One thing is certain: no one spent the early-August break in
the World of Outlaws Late Model Series schedule quite like Shane Clanton.
While some Outlaws raced, some regrouped in their shops and
one vacationed in Miami (points leader and 2012 dominator Darrell Lanigan),
Clanton used the nine-day hiatus to…get married.
Last Friday morning, on a beach in Panama City, Fla.,
Clanton tied the knot with the former Michelle Davies. A native of Warren, Pa.,
Michelle is the daughter of veteran dirt Late Model racer Ron Davies, who
followed the WoO LMS fulltime in 2011.
While Shane and Michelle had their planned pre-wedding
arrival in Panama City scrambled slightly by the WoO LMS event at Shawano
(Wis.) Speedway that was postponed by rain to Tues., Aug. 7 – both had to change
their flights back to Clanton’s home state of Georgia – they made it in time to
obtain their marriage license. Their preparations for the Big Day then went
smoothly…until the morning of the Big Day.
Fri., Aug. 10, dawned cloudy and rainy in Panama City, so
Shane and Michelle’s wedding planners set up all the chairs and decorations for
the ceremony under a pavilion. Just minutes before the nuptials were to begin,
however, the sun came out, so Michelle’s hopes for the beachside wedding of her
dreams were rekindled. Her wedding director said there wasn’t enough time to
reposition all the chair and decorations on the beach, but the ever-persistent
Shane Clanton wasn’t about to let that pronouncement deter him from making his
wife-to-be happy.
“When the weather cleared just enough, I said, ‘Tell
everybody I am walking down the beach, not (through) the pavilion,’” said
Michelle. “I paid for a beach wedding and I was gonna have it since the sun had
come out.
“Of course, I couldn’t talk to Shane (when the weather
cleared), but my wedding day director told him that I said to go to the beach.
Then everybody picked up their chairs and moved them, and – of course – Shane
and his brothers moved all the decorations themselves in less than five
minutes.”
Michelle got her wedding on the beach. The weather held out
for the ceremony and pictures before a downpour struck as the new Mr. and Mrs.
Clanton were headed for the reception, which was attended by a small group of
the husband and wife’s family and friends, including WoO LMS regular Clint
Smith and his wife Kim; Clanton’s former car owners Ronnie and Janice Dobbins;
and Steve Francis’s wife Amanda (who handled the music for the ceremony).
Shane and Michelle stayed in Panama City to honeymoon, but they
couldn’t stay too long. It is still
racing season, after all, so they returned to the Peach State on Tuesday and
headed that evening to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where
they hopped on a plane with Clanton’s crewmen, Jonathan (Dumplin’) Owenby and
Petey Cochran, to fly to Chicago.
Why Chicago? Just outside of the city, at Frankie Heckenast
Jr.’s shop in Orland Park, Ill., is where Clanton’s hauler has been sitting
since Owenby parked it there last Wednesday following the WoO LMS event at
Shawano. Clanton and his mechanics will spend Wednesday and Thursday at
Heckenast’s shop prepping their machines for this weekend’s WoO LMS
doubleheader in Michigan – Aug. 17 at Winston Speedway in Rothbury and Aug. 18 at
Merritt Raceway in Lake City.