By Tony Veneziano
Concord, NC-July 19, 2010-
What a crowd: The 22nd edition of the Brad Doty Classic played to the largest crowd in Limaland Motorsports Park history last Wednesday on a perfect, sunny day at the ¼-mile bullring. Fans from far and wide began arriving in the early afternoon to make sure they got a good seat with the track always providing thrilling action. The event began with an autograph session under the pavilion that saw former winners Steve Kinser, Jac Haudenschild, Joey Saldana and Jason Meyers take part, along with Doty, who again helped promote the event this year.
“I’m really happy,” shared Doty after the race. “That was the largest crowd we’ve ever had and a perfect day for it. It was a little warm, but all in all it was a great night. I can’t be partial to any one driver I guess, but Dale (Blaney) is a great guy and he is the third two-time winner. The race has a lot of history to it and it was great to see Dale pull a win. We are already working on it for next year getting things lined up. I can’t wait.”
A second generation: Sheldon Haudenschild, Jac Haudenschild’s son competed in the Brad Doty Classic and qualified for his first World of Outlaws main event. The younger Haudenschild raced for the first time with the series last season at Eldora, though he missed qualifying for the feature in that race. At Limaland Motorsports Park, he timed in 23rd in a very stout 47-car field. He followed that up with a fourth-place effort in the third heat race to earn a spot in the main event, where he lined up 19th.
First timer: Two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart made his World of Outlaws debut in the Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park last Wednesday night. Stewart, who won for the first time in his career in a 410-winged sprint car last season, qualified 35th his first time out. He came up just one spot short in the third heat race of transferring to the main event and was one spot short of transferring from the C-Main into The Last Chance Showdown. He also competed on both night of the Kings Royal weekend at Eldora Speedway, which he owns, pulling double duty racing with the World of Outlaws and the NRA Sprint Invaders. He won both NRA features at the half-mile.
Making the trip west: Jonathan Allard and the Morrie Williams-owned team made the trip east from California to compete in the Brad Doty Classic and Kings Royal this past weekend. For California native it was his first trip to Limaland Motorsports Park. Allard and the team plan to continue to follow the World of Outlaws until the Gold Cup Race of Champions at his home track of Silver Dollar Speedway in California in September.
Star-studded heat race: The heat race on Friday night during the Knight Before the Kings Royal featured three current NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, which marked the first time in World of Outlaws history that a heat race featured three current NASCAR Cup drivers, with Kasey Kahne starting on the pole of the heat, with Dave Blaney lining up fifth and Tony Stewart ninth. Kahne would go on to win the heat, while Stewart finished seventh and Blaney 12th. Blaney would work his way back through The Last Chance Showdown to qualify for the A-Feature.
Up close and personal: Fans got a chance to meet their favorite World of Outlaws drivers on Saturday afternoon prior to the Kings Royal as a huge autograph session was held in the Fan Zone at Eldora Speedway on a beautiful sunny and warm day. Fans began lining up well in advance of the 4 p.m. start time and a steady stream of hundreds of fans walked through the line to meet the drivers. In addition to the autograph session, the band Whiskey Road performed in the Fan Zone.
Charging hard: Jac Haudenschild came all the way from the 23rd starting spot last Friday night at Eldora Speedway to finish sixth in the Knight Before the Kings Royal. The Hall of Famer was caught up in a second-lap accident that sent him to the work area. He restarted the race at the tail of the field and quickly began to charge back through the field. He as up to 13th just two laps later and continues his charge to the front on his way to picking up the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award for the sixth-place effort.
Hard Luck award : Chad Kemenah received the Chizmark & Larson Insurance Hard Luck Award on Friday night at Eldora Speedway, after sustaining significant damage to the rear end of his machine from a push truck as they attempted to the push off for the A-Feature, which prevented him from taking the green flag. The Ohio native was slated to line up in the 12th row of the feature, but unfortunately was not able to answer the bell. Mike Larson presented the $100 bonus to Kemenah following the race.
Two more quick times: Paul McMahan continues to be the leading qualifier with the World of Outlaws in 2010, setting fast time both nights at Eldora Speedway over the weekend, to pick up his eighth and ninth quick time honors of the season. No other driver has been fastest in time trials more than four times other than McMahan, who earned five bonus points in the World of Outlaws standings each night at Eldora for being fastest in time trials. He has earned more qualifying bonus points than any other driver this season.
A career-best run: Greg Wilson finished fifth in the Kings Royal on Saturday night to match his best-career World of Outlaws finish. The Ohio native lined up 19 th and steadily worked his way to the front. He opened the week with a very solid ninth-place effort in the Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park, an event he also finished fifth in under the World of Outlaws banner in 2005 when it was held at Attica Raceway Park.
Hard charger: Chad Kemenah rebounded from the bad luck that plagued him on Friday night at Eldora Speedway to work his way from the 23rd starting spot to a ninth-place finish in the Kings Royal to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. The veteran was up to sixth at one point before the caution flag flew leading to a double file restart. For Kemenah, it was his seventh Top-10 finish of the season.
On the air: Steve Kinser, who won the Kings Royal for the record seventh time, will make an appearance on The Race Reporters with host Michael Knight this Wednesday, July 21 at 7 p.m. Eastern online at The Power Up Motorsports Channel. Knight will be joined for the journalists’ roundtable by Jim Chiappelli, the News Director at SPEED and Keith Waltz, of National Speed Sport News. The Race Reporters can be heard “live,” downloaded into an iPod, or accessed for listening on a delayed basis by clicking on the show icon at www.PowerUpChannel.com. The show also re-airs several times later in the week.
A new look online: Craig Dollansky recently debuted a new web site that can be accessed via http://www.dollanskyracing.com. The site features updates news and results, along with current World of Outlaws standings and an up-to-date schedule, a link to a Blog is also featured on the site, where fans have submitted their thoughts as well as pictures they took of Dollansky at the track. A link to purchase apparel is also featured on the site, in addition to an updated bio of Dollansky and information on the Big Game Motorsports No. 7 team.
Hard Luck II: Sam Hafertepe Jr. received the Chizmark and Larson Insurance Hard Luck Award on Saturday night in the Kings Royal, following a lap-20 accident in turn four that ended his night. The native of Sunnyvale, Texas, who started the race third, charged into the second spot in the early going and was running seventh at the time of the incident. Mike Larson presented the $100 bonus to Hafertepe following the race.
Photo gallery The Media Gallery section of www.worldofOutlaws.com continues to be updated after each event. Visit http://www.worldofoutlaws.com/sprint/MediaGallery.aspx to see Photo Galleries from all 2010 World of Outlaws events. Photo Galleries from the Knight Before the Kings Royal and Kings Royal will be posted soon.
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 4,300 “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.
On sale now: Tickets for a number of premier World of Outlaws events are currently on-sale, including the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twin 30’s at Lernerville Speedway on July 20, and the Ironman 55 at I-55 Raceway on August 6-7. Also on sale now are tickets for the World of Outlaws stop at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park in New York on October 9 and the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, November 4-6. For tickets visit www.WorldofOutlaws.com/tickets.
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), Chizmark & Larson Insurance , 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 , R2C Performance, 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.