By Tony Veneziano
Concord, NC- April 5, 2010-
Winning at home: Brian Ellenberger used a rare off weekend from World of Outlaws action to get in a race at his home track of Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania. The native of nearby Butler won a thrilling duel over multi-time Lernerville track champion Ed Lynch Jr., who is also the winningest sprint car driver in the history of the track. For Ellenberger it was his fourth career win at the four-tenths-mile where the World of Outlaws will compete two separate times this year including the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twins in July.
First win of the year: Lucas Wolfe, the 2008 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner, used each of the last two weekends to compete at his home track of Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He was victorious on March 26, which was the ninth win of his career at the famed half-mile and the first since 2007. Wolfe followed that up with a ninth-place effort last Friday night at Williams Grove, where the World of Outlaws will compete three separate times this year with the first of those coming on May 13-14.
On sale now: Tickets for the final two rounds of The Showdown for the Bud Crown, which is being promoted by NASCAR star Kasey Kahne in partnership with the World Racing Group, are now on sale at www.worldofoutlaws.com/tickets. Kahne will compete in the event at Sedalia’s State Fair Speedway on June 16. Steve Kinser, the 20-time World of Outlaws champion, currently leads Jason Meyers be seven markers in the standings for the four-race mini-series which will see the Top-Three after the race at LaSalle Speedway in Illinois on July 8 split a $15,000 point fund.
Meet & greet: Jason Meyers, the current World of Outlaws point leader who leads the series with three wins, along Craig Dollansky who was victorious earlier this season, will be on hand at Hooters in Fort Smith, Arkansas this Friday, April 9 to meet and greet fans between 3-5 p.m. Central along with their race cars and haulers for fans to get an up close look at an 850-plus horsepower winged sprint car. The Hooters in Fort Smith, Arkansas is located at 6401 Rogers Avenue. A shuttle will be available from the Best Western in Fort Smith which is the Official Hotel of the event, to Hooters for the Meet & Greet.
Fine levied: Leonard Lee, the crew chief of the No.R19 driven by Jac Haudenschild, was recently fined $500 and placed on probation through September 17, 2010 for an incident at Volunteer Speedway on March 19, which violated Section 2.2A in the World of Outlaw Rulebook regarding “Members acting in a professional manner,” in addition to Section 11.1B regarding “Any member that attempts to and/or does physically abuse any event official” and Section 11.2C “Any member that verbally abuses any event official.”
Additionally, the Carnahan Motorsports Team was placed on probation for a period to expire May 21, 2010. Any subsequent violations, by any member of the team, will result in increased disciplinary action.
On the air: Donny Schatz, the four-time and defending World of Outlaws champion, will join host Chris Plank on “The Big Show” on KTZB Radio out of Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday, April 5 at 2:30 p.m. Central to talk about the inaugural World of Outlaws event at Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Oklahoma this coming Saturday. “The Big Show” can be heard via live streaming audio online at http://www.1430thebuzz.com/main.html.
Visiting his home track: Cody Darrah, who was set to compete for the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award with the World of Outlaws this season aboard the No. 91 for Kasey Kahne Racing until a road accident on February 5 sidelined him, returned to his home track of Williams Grove Speedway for the first time this season last Friday night. Along with car owner NASCAR star Kasey Kahne, who raced, Darrah spoke to the crowd and thanked them for all of their continued support as he continues to recover from a severely broken left leg.
“I really want to race before we can walk, but we’ve got to walk first,” said Darrah to the crowd. “I feel a lot safer in one of these sprint cars than I do out on the road. It was a little sketchy when we first got in a car after I got out of the hospital, a little paranoid. I’m just ready to get back in one of these sprint cars where I feel safe.”
Up next: The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, April 10 with an inaugural event at Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Oklahoma. The event kicks off a stretch of 18 consecutive weekends of racing for the series.
Keep up with all the action: The number of “Followers” keeping up with the World of Outlaws via Twitter online and through text messages on cell phones continues to grow and recently surpassed the 3,300 “Follower” mark. Updates are provided throughout race nights beginning with hot laps and continuing all the way through the final checkered flag of the night. To sign-up visit: http://twitter.com/worldofoutlaws and receive live race updates, anywhere, anytime.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Goodyear Tires (Official Tire), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, KSE Race Products, Penske Shocks, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo; Engine Builder’s Challenge participants Don Ott Racing Engines, Kistler Engines, Shaver Specialties and Speedway Engines; and Chassis Builder’s Challenge participants J&J Auto Racing, Maxim Racing and XXX Race Company.