During the seven full seasons and parts of two others that I spent as the World of Outlaws Late Model Series P.R. director, I interviewed Darrell Lanigan a lot. He recorded 48 of his tour-record 53 career victories during my stint with the circuit, so there were plenty of good reasons to converse.

Lanigan, though, wouldn’t have minded one bit if I simply forgot to visit his hauler after his victories. For Lanigan, interviews are something to be endured, not embraced. Almost on cue after each of MORE

It was more than 10 years ago, one night back in the early 2000s, when I was an assistant editor and columnist for Area Auto Racing News in Trenton, N.J. I was at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., covering the February Speedweeks action of both the DIRTcar big-block modifieds — my primary beat for the Northeast-focused weekly trade paper — and the Dirt Late Models.

As I made my way around Volusia’s pit area to interview Dirt Late Model drivers following the evening’s feature, I MORE