Darrell Lanigan’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.

Darrell Lanigan (Dalesandro photo)

Below is the Top 10 WoO LMS Tracks List for Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who won the tour’s historic 300^th A-Main. One of the original 12 contract drivers signed to run the series when it was re-launched in 2004 by the World Racing Group, the 40-year-old has started 302 of the 309 A-Mains contested to date. He failed to qualify twice in 2004, once in ’05 and twice in ’07, and there are two events that he did not enter – July 3, 2007, at Missouri’s Lebanon I-44 Speedway (mechanical trouble forced him to regroup) and the 2011 season opener at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. (due to health problems). Third on the tour’s career win list with 26 victories and the 2008 points champion, Lanigan has visited every track that the series has competed at since ’04.

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

1) Eldora Speedway/Rossburg, Ohio (two races) – “I always like going there – they have the bigger races, so you’re always pumped up to go to them. I liked the ‘old’ Eldora more – it was racy from top-to-bottom and didn’t matter where you started – but even though it’s changed a little bit I still like it.”

2) Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway (one race, in 2007) – “It’s a wide-open, big racetrack, and you can race all over it. I’ve always liked the big tracks like Knoxville – it seems like you have more room to move around and race.”

3) Volusia Speedway Park/Barberville, Fla. (17 races) – “It’s a decent racetrack – a nice half-mile where you usually can go down and race without tearing a lot of stuff up.”

4) Virginia Motor Speedway/Jamaica, Va. (eight races) – “They treat you good there, it’s a great facility with nice pits, and it’s a racy half-mile.”

5) Deer Creek Speedway/Spring Valley, Minn. (nine races) – “Track-prep is definitely the big thing there – those guys go out and work on the track hard every night. I haven’t seen anywhere else in the country where they work as hard on the track as they do there.”

6) Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, Pa. (18 races) – “Just a real good racetrack. Early in the night it’s fast and hammer-down, and by feature-time it’s like glass and slick so you gotta have your stuff right. We’re usually good there, but we need a little bit more luck to win a race.”

7) The Dirt Track at Charlotte/Concord, N.C. (15 races) – “A wide-open track. We usually run good there and the atmosphere there is always pretty neat. I like it.”

8) Hartford (Mich.) Motor Speedway (one race, in 2011) – “We’ve only been there once, but I liked it. Of course, we won there, but it was definitely wide-open and hammer-down in the feature and fit our driving style.”

9) Tri-City Speedway/Franklin, Pa. (10 races) – “Another big, pretty-flat track. We run pretty decent there and it’s a place you can pass at.”

10) K-C Raceway/Alma, Ohio (four races) – “It’s close to the house, so it’s nice to go there. But it’s also a nice facility, and as long as they work on it enough to keep it from rubbering up it’s usually a pretty good race.”

Chub Frank’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.

Chub Frank. (Lee Smith photo)

Below is the Top 10 WoO LMS Tracks List for Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., who has entered all but two of the 308 tour events that have been contested to date since the World Racing Group re-launched the series in 2004. The only races he didn’t compete in were the 2009 World Finals doubleheader at The Dirt Track at Charlotte – not by choice, but because of the facial injury (broken orbital bone and other fractures) he suffered from a flying clod of clay that struck his helmet during heat action for the World of Outlaws Showdown on the eve of the Finals. For his career, Frank owns 16 WoO LMS victories and has experienced just three DNQs in the 306 events he’s entered.

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

1) Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, Pa. (18 races) – “It’s always been racy. The tire rule they have there now has made it tougher to pass, but it’s still my favorite place to go. I wish we had more races there every year.”

2) Deer Creek Speedway/Spring Valley, Minn. (nine races) – “For a racer, there’s no better place we go to. They have real good equipment and they take such good care of the racetrack. You never have to worry about whether the racetrack is gonna be racy.”

3) Fulton (N.Y.) Speedway (two races) – “One of those New York State tracks that has good clay. The surface kind of reminds me of Lernerville. It’s too bad we haven’t been there in a while (since 2004).”

4) I-55 Raceway/Pevely, Mo. (four races) – “Ray (Marlar) and (Ken) Schrader take real good care of their track. Every time we’ve been there it’s been racy.”

5) Weedsport Speedway (formerly Cayuga County Fair Speedway)/Weedsport, N.Y. (two races) – “When you look at that place it looks like you can’t even run two cars side-by-side around it. But when you get out there you can really race on it. I really like the place – but of course, I’m also two-for-two (winning) there!”

6) Mohawk International Raceway/Akwesasne, N.Y. (one race, in 2010) – “We’ve only been there once but I thought it was a real good track. We ran 100 laps on it, and at the end of the race it was still pretty racy.”

7) Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park (three races) – “We haven’t been there in a long time (since 2004), but that’s a place I always liked going to and had a lot of success at. It always got slippery and you could run all over it.”

8) Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway (two races) – “Good clay, good shape and you can come from the back there. That’s a good racetrack in my book.”

9) Screven Motor Speedway/Sylvania, Ga. (three races) – “Probably one of the best tracks in the south. It starts out slippery in qualifying, and then by the feature you can usually race on it.”

10) Eagle Raceway/Lincoln, Neb. (one race, in 2004) – “It reminded me of Lernerville – it gets slippery, but it had traction spots too. It’s all about hard racing there – you can’t just run on the curb or run the bottom.”