National notebook
Notes: Wells gets boost heading to Speedweeks
Eric Wells is prepared to start 2011 season at Speedweeks (thesportswire.net)
Eric Wells made significant strides last season in his first year on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The 22-year-old Dirt Late Model racer from Hazard, Ky., hopes to make even more improvement in 2011 running with teammate Mike Marlar in their new Warrior Race Cars. | Speedweeks previews
Wells and Marlar will be tackling Florida Speedweeks in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 7-12, and Wells hopes it's the beginning of a successful season.
“I want to get a couple of wins this year,” Wells said of his goals for the coming season. “Last year I had a couple of chances to win and had some bad luck. We led some $20,000-to-win races. I think I have the ability and with Marlar coming over and his experience I think we could even get three of four wins.”
Marlar joined Wells Motorsports with sporadic starts midway through 2010, but the 33-year-old from Winfield, Tenn., cemented his status on the team with solid performances late in the season, including a $25,000 Magnolia State 100 victory at Columbus (Miss.) Speedway.
“This is a good deal,” said Marlar, who worked with Warrior's Sanford Goddard with the team's chassis switch late last season. “Everybody in this deal has an advantage. Everybody’s got a role in it that makes sense. It’s good for Sanford and them to have two cars out there. It’s good for Eric and David to have a teammate out there racing.”
Wells thinks the chassis switch and pairing with Marlar will boost the team owned by his father, David.
“He’s the heart of this operation," Wells said of his dad. "He’s making all of this possible for me and Mike. We’re both going to try to run Lucas Oil this year and he’s going to be footing the bill so hopefully we can get some good finishes and be up there in the points so we can get his money back.” — Richard Allen
T-Mac reshuffles team
Volusia Speedway Park, which hosts Feb. 14-19 Late Model events as part of the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, has been very good to Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who finished third in last year’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series standings in his first season as a tour regular since winning the title in 2006.
The D-shaped oval near Barberville, Fla., is where McCreadie won his first-ever Dirt Late Model feature in 2004, where he captured his first-ever World of Outlaws feature in 2005, and the track where he clinched his lone WoO championship. He also won two Speedweeks features in 2005 and reached victory lane in big-block modified competition there in 2002.
McCreadie, who in last year’s Volusia finale made a memorable charge from the 28th starting spot to a third-place finish after getting a provisional starting spot, heads into 2011 battle with some new faces supporting his Sweeteners Plus racing effort.
His crew now features 25-year-old Barry Knapp, who traveled the WoO tour with Tim Fuller in 2009 before spending last season working for New York big-block modified driver Ryan Phelps, and former Russ King crew member Craig "Snowman" McCrimmon, whose brother, Matt, is a mechanic for McCreadie’s teammate Vic Coffey.
Al Stevens, who has served as McCreadie’s crew chief for several seasons, remains with the Sweeteners Plus team but is expected to spend more time working in the shop than traveling in 2011.
Helpful testing for Francis
Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., a former World 100 winner and Dirt Track World Champion, is heading to Georgia-Florida Speedweeks in something other than a Rocket Chassis for the first time since the 1990s.
The 43-year-old veteran on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series plans to pilot a Barry Wright Race Car in 2010, a Cowpens, S.C.-based chassis brand he started driving late last season.
Francis had success in the car, earning a $20,000 victory at East Alabama Motor Speedway's National 100, but he did some off-season testing at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., and Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga., in anticipation of Speedweeks.
“We had some rain at Volusia so that test wasn’t as good as we had hoped it would be," Francis said, "but we had a great test at Golden Isles. (Barry Wright house car driver) Jonathan (Davenport) and I have worked well together and really get along good. That might surprise some people but he has been a big help for me adjusting to these cars.
"He has probably taught me more about how to drive this car around the racetrack than any other person has ever taught me in the past. These cars just drive so different than what we were used to. He has shown me how to do some different things when we are having trouble. Jonathan is very good in these cars, and I understand why.”
Francis plans to field his self-owned No. 15 at Volusia, but he'll compete in Georgia and at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa, Fla., in the No. 32 owned by Chad Stapleton of Edinburgh, Ind. Stapleton also switched to Barry Wright cars.
“Chad asked me if I would be interested in driving his new car the first few races and get it going for him. And that was a good deal for me," Francis said. "That kept me from having to carry (extra) tires down with me, so it was a big help. We ran Chad’s cars a couple of times last year. Once we drove from way back in the pack up to, I think, seventh, and then we won one in his car. So he has great equipment and it just made good sense for us.” — Kelley Carlton
Fast time awards at Golden Isles
For the Feb. 4-5 Super Bowl of Racing VII at Golden Isles Speedway, drivers will be gunning for fast time awards at the 4/10-mile oval near Brunswick, Ga. Robinson's Recycling in Valdosta, Ga., is sponsoring $250 awards for each night's fast qualifier.
"We really appreciate John (Robinson) putting up this money for these racers," said Golden Isles owner Frankie Lloyd. "It will just add to what we think could be the biggest and best Super Bowl that we have had yet.
"We have been searching for the right formula or combination to make this thing a huge success and I believe we have found it. We have confirmed around 45 or 50 Super Late Model drivers from all over the country so we are expecting to have a great show for sure."
The Super Late Model race format at Golden Isles includes two laps of time trials and a series of eight-lap heat races. Drivers will transfer from heat and consolation races into the 50-lap main events, each paying $10,000 to the winner.
For more information, see www.goldenislesspeedway.com or call (912) 778-3767. — Kelley Carlton
Odds and ends
If two-time and reigning champ Josh Richards can make it five straight opening-night wins on the World of Outlaws circuit Feb. 17, he would become the winningest driver on the series since the World Racing Group restarted the tour in 2004. ... Scott Creel, last season's Southern All Star Rookie of the Year, plans to field Bloomquist Race Cars in 2011. He's scheduled to open his season Feb. 4-5 at Golden Isles ... Billy Ogle Jr. of Knoxville, Tenn., who has fielded Mike Kittrell-owned cars the previous two seasons, plans to field a car for Maryville, Tenn.-based Blount Motorsports at select Speedweeks events. Ogle will drive a second car to Tommy Kerr's, Blount's regular driver since 2006. Ogle might join the team for more 2011 races if more sponsorship comes through, team owner Larry Garner said.
