A Reason For Lanigan Autosports To Let Loose. . .Well, Except The Driver

One member of the Lanigan Autosports team was pumping his fist and forcefully shaking hands in Victory Lane after last Saturday night’s inaugural ‘Cash Cow 100’ at Columbus (Miss.) Speedway.

It wasn’t Darrell Lanigan, who made a memorable drive forward from the 19^th starting spot to bag a triumph worth over $20,000.

Lanigan with Edwards (l) and D.J. Callon (Foto-1.net)

While Lanigan, 40, was his usual stoic self after climbing out of his black No. 29 – he climbed on the machine’s roof to acknowledge the fans but flashed no intense emotion other than a satisfied smile – his chief mechanic was pumped up. Randall Edwards, who has been Lanigan’s right-hand man for much of the past decade, veritably floated from the pit area off the backstretch to the post-race celebration on the front straightaway and showed all the unbridled excitement that his cool-as-an-autumn-evening boss keeps under wraps.

Edwards, 37, had plenty of reasons to be happy, starting with the fact that, as a native of Alexandria, La., Columbus is a track from his home region. He also was very proud of Lanigan, who not only roared back from his frustrating start to the 2011 season (the ’08 WoO LMS champ had to miss the opener on Feb. 17 at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park due to an overnight hospital stay for problems associated with a cyst at the base of his tailbone) but also recovered from a subpar qualifying effort the previous night.

“This is big for Darrell,” Edwards said while basking in the victory in the pit area afterward. “We’ve been here (to Columbus) three or four times and we’ve pretty much struggled. These little bullrings ain’t Darrell’s cup of tea, but I’ll you what, he’s come a long way for sure. He drove his butt off tonight.”

What’s more, the checkered flag marked the long-awaited first 100-lap win on the WoO LMS for Lanigan and Edwards. Edwards, who has served as Lanigan’s crew chief every season since 2001 except ’06 (he left to work for Louisiana’s Garrett Durrett) and ’08 (he spent a year with Earl Pearson Jr.), has watched Lanigan come tantalizingly close to victory in century-grind tour events at least a half-dozen times over the past two years.

Lanigan, of course, has a three-season streak of runner-up finishes in the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.; he led the first 69 laps of the ’08 edition (without Edwards), paced laps 13-93 in ’09 and ran out of time to catch winner Shane Clanton last year. He also experienced 100-lap heartbreaks in 2009 in the Lone Star 100 at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas (finished second after a flat forced him to pit while leading on lap 40) and the Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte (after a flat tire put him to the rear early), and in 2010 he relinquished his race-long lead in the Commonwealth 100 at Virginia Motor Speedway due to a popped right-rear tire with just nine laps remaining and dropped out of the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., while running third on lap 75 when his overheating engine finally seized up (he had led laps 20-31).

“It’s about time we won one of these 100-lappers,” bottom-lined Edwards during the post-race euphoria. “I think we were due.”