Can-Am Speedway
No place like home for WoO's McCreadie, Fuller
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Tim McCreadie (left) and Tim Fuller at Florida Speedweeks '09. (thesportswire.net)
For one night during the long, grueling World of Outlaws Late Model Series campaign, Tim McCreadie and Tim Fuller will literally feel right at home.
And make no mistake — that places them as the lead story of the national tour's visit Tuesday to Chapman's Can-Am Motorsports Park.
McCreadie and Fuller will be the unquestioned stars of the midweek show at the half-mile oval, which sits just minutes north of their homes in Watertown, N.Y. Both drivers were standouts in the track's 358 modified division early in their careers and have strong family ties and fan followings throughout New York's North Country region.
This year both racers are also WoO regulars and enter their backyard speedway’s F.X. Caprara Car Companies 50 ranked among the top five in the points standings, giving their loyal backers and relatives even more incentive to come out for their only full-fender appearance of 2010 at Can-Am.
Last season's inaugural WoO event at Can-Am attracted a standing-room-only crowd — the track's largest in more than two decades — and even more are expected this time with an increase in distance (to 50 laps from last year's 40) and winner's purse (to $10,000 from $7,000) taking the program to another level. Most of the spectators' eyes will be focused, of course, on the two hometown heroes with designs on setting off a memorable postrace celebration.
"If Fuller or McCreadie wins here on June 15th, this place will go absolutely crazy," said Can-Am's general manager Chip Burdick. "People will be so happy to see one of the local boys win the big race, they'll want to tear the fences down.”
The joint nearly went wild last year. After sending McCreadie and Fuller off into battle with ear-splitting cheers during the pre-race driver introductions, the packed house of energized fans watched McCreadie make a bid for the lead late before he settled for a second-place finish behind WoO veteran Rick Eckert of York, Pa. Fuller was in the mix as well, finishing fourth.
"We fell a little bit short last year, but it was a heck of a race and an awesome atmosphere," said McCreadie, who was just one week into his return from five months of inactivity due to a back injury when he headlined the 2009 Can-Am event. "How many times do you see a track let people into the pits for free because there's no more seats left (in the grandstands)?”
Remembering last year's electric show has McCreadie pumped up to return on June 15. An outgoing personality known for his easy-going interaction with fans, he relishes the opportunity to perform in front of a partisan crowd that treats him with the same reverence shown his father, legendary big-block modified star “Barefoot” Bob McCreadie.
"I always enjoy going back home to race," said McCreadie, who competed at Can-Am regularly during his rookie season of 358 modified action in 1996 and won his first career big-block modified feature there in 1997. "There's definitely some extra pressure to run good because so many of your fans and people you grew up with are there watching, but I don't mind that pressure. I like having all those people come around for the night because I know a lot of them helped me out (with donations) after I got hurt last year, so it's nice to be able to thank them all for what they did.
"I'd just like to get lucky enough to win one for all of them. That's the goal.”
McCreadie, 36, got a taste of the ecstasy associated with a home track victory on the WoO when he captured last year’s race at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway, a half-mile oval near Rochester where he grew up watching his father race big-blocks on Saturday nights before becoming a regular there himself for several seasons. He was inundated with well-wishers when he reached victory lane — a scene that would be repeated exponentially if he breaks through at Can-Am.
Back as a regular on the WoO for the first time since he won the championship in 2006, McCreadie enters Tuesday's competition at Can-Am sitting second in the points standings, 46 points behind defending champ Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. He'll be ready to cut into Richards's edge as soon as he hears the fans screaming, "T-Mac!" when he's introduced to the grandstands.
"You do this because you're trying to win races and make some money," said McCreadie, whose lone WoO victory this season in the Sweeteners Plus Rocket car came on May 1 at Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway. "But when you have three- to four-thousand people going crazy and cheering for you all night – man, that makes it all worthwhile after you've been in the shop feeling miserable because you don't know why you can't go faster. You hear those cheers and it feels good.
"People in your hometown can definitely pick you up.”
While McCreadie is a native of Watertown but now lives outside Rochester, N.Y., after recently purchasing a home there, Fuller moved to Watertown a few years ago from his life-long home 50 miles away in the North Country hamlet of Edwards. Fuller, 42, spent more seasons as a regular at Can-Am, however, and will receive an ovation from the track's faithful that nearly matches McCreadie’s.
Fuller, who has driven former Can-Am Motorsports Park owner John Wight's Gypsum Express No. 19 machines on the WoO since his Rookie of the Year season in 2007, currently sits fifth in the tour's points standings (134 points behind Richards) through 16 events. But he's still searching for his first win of 2010 – a frustrating development considering he was the circuit's hottest driver during the second half of the '09 season, winning seven times in an 11-race span from late July through early September.
"I wish we were (arriving at Can-Am) running like we were at the end of last year, but we're struggling," said Fuller, who is searching for more power from Gypsum Racing's new in-house engine program. "That win we got last year (in September) at Brewerton (another New York track where Fuller formerly was a DIRTcar big-block Modified regular) was a lot of fun because we finally ran good at a track we're familiar with and showed everybody from up home that we can be fast in these things. I'd love to win another one at Can-Am, but it's going to hinge on whether we can improve our qualifying effort.”
