{"id":5690,"date":"2011-03-22T17:04:46","date_gmt":"2011-03-22T17:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/?p=5690"},"modified":"2011-03-22T17:29:52","modified_gmt":"2011-03-22T17:29:52","slug":"world-of-outlaws-late-model-series-stars-prepare-for-challenge-of-uniquely-shaped-ocala-speedway-this-friday-night-march-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/series\/world-of-outlaws-late-model-series-stars-prepare-for-challenge-of-uniquely-shaped-ocala-speedway-this-friday-night-march-25\/","title":{"rendered":"World of Outlaws Late Model Series Stars Prepare For Challenge Of Uniquely-Shaped Ocala Speedway This Friday Night (March 25)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From Kevin Kovac, World of Outlaws Late Model Series PR Director<\/p>\n

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OCALA, FL \u2013 March 22, 2011 \u2013 World of Outlaws Late Model Series stars have seen it all during their travels around the country. <\/span><\/p>\n

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But the celebrated road warriors\u2019 vast experience doesn\u2019t make their job any easier when they visit the uniquely-contoured Ocala Speedway, which hosts the national tour for the second straight spring this Friday night (March 25). <\/span><\/p>\n

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A three-eighths-mile track that\u2019s laid out more like an egg than an oval, Ocala will present one of the stiffest tests of the 2011 season to drivers chasing the $10,000 top prize in Friday evening\u2019s \u2018Sunshine 50.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s no other track shaped like Ocala that I\u2019ve raced on,\u201d said two-time defending WoO LMS champion \"\"<\/a>Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who finished fourth in last year\u2019s inaugural tour event at the oldest motorsports facility in Florida. \u201cIt\u2019s a weird place. Both ends are totally different, which definitely makes it challenging for a racer.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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And great for the fans, who came out in record numbers for last year\u2019s WoO LMS show to watch the nation\u2019s best full-fender competitors attempt to tame the speedway. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s Ocala,\u201d said owner Mike Peters, who purchased the then-paved facility in late 2005 and ran it as an asphalt track for two seasons before returning the speedway to its dirt-surface roots in 2008. \u201cBecause of the shape, the racing is always real exciting. It\u2019s really easy for drivers to make a mistake and get passed by the guy behind them before they can recover.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Yes, getting around Ocala Speedway can be a tricky proposition. Consider a description of the track by Rick Eckert of York, Pa., one of two drivers who have started all 284 WoO LMS A-Mains contested since 2004. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s really<\/em> D-shaped,\u201d said Eckert, who finished 13th<\/sup> in last year\u2019s WoO LMS A-Main at Ocala. \u201cI\u2019ve been to D-shaped racetracks, but that\u2019s the most D-shaped track I\u2019ve ever seen. I tested one time a few years ago at New Egypt (N.J.), and that\u2019s as close as I\u2019ve come to seeing a track like Ocala. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt has two different ends \u2013 two drastically different ends. You got corner one, and then corner two basically goes all the way to (turn) four. There\u2019s really no third turn because it\u2019s so rounded down the backstraightaway. It\u2019s a difficult place, because there\u2019s not a lot of room down the backstraightaway and that\u2019s most of the track. The one time you straighten up is when you go down that front straightaway.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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How does a driver devise a car setup for Ocala? According to Eckert, that\u2019s a mystery. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI think you have to pick an end,\u201d said Eckert. \u201cYou have to get your car good at one end and just man up at the other end. Now last year Darrell (Lanigan) was good on both ends, so it\u2019s possible. If you get your car good, you can survive on both ends.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Union, Ky\u2019s Lanigan, the 2008 WoO LMS champion, won last year\u2019s 50-lapper at Ocala, fighting off challenges from eventual runner-up Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., and third-place finisher Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., in a tense, crowd-pleasing race. But when asked how he was able to hit on a setup that worked at both ends of the track, he could only respond with a joke. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe got a switch we flip halfway down the straightaway,\u201d laughed Lanigan, who enters this weekend\u2019s action coming off a convincing $20,000-plus victory \"\"<\/a> from the 19th<\/sup> starting in last Saturday night\u2019s \u2018Cash Cow 100\u2019 at Columbus (Miss.) Speedway. \u201cNah…really, you basically have to be good in one corner and manage the other one. It\u2019s pretty different, real challenging.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Adding to Ocala\u2019s degree of difficulty for the barnstorming Outlaws is the track surface, a uniquely light-colored, tacky clay that can confound the most savvy dirt veterans the first time they lay eyes on it. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe surface is different itself, I guess because of that Florida dirt,\u201d said Richards, who comes into Ocala\u2019s event tied with 2007 champion Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., as the winningest driver on the WoO LMS since 2004, with 28 victories. \u201cI think one thing that keeps the moisture in the track and keeps it fast is that the surface isn\u2019t really deep. I think it\u2019s only like 18 inches deep in some places on top of that pavement, so the water stays in there and the moisture keeps coming back up there all night long. You might think it\u2019s gonna dry out, but that moisture just keeps coming back up and keeps the track real fast. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI think that\u2019s why you see good racing there all the time,\u201d added the sensational 23-year-old. \u201cIt\u2019s a really fast place, and the last (special Late Model) race there (a DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned event on Feb. 13 that saw Hubbard and Richards run one-two until both popped tires with four laps remaining) definitely showed you can put on great races there even if it\u2019s a little rough.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe surface is 80 percent clay,\u201d said Peters, a former airline pilot who oversees track prep at Ocala. \u201cIt\u2019s very responsive to water, so it doesn\u2019t need as much water put down on it as other tracks in Florida do. This is our fourth year working with it and we\u2019ve gotten a good handle on it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Peters anticipates that he\u2019ll be able to whip up a typically racy track for the \u2018Sunshine 50,\u2019 an event he is awaiting with baited breath. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m thrilled about having the World of Outlaws back again,\u201d said Peters, who attended high school in Ocala with current WoO LMS director Tim Christman. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s an honor to have the best Late Model racers in the country come to Ocala. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe speed of the Late Models, the skill level of the drivers \u2013 it\u2019s just amazing. There was a battle for the lead the whole race last year and I would expect the same thing again.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Richards, Lanigan, Eckert, McCreadie, Hubbard and Francis are among the World of Outlaws regulars headed for Ocala. The roster of travelers will also include Shane Clanton of Fayetteville, Ga., Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y., Jill George of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and 2011 Rookie of the Year contenders Ron Davies of Warren, Pa., Pat Doar of New Richmond, Wis., John Lobb of Frewsburg, N.Y., and Brian Reese of Sharpsburg, Ga. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Other drivers with the event on their schedules are 2010 DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., Tony Knowles of Tyrone, Ga., and Florida standouts Ivedent Lloyd Jr. of Ocala, who set fast time and led the first two laps of last year\u2019s WoO LMS event at his hometrack, Tyler Ivey of Tallahassee, Mark Whitener of Middleburg and Christian Auspurger of Palm Beach Gardens. <\/span><\/p>\n

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In addition, Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., who leads the WoO LMS points standings after three events but is not planning to follow the entire schedule, said he is considering entering Ocala\u2019s \u2018Sunshine 50\u2019 as well as this weekend\u2019s subsequent tour stops at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., on Saturday night (March 26) and Needmore Speedway in Norman Park, Ga., on Sunday evening (March 27). <\/span><\/p>\n

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Ocala\u2019s pit gates are scheduled to open at 3 p.m. and the grandstands will be unlocked at 5 p.m. on Fri., March 25. Practice is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and racing is set to start at 8 p.m. <\/span><\/p>\n

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General admission tickets to the WoO LMS program, which will also include action for the track\u2019s Amsoil Thunder Stocks division, will be $30 (adults), $15 (ages 6-15) and free for kids under 6. All tickets for this year\u2019s event are actually \u2018all-access\u2019 passes, allowing entrance to the pit area as well so fans can get a close-up look at the WoO LMS cars and meet the invading stars. <\/span><\/p>\n

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More information on Ocala Speedway is available by logging on to www.ocalaspeedway.com<\/a> or calling 352-622-9400. <\/span><\/p>\n

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For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Kevin Kovac, World of Outlaws Late Model Series PR Director OCALA, FL \u2013 March 22, 2011 \u2013 World of Outlaws Late Model Series stars […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ocala-speedway","category-front-page-news","category-series"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5690"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5692,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5690\/revisions\/5692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}