Bristol Motor Speedway
WoO NOTEBOOK: Francis ready for stretch run
From series and special reports
After posting first- and second-place finishes during the Oil Region Labor Day Classic at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., World of Outlaws Late Model Series� points leader Francis has a good vibe for the season's stretch run.
“You kinda feel like if you don’t win (races), you don’t feel like you’re having a championship season,” said Francis. “If you win a championship with no wins, it kinda looks funny.
“But,” he added, “I’ll still take the ($100,000 champion’s) check any way we can get it.”
The weekend gave Francis a 52-point lead over Chub Frank in the WoO standings and got him jazzed to get on a hot streak, a prospect that alarms Frank.
“The problem with letting Francis win is that he gets it in his mind that he can do it more,” joked Frank, who often compares notes with Francis while at the track. “I don’t want him to do it more.”
Nerve-racking finish
After Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., took the lead with 12 laps remaining on Sept. 2 at Tri-City, he was on edge as he headed for the biggest victory of his career. He didn't realize he was pulling away from pursuer Steve Francis.
“You’re just kinda waiting for the other shoe to fall, for something to happen, for the tires to go away,” Stone said. “I swear to God that I could hear somebody there behind me the whole time, but they said Francis wasn’t close enough for me to hear him.”
Next up for WoO
The next action for the WoO is a three-day weekend: Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway on Sept. 14; I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., on Sept. 15; and La Salle (Ill.) Speedway on Sept. 16.
Series suing former sponsor
According the Jayski.com, the company that distributes 360 OTC, Rockford-Montgomery Labs, is involved in its third lawsuit concerning motorsports sponsorships. The WoO parent organization, DIRT Motorsports, is suing for non-payment of its title sponsorship of the Late Model tour.
The deal was worth $1.5 million in 2007, $1.6 million in 2008 and $1.7 million in 2009. According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Georgia, Rockford-Montgomery Labs never paid the bill. A check for $150,000 bounced in February, according to the court record.
100-lappers are no fun
If Clint Smith falls short of capturing his first-ever WoO championship, he’ll look back with horror at his miserable luck in the tour’s handful of 100-lap events.
There’s been three 100s so far on this year’s WoO schedule (one remains, on Oct. 12-13 at Volunteer Speedway), and the Senoia, Ga., veteran hasn’t finished any of them. His mid-race retirement from April’s Circle K Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., didn’t hurt him — the event offered only show-up points — but he absorbed major hits in the Firecracker 100 on June 30 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (finished 28th and last, completing just 11 laps) and the Scorcher 100 (finished 19th, completing 34 laps) at Volunteer.
In the wake of the “wiring problems” that dive-bombed his effort in the Scorcher, Smith is further back in points than he's been all season.
