan 13.628
34) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 13.650
35) 4-Danny Smith 13.651
36) 55-Mark Smith 13.665
37) 4R-Robbie Vaughn 13.690
38) 25-Lance Dewease 13.711
39) 5-Dustin Lindquist 13.733
40) 18-Brian Carlson 13.749
41) D1-Justin Henderson 13.760
42) 15H-Sam Hafertepe 13.772
43) 6w-Josh Wells 13.815
44) 6-Bill Rose 13.958
45) 22B-Ben Gregg 13.986
46) 69-Justin Collett 14.007
47) 93-Jonathan Eriksen 14.011
48) 16-Lee Stark 14.150
49) 6X-Mark Cole 14.571
50) 35-Jac Haudenschild No Time
51) 12M-James Mosher No Time
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 7S-Jason Sides
2) 21-Daryn Pittman
3) R19-Jason Solwold
4) 11-Steve Kinser
5) W20-Greg Wilson
6) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.
7) 22-Greg Hodnett
8) D1-Justin Henderson
9) 20-Paul McMahan
10) 1Z-Dusty Zomer
11) 4R-Robbie Vaughn
12) 6X-Mark Cole
13) 22B-Ben Gregg
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 11K-Tim Kaeding
2) 6S-Brad Sweet
3) 7-Craig Dollansky
4) 24-Terry Mccarl
5) 2-Brooke Tatnell
6) 10C-Jeremy Campbell
7) 19-Becca Anderson
8) 15H-Sam Hafertepe
9) 25-Lance Dewease
10) 11D-Dion Hindi
11) 69-Justin Collett
12) 35-Jac Haudenschild
13) 96-Bronson Maeschen
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz
2) 51-Fred Rahmer
3) 70-Chad Kemenah
4) 14-Jason Meyers
5) 11H-Kerry Madsen
6) 1x-Randy Hannagan
7) 36-Jason Martin
8) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
9) 5-Dustin Lindquist
10) 6w-Josh Wells
11) 93-Jonathan Eriksen
12) 4-Danny Smith
Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 83-Danny Lasoski
2) 6T-Tim Shaffer
3) 28-Brian Paulus
4) 5C-Chad Hillier
5) 89-Cody Darrah
6) 9-Joey Saldana
7) 32-Justin Barger
8) 8K-Zach Chappell
9) 6-Bill Rose
10) 18-Brian Carlson
11) 16-Lee Stark
Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 21-Daryn Pittman
2) 11K-Tim Kaeding
3) 7S-Jason Sides
4) 83-Danny Lasoski
5) 51-Fred Rahmer
6) 15-Donny Schatz
7) 6T-Tim Shaffer
8) 24-Terry Mccarl
9) 6S-Brad Sweet
10) 70-Chad Kemenah
C-main (10 laps, top 2 finishers transferred to B-main)
1) 5-Dustin Lindquist
2) D1-Justin Henderson
3) 18-Brian Carlson [$100]
4) 15H-Sam Hafertepe [$100]
5) 69-Justin Collett [$100]
6) 6w-Josh Wells [$100]
7) 6-Bill Rose [$100]
8) 6X-Mark Cole [$100]
9) 93-Jonathan Eriksen [$100]
10) 22B-Ben Gregg [$100]
11) 35-Jac Haudenschild [$100]
12) Lance Dewease (DNS) [$100]
13) Mark Smith (DNS) [$100]
14) Lee Stark (DNS) [$100]
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 1x-Randy Hannagan
2) 9-Joey Saldana
3) 22-Greg Hodnett
4) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr
5) 5W-Lucas Wolfe [$150]
6) 32-Justin Barger [$125]
7) 8K-Zach Chappell [$100]
8) 19-Becca Anderson[$100]
9) 20-Paul McMahan [$100]
10) 11D-Dion Hindi [$100]
11) 36-Jason Martin [$100]
12) 1Z-Dusty Zomer [$100]
13) 10C-Jeremy Campbell [$100]
14) D1-Justin Henderson [$100]
15) 4-Danny Smith [$100]
16) 4R-Robbie Vaughn [$100]
17) 96-Bronson Maeschen [$100]
18) 5-Dustin Lindquist [$100]
A-main (25 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 21-Daryn Pittman[1] [$12000]
2) 11K-Tim Kaeding[2] [$5500]
3) 15-Donny Schatz[6] [$4000]
4) 24-Terry McCarl[8] [$3000]
5) 6T-Tim Shaffer[7] [$2700]
6) 83-Danny Lasoski[4] [$2400]
7) 7S-Jason Sides[3] [$2100]
8) 9-Joey Saldana[24] [$2000]
9) 11H-Kerry Madsen[15] [$1900]
10) 51-Fred Rahmer[5] [$1800]
11) 14-Jason Meyers[21] [$1700]
12) 2-Brooke Tatnell[23] [$1600]
13) 7-Craig Dollansky[14] [$1500]
14) 6S-Brad Sweet[9] [$1200]
15) 20-Paul McMahan[25] [$300]
16) 5C-Chad Hillier[16] [$1000]
17) R19-Jason Solwold[13] [$900]
18) 28-Brian Paulus[19] [$850]
19) 1x-Randy Hannagan[18] [$800]
20) W20-Greg Wilson[20] [$800]
21) 35-Jac Haudenschild[26] [$0]
22) 70-Chad Kemenah[10] [$800]
23) 22-Greg Hodnett[17] [$800]
24) 11-Steve Kinser[22] [$800]
25) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[11] [$800]
26) 89-Cody Darrah[12] [$800]
Lap Leader Daryn Pittman, 1-30
Note: Jac Haudenschild and Paul McMahan used Provisionals to start the A-Feature.
2007 STAT ATTACK
There have been 3 World of Outlaws A-Feature events this season.
