Battleground Race Park
Texan ready for WoO's Battleground invasion
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Kevin Sitton
Kevin Sitton lives just minutes away from Battleground Speedway and calls the 3/8-mile oval his favorite track, so his feelings about this weekend’s inaugural Lone Star 100 aren’t a mystery. Yes, Sitton is pumped up to challenge the national stars from the World of Outlaws Late Model Series at the reopened facility in Highlands, Texas. | Slideshow
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Sitton said of the $100,000 two-day event, which begins on Friday with time trials and heat races and concludes Saturday with a driver autograph session, last-chance races and the $20,000-to-win 100-lapper. “Seeing the track reopen this year (after being idle since early 2006) was a great thing — and then when somebody said something about a World of Outlaws Late Model Series race happening, everybody just went nuts.
“This is a real big deal for this area, this state. There’s never been a Dirt Late Model show this big around here and everybody is excited about it.”
A 26-year-old driver from Baytown, Texas, who’s in his second year of dirt Late Model racing, Sitton will make his first career attempt to qualify for a WoO feature. He has no illusions about how tough it will be to crack the starting field with so much top-rated talent from across the country in attendance.
“The Outlaw guys are the best of the best,” said Sitton. “I just hope they don’t whoop up on me too bad.”
Coming off an impressive debut campaign that saw him emerge as the O'Reilly Southern United Professional Racing tour’s Rookie of the Year, Sitton is looking at the Lone Star 100 as an invaluable educational experience for his burgeoning career. He relishes the rare opportunity to rub shoulders — and sheetmetal — with the full-time traveling professionals.
“You can see these guys racing on television (on the SPEED cable network) and in videos on the Internet, but it’s not the same as seeing them in person,” said Sitton, who finished second in the 2008 SUPR points standings and won three features. “When you race with them, you can see how they drive the track and how they handle different situations. And you can walk down and talk to them.
“It’s gonna be a great thing for us to have a chance to talk to guys like Chub Frank, Steve Francis, Josh Richards and the rest of the Outlaws. I just want to learn some things about tires and setups from them.”
Sitton already has a long-distance relationship with Frank, the 47-year-old WoO veteran from Bear Lake, Pa. Last year Sitton made his Dirt Late Model debut after his family purchased an ’05 Rocket car from fellow Baytown resident Chris Brown, a machine that Brown had obtained from Frank. Sitton is still driving the same car and has been regularly calling Frank for setup tips over the past year.
“This will be the first time I’ve met Chub in person,” said Sitton, whose No. 20 car will carry a Wall 2 Wall Performance open engine borrowed from Tony Flynn of Oklahoma City, Okla. “I might have to buy a case a beer and bring it over to him for helping me out with my setup questions so many times.”
Sitton is thrilled that promoter Mike Walling has resurrected Battleground Speedway, a local facility that holds a special place in his heart. The track previously operated from 1984-2001 and 2004-2006.
“Battleground is my favorite track mostly because of the memories I have of growing up there,” said Sitton. “I can remember being in the pits there with my father (veteran racer Tim Sitton), scraping mud and learning about setups. Then when I got a bomber to start racing (in 2000), we used to get a case of beer for the guy who worked on the track (surface) and he’d water it so I could go over there and practice.”
A points champion at Battleground in 2004 competing in the Late Model Stock division, Sitton expects spectacular racing this weekend.
“It has a real nice black-gumbo (clay) surface,” Sitton said of Battleground. “I went out there two weeks ago (for the track’s second program under Walling) and watched from the stands and (the surface) stayed heavy all night. People were racing two- and three-wide, and I think you’ll see the same thing this weekend.
“Battleground is one of the few tracks I’ve been to where you can run the bottom or the top (grooves) without a problem. It’s going to be a great show.”
There will be certainly be plenty of Sitton fans on hand to see the weekend action, which brings the WoO to Texas for the first time since 2004. The field will feature series regulars Frank; Ashland, Ky.’s Francis, who is riding a two-race win streak and leads the points standings; Shinnston, W.Va.’s Richards, a 20-year-old who won the tour’s season opener last month in Florida; defending champion Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky.; Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga.; Rick Eckert of York, Pa.; Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga.; Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y.; Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y.; and Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis.
All the entrants will compete not only for the $20,000 top prize — just the second Dirt Late Model race held in Texas to offer that much money to win — but also a post-race visit with Hondo, a 1,300-pound Texas Longhorn. The winner will pose with the 14-year-old steer in a Texas-themed victory lane.
