And The Winner Is...

Brian Daugherty raised his arms in triumph. Then he proudly displayed $800 in cash.

Port City Racing’s Integra Shocks technical representative emerged the winner of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series’s version of the ‘Biggest Loser’ contest, beating out four other familiar faces from the national tour in a five-week-long weight-loss battle. He cut the largest percentage of body weight among the entrants in the competition, which culminated with an official weigh-in on Thursday during an open-house/pig roast at Keyser’s Port City Racing in Coopersville, Mich.

A skinnier Brian Daugherty with his contest winnings.

“It was a sweet victory,” said Daugherty, a 38-year-old resident of Punxsutawney, Pa., known as ‘Little Brian’ in pit areas across the country. “I never had any doubts.”

Standing on one of car owner Dale Beitler’s electronic scales, Daugherty weighed 157 pounds. His initial weight at the start of the contest, which began on July 13 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., was 183 pounds, giving him a body-weight-loss percentage of 14.207 percent.

Randall Edwards (Darrell Lanigan’s crew chief) finished second, going from 278 to 240 pounds. He dropped the most total weight, but his loss percentage was 13.669 percent.

Matt Barnes (car chief for Josh Richards) placed third after taking his weight from 223 to 197 pounds (11.65 percent). Driver Vic Coffey was fourth after going from 253 to 227 pounds (10.27 percent) and Robby Allen (Austin Hubbard’s chief mechanic) placed fifth with a 5.45 percent change in his weight (286 to 271).

The struggle to shed pounds went right down to the final moments before Thursday’s weigh-in at Port City Racing, where more than a dozen teams spent the night socializing before this weekend’s WoO LMS doubleheader at Winston Speedway in Rothbury, Mich., and Merritt Raceway in Lake City, Mich.

“He won it on the last day,” Barnes, 30, said of Daugherty. “We were all very, very close coming to the last day, and then Randall and Brian ran (around the Port City shop) and sweat pounds off while I had to ride in the truck all day. We got there last and I went right on the scale.”

“Here’s what happened,” analyzed Daugherty, who received $200 from each of his vanquished rivals for winning the contest. “I ate right and went to the gym for the last month, but (on Thursday) Randall was within one pound of me so he put a sauna suit on and went running. He went for a two-mile run and I just started following him, and that got me one extra pound. For every one extra pound I lose he had to lose three, so it just got too far for him.”

Edwards, 36, took solace in the fact that he lost the most pounds of the contestants. Coffey, 40, was happy to drop 26 pounds despite doing nothing but change his diet (“I didn’t do any exercising like those other guys”).

And Allen? He rationalized his failure to even crack the double-figure threshold in his body-weight-loss percentage.

“I like to eat,” quipped Allen, who is known as ‘Hoghead.’ “And I’m old – the oldest one in this deal. It’s hard for us old guys to lose weight. I’m sticking to that.”

Ready For The Big Weigh-In

They’ve tried their best to cut burgers, fries, candy bars, sodas, beers and other unhealthy staples of life on the road from their diets. Now the time has come for five familiar faces from the World of Outlaws Late Model Series – three crewmen, one manufacturer’s rep and one driver – to put up or shut up.

It’s the national tour’s version of the ‘Biggest Loser’ contest – and there’s cash, prizes and personal pride on the line.

Sometime this Thursday evening (Aug. 18), during the open-house/pig roast at Keyser’s Port City Racing in Coopersville, Mich., that precedes this weekend’s first-ever WoO LMS events at Winston Speedway in Rothbury, Mich. (Aug. 19) and Merritt Raceway in Lake City (Aug. 20), a month-long contest will come to a ceremonious end. The five participants – crewmen Robby Allen (Austin Hubbard’s chief mechanic), Matt Barnes (car chief for Josh Richards) and Randall Edwards (crew chief for Darrell Lanigan); Port City Racing’s Integra Shocks tech consultant Brian Daugherty; and WoO LMS regular Vic Coffey – will file separately onto an electronic scale for an official weigh-in to determine who has dropped the largest percentage of their body weight over the past five weeks.

Contestants (l-r) Daugherty, Coffey, Allen, Edwards and Barnes

 If the winner is Daugherty, he’ll get $200 from each of his four weight-loss rivals. If the victory goes to one of the other four contestants, they will receive $100 from each of the vanquished as well as a set of Integra Shocks from Daugherty.

This is serious business for the ‘WoO LMS Biggest Loser’ quintet, who have been striving to cut weight since they brain-stormed the idea for the contest while waiting for the ‘Gopher 50’ to start on July 13 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. Each participant stood on an electronic scale that day for an initial weigh-in – Allen led the way at 286 pounds, followed by Edwards (278), Coffey (253), Barnes (223) and Daugherty (183) – and the battle was underway.

It was quickly determined that body-weigh percentage would be the determining factor. As Daugherty noted midway through the contest, “We had to do it like this. There’s no way I could lose as much total weight as these tanks I’m going up against.”

As tough as it can be to eat well while traveling the WoO LMS, all five guys have largely stayed true to the task. They’ve resisted the temptations of racetrack concession stands and late-night junk food.

“I’ve never eaten as much chicken and salads in my life as I have the last few weeks,”said Daugherty, who had “already gained one belt loop” after the first two weeks of the contest.

“I’ve never not eaten so much in my life,” added a smiling Edwards, who is known to be a burger connoisseur (just don’t him ‘Cheeseburger’ because of it).

Of course, the boys have fallen off the wagon a few times. Edwards, for instance, admitted that, while he’s religiously cut soda-pop from his diet in favor of water, he has snuck in a few burgers. Coffey, meanwhile, conceded that he couldn’t contain himself after a birthday party for his daughter in late July; he initially resisted enjoying a piece of cake, but during a midnight run to the fridge the sweet treat called his name. “I did some damage to that thing,” said Coffey. “It was like seven layers and I must have polished off a couple inches of it.”

Nevertheless, when the participants checked their progress with a weigh-in during the recent USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., all five had dropped pounds. They have a couple more days to shed some more before they jump on the scale for the last time.

“The cook-out (at Keyser’s Port City Racing on Aug. 18) is supposed to start at 8 o’clock,” said Daugherty, “so the weigh-in is probably gonna be at like 7 o’clock.”

“Seven in the morning,” joked Edwards, eagerly eyeing the end of the contest. “All I’m gonna say is that after we do the weigh-in, people better move. We are going to be ready to eat.”

“Yeah,” added Daugherty, “I think Randall and ‘Hog’ (Allen) might attack that pig before it’s even cooked.”

Clint Smith's Top 10 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Tracks

In recognition of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series running its milestone 300^th A-Main since 2004 on July 26 at Dog Hollow Speedway in Strongstown, Pa., I presented a simple project to the four drivers and one car owner who participated in tour events at each of the 118 tracks in 30 states and three Canadian provinces that hosted World of Outlaws programs over the eight-and-a-half-year span: Make a Top 10 list of your favorite speedways.

'Cat Daddy' Clint Smith. (Lee Smith photo)

Below is the Top 10 WoO LMS Tracks List for Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., who has entered every tour event (now 304 and counting) since the World Racing Group re-launched the series in 2004. The 46-year-old driver failed to start just one of the first 300 A-Mains contested – the race on Feb. 19, 2006, at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. He owns 12 career wins on the series – tied for 10^th on the tour’s win list – and ranks sixth in the current points standings.

Note: Smith’s tracks are listed in his order of preference. The number of WoO LMS events each track has held is in parenthesis, and Smith’s comments about each track are in quotes.

1) Deer Creek Speedway/Spring Valley, Minn. (nine races) – “One of the raciest tracks on the circuit. Over all the years we’ve gone there with the series, I don’t think there’s ever been a bad race there. It’s been the most consistent, most equal track we’ve been to.”

2) I-55 Raceway/Pevely, Mo. (four races) – “It’s somewhat the same shape as Deer Creek – a short three-eighths with high banks. It’s always a good race there…and I’ve won there too.”

3) Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, Pa. (18 races) – “Kind of like the granddaddy of all the tracks we go to. It never shows any rubber and there’s always passing there. You get several different track conditions in one place, which makes it unique.”

4) Fulton (N.Y.) Speedway (two races) – “Unfortunately we don’t go there anymore, but it’s one of my favorites. It has high banks, it’s not that big of a racetrack and there always seems to be a lot of racing going on there.”

5) Eldora Speedway/Rossburg, Ohio (two races) – “Definitely one of the biggest, baddest racetracks there is. Maybe every race there isn’t that good, but it’s still Eldora. It’s always a challenge because whenever you go there it’s got the most competition.”

6) Shawano (Wis.) Speedway (two races) – “A big superspeedway-type racetrack. It’s a super-good racetrack as far as passing; it doesn’t seem to rubber. And it’s a super-nice facility too. I used to be intimidated by the bigger tracks because I come from the south where most of the tracks are smaller, three-eighths-types, but now I’ve really come around to the bigger places like Shawano.”

7) East Alabama Motor Speedway/Phenix City, Ala. (one race, in 2006) – “That’s one of my hometown favorite tracks. I always seem to run good up there and like the place, and since we’ve been there I have to put it in my top 10. There’s a few tracks where there might be a little bit better racing, but as far as the way the track is worked on and fixed, it’s one of my favorites.”

8) River Cities Speedway/Grand Forks, ND (six races) – “The first time we went there (in 2006) it rubbered up, but every time we’ve been there since it’s been a super-racy place – you can race anywhere on it – and we’ve put on a real exciting show. Actually, even when it rubbered, it still impressed the fans – they were amazed that we could run a race in 10 minutes without any cautions. Any place that can be rubbered up and still be impressive to the fans must be a good racetrack.”

9) Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway (one race, in 2007) – “It’s small and it’s slick, and just like Lernerville, you can get all track conditions with one racetrack. I’d call it one of the top racetracks in the country.”

10) Tri-City Speedway/Franklin, Pa. (10 races) – “It’s a bigger place and another one that has different track conditions – it’s fast early and gets slicker. We’ve always been decent there. It’s a good ‘ol Pennsylvania racetrack that maybe a lot of people wouldn’t put on a top-10 list, but I like it.”

Postscript: What’s Smith’s most memorable WoO LMS event? He pinpoints his victory on June 17, 2007, at the famed Belleville (Kan.) High Banks.

“When we rolled in there and looked at the place, I was standing there with my hands on my hips and joked around, ‘There ain’t nothing about this place that has Clint Smith or GRT wrote on it,’” remembers Smith. “Then we dominated the field that night. That was probably the biggest and fastest track I had been on at that point, and I think that broke me into the big-track barrier. I liked them after that.”

Rick Eckert’s Top 10 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Tracks

In recognition of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series running its milestone 300^th A-Main since 2004 on July 26 at Dog Hollow Speedway in Strongstown, Pa., I presented a simple project to the four drivers and one car owner who participated in tour events at each of the 118 tracks in 30 states and three Canadian provinces that hosted World of Outlaws programs over the eight-and-a-half-year span: Make a Top 10 list of your favorite speedways.

World of Outlaws star Rick Eckert. (Battin photo)

Below is the Top 10 WoO LMS Tracks list for Rick Eckert of York, Pa., the only driver who has started every tour A-Main (now 302 and counting) since the World Racing Group re-launched the series in 2004. He owns 23 career wins on the tour – fourth-best since ’04 – and is the current points leader as he chases his coveted first World of Outlaws championship.

Note: Eckert’s tracks are listed in his order of preference. The number of WoO LMS events each track has held is in parenthesis, and Eckert’s comments about each track are in quotes.

1) Virginia Motor Speedway/Jamaica, Va. (eight races) – “It’s a beautiful facility and the racetrack’s awesome. There’s usually two lanes of racing and the race is usually great, so that’s the kind of place you like to go to.”

2) Lincoln Speedway/Abbottstown, Pa. (one race, in 2005) – “That’s where I grew up, and it’s a cool racetrack that races really good. I just wish we went there more than once.”

3) Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, Pa. (18 races) – “Lernerville’s fun and they keep the racetrack awesome. The last few years we’ve gone there once a year and raced three straight nights, and it’ll go from as fast as you could want it to as slow as you could want it over those three days.”

4) Eldora Speedway/Rossburg, Ohio (two races) – “Eldora’s neat, just because it’s different. You just gotta have your race car totally different and drive totally different at that place. It’s a nice change. Usually you’re either good or you’re bad when you go there – and it’s tough to recover from being bad. It’s a huge challenge.”

5) Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway (one race, in 2007) – “It’s an awesome racetrack and a beautiful facility. The racetrack is big, flat and fast. It’s odd for us that it’s so flat – we get there and it almost looks like it’s banked the wrong way – but the racing is really good there.”

6) The Dirt Track at Charlotte/Concord, N.C. (15 races) – “It can be either way – you either love it or hate it, depending on how they have the racetrack. When it’s right, it’s awesome – just like the whole facility.”

7) Deer Creek Speedway/Spring Valley, Minn. (nine races) – “They have a heck of a track crew. They work on that place all night long and keep it really racy. Anytime you go some place where they put that much effort into the surface and keep the place looking as beautiful as they do, you love that. And they feed us too (teams traditionally receive a pre-lunch pork-chop lunch prior to the track’s ‘Gopher 50’)!”

8) Tri-City Speedway/Pontoon Beach, Ill. (one race, in 2004 on the facility’s former half-mile oval) – “We haven’t raced there since it’s been made smaller, but I raced there once myself since it was shortened. If it was the old (big) racetrack I would’ve never put it on my list, but the new racetrack is pretty cool. They did a really nice job of building a small three-eighths that you can really race on, so I’m looking forward to going there for an Outlaw show (on Fri., Sept. 16).”

9) Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway (10 races) – “It’s a nice place and you usually get a decent track to race on. You don’t usually tear a lot of stuff up there. Besides that, it’s an hour-and-a-half from home.”

10) Delaware International Speedway/Delmar, Del. (seven races) – “It’s aggressive. You get there and it doesn’t look that big, and then it races really big. It’s a fun place.”

Postscript: What’s Eckert’s most memorable WoO LMS event? He answers that question quickly.

“That would have to be Attica,” he says, referring to his dramatic come-from-behind victory in the July 2009 event at the Ohio track. “I was ready to go home after we blew up in qualifying, but then we decided to pull out the backup car and keep racing. I thought we might be done again in the feature when we got a hole in the radiator, but we were able to change it during a red flag and then we came all the way from the back to win it. It was one of those nights that might not have been good for the bank account, but it was still my most memorable Outlaw race.”