I-30 girds for ‘Outlaws’ invasion

It’s not often that veteran dirt late model driver Darrell Lanigan pulls into a racetrack he has never visited, but it’s understandable tonight at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway.

When Lanigan and the other World of Outlaws Late Model Series regulars arrive at I-30 today, it will be for the first national late model touring event at the quarter-mile oval in nearly 16 years.

“We’ll run across a new track every now and then, but it doesn’t happen that often,” said Lanigan, the defending and 2008 series champion. “I’ve heard it’s a pretty racy little place. Looking forward to it.”

More than 200 loads of gumbo clay were added to the surface of the high-banked oval during the off season, and that figures to provide an even racier track for the Outlaws regulars and the dozens of regional racers hoping to steal an upset victory.

For Ben Shelton, creator of midsouthracing.com and a veteran track announcer and reporter, it’s an event he has had circled on his calendar.

“This is one of the races I’m most excited about this year,” said Shelton, who is the track announcer at I-30’s Short Track Nationals sprint car event each fall. “I-30 is a track that’s just due to have something for the late model division like a World of Outlaws show, and I think it’ll live up to the hype.

“The track will most likely have moisture on the bottom, a cushion on the top and be slick in the middle. It’s one of those places where you can run in there [the corners] and drive straight through slick and bounce off the cushion. It just makes for really good racing.”

The Outlaws have visited fewer and fewer shorter tracks over the years, instead choosing to remain on the tracks measuring three-eighths of a mile, a half-mile or larger. That began to change last year, when an Outlaws race was held at Belle-Clair Speedway, a one fifth-mile track in Belleville, Ill. Lanigan finished fourth in that race after starting 14th.

“You’ve got to be racing hard no matter what kind of track it is,” said Lanigan, the career leader in Outlaws feature victories with 44, including a single-season record 15 last year. “But you do tend to have to be more aggressive on the short tracks, and everything happens so much quicker. You definitely have to get up on that wheel and go.”

Lanigan, of Union, Ky., enters tonight’s event third in the series points standings, 72 points behind leader Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., the 2010 and 2009 Outlaws champion who stepped away from the series last year to compete in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series.

Lanigan has three series victories this season but none since Florida Speed weeks in February, when he won twice at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., and once at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. He also won a United Midwestern Promoters event in February at North Florida Speedway in Lake City, Fla.

“Our luck run out when we left Florida, but we’ve been running pretty well every time out,” Lanigan said. “We just need to get some luck from somewhere. This weekend is as good of a place to start as any.”

At a glance

WHAT World of Outlaws Late Model Series event

WHERE I-30 Speedway, Little Rock WHEN Gates open at 5 p.m. today, hot laps at 6:30 p.m., followed by time trials.

Racing scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

PURSE $10,000 to win, $700 to start

TICKETS Grandstand admission $25 for adults, $5 for children aged 6-12. Pit passes $35

Sports, Pages 30 on 05/10/2013

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